A very British coup

Have the BBC pulled off one of the biggest tricks in television history with Doctor Who? I really do hope so.

Okay, this assumes that you know about the end of “The Stolen Earth” and everything that it possibly means. For once we have a genuine cliffhanger that’s got a lot of us on the edge of our seats. Is it a temporary regeneration or have they pulled off what seems impossible in this day and age of media coverage and actually have a complete surprise for all of us – a new Doctor that none of us were expecting?

As much as I like Tennant, today I’m really hoping so.

It would be a major shake up of British television. We’ve all got used to having character deaths and actors leaving trailed in the media for months ahead of the event so that when it does arrive it’s almost an anti-climax. However this time the BBC may have done the opposite, potentially creating a fake sense of Tennant’s ongoing involvement in the series with leaked photographs of him supposedly in the Christmas Special  in a bid to keep us the viewer guessing. I’m really beginning to hope this is the case, a major case of media chicanery that will get everyone talking about it for a very long time. Even the teaser trailer is now in on the act – notice that none of the shots of the Doctor are new, they’re all from previous episodes.

Even if Tennant remains the BBC’s silence on the matter is a superb piece of marketting – expect next weeks viewing figures to be absolutely huge. Every other media outlet is going spare trying to find information out and the BBC are keeping stum. RTD must be laughing himself stupid at the amount of interest he’s created.

Saturday cannot come soon enough.