Matt Smith to leave Doctor Who
Geronimo! Matt Smith will exit as The Doctor in the Christmas special.
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Matt Smith will leave Doctor Who after four years in the iconic role.
He will leave the role at the end of this year after starring in the 50th Anniversary in November and regenerating in the Christmas Special.
The news comes despite him saying in a recent interview he would return for season eight.
Smith followed in the footsteps of David Tennant, considered a big ask at the time, but won the praise of fans and became  the first actor to be nominated for a BAFTA in the role. He was joined by companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) and most recently Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman).
“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,” he said.
“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.”
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.
“But great actors always know when it’s time for the curtain call, so this Christmas prepare for your hearts to break, as we say goodbye to number Eleven. Thank you Matt – bow ties were never cooler.
“Of course, this isn’t the end of the story, because now the search begins. Somewhere out there right now – all unknowing, just going about their business – is someone who’s about to become the Doctor. A life is going to change, and Doctor Who will be born all over again! After 50 years, that’s still so exciting!”
The 50th anniversary episode on is due in the UK on Saturday 23 November, so pencil it in for November 24 in Australia, the final Sunday of the TV ratings year (to be confirmed).
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17 Responses
Perhaps it’s time for a female Doctor Who, that could shake things up a bit!
I think I would like them to bring back David Tennant as the regenerated Doctor, As David said in his last episode before he regenerates “I don’t want to leave” so maybe there is a chance that David could once again take over the helm.
Also I agree with the others maybe its time to bring back an older doctor.
I was pleasantly surprised by Matt as the Doctor. His performance was genuinely quite moving at times, and I found him less overbearing than Tennant’s self-righteous, seemingly manic-depressive Doctor (an unpopular opinion, I know).
That said, I think it is the right time for Matt to say bye bye.
Oh for goodness sake….it is TV/fiction….it is not set in stone…the writers can regenerate the Doctor a million times if they wish….they are writting the scripts….*sigh*
It’s a shame moffat isn’t leaving at the same time. I loved the RTD era but this last 4 years has been pretty dire with one or two good eps in each series. Omly the last 2 of this current series have been any good. I hope the next doctor will be a bit older (not as old as john hurt though)
Matt Smith is one of my favourite doctors and I’ll be sad to see him go. That being said I’d like the role to go to someone older this time.
Hugh Laurie, John Hannah or James Nesbitt perhaps?
@tomothyd – I seem to remember an episode from my youth where it was explained that the Master had managed to rort the system and was now capable of regenerating more than 12 times.
I’d always assumed that he would one day pop up again (although unlikely to be John Simm now), and pass on this info to the Doctor. It seemed to me that his most recent appearance, when he joined forces with no. 10 to send the Time Lords back to the time-locked Gallifrey (I really should get out more…) was a precursor to him one day offering this bit of advice and assistance to his old foe.
From what I have read John Hurt is halfway between Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston, so could Moffat pull a fast one and make Paul McGann the Doctor again (McGann has said he would love to play the role again if asked).
Personally I would like to see someone more mature in age as the Doctor this time around, however the person I would like to see take that role is already tied up in a US TV Series, that being Robert Carlyle (again he has put his name forward in the past).
I’ve enjoyed Matt as the Doctor and will miss him. But that is the nature of this show, no doctor stays forever. I wonder how long it will be before they announce his replacement. As much as I would love an older doctor, a la Jon Pertwee, sadly I doubt that will happen.
I would have liked to see Eleven and Clara in one more series together though, I feel like we didn’t get enough of them. I’ll be interested to see how she goes as a companion to Twelve.
Darn – whilst he wasn’t as magnificent as Tennant, I still thought he was a superb Doctor. I’d love to see John Hurt stay on in the role. Surely we don’t have to have slender 20-30somethings. Hurt could take it in a darker direction.
@maxxdue @tomothyd
The Doctor got more regenerations in the episode “Let’s Kill Hitler”. River Song gave her remaining re-generations to him to save his life. So the Doctor has at least another 10 re-generations to go.
As for who the new Doctor will be, I expect we will hear something within in the next few months as they will probably announce it before filming begins on the Christmas episode.
That Matt Smith was leaving Dr. Who was reported on ABC radio last week so it is not new news. They also indicated that John Hurt would be the next Doctor. For me, David Tennant has been the best in this role so I wish they would bring him back.
I guess ABC had ESP or a good scoop, it was only confirmed by the BBC on the weekend.
Happy to see Matt go and looking forward to finding out about the new Doctor. Yer, like they were ever going to worry about the 12-life limit! It’s SF, which means they can write their way around anything.
@maxxdude: They updated the number of lives for him a couple of years ago… Taken from Wikipedia:
The BBC’s Series 4 FAQ suggests that now the Time Lord social order has been destroyed, the Doctor may be able to circumvent the limit on regenerations; it says: “Now that his people are gone, who knows? Time Lords used to have 13 lives.” In Death of the Doctor (a 2010 The Sarah Jane Adventures serial), the Eleventh Doctor responds to a question from Clyde Langer by saying he can regenerate “507” times. Early news reports, before the episode was broadcast, suggested he would say there is no limit to the number of regenerations. Writer Russell T Davies explained in an interview with SFX that the line was not intended to be taken seriously and is instead a commentary. He insisted that the “thirteen lives” rule was too deeply entrenched in the viewer consciousness for his throwaway line to affect it
So he is the 11th Doctor & Doctor Who can only have 12 lives so does this mean that the next Doctor will be the last Doctor?
It doesn’t feel like Matt was around that long but he did do 42 episodes (Including xMas specials) which is only 4 less than Tennant who did 46.
Can’t wait to see who they get next and I’m wondering how John Hurt plays into things but as River says ‘Spoilers’ so I guess we have a 6 month wait until the 50th special in November.
I’m sure some of us will know long before that.