Doctor Who legend doesn’t think Billie Piper is the next Doctor: ‘She’s someone else!’

Doctor Who legend Colin Baker has weighed into the debate about Billie Piper possibly being the next iteration of the Doctor stating, “it’s a load of old malarky.”

The 82-year-old was the sixth person to play the Timelord, doing so between 1984 and 1986. He was preceded by Peter Davison and succeeded by Sylvester McCoy. Baker later cameoed alongside Davison, McCoy and Paul McGann in the last episode of Jodie Whittaker’s tenure.

Chatting to the Oxford Mail on Monday (29 September) he was asked for his thoughts on Billie Piper taking over the lead role in Doctor Who. “I don’t have a clue, but I suspect it’s a load of old malarky,” he said.

At the end of the last season, Ncuti Gatwa’s version of the Doctor regenerated into Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), the Doctor’s former companion, surprising just about everyone.

“I think they didn’t know what to say, so they did that,” Baker continued. “I think there will be something involving Billie Piper, but she’s not the Doctor, who can she be? She’s someone else! It’s like me being the Master. Well, I could be, I suppose.”

Baker went on to say, “I suppose she could be a lookalike, but they could come up with anything, and that is the joy of the series. You can do anything with it, so if they choose to do it, they could.”

Asked who he thought should be the next Doctor, Baker said, “I think it would be quite nice if it was someone completely different. I’d pick my daughter Rosie, she’d be very good.” Rose probably has a better chance than Rosie, we imagine.

The future of Doctor Who as a whole has been a hot topic of conversation of late. Only towards the end of August was there some statement from the BBC about continuing the series after Gatwa’s exit.

Speaking to an audience at the Edinburgh TV Festival Kate Phillips, the BBC’s chief content officer, said, “Rest assured, Doctor Who is going nowhere.” She continued, “Going forward, with or without Disney, Doctor Who will still be on the BBC … The Tardis is going nowhere.”

In April, showrunner Russell T Davies was only able to offer his own hope that the show would return. “There’s no decision until after season two,” he said. And in June, he wasn’t able to offer much more. He wrote in the Doctor Who Magazine, “We don’t know what’s happening yet.” He added, “Hopefully, we’ll have news soon.”

Doctor Who is streaming now on BBC iPlayer and Disney+ internationally.