How to be the next Doctor Who star...

Why, we hear you ask? Well, after painstaking statistical analysis (of sorts), we have concluded that you are most likely to be revealed as the next Doctor when Peter Capaldi retires.

OK, we're jumping the gun a little - he's only just regenerated - but hear us out...

First of all, the date. 17 April. Of all the thirteen actors who have played the Doctor, four of them have birthdays in April - William Hartnell, Peter Davison, David Tennant and Peter Capaldi - making it the most popular month of birth of future Doctors. If you take an average date of all four of their birthdays, you get the 17th, yes the 17th of April.

See where we're going with this...?

Next up, the age. If you total up the age of each actor when they were first announced as the Doctor - from the oldest, John Hurt (at 73), to the youngest Matt Smith (26) - you get an average age of 44.

BUT Peter Capaldi's only just getting started. We don't reckon he'll be retiring for a while so you don't want to be turning 44 anytime soon. In fact, each Doctor* spends an average of three years in the role. (*We chose not to factor Paul McGann or John Hurt into this calculation as their one-off appearances would have drastically altered the average. Peter Capaldi is also exempt as the length of his occupation of the Tardis is yet to be determined.)

So, to sum up (see what we did there?), if you turn 41 today, in three years time when Peter Capaldi hangs up his Crombie coat, you'll be turning 44 - that's the average age of a newly announced Doctor on the average date of a Doctor's birthday. Statistically, the odds are in your favour - look how happy Matt Smith is...

Are you turning 41 today? Are you keen to be the next Doctor? Are you a woman and could you - potentially - become the very first female Doctor. We want to know, so get in touch in the comments box below...