Bradley Walsh wants a Doctor Who special of The Chase – but Jodie Whittaker has vetoed it
Apparently host Walsh has approached an eager ITV with the idea, but not everyone’s keen on being in the quizzing spotlight…
Between filming hit game show The Chase and BBC sci-fi drama Doctor Who, Bradley Walsh has a pretty hectic schedule – but could the two worlds ever meet?
Well, according to Walsh it could happen, with the actor and presenter revealing that he’s been trying to put together a Doctor Who edition of The Chase starring fellow actors Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole as well as head writer Chris Chibnall.
“Jodie, Mandip and Tosin really love the show and I’m trying to persuade them to come on to a celebrity version with Chris Chibnall,” Walsh exclusively told RadioTimes.com in a recent interview.
“That would be great, and we’ve spoken about that - it’s just finding time for them out of their schedules to do it.”
However, when RadioTimes.com visited the Doctor Who set some weeks ago, it turned out there’s a more significant obstacle to the Chase’s celebrity Who edition – series star Whittaker, who has apparently point-blank refused to take part.
“Absolutely not – it’d be so embarrassing!” Whittaker told RadioTimes.com and other journalists.
“I am not going on it. I'm not publicly humiliating myself on telly. I'm not doing it. With him at the helm!”
“I ask [ITV] all the time and they say yeah, great idea Brad,” Walsh said. “’Why don't you have a word?’ How many times have I asked you now?
“I swear to you know, if I've asked them once, I've asked them a thousand times.”
“He does, he asks us all the time,” confirmed co-star Gill.
“ITV would be delighted! It'd be like all their Christmases come at once,” Walsh added. “It would be great.
“I mean I've had past Doctors on it! Colin Baker's been on it, I think Sylvester McCoy's been on it. But I wanted our gang to be on it.”
Sadly though, apparently he’s been unable to convince the cast, even if Walsh believes their team of four (his three co-stars with Chibnall) could have a powerful bank of knowledge between them.
“They've said no! I think Mandip would come on and fancy it, Tosin would come on...because what they would do, see what happens with the Chase is they give them their own area of expertise. And that's how we make a team, that's how we construct a team.
“We've got music [with Jodie], and we've got modern culture [with Tosin and Mandip]. And we've got just about everything [with Chris’] general knowledge. But they will not have it.”
“I want it to happen,” confirmed showrunner Chibnall.
“I'm up for it,” agreed Cole.
Sadly, Whittaker’s suggested solution – that Chibnall dress up in her costume and pretend to be her – may be the only way to get the Who crew on the Chase for real at the moment, but that doesn’t mean they’re not already well prepared for a possible battle with the Chasers.
Why? Well, in breaks during Doctor Who filming, apparently the four main cast have actually taken to breaking out The Chase board game, with Walsh filling his onscreen role as question-master.
“We have played it, because I bought the board game,” Whittaker told us. “Between scenes we went and we did play it, and we made him ask questions.”
“And I was horrific,” laughed Gill.
“I am not going on it,” re-affirmed Whittaker.
Still, perhaps some day she’ll change her mind – especially if Walsh can manage to keep the idea in the public eye…
“Thank you very much, because you've brought it up now in front of everyone,” Walsh said.
“I ask constantly. You've absolutely played into my hands there, thank you very much for asking. Perfect!”
Doctor Who returns to BBC One in early 2020
