Olly Alexander ‘in talks to replace Jodie Whittaker on Doctor Who’

Olly Alexander has been tipped to takeover from Jodie Whittaker on Doctor Who.

It was claimed recently that Jodie is to step down from Doctor Who after specials in 2022.

There’s been no shortage of speculation on who could be the next Doctor, and now there’s a new name in the mix.

The Sun newspaper reports that Olly Alexander is in “advanced talks” to take on the iconic role next.

The Years & Years star recently appeared in Russell T Davies’s acclaimed Channel 4 drama It’s A Sin.

A source shared: “Olly is on the verge of being announced as the new Doctor. Negotiations are at an advanced stage.

“He’s been heavily promoted for the role by Russell — who he’s worked closely with on other projects. Russell was impressed with his work and felt he was a great fit for the Doctor.”

Meanwhile other rumoured names for the show have included Michaela Coel and Richard Ayoade.

As it stands the BBC has yet to officially announce what the future holds for Doctor Who with a new series starring Jodie due to start later in 2021.

A show insider said previously: “As ever bosses are staying tight-lipped about what they have planned, but with filming still ongoing they clearly have plans for episodes to be playing out much later into 2022 – so there’s still more to come for Jodie’s Doctor.”

As a result of restrictions due to the pandemic, the new series will be shorter than usual with eight episodes rather than the originally planned eleven.

A start date has yet to be announced with showrunner Chris Chibnall saying: “In this strangest of years, the Doctor Who production team have worked wonders to get the show back into production. It’s going to take us a little longer to film each episode, meaning we expect to end up with eight episodes, rather than the usual eleven.”

For now you can watch past episodes of Doctor Who online via the BBC iPlayer here.