Saw this story in today's DAILY FURTHERANCE OF MURDOCH'S EVIL AGENDA this morning and chuckled heartily. Even though I'm taking it with a healthy pinch of salt, this story could have been designed to appeal to me: it insinuates that my favourite DOCTOR WHO writer is on the verge of taking the reins as series producer, and that an Ulsterman is taking over in the lead role. That said, why not? The character has had strong regional accents before.
*update* Steven Moffat has turned up at a fansite messageboard to repudiate the story. "The James Nesbitt story is a total fabrication. Made up. A fantasy. Just a guy sitting at a desk and just inventing stuff. I wasn't going to say anything, but I'm getting embarrassed for the deeply wonderful Jimmy Nesbitt. So tell everyone please, cos it's getting very silly". Understandable, 'cus poor old Jimmy was getting a lot of (borderline racist) abuse over this.