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I think Clive Doig should have been appointed producer instead of JNT. JNT was a well-meaning fool. Doig told Doctor Who Magazine that [Doig] would have cast a woman or a black man as the Doctor. DWM surmised that, given Doig's background in children's TV, we would have seen Lenny Henry as a canon Doctor.
A woman or a black man should really have been cast in the role a long time ago. It would now be old hat and would certainly have saved us all this nonsense from a couple of years ago about Jodie's casting, which had become such a huge issue by that point. Unfortunately it appeared that the casting was a more important issue than the quality of the actual stories/episodes themselves...
It was *JNT* that notably privately hated the idea of a woman or ethnic minority in the role. Elements in BBC Enterprises really wanted to open opportunities in the Asian market (Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong), which is partly why we nearly got "Yellow Fever... and How to Cure It" in the "lost" Season 23. Under a different producer... and stronger pressure from BBC Ents... we might have seen an Asian Doctor in the eighties.