I heard a rumour (or two...or three...)

The Dr Who rumour mill has been running on overtime of late.

Firstly Joan "Alexis" Collins as The Rani in Season Four, anyone? Well, according to The News of the World, she's just been signed up to play the role. Rather ironic as the previous actress to play the villainous Rani was none other than Kate O'Mara, who played opposite Joan in "Dynasty" as Alexis' sister, Caress. WHAT a coincidence! Anyway, a DW insider has reported that: "The Doctor Who team are delighted they've managed to sign Joan. It's a real coup. [She's] perfect for the role... like Alexis Colby with a sonic screwdriver."

Mmm. Not sure if I'm altogether keen on this. In fact, I'd go as far to say that it could spell disaster for the show. Don't get me wrong I loved Ms Collins in "Dynasty". No-one could pull off the part of Alexis with the style, wit and panache that she did. She was a diva and a bitch of the first order. And in spite of the fact that her entire film catalogue consists of total and utter sh*t - "The Stud"? "The Bitch"? "Empire of the Ants"?! - Ms C has always possessed a certain classier-than-thou quality that enabled her to rise above it all. But stick a glitzy soap actress of her calibre in a sci-fi show and I don't think it will work. They're just totally different genres. I'm sure they could give Joanie lots of of bitchy one liners, including plenty of Donna Noble put-downs which would certainly be entertaining. But I don't particularly want to see Ms Noble and The Rani wrestling in a mud pool, Alexis and Krystle style. Whilst a certain amount of dramatics and humour have their place in DW, the programme is NOT Dynasty.

Rumour Numero 2: Ben Kingsley is set to play Davros in Season Four! The Sun said: "Ben’s agent has been in talks for a while now and he’s very keen to play the part of Davros. A deal will be signed any day now".

Mr Kingsley is a decent actor and I think he could actually do a very good job of portraying the twisted scientist. But having milked the character to death in the original series, do they really need to resurrect the prune-faced creator of the Daleks yet AGAIN? I heard somewhere on the grapevine that the Season Four story is going to all about the origins of Davros, where he came from etc. That could be interesting. But if it's true, let's have it done well please.

Rumour 3: Peter Davison is due to return in Season Four as the Fifth Dr in a "multi-Dr" story. Apparently Sylvester McCoy, aka the Seventh Dr, stated this at a recent Dr Who convention in New Zealand. Mmmmmm, again. I'm just worried that if RTD writes the story, it could turn out to be a pile of doo doo. Not only that, one hates to be ageist but isn't Peter Davison now too old to reprise the role? Granted, he still records all those Big Finish stories but they're only audio - we don’t SEE him. These days Peter D looks much older than he did when in the role of the Doc and in that respect at least I don’t think he’d convince (I tried to find a decent photo of him "now" to little avail - in order to point up the contrast - believe me he doesn't look as fresh-faced and young as above). The Fifth Dr's last story was 23 years ago! I suppose they could make Peter D wear his cricketing hat all the time or give him a floppy blonde wig. Or airbrush him. Or do something clever with CGI. Ooooh miaow. Don’t get me wrong, he was a great Dr but I don’t know how they’d pull it off. (Poor Peter, he'd probably hate me if he was reading this. Did you know I actually once stood next to him in the bar of the Metropole Hilton on Edgware Road at ... you guessed it ... a Dr Who Convention! My claim to fame. I was transfixed! And promptly texted all my family and friends to report this earth-shattering event. Though I was slightly dismayed to see my hero lighting up a fag).

Anyway, personally I think Eccleston and Tennant would make a more interesting (and current) pairing in terms of a multi-Dr story. Think about it please, RTD.

Oh yeah and one fairly minor thing to bear in mind regarding all of the above "stories":

NONE OF THEM HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED BY THE BBC.

You have been warned. As Sarah Jane Smith once said: "Never believe what you read in the newspapers".

Back to moi. The flat stuff is still progressing smoothly - at the weekend, we got the letter from the bank offering us the mortgage and have now signed it and sent it off to the solicitors. At the risk of harping on and becoming a crashing bore, I am feeling SO pleased and excited that we're finally going to be owning a place of our own. On the other side of the coin the financial commitment that this will entail is also starting to hit me. (My blogging pal Steve has written about a similar topic recently and I sympathise with where he's coming from...) Our monthly mortgage is set to be higher than the rent we currently pay - well I guess that's pretty normal - but a tightening of purse strings will nevertheless be necessary. And the first monthly repayment is horrendous, nearly £1,000 more than the subsequent ones. Apparently this is normal though, or so our mortgage broker tells us. No more buying cheesy DVDS and CDs for a while then! Sob... How will I COPE?!

And I'm off to Brazil in just under 2 weeks!! Yipeeee! For an almost three week break, which will be totally wonderful. Now I can go away, secure in the knowledge that the house stuff is well under way and kick back and relax. Week after week of making the same journey to work on the tube, being in the same work place, sitting at the same desk and doing the same thing is definitely starting to grate. Gosh I'm a moaning minnie aren't I. But I really can't wait for a change of scene. Gustavo has been working infinitely harder than me in his management job and needs the break more than me. He gets up at 5am most days and sometimes doesn't get home till late. He's had problems with his staff. And he gets paid less than I do for doing far more demanding, physical work...ahem. Still that's catering for you - hard slog for poor pay. Not very fair though is it? It just makes me love and respect him even more, for all that he does and puts up with. And he can't wait for the reunion with his family, having not seen them for two and half years!!