The British press reports that Olly Alexander is set to replace Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor in Doctor Who.
These claims are unverified. However, there was strange betting behaviour just before the official announcement that Matt Smith would replace David Tennant, with Betfair cutting the odds just before pulling the offer.
Today, betting sites, which are legal in the UK, are following a similar pattern. Paddy Power had a special bets section on who would be the next Doctor Who. That offer has now been withdrawn, with visitors being redirected to a generic special bets page instead.
Who is Olly Alexander?
And is he really going to be the next Doctor Who?
We won’t know who the replacement Doctor will be until it’s formerly announced by the BBC. Tricks and deceptions have been used before to keep the mystery.
Olly Alexander is probably best known as the lead singer of the band Years and Years, but he is an actor too.
In 2008, Alexander appeared in Summerhill. His very next film, Bright Star, was nominated for an Academy Award, and he has continued to act since then.
More recently, at the start of this year, he had the lead role in “It’s a Sin”, directed by Russell T Davies of Doctor Who fame.
Despite the apparent leak, the betting options being whisked away, which suggests money with conviction is coming in, there’s no comment from the BBC. In fact, the Radio Times is quick to remind us similar leaks have been wrong before.
The tabloid reporting the story even concedes nothing has been agreed yet. The red top’s nameless source says;
Olly is on the verge of being announced as the new Doctor. Negotiations are at an advanced stage,
It’s not even been confirmed that Jodie Whittaker is leaving.
Update: 27 June 2021 – Martha Kinn, Olly’s manager seems to have released a statement as an Instagram story. As such it’s hard to verify, but she did retweet a screengrab of it.
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