The rumour mill has been whirring away constantly since Peter Capaldi announced that he would be leaving his Doctor Who role at the end of this year after four years.
There has been plenty of discussion from those involved in the BBC sci-fi series, as well as fans, over who can possibly replace him, and Broadchurch star Olivia Colman was one of the leading names.
However, according to reports, Olivia is now looking far less likely to appear as the first female Doctor because she has been in the series before.
Olivia Colman (Ian West/PA)
Although Peter had previously had another role in Doctor Who before taking the main role – Caecilius in 2008 episode The Fires of Pompeii – new showrunner Chris Chibnall is keen to avoid the “clumsy process” from before, which saw his past having to be explained in his regeneration storyline.
A source told The Mirror: “Chris doesn’t want to have to repeat the same clumsy process and Olivia doesn’t want to return to a show she’s starred in as a different character.
“They have discussed their concerns and she is out of contention.”
Olivia has appeared in the role of Mother in a 2010 episode of the series entitled The Eleventh Hour, opposite then-new Doctor actor Matt Smith.
Olivia Colman and David Tennant ( Patrick Redmond/ITV/PA)
Former Doctor Who star and Olivia’s Broadchurch co-star David Tennant has previously said she would be a great choice for the role.
He said: “If the two of them (Olivia and Chris) have been having top secret discussions behind my back, I will be furious! Olivia would clearly be a magnificent choice.”
At the moment, Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton is the bookies’ favourite to take over the role, with the likes of Ben Whishaw, Kris Marshall and Rory Kinnear as other potential stars.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here