I could see this thread coming. Surprised it took over a day though! :-)
I was surprised at Piper's casting, mainly because she'd been rumoured in connection to the part, and in the whole history of "Doctor Who" nobody who's been rumoured for anything in connection to the series has ever gotten it. (See Freddie-B's Izzard comment - his name was thrown into the ring by the famously mad-as-cheese Tom Baker back after the announcement in September. Terrible idea, but the papers still ran with it.)
She wouldn't have been my first choice, mainly because like many in the UK the memory of her pop career still haunts me... But by all accounts she's turned into quite a decent actress. I missed both her recent BBC performances in "The Miller's Tale" and "Bella and the Boys", and I'm not going to see the sodding "Calcium Kid", so I can't judge for myself.
But what I can judge is the abilities of those behind the new series, which have never been at fault before. If, after calling her in to three separate autitions before making the decision and seeing scores of actresses, Russell, Phil, Mal and Julie reckon she's the best, then that's more than good enough for me.
Well, actually, I don't entirely trust Mal Young, but the other three I do.
January creeps ever closer...
If there are to be 13 episodes, does that mean it won't be the old format of four episodes per story with the cliffhanger endings?
I always thought the best thing about Dr Who was the cliffhangers followed by the scream of the title music.
fatty.
Ten stories altogether, seven stand-alone 45-minute episodes as you said but there will also be three two-part stories, complete with cliff-hangers! These will be episodes four and five (written by Russell, and currently provisionally titled "Aliens of London"), episodes nine and ten (no working title out for these yet, but they're by Steve Moffat - Scotland's contribution to the new series!), and the final two episodes of the season, (again by Russell, current working title "The Parting of the Ways").
Plus it looks like from what Russell has said that we'll probably be getting pre-titles sequences, because just about everyone does them these days. So expect some mini cliff-hangers in those!