Matt Smith Exiting 'Doctor Who'

11th Doctor Will End His Tenure This Year

The BBC has announced that Matt Smith, who stepped into the Tardis as the 11th incarnation of the Time Lord Doctor Who in 2010, will be leaving the role at the end of the year.  Fans will see Smith regenerate into the 12th Doctor in the 2013 Christmas Special.  The BBC is promising a “spectacular exit” for Smith, but details of his departure from the show are kept under wraps.  The identity of replacement is also not known yet.  Could the BBC, which has recently had to defend the Doctor Who series against charges of racism leveled in an academic study be planning to debut the first non-white Time Lord?

 
The floppy-haired, bow-tie wearing Smith took over from the popular David Tennant in 2010, and under Smith the show has continued to fascinate science fiction fans around the globe.  In Smith’s first Doctor Who adventure, "The Eleventh Hour," which debuted in April of 2010, Smith crashed his Tardis into the garden of a young Scottish girl, Amy Pond, who became one of the series’ most popular companions, and who recently signed on to a very different role as the lead female villain in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy .
 
During his tenure on Doctor Who Smith faced a variety of prime Whovian opponents including the Cybermen, Weeping Angels, Daleks and the Silence.  Smith was the first actor who played Doctor Who to receive a BAFTA (the U.K. equivalent of an Emmy) nomination.  Smith told the BBC "Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me both as an actor and as a bloke, and that is largely down to the cast, crew, and fans of the show."

New Doctor Who Companion Cast

The BBC has announced that Jenna-Louise Coleman has been cast as Doctor Who’s new companion for the 50th anniversary year of the show. Coleman will play against 11th Doctor Matt Smith, replacing Karen Gillan, who’s leaving the show with Arthur Darvill later this year. Coleman is probably best known to North American audiences for her role in Captain America: The First Avenger.The 14-episode seventh season is currently shooting; it sounds like Coleman will be introduced during this season, with her first full season in 2013, the 50th Anniversary year. The sixth season in 2011 was presented in two half-seasons.

Matt Smith is New Doctor Who

The BBC announced on Saturday that BBC TV actor Matt Smith will take over as the new Doctor Who for the fifth series, which will begin airing in 2010. Smith takes over from David Tennant, who is leaving the show after completing a series of interim specials to be aired between the fourth and fifth series (see “The Doctor Is Out”). The first of those specials, a Christmas special, was the #2 show in the UK on Christmas day (see “Wallace and Gromit Biggest”). Smith will be the eleventh actor to star as Doctor Who.

Smith first had a major role in a BBC telemovie, Ruby in the Smoke, in 2006. Since then he’s appeared in BBC series Party Animals, Moses Jones, and others.

Steven Moffat will be the lead writer and Executive Producer of the fifth season; Piers Wenger will be the Exective Producer for BBC Wales on the show.