A new Doctor has been picked, says former 'Doctor Who' showrunner

Former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies loves a good drama -- and he seems to have stirred one up with an offhand comment during an awards show interview.

"I do know who it is," Davies claimed to Andy West, a former Big Brother star, on the red carpet at the British LGBT awards. He was talking about the as-yet-unannounced next star of Doctor Who.

Those awards took place in May, but West just posted this video of him interviewing Davies on Sunday. Naturally, the internet exploded like a dimensionally unsound TARDIS.

Davies makes his comment at the 4:07 mark, then refuses to say anything else.

Peter Capaldi will be stepping down from the role of the Doctor in or before the upcoming Christmas Day episode, the final one under current showrunner Steven Moffat.

The decision about who replaces Capaldi is (or was?) in the hands of Moffat's successor, Chris Chibnall.

There hasn't been the slightest hint of an official word about Capaldi's successor from Chibnall or the BBC; we don't even know if there will be a star-studded announcement show, as there was when Capaldi took over from Matt Smith in 2013.

We certainly don't know the answer to what is, for many, the most pressing question of all: whether the new Doctor will be a man or a woman. (Moffat has established that Time Lords like the Doctor can change gender when they regenerate.)

In April, the UK tabloid Daily Mirror claimed to have an inside source stating the new Doctor had already been chosen, and that "he" would appear in the final episode of the regular Season 10 later this month -- putting him in place before the Christmas special.

The new Doctor, according to the Mirror: Kris Marshall, best known to international audiences as Colin in Love Actually. UK bookies briefly suspended bets on Marshall becoming the new Doctor.

However, betting on the new actor has since been restored -- and while Marshall remains the odds-on favorite, bookies have recently seen a flurry of bets on Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

You may know Waller-Bridge from her hit sitcom Fleabag, available on Amazon Prime. You may also remember she has joined the cast of the untitled Han Solo movie, which may put her in a galaxy too far away (aka Pinewood Studios) to join the Doctor Who crew filming in Cardiff.

Other commonly-mentioned actors -- Richard Ayode, Olivia Coleman, Tilda Swinton -- are much further down the list.

Apparently the more famous the actor, the less likely they are to want to spend 8 months of the year in Cardiff. (Since Davies revived the show in 2005, Doctor Who has been produced by BBC Wales.)

Alan Cumming revealed last week that he was twice offered the role, and would have taken it up in a heartbeat -- had it not required moving to the rainy Welsh capital.