Speculation, Fact and Fiction

I find I'm taking The News with remarkable equanimity. Yes, I think David Tennant has been an admirable Doctor and look forward to 2009 and the specials and his swan song. Equally, I look forward to seeing what someone new can do with the role - er, as long as it's not James Nesbit. Whom I admire as an actor - mostly - just not in this role please.

Mostly what I'm thinking is yes, I absolutely understand how any actor would want to move on after four/five years in the same role. It has nothing to do with being fed up with it. It's all about being ready to move on to a new phase in one's creative life and tackling the unknown challenges that will bring with what you've learned in this phase - exciting and scary and who knows? Because that's exactly how I have felt at the conclusion of each of the series of books I have written.

And why I have resisted appeals and blandishments to stay on in either series' scenario. That's done and I'm proud of my achievement and it's time to move on. It's definitely not worth risking overstaying and thus getting stale.

And who knows, there's always the possibility of reprises of some kind in such an actorly role, along the lines of the way writers can revisit favorites with short fiction?