Matt Smith To Leave Doctor Who!
Matt Smith To Leave as Doctor Who
Well, this was a bit out the blue (…box)! Matt Smith has announced he will be regenerating at Christmas into a shiny new (as yet unannounced) form! Here’s the statments from Matt and show-runner Steven Moffat, but you can get more info at the official blog here, and the BBC news story here.
Matt Smith says: “Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew and fans of the show. I’m incredibly grateful to all the cast and crew who work tirelessly every day, to realise all the elements of the show and deliver Doctor Who to the audience. Many of them have become good friends and I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last four years.
Having Steven Moffat as show runner write such varied, funny, mind bending and brilliant scripts has been one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges of my career. It’s been a privilege and a treat to work with Steven, he’s a good friend and will continue to shape a brilliant world for the Doctor.
The fans of Doctor Who around the world are unlike any other; they dress up, shout louder, know more about the history of the show (and speculate more about the future of the show) in a way that I’ve never seen before, your dedication is truly remarkable. Thank you so very much for supporting my incarnation of the Time Lord, number Eleven, who I might add is not done yet, I’m back for the 50th anniversary and the Christmas special!
It’s been an honour to play this part, to follow the legacy of brilliant actors, and helm the TARDIS for a spell with ‘the ginger, the nose and the impossible one’. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go and Trenzalore calls. Thank you guys. Matt.”
Steven Moffat, lead writer and executive producer, says : “Every day, on every episode, in every set of rushes, Matt Smith surprised me: the way he’d turn a line, or spin on his heels, or make something funny, or out of nowhere make me cry, I just never knew what was coming next. The Doctor can be clown and hero, often at the same time, and Matt rose to both challenges magnificently. And even better than that, given the pressures of this extraordinary show, he is one of the nicest and hardest-working people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Whatever we threw at him – sometimes literally – his behaviour was always worthy of the Doctor.
So, the question is, Who do you want to see as the next Doctor? Leave your comments below!
Dave has over 20 years experience in the digital industry, and is founder and editor of Geektown. Obviously a huge geek himself, he can often be found in front of the latest tv show or movie, on various video games, or with his head in a comic book.
SAM JACKSON IS THE NEW DOCTOR
It will never happen but I would love to see Natalia Tena play the next Doctor.
I’m ready for some newness. But like Ollie, I’d rather see something a little more ‘classic’ come back in the feel of it, rather than a mad scrabble to keep being “New! Different!!” – I’ve nothing against the doc turning female, for instance, but… hmm, not now, please!
Will Moffat also please step down and let the show get back to the fun, exciting, engaging and interesting show it used to be. The latest series has been his best by far, but still lacks the magic that Doctor Who had from 1963-2009. I will miss Matt terribly, he is a great actor and has worked marvels with poor scripts and over-written, unnecessarily complex and, frankly, quite dull stories. Moffat is a great writer, but has lost sight of what Doctor Who is about. It needs to rediscover its roots and audience as a children’s/family show, instead of being so complicated that even the storyliner and writers lose track resulting in plot-holes so large you could use them as a pocket in a game of intergalactic bar-billiards. Moffat needs to go back to writing and let someone else plot out the seasons.
I’m in agreement with you about Moffat stepping down as show runner. I love his writing and stories, but give the mixed bag of the last season, he doesn’t seem to be coping with the running the show. I’d love to see him stay on as a writer, but had over the running to someone else. Or maybe have 2 people running it. Pull in Gatiss to run it with him. I’d also like to see a return of the 2 parters, as a lot of the episodes this season seemed rushed to fit them into 45 mins. Will be interesting to see where they go from here. Either way, it’s looking like the 2014 season will be Aug not Easter, but hopefully that means a return to a full 13 episode run.