Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Matt Smith: 'My Mum begged me to carry on with Doctor Who'

The actor said his mother was 'mortified' at the prospect of him leaving

Anthony Barnes
Thursday 12 December 2013 13:26 GMT
Comments
Matt Smith will leave his role as the Doctor in the Christmas special
Matt Smith will leave his role as the Doctor in the Christmas special (BBC)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Outgoing Doctor Who star Matt Smith has revealed his mum begged him to carry on in the show.

The actor, who bows out in the Christmas Day special of the BBC1 sci-fi drama, said she "wasn't happy" about his decision to leave the programme.

Smith, whose era as the Doctor will end when his character is seen to regenerate, with Peter Capaldi taking over, admitted he was "sad" to be leaving but wanted to move on in his career.

Watch the Doctor Who Christmas special trailer

The seasonal special, entitled "The Time Of The Doctor", will bring together threads from across his four-year stint and will see many of his foes gathering around the planet of Trenzalore with the Time Lord apparently lured into a trap.

Smith said: "It feels very emotional to be doing my final episode. My mother is mortified, honestly, she was at the front of campaigning for me to stay.

"And she wasn't happy when I said I was going to leave. But when you gotta go, you gotta go.

Jenna Coleman and Matt Smith in the Doctor Who Christmas specia
Jenna Coleman and Matt Smith in the Doctor Who Christmas specia (BBC)

He admitted it was a "bittersweet" moment for him to film the final moments and said it was tough going through the script.

"The last 20 pages is a quite a hard read for me because it's over man. But I think, I hope, it's going to be a belter," he said.

"Of course it's very sad for me in many ways because everything is the last time. It's the last time you go for the first read-through, It'll be the last time when I put the bow-tie and the boots on, it will be the last scene I do in the Tardis. And I saw Karen (Gillan, who played assistant Amy Pond) and Arthur (Darvill, who played her husband Rory) having to go through it. They sort of had each other though so it was nice."

Smith thought the programme was a fitting ending for his run in the show, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last month.

"I'm just pleased it's really funny and mad and adventurous because I think it is quite good to go out with a bang and a crash and a wallop," he said.

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in