David Tennant is back to work on the latest installment of “Doctor Who”. This is actually the beginning of the end for Tennant as “The Doctor”, and you can honestly see a bit of sadness on his face about the fact that he’s almost to the end of his run.

Most people say that the first person you see playing “The Doctor” will always be your favorite, but for me that isn’t the case. The first person I ever saw playing the role was Tom Baker, but that was only in the occasional episode on PBS late at night.

Christopher Eccelston was the first Doctor I watched on a weekly basis – and I wasn’t ready to see him go after the first season…but I’m incredibly glad that he did – because David Tennant is by far the best Doctor ever. Since I started watching the relaunched show in 2005, I have have seen episodes of every Doctor that has ever played the role, and I just don’t think anyone else comes close.

I’m going to miss him when he’s gone.

Tomorrow, January 3rd, 2009 is the big day. Tomorrow we learn who is going to play the 11th Doctor.

BBC News reports that the big reveal will happen on an episode of “Doctor Who Confidential” entitled “The Eleventh Doctor”. The show will air on on BBC One at 1735.

I simply CANNOT WAIT to see how this ends up being. The producers are being very coy, about whether the 11th Doctor will be male or female. I have no clue how they’re going to play this, and who it’s going to be, but I’ll be watching DoctorWhoNews.com closely waiting for the big reveal.

Current (and exiting) “Doctor Who” producer Russell T. Davies has picked his next project. He’ll be helping develop a BBC version of “The Fabulous Baker Boys”, which focuses on a small town facing the closure of its main factory.

Davies has been almost exclusively in the Whoniverse for the last several years, spearheading “Doctor Who”, “Torchwood”, and “The Sarah Jane Adventures” all set in the long running “Doctor Who” universe.

There is no word on if Davies is going to continue his associations with the satellite shows he helped create after leaving “Doctor Who” proper in 2009 after the airing of 5 specials.

The rumors about who will be the next Doctor are so strong that their are even rumors about when the rumors will be confirmed.

The current speculation is that the announcement will happen during the “Children in Need” fundraiser special. Each year this special is a huge event, and it often has a “Doctor Who” connection of some kind. It would be a massive fundraiser for the show, especially if they refused to announce the name until they reached a certain dollar amount.

The odds on who will play the new Who are stacking up. Here are the current standings:

ODDS ON NEW DOCTOR FROM PADDY POWER (3rd Nov 2008)
2/1 David Morrisey
6/1 Paterson Joseph
8/1 James Nesbitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor
10/1 Russell Tovey, John Simm
12/1 Anthony Head
14/1 Robert Carlyle, David Walliams
16/1 Richard E Grant
18/1 Richard Coyle, Aidan Gillen, Alan Davies, Sean Pertwee
20/1 Jason Statham, Harry Lloyd, Nigel Harman, Marc Warren, Jack Davenport
25/1 Julian Walsh, Adrian Lester, Alexander Armstrong
33/1 Julian Rhind-Tutt, Rupert Penry-Jones, James McAvoy
40/1 Bill Nighy, Stephen Fry, Ben Wishaw
50/1 John Barrowman, Ben Miles, David Suchet, Hugh Laurie
66/1 Gary Oldman, Matt Smith, Paul Bettany, Joel Beckett, Christopher Eccleston
80/1 Alex Kingston, Dean Lennox Kelly, Christopher Villiers
100/1 Ricky Gervais
150/1 Hugh Grant, Russell Brand, Vinnie Jones
200/1 Robbie Williams

I have to say I am saddened by this news. The BBC is reporting that David Tennant is leaving the role of “The Doctor” when the 2009 specials are over.

Frankly, I don’t know why this is being reported now. The 2008 Christmas special is coming up soon, and with the bad news of Tennant leaving the role all of the specials in 2009 are going to have a shadow cast over them.

It seemed pretty clear from the beginning that the 2009 specials were happening to give Tennant a break from the role, but if he’s not sticking with it, I don’t know why we couldn’t have just moved on straight into another series. (yes, I’m a pull the band-aid off quickly kind of guy).

So – now for an entire year we can all speculate on who is going to be the next Doctor, and Tennant will go out with a whimper instead of the bang he deserved.

Bummer.

Tom Baker, Peter Davidson, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, and David Tennant may be getting together to help ‘Children in Need’ if the rumor from The Telegraph is true.

The UK paper is reporting that all seven of the surviving actors who have portrayed “The Doctor” in the long running “Doctor Who” series may reunite in one big special segment for the annual “Children in Need” event.

Every year “Doctor Who” has some kind of involvement with the special. Last year Peter Davidson and David Tennant met for the first time in a fantastic mini-episode, and the idea of all these “Doctor’s” getting back together is very, very exciting for long-time “Whovians”.

“Partners in Crime”

The fourth season (or 30th depending on how you keep track of things) of the latest incarnation of the Doctor Who franchise starts off with a bold message – The British are fat. (guess what – us Americans are fat too – so the message translates well).

The season has been highly anticipated, and already controversial before cameras even rolled. Last season The Doctor’s companion was named Martha Jones, who replaced the Billie Piper played Rose Tyler (who some would argue is the best companion The Doctor has ever had – my wife being one of those people). The love story between The Doctor and Rose was fantastic, and ended tragically with Rose being stuck in a parallel dimension with The Doctor unable to return to her.

The character of Martha wasn’t terribly well received (I liked her, though) – partially because she was in love with The Doctor and he didn’t return her affections. While Martha will be returning this season for a few episodes, she is no longer The Doctor’s companion…this left a spot open, and it was filled with comedian Catherine Tate.

Fans were immediately conflicted about Tate joining The Doctor for the entire 4th season, but after watching the first episode, entitled “Partners in Crime” that non-sense will be laid to rest.

Tate’s character, Donna, is in no way interested in The Doctor romantically – she just wants to travel the universe. The duo make an excellent comic pair, and Donna looks like she’s going to be a brilliant addition to the series.

The plot for this episode centers around an alien Nanny that is using the additional pounds stored on human beings to give birth to cut little alien monsters that are made entirely out of fat. The little critters are cute, and the plot is entertaining, although not ground breaking in any way shape or form – the episode does manage to clearly establish the relationship between Donna and The Doctor, as well as give us a brief guest appearance that foreshadows events to come in the season, as well as make my wife absolutely giddy.

This is a great start to the 4th season of the show, and I highly recommend you check it out. Americans can see the new season of Doctor Who on the Sci-Fi channel starting at the end of April.

Grade: A