Who? Christopher Eccleston, that's who.

It's official: Christopher Eccleston is the new Doctor Who, according to a number of press sources who cite a BBC press release issued this evening. Eccleston, who appeared in the films 24 Hour Party People and 28 Days Later just completed a two-part series for Russell T. Davies called Second Coming that aired in the UK in January of this year.

Jane Tranter, BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning, said: "We are delighted to have cast an actor of such calibre in one of British television's most iconic roles.

"It signals our intention to take Doctor Who into the 21st century, as well as retaining its core traditional values – to be surprising, edgy and eccentric.

"We have chosen one of Britain's finest actors to play what, in effect, will be an overtly modern hero."

Executive producer and writer Russell T. Davies said: "We considered many great actors for this wonderful part, but Christopher was our first choice.

"This man can give the Doctor a wisdom, wit and emotional range as far-reaching as the Doctor's travels in time and space.

"His casting raises the bar for all of us. It's going to be a magnificent, epic, entertaining journey, and I can't wait to start."

The series will be filmed in Cardiff later this year.

In other Who news, despite statements to the contrary by new Executive Producer Russell T. Davies, it appears that the first intergalactic Doctor Who villain, the Daleks, may be making an appearance in the new series after all.

According to news reports from various websites including the BBC's own Who site, negotiations have been underway with the estate of the late Terry Nation, creator of the Daleks and owner of all copyrights involving the use of the characters. A BBC spokesperson was quoted as saying, "We are negotiating to feature the Daleks in the new series, but no deal has yet been made." The BBC Cult website has done some investigating of its own and were told that negotiations were ongoing for the Daleks and other classic creatures from the series but couldn't confirm any specifics.

For those unaware of the complexity of the situation, most of the writers who created character and creatures during the run of the series own the rights for those creatures. Terry Nation, who wrote the original Dalek teleplay, owns all rights to the creatures while Gerry Davis and Kit Pedler own all rights to the Cybermen and so on. Great for the writers but problematic when you're producing a series. One can only imagine what Paramount would do if they had to negotiate with one writer or their estate every time they wanted to use a Klingon.

Thanks to The Scotsman, Gallifrey One and BBC Online for the reports!

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