Matt Smith--The Biography

by Emily Herbert

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  CHAPTER 1: DOCTOR WHO?

  CHAPTER 2: THE DAWN OF A LEGEND

  CHAPTER 3: DOCTOR WHO REGENERATES

  CHAPTER 4: GERONIMO!

  CHAPTER 5: WATCH OUT – THESE GIRLS HAVE TEETH

  CHAPTER 6: THE FINALE APPROACHES

  CHAPTER 7: A TIME LORD IS BORN

  CHAPTER 8: THAT FACE

  CHAPTER 9: PARTY ANIMALS

  CHAPTER 10: WHO’S THAT GIRL

  CHAPTER 11: THE DOCTOR’S ASSISTANT

  CHAPTER 12: THE DOCTOR AND THE WOMEN

  CHAPTER 13: FRESH AS A DAISY

  CHAPTER 14: THE BEST DOCTOR EVER?

  CHAPTER 15: MOST STYLISH DOCTOR

  Copyright

  CHAPTER 1

  DOCTOR WHO?

  The nation had been agog. Just weeks earlier, towards the end of 2008, David Tennant had announced that he was stepping down from his role as possibly the most popular Doctor Who ever, and amid the sadness that he was leaving, there was intensive speculation as to who would take over the role. A new Doctor Who is a little like a new James Bond: an iconic part of Britain’s cultural landscape, and whoever gets either part knows that there will be praise and hostility in equal measure. Indeed, so much had David Tennant made the role his own, that it was widely forgotten that when he had originally taken it over from Christopher Eccleston, who in turn had revived the character for the twenty-first century, there had been a fair bit of grumbling there, too.

  In the wake of the Tennant decision, however, speculation had reached a boiling point that it hadn’t ever done before. The show’s canny producers must have been delighted as one name after another was trotted out: would Cold Feet star James Nesbitt, often cited in connection with the role, be the next to wield the sonic screwdriver? What about John Simm? The actor, who had starred in the massively popular BBC drama Life On Mars, had recently put in a scene-stealing turn as Doctor Who’s nemesis The Master, the only other surviving Time Lord: would he now do a leap from the dark side and don the cloak of goodness himself?

  There were plenty of other options, too. Paterson Joseph emerged as an early favourite: he had appeared on the show twice already with Christopher Eccleston, and bookmakers Paddy Power were offering odds of 3/1 on him becoming the first black Doctor Who. Another strong possibility appeared to be David Morrissey: he was already known to be appearing in an upcoming episode of the series, and mysteriously appeared to be taking on the role of the Doctor already, even though Tennant had yet to stand down. Then there was Paul McGann, who had actually been the Doctor once already, in a one-off Doctor Who film. Rhys Ifans? Well, he was Welsh and the series was filmed in Cardiff.

  Names were flooding in thick and fast. Robert Carlyle and Jason Statham were mentioned. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Head (already a seasoned monster hunter), David Walliams, Alan Davies, Richard E Grant, Nigel Harman, Bill Nighy, Richard Coyle, Aidan Gillen, Harry Lloyd and Marc Warren were all in the frame. There was speculation that the next Doctor might be a hereditary one: Sean Pertwee, the son of a previous Doctor Who was mentioned, as were Jack Davenport, Tom Ellis, Adrian Lester (another potential black Doctor), Alexander Armstrong, Daniel Radcliffe, Burn Gorman, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Rupert Penry-Jones, Stephen Fry (really), Ben Miles and even David Suchet. So was Hugh Grant, of all the unlikely people, who was typically self-deprecating: ‘The danger with those things is that it’s only when you see it on screen that you think, “Damn, that was good – why did I say no?”’ he said. ‘But then, knowing me, I’d probably make a mess of it.’

  Other contenders included Gary Oldman, Paul Bettany, someone called Matt Smith (at odds of 66/1), Benedict Cumberbatch, Dean Lennox Kelly (who had appeared in an episode of Doctor Who as Shakespeare), Christopher Villiers, Ricky Gervais and Eddie Izzard. Indeed, everyone who was anyone in the realm of British show business appeared to be being considered for the role.

  And that really did include everyone. Russell T Davies, the brilliant screenwriter and producer who had brought the series back to life in 2005, naughtily muddied the waters, when he speculated that for the first time ever, Doctor Who could be a woman. ‘Amy Winehouse would be a great doctor,’ he said. Come to mention it, why not Billie Piper, who had also played a big role in the programme’s revival as the Doctor’s assistant Rose? Or Freema Agyeman, another of the Doctor’s assistants, who could go one step better by playing the Doctor as a black woman, yet another first? Or Catherine Tate, another ex-assistant, although certainly not to everyone’s taste. Who was it going to be?

  Nor was Davies letting it rest there. Aware that his every utterance was going to be pounced on – and rightly so, given what he’d done for the show – he also let it be known that someone quite different was his favourite for the role: Russell Tovey, another seasoned Doctor Who performer, who had played the role of Midshipman Frame in the previous year’s Christmas special. ‘Tovey is my favourite casting of the lot,’ he said. ‘He’s amazing. I think I’d make him the eleventh doctor.’ Tovey would certainly not have been averse to signing up. ‘Of course!’ he said. ‘It’s awesome!’ Somewhat ironically, given who was to get the role, Tovey’s youth was seen to count against him – he was only 29.

  But it wasn’t going to be Russell’s decision any more. Tennant wasn’t the only one leaving the show: Russell was too, to be replaced by another brilliant screenwriter, Steven Moffat. Moffat had been responsible for some of the most memorable episodes in the recent series, including “Blink”, which introduced a brand new and terrifying set of villains, the Weeping Angels, and it was he – and the BBC, of course – who was to determine who was to be the next Doctor. The tension was becoming almost too much to bear.

  But neither Moffat nor his colleagues was going to put the nation out of its misery any time soon. Tennant announced he was stepping down in October 2008; the new Who was not to be unveiled until the following January. Meanwhile, the weeping and wailing over Tennant’s departure had begun, not least by Tennant himself: ‘When Doctor Who returns in 2010 it won’t be with me,’ he told the BBC in an interview. ‘Now don’t make me cry. I love this part, and I love this show so much that if I don’t take a deep breath and move on now I never will, and you’ll be wheeling me out of the Tardis in my bath chair.’

  He had been playing it for three years, after all; that was long enough. ‘I think it’s better to go when there’s a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome,’ he said. ‘[It had been] the most extraordinary time, it’s been bewildering, life changing, very exciting. And just so much fun, such a great show to work on. That’s one of the reasons I think it’s right to take a deep breath and bow out when it’s still fun, when it’s a novelty. I don’t ever want it to feel like a job, so I want to move on when it still feels exciting and fresh and that means I’ll miss it.’

  He might have felt like that, but not many others did. David Tennant had been a massively popular Doctor Who and as much as there were vague feelings of goodwill towards his successor, whoever that might turn out to be, people simply didn’t want him to step away. Then there was the manner of his departure: just how was Doctor Who going to metamorphose into his next stage? ‘I might drop an anvil on his head,’ said Davies. ‘Or maybe a piano – a radioactive piano.’

  As the months passed in the build-up to the big announcement, speculation intensified further still. There were whole internet sites devoted to the question of who would be the next Doctor, with the bookies changing their odds from day to day. At one point Robert Carlyle became the 2/1 favourite (like Tennant, he was thin, lithe and Scottish, although Tennant had always played the Doctor as an Englishman); at another James Nesbitt was garnering
odds of 6/1. A Facebook page was established dedicated to getting Zac Efron the role, while Paterson Joseph rose to 3/1.

  Discussion boards flourished. Everyone had an opinion, and more than a few of them wanted Tennant to stay. ‘I’m going with David Mitchell!!’ was one typical online post. ‘The Man would totally work, watch some Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look. Look for more info if you have not heard of him. In fact I second the opinion that Hugh Laurie would make an EXCELLENT doctor, Stephen Fry would also make a very good Doctor and evoke memories of the wonderful Patrick Troughton!’

  ‘It’s good to think outside the box,’ said another. ‘But, obviously, Amy Winehouse would be a terrible choice in basically every respect.’

  ‘I’m cool with Tennant,’ added a third. ‘I like him a lot, in fact, even though he’s a little annoying at times. But I think he’s one of the better Doctors. Dunno about his replacement, though. Used to be, they’d sort of pick someone to contrast the previous one, like the bland Davison after the “colourful” Baker (still my fave). But I liked the subsequent choices, too, so whatevs…’

  And then there was the odd online heated debate – ‘I see no good reason why the Doctor couldn’t regenerate in a female form,’ snapped one poster, quoting another. ‘I didn’t say HE couldn’t, just that you would have to deal with the whole “male trapped in a female body” thing. If it were done it would be just a cry for attention, unless it were for a short arc, which could be excellent. A body switch between Doctor and Companion could be hilarious for an episode or two.’

  Was it any wonder there was so much debate? There always had been, whenever one Who handed over to another, of course, but these days there was so much more because everyone could express their opinions online. And, despite the widespread opinion that David Tennant was the best Doctor of the lot, people still maintained their previous favourites – just as with James Bond, it tended to be whichever actor happened to be the viewer’s first Who. Tom Baker certainly resonated with the masses, but all the past Whos had their supporters – which didn’t make it any easier to choose who would come next.

  Certainly, whoever it was going to be was going to find the role career changing. Most of the earlier Doctors had been at least fairly well known before they stepped into the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), and although Tom Baker had become pretty much defined by the role, he, like the rest, managed to find a career elsewhere. (Though before Tennant, Baker was consistently the most popular Who, constantly topping polls to that effect and only ever losing three times, once to Sylvester McCoy in 1990 and twice to Tennant in 2006 and 2009).

  This time round, although no one knew it yet, the thinking was going to be a little different. The producers wanted a totally unknown quantity, and for that they were going to have to find someone very, very young. That was in stark contrast to the first Doctor, played by William Hartnell, who was the first to play the role at the grand old age of 55; even Tennant, who was 34 when he first went time travelling, had been considered a smidgen too young. Now, however, the producers were on the verge of taking a radical approach by appointing the youngest Who ever – but it was also a massive risk.

  ‘Matt Who?’ demanded the headlines. And they were not alone. There was widespread amazement throughout the country, for the BBC had utterly confounded expectations and cast a total unknown in one of the most iconic roles of them all. And not only had no one ever heard of him, but he was so young. At 26, he was the youngest ever Time Lord, three years younger than Peter Davison, who was 29 when he got the part in 1981. Although Matt’s name had popped up in the frenzy of speculation that had been gripping the country, no one had taken it seriously – how could you possibly give such a role to someone so unknown and so lacking in years? And however sure they might have been about their new man, the BBC was taking a tremendous risk. That show has to be carried by its central character, no matter how curvy the sidekicks or how threatening the monsters, and for someone who looked to be barely out of his teens, that was an awful lot to ask.

  Matt himself was very much aware of what was at stake. ‘I haven’t slept,’ he said in an interview on Doctor Who Confidential, of which more later. ‘It’s an iconic part of our culture … it has the status of Robin Hood or Sherlock Holmes and I’m taking it on. It’s nerve-wracking and exciting, I’m flabbergasted. It’s a huge legacy [but] I want to be brave enough to make my own choices.’ That, if anything, was understating it. Utter incomprehension from everyone else ruled the day.

  Gareth McLean, writing in the Guardian, summed up what Matt could, if he pulled it off, expect – and the dangers it entailed. ‘You can understand actors’ reticence about taking on the role,’ he wrote. ‘Tennant has been such a definitive doctor that there will be those who have forgotten all about Christopher Eccleston. Further, the commitment required – the gruelling filming schedule and the ardent Who fans that one must court or at the very least tolerate – coupled with the intense tabloid scrutiny that playing the Doctor inevitably attracts aren’t exactly incentives for taking on the role. Then again, playing the Doctor has catapulted Tennant into British TV drama’s A-list. Similar things can be said of a post-Rose Billie Piper, and even a guest appearance in Doctor Who can work wonders for an actor’s career.’

  The comments that accompanied this were mixed: ‘This is an awful bit of casting’ … ‘This is a piece of stunt casting to make the show stupidly trendy and popular with 13-year olds’ … ‘I got a good feeling instantly from him’ … ‘As a fan of the first Doctor Who all those years ago who enjoyed Eccleston but struggled with the appalling concept of Doctor-in-Luv I shall now give up’ … ‘Having a leader of the Tory party younger than me was traumatic enough. I don’t see how this lad can have any authority with an older, established character’ … and so it went on. It was never going to be a smooth handover whoever was chosen, simply because David Tennant had been so incredibly popular – but an awful lot of people were expressing an awful lot of doubt.

  There was also a certain amount of disappointment that after all that palaver, Doctor Who was indeed going to be yet another white man. ‘The idea of a black or woman Doctor is something we only seem to be able to enjoy as a tease,’ said Matthew Sweet, the cultural commentator and long term Doctor Who fan, sounding a little rueful. ‘When Tom Baker left, for example, there was speculation about Joanna Lumley taking over. There is a little part of me that’s disappointed the Obama effect hasn’t reached Gallifrey yet. [But] This was one of the best-kept secrets. Matt Smith has got a fascinating face. It’s long and bony, with a commanding jaw. He looks like someone who could have been in Duran Duran. He has a quality of the old man trapped in the young man’s body. I suspect he might be a more sensual character than David Tennant, who had no kind of dangerous sexuality about him. There’s something Byronic about Matt Smith – he’s got the lips for it.’

  His appearance was certainly one indication that the BBC might just have got it right. Matt is a slightly unusual looking man, with a slight resemblance to the slim and cheek-boned David Tennant, but with an otherworldly air about him that gives him the appearance as someone with origins in outer space. It is important that Doctor Who should have an air of the outsider about him, as well – not just because he’s an alien, but because he’s the last of his species. The Doctor has seen civilisations destroyed, peoples forever vanquished. He must be able to emote melancholy. Matt Smith, it seemed, might just be able to do that.

  All the BBC big guns were standing up for their man, as you would expect them to, of course, but that also helped. ‘With two hearts, a ferocious mind and over 900 years of experience behind him, it’s not every 26-year-old actor who can take on the role like the Doctor, but within moments of meeting Matt he showed the skill and imagination needed to create a Doctor all of his own,’ said Piers Wenger, head of drama at BBC Wales.

  David Tennant, crucially, was also extremely supportive: ‘As I begin the end of my connection to all of this, I do feel a bit of
jealousy of Matt who’s just about to start and has got all of this ahead of him. It’s a very exciting journey to go on,’ he said.

  Of course, a whole industry had grown up around the phenomenon that was Doctor Who. There were people taking an educated interest in what was going on across the board: people who followed the interests of the characters, the series and the fans. These were the people who reflected what the man on the street was thinking, and once the shock had begun to subside, the public was coming round to the idea that this might just turn out to be an inspired piece of casting after all.

  As was only to be expected, a heated debate began on the web. Any number of science-fiction forums joined in, each eager to have their say, starting with SciFi.com (now Syfy.com):

  ‘Interesting choice, though not someone I’m familiar with … I’ll have to find something he’s been in. I’m sure that won’t be his costume because it’s a leather jacket away from being a carbon copy of Eccleston’s, and I suspect that they’ll save the reveal of the costume for another press roll-out.’ – The Oncoming Storm.

  ‘An interesting choice. His face and hair reminds me of a Pertwee/Tom mixture and he seems eccentric enough in real life so … here’s hoping all the best for Matt in 2010.’ – Tardispoo.

  ‘May your Tardis run smooth, your sonic occasionally fail you, your companion NOT fall in love with you, the Daleks not bother you and may your run be glorious!’ – LibrarianEmie.

  ‘Steven Moffat himself has said he was convinced the actor needed to be in his late 30s or early 40s but was blown away by Matt, so that gives me great confidence. So congrats to Matt and looking forward to seeing him in series 5!’ – Astoreri.

  And from Kasterborous online magazine:

  ‘I knew I’d feel some trepidation whoever was cast … and I do. I suspect this chap is a fine actor and hopefully will be able to carry on where the excellent Tennant left off. My main worry is that they may have given themselves a problem with casting other roles. Will all companions have to be 25 or under?’ – mcnessa. (This was an early contribution to the next topic of heated debate, namely the identity of the Doctor’s next companion.)