‘Doctor Who’ Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Celebrity Q&A, Featured Article, TV Shows
on November 7, 2013
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Now that Matt Smith has given up his role as Doctor Who, when he looks back, does he have a favorite moment from the series?
Walter Kaan, San Diego, California

Matt Smith, the 11th Doctor Who, who will be replaced by Peter Capaldi, 55, when new episodes begin airing this fall, does have a couple of favorite moments.

One of them is the opening of the “In the Name of the Doctor” episode, in which his companion Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) has the opportunity to meet all the previous doctors. Smith, 31, feels it was very cleverly done.

“Then anything from ‘The Eleventh Hour,’ which was my first episode, just because I didn’t know what had hit me,” the Northampton, England-born actor says. “Now I look back, and, I think, ‘It’s just a really wonderful piece of writing,’ and I just remember exactly how I felt when I made it.”

Before departing, Smith will take part in the “Doctor Who” 50th anniversary special episode, “The Day of the Doctor,” which also stars David Tennant, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Billie Piper and John Hurt. The 75-minute special episode marks the first time that Tennant, the 10th doctor, and Piper have appeared in the series since their 2010 departure.

“The Day of the Doctor” is also being used as an opportunity for new viewers to be introduced to the long-running series.

“Doctor Who,” which airs in more than 50 countries, follows the adventures of a time-traveling humanoid, known as the Doctor. He travels around the universe in a blue box, which is bigger on the inside than the outside, resembles a British police box from the ’60s, which is when the series premiered, and functions as a time machine. The Doctor can go anywhere in time and space. He always travels with a companion, and his goal is to keep the world safe from the variety of villains he faces.

“The great thing about ‘Doctor Who’ is that you can jump in at any episode at any time, because each adventure is completely singular,” Smith says. “Actually, it’s a small audience here [in the U.S.], but worldwide it has, like, 77 million viewers. So it has a footprint, and, I think, it will get bigger, definitely.”