"The part has been offered to a black actor. But for various reasons, it didn't work out."
The rumour's been circling since 2013, but now Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has confirmed that a black actor was once offered the keys to the TARDIS.
It's a question that's long hung over the BBC series - would a non-white actor ever be cast as the Time Lord? And who would it be?
These are the candidates who've been linked to the part in the past, from the probable to the deeply dubious...
1. Chiwetel Ejiofor
David Tennant and Peter Capaldi were both made straight offers, and Ejiofor is rumoured to have been approached for the part of the 11th Doctor - eventually booked by a little-known 26-year-old named Matt Smith.
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In 2013, The Mirror cited 'sources on the show' in a report claiming that the 12 Years a Slave star had turned down the part.
He notably danced around the question in an interview with Andrew Marr later that year, so maybe there is some truth to it? Or maybe he just isn't interested? We may never know...
2. Paterson Joseph
Perhaps the name most persistently linked to the Doctor - yet always coming up empty-handed - is Paterson.
He was even the bookies' favourite when Tennant announced his departure, with odds of just 3/1 in 2008.
There's some confusion over whether Joseph ever actually auditioned, but he told the Independent in 2014 that he was "overjoyed" to have even been linked to the part.
"They hadn't approached my agent at that point," affirmed the actor - who did play the small role of Rodrick in 2005's 'Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways'.
"But I was overjoyed. I thought, 'How interesting that nobody says how ridiculous this is' - there was no backlash as far as I could see and so I was really gratified. That's enlightened."
3. David Harewood
Harewood actually helped to see off the Tenth Doctor, playing sinister billionaire Joshua Naismith in Tennant's final outing 'The End of Time' in 2009.
He popped up on a few bookies' lists in 2013, telling Entertainment Weekly that he'd like to play a "darker", more "bad-ass" Doctor - but admitted that it "probably wouldn't happen".
Still, he later told ITV's Loose Women that it'd be "really difficult to turn down" all of time and space if the offer was ever made...
4. Colin Salmon
Pretty thin, this one. Salmon played Doctor Moon in Steven Moffat's popular 2008 two-parter 'Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead', but his one link to the lead role seems to be a 2008 story by The Sun.
The article, 'Time is right for black Dr Who', alleged that Salmon had "made a good impression" on the production team during his earlier guest stint and was being eyed as David Tennant's replacement.
But there's no hard evidence on this one either way and Salmon's never publicly addressed the possibility of playing the Doctor.
5. Idris Elba
Big Driis was unreceptive in 2013 when asked about taking up the TARDIS controls. "I'd look silly in a bow tie," he joked - though there is something Doctor-ish about John Luther's long tweed coat...
He's got Maisie Williams's backing, in any case: "I'm all for Idris," the Ashildr actress told the Evening Standard earlier this year.
