According to
The Daily Express, they have been contacted by an as-yet-unnamed source who is claiming that Benedict Cumberbatch will play the role of The Master, The Doctor's arch nemesis, in the 50 anniversary of the show due to air in about a year and a half. Suprisingly, the actor was linked to the role of the Eleventh Doctor before Matt Smith took on the role.
It’s fitting that the Doctor comes face to face with his ultimate enemy, The Master, for the 50th anniversary and it’s felt Benedict is the perfect choice if schedules can work. Fans will love the idea of the man who plays Sherlock Holmes taking on the Doctor.
Benedict has often been asked about whether he would like to play the Doctor so it will be ironic if he now ends up being The Master instead.
As with every rumor from an "unnamed source", take this with a grain of salt but I wouldn't be too shocked if this turned out to be true. Steven Moffat runs both
Doctor Who and
Sherlock so it wouldn't take much for him to cast Cumberbatch in a Who role. The only thing I don't like about this is it would push a third series of the hugely successful
Sherlock further and further away, what with Cumberbatch doing
Star Trek 2 and finishing up work on both parts of
The Hobbit, which he's doing with co-star Martin Freeman.