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."

BBC Trailer for New Doctor Who Season

The BBC has released a trailer for the new season of the long-running Doctor Who series.   The seventh season of the “revamped” Doctor Who promises to be very interesting especially since Neil Gaiman, who won a Hugo Award for his first Doctor Who script, penned another episode that will be included in Season 7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a1pzCjPN9xs

 

Is any footage from the Gaiman episode in the new trailer? The answer appears to be yes since there is a shot of the Cybermen, who have not appeared in any Doctor Who episodes since 2011, but which are the focus of Gaiman’s second Doctor Who script.  The new season will premiere debut on March 30th.

"Doctor Who" Trailer for New Season

A new trailer has been released for the Seventh Season of Doctor Who, which premieres in the U.S. (BBC America) on September 1st. The big news is that the new season "changes everything!"

New Doctor Who Trailer

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNHEEZ_I74U&feature=player_embedded

Eccleston in "Thor 2"

Christopher Eccleston is in final talks for a role in Thor 2, according to Hollywood Reporter. He’ll play the role of the ruler of the Dark Elves of the Svartalfheim, according to the report. Eccleston is perhaps best known as Doctor Who in the 2005 season. He’ll join returning stars from the first film, including Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, and Tom Hiddleston, plus some other new additions.

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.

Doctor Who Movie Gets Director

David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter films, is attached to direct a Doctor Who feature film, according to Variety. The film is being produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. Yates is currently looking for a writer, and says the process may take a while. He told Variety, “We’re going to spend two to three years to get it right.”

The plan for the story is to take off in a new direction that’s not tied too directly to the TV show; Yates said the property will need a “radical transformation” for the big screen treatment.
TV showrunner Stephen Moffat gave his blessing for a feature over three years ago ,giving some indication of the lengthy timeline this project may take.

Among licensees, IDW Publishing has the comics, Titan Publishing Group has the magazines and Cubicle 7 the roleplaying game.

Final Tennant Doctor Who's to America

BBC America will air the five Doctor Who specials that wrap up David Tennant’s tenure on the show, according to Variety. The Next Doctor (the Christmas special) will air on June 27th; and Planet of the Dead will air in July. The remaining three specials have not been scheduled.

Tennant’s star power is also being used on spinoff show The Sarah Jane Adventures, according to a BBC announcement. He’ll appear in two episodes of the new 12-part season.

The Sarah Jane Adventures tells stories starring investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, a former Doctor’s companion. Smith’s role is played by Elisabeth Sladen. Tennant’s appearance is promised as a significant role, and not a cameo.

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.

Joseph to the the First Doctor Who?

David Tennant hasn't yet abandoned his starring role in the BBC SF series Doctor Who, but rumors have already begun circulating that Paterson Joseph--who guest-starred in the first season--may be the leading candidate to replace Tennant as the 11th Doctor. Joseph would be the first black actor to assay the iconic role. Joseph's agent reportedy denied the Doctor Who rumor when approached about it last week.

When SCI FI Wire contacted Joseph directly, his initial response was a text message that said, "I am on a list of God knows how many others, but flattered to be considered." That was followed by an e-mail a day later, saying, "The news on Who was news to me as of last Wednesday, when my agent said they'd had lots of journos asking if the rumors were true. That's all I know, and I'm very pleased to even be thought of in this way. It's a blast!" The rumor, which should be taken with a grain of salt, was first reported by British journalist Richard Johnston last week in his online column "Lying in the Gutters." Joseph played Roderick in the Doctor Who two-part episode "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways."

Joseph's recent TV appearances include the U.K. series Peep Show, Green Wing and Hyperdrive, but he is probably best known to genre fans for his scene-stealing performance as the Marquis de Carabas in writer Neil Gaiman's short-lived 1996 BBC series Neverwhere. Perhaps more germane to this particular story is the actor's work in last year's Jekyll miniseries, which was created by Steven Moffat, who will be taking over as the new Doctor Who show runner in the upcoming fifth season in 2010. Did that role give Joseph the inside track? Only time will tell. While many Doctor Who purists are already resisting the notion of a black actor taking on the role, the biggest obstacle could actually be Joseph's role as Greg Preston in the BBC's upcoming revival of the 1970s post-apocalyptic drama Survivors. According to the show's producer Adrian Hodges (Primeval), "He's a lovely actor, and he has immense likability on screen.

To me, he has hero written and integrity written all over him, and he's a great actor. We're very pleased with him, and we won't kill him off anytime soon, I promise you that!" The fourth season of Doctor Who will be released in the United States on Nov. 18. The series is currently on hiatus in the United Kingdom but will continue with a series of one-off specials, after which a new production team will take over with season five in 2010. --Joe Nazzaro