Next Doctor Who odds: West leads field to become latest Time Lord

Three of the cast members of hit TV series It’s a Sin dominate the betting, with Lydia West the current favourite at 3/1 in the next Doctor Who odds to land the role.

Russell T Davies, who created It’s a Sin, is returning as script writer for the new series after ratings dipped drastically on New Year’s Day, so it’s perhaps not a surprise to see some of the actors who helped make his programmes so successful feature prominently.

Lydia West

West landed major roles in two Davies productions, first catching the eye as Bethany Bisme-Lyons in the 2019 science fiction drama Years and Years, playing the older daughter of Stephen and Celeste whose marriage is on the rocks.

A couple of years later, she played Jill Baxter in It’s a Sin which followed the lives of a group of gay men in 1980s London during the AIDS crisis.

She played the friend of main character Ritchie Tozer which takes us neatly to the next actor in the next Doctor Who odds with a spooky Years and Years connection.

Olly Alexander

Harrogate-born Alexander may not have played a part in Years and Years but coincidentally that is the name of his electro-pop solo project which featured in the BBC’s New Year’s Eve party where the Pet Shop Boys and Kylie Minogue were guests.

Alexander, 31, is best known for his single ‘King’ which topped the charts six years ago, but he has been acting since 2008 when he played Ned in the quirky TV drama Summerhill which documented a school where children are allowed to make the rules and are encouraged to play.

Despite being the second favourite at 4/1, Alexander said in December he would prefer his It’s a Sin co-star Omari Douglas to replace Whittaker as the Doctor.

Omari Douglas

Douglas memorably played Roscoe Babatunde, a friend of Ritchie Tozer, in Davies’ mini-series in his first screen role.

Queer as Folk creator Davies made a point of ensuring all the actors who played gay characters in It’s a Sin were gay themselves, so could that be the “modern twist” Lydia West was referring to when talking about the writer’s return to Doctor Who?

yaaaaaaaay🌸🎀💕🌻🌺🌼
https://t.co/iZDRbTmyNm

— omari douglas (@marsdoug) December 22, 2021

Alexander said: “I’m definitely not going to be the new Doctor, but it’s going to be so amazing, Russell’s Doctor!”, adding: “I’m definitely backing Omari Douglas.

“I think the Doctor’s quite queer anyway – that’s my take on the character – and I think it would really make sense for a queer actor to take the role.”

Douglas is 5/1 to become the latest incarnation of the time-traveller.

Fisayo Akinade

Akinade is 6/1 in the next Doctor Who odds and had no association with It’s a Sin, but is best remembered for his performance as car mechanic Ziggy in series one of Ordinary Lives and Dean Monroe in Cucumber, a series created by… guess who?…Russell T Davies.

In an interview with CultBox six years ago, Akinade revealed he was “a huge fan of Russell’s Doctor Who. If I were lucky enough to be offered a role I’d love to play someone like The Master, that’d be fun, or an alien of some sort, I’d like to be made up with prosthetics.”

Perhaps a bigger job is in the pipeline?

Best of the rest

Rakhee Thakrar has some experience of the Time Lord having played the Eighth Doctor’s companion Bliss in the days when attempts were made to get the series back up and running.

Thakrar is more popularly known for playing Shabnam Massood in Eastenders between 2014-16 and Emily Sands in the still-running Sex Education. The 37-year-old from Leicester is 7/1 in the next Doctor Who odds.

Eddie Izzard talked about playing a trans Doctor a year ago and is 10/1 to make that dream a reality, the same price as Michael Sheen who recently became a ‘not-for-profit’ actor, so he certainly looks a cheap option.

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All odds and markets correct as of date of publication