Well, theres a pretty big pair of (very fashionable I might add) shoes to fill for Matt Smith who has been officially unveiled as the new Doctor for some weeks now.

 ”He’s to young” I hear your cry, “never heard of him!” “Doctor Who?” and so on! but to be honest think back a few years, was David Tennant a househould name and loved by millions??

The answer is no, I had seen im in quite a few programmes but nothing could have prepared him for the role of the Doctor and he pulled it off with apparant ease!

Matt, born and brought up with his sister in northampton always showed a flare for drama excelling at it in his school years, but he also had a love for sports and his initial ambition was to become a professional footballer. These dreams were squashed due to an injury.

Following his injury, and with the encouragement of one of his teachers, Jerry Hardingham, Matt decided to join the National Youth Theatre. It was during this time that Matt first gained attention at the Royal Court Theatre when he was cast in the play Fresh Kills, directed by Wilson Milam, whilst still at the University Of East Anglia where he was studying Drama and Creative Writing.

 During his tenure in On the Shore of the Wild World, the play transferred to the Royal National Theatre in London. After finishing the play, he took on the role of Lockwood, a pupil in the Alan Bennett play The History Boys. After The History Boys, he would act in the teen play Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship, and Swimming with Sharks; the latter being his West End début, once again alongside Christian Slater. His first television role was as Jim Taylor in the BBC adaptations of the Sally Lockhart quartet books The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North, opposite Billie Piper in the lead role; he would act alongside Piper a third time in an episode of Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

Smith was cast as the Eleventh Doctor to replace David Tennant, who announced his departure in October 2008. Smith was a relatively unknown actor compared to the actors speculated to take on the role, who included Paterson Joseph, David Morrissey, Sean Pertwee, James Nesbitt, Russell Tovey, Catherine Zeta Jones, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Billie Piper. Smith was first named as a possible successor less than a day before he was announced as the Eleventh Doctor, on the 3 January 2009 edition of BBC Breakfast among the speculated names.His obscurity prompted the news headline “Doctor Who?”, a pun on the show’s title.

Smith was one of the earliest actors to audition for the role, performing on the first day. The production team, consisting of the incoming showrunner, Steven Moffat, and BBC Wales Head of Drama and executive producer, Piers Wenger, immediately singled him out based on his performance. At 26 years old, Smith is three years younger than Peter Davison was at the time of his casting as the Doctor in 1981, and younger than any other actor suggested for the role. After three weeks of auditions, Moffat and Wenger agreed that it had “always been Matt” and approached him to accept the role. The BBC were cautious about casting him because they felt that a 26-year-old could not play the Doctor adequately; Wenger shared the same sentiment, but noted that Smith had proven his acting quality in Party Animals, which Wenger thought highlighted Smith’s “mercurial qualities”. The casting was controversial among fans: some believed that Smith was inexperienced and too young for the role while others supported his acting ability.

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