Russell T Davies: Amy Winehouse would be a brilliant Doctor Who

DOCTOR WHO writer and exectutive producer Russell T Davies says that dysfunctional diva Amy Winehouse would make a "brilliant" Time Lord.

Davies was clearly aware of earlier reports in which bookmakers listed the odds of several celebrities becoming the next Doctor Who.

Although Winehouse could keep several sonic screwdrivers and probably another space-time dimension within her beehive hairdo, she sometimes seems like she's heading towards her own black hole of destruction without any help from the Daleks or other alien races.

Her odds of becoming the next Time Lord were listed by William Hill as an unlikely 100:1, the same as those of Paul McCartney's former wife Heather Mills.

Davies says he also can't help imagining Lesley Sharp (who appeared in the Doctor Who episode Midnight) and Judi Dench in the role, though I don't think either is a good choice.

Davies was speaking to the Guardian newspaper where, despite saying Winehouse would be "brilliant", he concluded that David Tennant's eventual replacement should not be female.

"I am often tempted to say yes to [a female Doctor] to placate everyone but, while I think kids will not have a problem with that, I think fathers will have a problem because they will then imagine they will have to describe sex changes to their children.

"I think fathers can describe sex changes to their children and I think they should and it's part of the world, but I think it would simply introduce genitalia into family viewing. You're not talking about actresses or style, you're talking about genitalia, and a lot of parents would get embarrassed."

David Tennant will feature in this year's Christmas special, which will be set in Victorian England and feature the Cybermen, as well as four other specials which begin filming in 2009. Davies is hard at work on those specials, after which he hands over the reins to Steven Moffatt.

Davies refused to say whether Tennant will return when the full series returns in 2010, except that a decision has been made and the BBC knows what it is.