ACTRESS, Maxine Peake, has ruled herself out of playing the next Doctor Who – and attributed rumours of her stint in the Tardis to The Bolton News!

The former Westhoughton High School and Canon Slade pupil said she’d become aware of stories that she’d be the next Time Lord after chatting with her dad – who’d obviously been reading this publication.

Speaking to the Radio Times at the BFI and Radio Times Festival, she said: “My dad texted me one day and said ‘oh, why didn’t you tell me you were going to be the new Doctor Who?’ And I said ‘it’s not because it slipped my mind; it’s because I’m not’.

“The Bolton Evening News said I was ‘touted’ for the role. I hope it’s a woman but it doesn’t really bother me as long as the person who gets it really wants to do it.”

The 42-year-old said she was ‘flattered’ to be linked with the role but joked that it looked ‘too much like hard work’, adding that Benedict Wong was her preferred choice to replace Peter Capaldi in the legendary sci-fi series.

We'll forgive our Maxine for referring to us as the 'evening' news and, to give her her dues, She might have a point: In February we ran a piece asking readers for their preferred choice to be the next Time Lord - and she was the overwhelming favourite.

Maxine polled 73 per cent of the vote, beating runner-up, Ben Whishaw on 12 per cent and Richard Ayoade, Olivia Colman and Rory Kinnear, who all took five per cent of the vote.