Hugh Grant denies being the new DOCTOR WHO

British newspaper reports have been swirling for several days that British actor Hugh Grant has been cast as the next Doctor Who. Grant shot down the reports today, confirming he had not been cast.

Speculation as to the identity of the next Doctor Who has been rampant ever since Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker confirmed she would be leaving last July, alongside showrunner Chris Chibnall. Both have been in place since 2018, producing three seasons and three New Year specials between them. Two more specials are due to air this year, the first possibly around Easter and the second around October.

Russell T. Davies, who previously resurrected the show back in 2005 and was in charge until he departed at the start of 2010, is returning as showrunner. The show is also moving to being an independent production at Bad Wolf Studios, rather than an inhouse BBC production, which should allow for more efficient spending and planning of the series.

There has been plenty of speculation over who the new Doctor could be, with musician Olly Alexander and actors Lydia West, T'Nia Miller, Michael Sheen and Rhys Ifans mooted. One of the more prominent and enduring rumours is that David Tennant, who played the Tenth Doctor between 2005 and 2010, may return in some fashion. This would be either for the 60th Anniversary Special in November 2023, or as the Fourteenth Doctor, with his unexpected return driving the plot for several episodes before he is replaced by a more permanent Fifteenth Doctor.

Hugh Grant is most famous for his starring roles in the comedies Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Bridge Jones's Diary (2001), About a Boy (2002) and Love Actually (2003). He also appeared in numerous costume dramas, such as The Remains of the Day (1993) and Sense and Sensibility (1995). Grant experienced a career lull in the late 2000s, but in the 2010s began rebuilding himself in against-type experimental roles, such as Cloud Atlas (2012). He returned to prominence with roles in Paddington 2 (2017), The Gentlemen (2019) and the TV series A Very English Scandal (2018) and The Undoing (2020).

At 61, Grant would be the oldest actor ever cast as the Doctor, six years older than William Hartnell and Peter Capaldi when they were cast (in 1963 and 2013 respectively). It is known that Davies envisages a tonal reset of the show upon his return, trying to recapture the "blockbuster" tone he brought to the property in 2005 but with a modern update. It does feel like casting an older Doctor might be against that, as compared to the likes of Tennant, Matt Smith and Christopher Eccleston, who were all younger and had something more of an action role. It's also unclear if Grant would want to interrupt his film career renaissance with an infamously punishing TV schedule that would lead him little time to pursue other projects.

The next series of Doctor Who is already deep in pre-production, with shooting expected to start in the near future, so presumably the new Doctor will be announced before then, as it'll be impossible to keep their identity secret once filming begins.