Ok then, interpret my post to mean that I want a Doctor who is LIKE the folks I mentioned. For Lee Pace and Tim Hutton I’ll clarify a bit–I mean them as their characters in Pushing Daises and Leverage, respectively. Also, I withdraw Christian Kane–on further consideration, neither his Angel nor his Leverage persona fit well.
I would like a male in his 40’s or 50’s. A little calmer than the last three.
I would like them not to do “different” just to do different.
I forget where I stole this from, but: Tilda Swindon. Every fourth or fifth episode, she is replaced by David Bowie. This is never acknowledged in the show.
Who would notice?
The Sovereign???
I’d be too confused.
Someone on this board mentioned Tamsin Greig.. I love the idea.
I would like a fat Doctor. Nero Wolf-ish. I really wanted Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon in Harry Potter) to play him, but it’s too late.
I’d like to see someone like professor Farnsworth from Futurama. Older than any previous Doctor, kind of feeble but energetic, brilliant but incompetent, clueless but always there when you need him.
And his sidekick should be played by Bill Cosby, who would just stand around and either complain or laugh a lot.
This is semi-serious; as some others have suggested, the current Dr is just too hyper to make the show fun to watch. I have just turned off the set in the middle of episodes because I couldn’t keep up.
Roddy
She’s been on already as the medical attendant who put the spike in whassisname’s head.
I’m with 3trew. Swinton with the odd Bowie episode. Love it.
Less manic, older, more thoughtful.
I’d love to see Dame Judi Dench - her ‘Q’ style character.
“Christ, I miss the Time War.”
I like the idea of a Companion from a different-than-now time period - maybe Jenny (Georgia Moffett), though she’s a bit too…perky. Nice foil to an older, grouchier Who, though.
I don’t know. Not so much like Tennant or Smith. More like Pertwee maybe.
Really, it’s the writing that I mean, not the actors, who are not the problem.
Rose became half-genre-savvy later on in her tenure, in that she became a seasoned adventurer and sometimes figured out what was going on before The Doctor did… but then she mucked it up by trying to do something about it without backup (the episode with the soul-sucking TV comes to mind). Martha’s intelligence kind of struck me as an informed attribute, I don’t recall her being more competent than Rose for the most part. Even when she saved the world “all by herself” I can’t bring myself to give her as much credit as she gets in-universe since she was just following The Doctor’s plan anyway. Though I guess you could argue she was smart in that her first thought when anything went wrong seemed to be “what’s the quickest way to get to The Doctor?” which is usually the correct response to any problem in the show.
I definitely want them to skew older again. Someone a bit Professor-ish maybe. My favourite old-school Doctors is Seventh, Sylvester McCoy. I’m thinking an actor along the lines of John Hannah or Kevin McNally.
I’d like witty*, deductive** and … female***. 
*one-liners, plus classy insults to baddies
** like Sherlock Holmes
***like Jenna
Judy Dench (1st pick)
Shaun Majumder alternating with Ian Hanomansing (2nd pick)
(This is a Canadian thing, Ian is a newscaster Shaun is a comedian who plays Ian on ‘This Hour has 22Minutes’, a satire show. They once interviewed each other in character -each in the others character.
Hanomansing is occasionally referred to as “Ian Hansome Man Thing”, so it would probably work with a good chunk of the demographic, and would be a slight step away from the white male Brit, as they’re both Canadians and non-pasty-honky. Hanomansing was born in Trinidad and Tobago, Majumder is of Bengali/Newfoundlander parents.)
Jason Statham 3
Martin Freedman 4
eTA : pick any one for the doctor, and another for companion.
Best combo- Dench as doctor, Hanomansing & Majumder as alien companion.
No?
If you want “younger,” try Matthew Lewis.
You want “Non-traditional”? Try Peter Mensah.
Want REALLY non-traditional? Try Pam Grier.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’d squee if they made the Doctor regenerate into Clara because she went and injected herself into his timestream. It’s not going to happen, but I’d love it if it did. It would make up for them nuking DoctorDonna too.
Hugh Laurie, with Stephen Fry as his Companion.
So, just me for “More of the same” then - I wouldn’t mind him being a PoC, that’d be nice, but I’d like an order of one young-ish male Doctor with a hot female companion, please. There doesn’t need to be any sexual tension twixt Doctor and Companion - I’m OK with a taken, lesbian or otherwise uninterested-in-the-Doctor Companion. And I’m OK with supplementary non-hot-female companions. But I’ve much preferred the modern Doctors over the older ones of the past, and I’m shallow and need my Companion eye candy.
Personality-wise, I’d like a return to Ecclestone’s moodiness over the other two’s mania, please.
Then there’s precedent. 9% of the doctors so far appeared in minor roles previously.