Doctor Who No. 13 Revealed – Who Is Kris Marshall?
At last! The good Doctor will be pleased because according to unconfirmed reports, the 14th incarnation of the Doctor (if you count the War Doctor) will be a ginger! Kris Marshall has been the odds-on favorite to step into the role ever since Peter Capaldi announced in January that he was retiring from the iconic role.
At first, people thought that the BBC might actually cast a woman in the role of the Doctor. Names that were tossed into the hat included Tilda Swinton (Dr. Strange), and Olivia Colman (Broadchurch, The Night Manager). Unfortunately, according to a source in the BBC, execs weren’t ready to take that risk just yet. Instead, they wanted someone who would take them back to the era of the 11th Doctor, David Tennant. According the Mirror, the BBC has already tapped Marshall to join the cast, and he will step into the Doctor’s shoes at the end of the current series.
That’s right, the regeneration into the new Doctor won’t happen during the 2017 Christmas special as was originally thought, it will happen at the end of this series.
Wait. The 14th Doctor?
There have been 13 previous incarnations of the Doctor, not 12 as has always been thought. In the BBC 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor, it is revealed that prior to the Ninth Doctor – played by Christoper Eccleston – there was an incarnation of the Doctor who participated in the Time War. This incarnation chose to become a warrior, discarding the mantle of the Doctor. Despite this, he is called the War Doctor and according to canon, fits in between Eight and what was previously Nine.
The origins of the War Doctor were detailed in the mini-episode, The Night of the Doctor. Eight is killed in a crash while saving someone. After he is resurrected by the Sisterhood of Karn, he regenerates into the War Doctor, with his first words being, “Doctor no more.”
In The Day of the Doctor, however, the War Doctor is redeemed by 10 and 11 (David Tennant and Matt Smith) as they realize that he tried to save their homeworld, rather than destroy it as they’d always thought.
“…I won’t remember this will I? So I won’t remember that I tried to save Gallifrey, rather than burn it. I’ll have to live with that. But for now, for this moment, I am the Doctor again…”
So, despite having rejected the title of the Doctor at the beginning of his incarnation, he reclaimed it in the moments before he regenerates into Doctor Nine. For the sake of clarity however, the Doctors are still referred to by their original numbering scheme. So while Kris Marshall may be titled the 13th Doctor, he’s still actually the 14th incarnation.
Who Is Kris Marshall?
Kris Marshall is a seasoned British actor. He’s best known in the United States for his role in the 2003 romantic comedy, Love Actually. He played Colin, a young man who decided to take a trip to the United States to meet new women. He travelled to exotic Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he succeeded in that goal.
Kris is also well known in England for his role in My Family, where he starred as Nick Harper from 2000 to 2003. He left My Family in 2003 and was cast in a series of movies and other television spots. He gained another full-time gig in 2013 on the BBC crime drama Death in Paradise, where he played DI Humphrey Goodman. He took over the lead in the third series and had a rather sizeable fan base.
In January of 2017, BBC reported that he would be leaving Death in Paradise because he wanted to spend more time with his family. The series was filmed in the Carribean, and the extended shooting schedule meant that he spent significant time away from them.
Marshall is married and has two children. He married his wife, Hannah Dodkins, in February of 2012. His daughter, Elsie, was born in early 2016, and his son, Thomas, is 4-years-old.
[Featured Image by Andrew Medichini/AP Images]
