Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - celebs Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The BBC have not blinked after a newspaper report suggested Rory Kinnear has been asked to take over from Matt Smith in Doctor Who.

Skyfall star Kinnear is reported to have been offered the headlining role by the Sunday Telegraph, quoting an undisclosed source that said the 35-year-old was the "perfect choice".

The broadcaster, however, has not issued any official comment or acknowledged it on any company social networks.

Insiders insist the casting process for the 12th Time Lord has barely begun. It is not known whether any stage of negotiation has been opened.

"We're still at the start of the search," said one.

That has not stopped Ladbrokes suspending betting on the identity of the next Doctor after Kinnear was backed in to 2-1 favourite to take on the role.

Kinnear, who in April said he had never watched the programme and suggested his name was being used a a "decoy", has been a strong favourite alongside Cutting It's Ben Daniels with the bookies to take over the iconic part since Matt Smith's departure was confirmed.

A sci-fi magazine had claimed two days ago the BBC was set to rush reveal the identity of the next Doctor early to avoid it being done by a Sunday paper.

Starburst reported bosses had already seen completion of an official launch photo shoot, naming Domhnall Gleeson, Daniel Kaluuya and Dominic Cooper as contenders to take up residence in the TARDIS.

The BBC responded to fans' inquiries via Twitter, commenting yesterday: "We can confirm there is no #DoctorWho announcement planned for today."

BBC One's account also replied to fans' messages to say no announcement was on the cards.

Industry colleagues were not so sure about Starburst's claims.

TV producer and director Ed Stradling tweeted: "Steven Moffat says this morning 'I haven't a clue who it is, we've barely started.' So no Doctor Who announcement this evening I fear!"

Other potential successors discussed on the rumour mill include Stephen Mangan, Tom Hiddleston, Russell Brand - with many calls for the first female or non-white Doctor to be cast.

poll loading Which first would you like? 3000+ VOTES SO FAR First black doctor First female doctor First gay doctor A combination No firsts, thanks

Jenna-Louise Coleman, who plays current companion Clara Oswald, has not wanted to be drawn on the possibility of the Doctor changing gender - but did admit that changes were inevitable.“There will have to be some ice breakers with the new Doctor,” she said.



“I don’t want to speculate and say if I’d like a woman or who I’d want. That’s up to the producers.”

With so many acting heavyweights mentioned as being in the frame to take over in the sci-fi classic's 50th anniversary yeat, Doctor Who writer Neil Gaiman argued that the role should not go to a big-name star.

The 52-year-old said the part should make the star rather than a star fill the part.

"I actually like it when The Doctor is a relatively unknown actor, or one without one huge role that made them famous," he wrote on his Tumblr blog.

"I like to see The Doctor as The Doctor, and an actor who doesn't bring baggage is a grand sort of thing. A star waiting to happen. So I don't want to see Helen Mirren or Sir Ian McKellen or Chiwetel Ejiofor, or any of the famous names people are suggesting.

"I want to see The Doctor. I want to be taken by surprise. I want to squint at a photo of the person online and go, 'But how can that be The Doctor?'

"Then I want to be amazingly, delightedly, completely proven wrong, and, six episodes in, I want to wonder how I could have been so blind. Because this is the Doctor. Of course it is."