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Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games

Simon Brew


Matt Smith staying as the Doctor until 2013? Casting announcements for the arena tours? New videogames? We’ve got all the news right here…

Published on Aug 26, 2010

A few new Doctor Who stories have been doing the rounds over the past few days, so we figured it made sense to bring them together all in one place. This place right here, as it happens.

Firstly, we'll do the tabloid speculation piece. This week's story that's been doing the rounds comes from the Daily Express, and it flies in the face of The Sun's story of a month or so back that Matt Smith's tenure as the Doctor will last just one more series. The Express contends that the BBC is now attempting to sign Smith up to the role until 2013, which is the year that marks the 50th anniversary of the show.

Quoting insiders, The Express says that "The current team believe that Matt is the person to continue taking the show forward over the next few years and want to avoid the prospect of fans having to get used to yet another actor in the role in the near future." The story also says that "Matt has made it clear he's keen to commit himself to the series for the long-term."

There's been no comment on either the story that Smith will be leaving Doctor Who next year, nor the one that he's staying on. And we expect it to stay that way. Expect the next tabloid story about his future to follow in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Doctor Who Live tour gets going in October, and it's been announced that Nigel Planer has signed up to be one of its stars. He'll be playing a character called Vorgenson, the Doctor's biggest fan, who happens to be a bit of a showman. Matt Smith will be playing the Doctor in the arena tour, but won't be appearing in person. Instead, he's filmed special scenes that will be shown. Nick Briggs is reportedly on board too.

The tour starts on October 8th, and more information on it can be found at www.doctorwholive.com.

Finally, a pair of new videogames has been announced. On the Nintendo Wii, there's Return To Earth, where you can use the Wiimote as a sonic screwdriver, while on the DS there's Evacuation Earth. Both feature the Doctor and Amy, and both are going on sale at the end of October.

Meanwhile, the third of the BBC's downloadable adventure games, Tardis, has also been confirmed. Written by James Moran, it'll be available to download from tomorrow. Hurray!

More Doctor Who news as we get it...

The Express

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Users Comments

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By Davros 1 August 26, 2010 10:28:17 AM

Yep you stick around Mr Smith. Those who reckon DT stayed too long are wrong, a Dr should be around for at least 5 years. All this silly 3 year business seems to have been spouted by what is possibly one of the worst Drs, No 5.

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By dave1159 1 August 26, 2010 11:21:50 AM

Great news if he stays till 2013... LOVED DT, but MS is shaping up to be fantastic as well...

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By coversnail 1 August 26, 2010 11:42:50 AM

Hooray for the new downloadable game! Admittedly the control systems is clunky to say the least but the stories are good. Apparently you can "fly the TARDIS" in this one though I'll hazard a guess it'll be a slightly rubbish mini-game!

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By willbass86 1 August 26, 2010 01:27:05 PM

Davros, the first three doctors all had a three-year tenure. Tom Baker's era got really stale towards the end. That said, I would be happy to have Matt Smith around for a while as long as they can maintain the quality.

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By Headache2112 1 August 26, 2010 03:45:45 PM

Actually, Hartnell and Troughton (Doc's 1 & 2) both did 3 years. Pertwee (Doc 3) did 5 years. The trouble with Tom Baker's final year is that the producer didn't like humour in DW and removed all signs of it. That plagued Davison's 3 years too. Davison credits Patrick Troughton with being the one who told him to "do three years then go". He says he ran into Troughton in the BBC car park. Colin Baker had expressed a wish to break Tom Baker's record of 7 years, but we all know how that went. McCoy (Doc 7) did 3 years as well, but only because the BBC canned the show. I also wish Tenant had continued in the role. He was great. However, Tennant's departure meant the arrival of Matt Smith, who is absolutely terrific as the Doctor. I hope he does at least 5 years.

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By Zokko 1 August 26, 2010 04:48:27 PM

If Smith stays on as the Doctor, the show won't last another year, let alone five! Why won't Moffat admit he got the casting wrong and give us somebody else?

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By theshadowalker 1 August 26, 2010 04:51:58 PM

Yay! Matt Smith is, by far, my favorite Doctor since Tom Baker, so I hope he stays around for a good, long while. (Five years sound good; Baker, himself, started looking a bit bored toward the end of his sixth year...and then it all went to hell, IMO, under the humorless, ugly and unpleasant tenure of JNT.) And there's a genuinely mad quality about Smith that was, IMO, lacking in the performances of Eccleston and Tennant, who both often resorted to superficial gurning and the like (although, this may've been RTD's fault...I don't know). I do hope, as well, that Smith's costume doesn't change too much next year, 'cause bow ties are cool...

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By Barchester 1 August 27, 2010 09:36:45 AM

Matt Smith has been utterly believable as the Doctor from the moment he stepped through the bubble on top of the hospital roof and just stood there facing the Atraxi with his tweed jacket and bow tie. I think he's the most doctorly Doctor since Jon Pertwee and although I absolutely loved Tennant I hope Smith will be around for a long, long time.

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By Discrespective 1 August 28, 2010 12:29:20 AM

I don't like Matt Smith but who I personally despise is Stephen Moffat. I detest Stephen Moffat. The guy doesn't get Doctor Who. Stephen Moffat writes Doctor Who as if it's a fairy tale not sci fi. What I'm waiting for is when he leaves the show, not Matt Smith. That and most of actors who played the Doctor planned to only really stay in role for three seasons. Tom Baker was planning to leave show when Sarah Jane left in the episode "Hand of Fear" in 1976. It was only when they offered him chance to play the Doctor in the next episode "Deadly Assassin" without an assistant that he decided to continue with role. If he didn't the episode would of been his last not "Logopolis". That and it's not widely discuss but one of the crucial reasons why Doctor Who was cancelled in 1989 was because Slyvester Mc Coy had already decided that he didn't want to reprise the role as Doctor and wanted to be written out of show in next season. It was decision he later regretted because it made him feel partly resonsible for killing off Doctor Who in the 1990s ...

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By theshadowalker 1 August 28, 2010 01:22:39 AM

I don't get it. RTD gave us a sonic screwdriver that was, in all practical respects, a magic wand. (Sigh.) RTD gave us the flying, glowy, "Tinker Bell" Doctor...complete with a new twist on the the whole "Do you believe in fairies?" resurrection. (Barf.) Hell, RTD gave us the TARDIS towing the Earth...with the whole world cheering on! (Ugh.) And, well, so on. But SM is the one who gets accused of treating Who less like science-fiction and more like fantasy? Whatever. Hell, even the worst story of SM's first year wasn't half as bad as many of the embarrassing clunkers that RTD produced. (The Slitheen, anyone? The Weakest Link? Love and Monsters?) For example, "Victory of the Daleks," which is generally regarded as this past year's worst story, isn't one-tenth as awful as "Daleks in Manhattan." Also, for whatever it's worth, Tom Baker offered/threatened to leave Who at the end of just about every one of his years. And I seriously doubt that McCoy's possible tiring of the role led, in any way (let alone a "crucial" one), to classic Who's cancellation.

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By Discrespective 1 August 30, 2010 05:24:35 AM

Yeah dude, I ain't denying that alot the stories are shit, that's why I like Dr Who, it is shit. Russel T Davis knew this and never tried to make the show anymore fully fucked up than what he picked up on as kid when he first starting watching Doctor Who. That's why his Doctor Who worked, it was fun. Stephen Moffat instead has tried to be different and that's why his Doctor Who is difficult to watch because it's trying to be something that it's not that's why it isn't working. By turning it from Sci Fi/Comedy to Sci Fi Fantasy/Drama he has made Doctor Who go from being fun to being too full on serious and that' gets to me ! Cool ? I can take Titanic almost crashing into Buckingham Palace, the Royal Family are werewolves, Tardis towing the earth back cause it isn't meant to be serious ! But space whales you know Stephen Moffat really meant it when he wrote it, that's why it wrong, why his Doctor Who is wrong in the worse way ... :-(

Re: Doctor Who news round-up: Matt Smith, Doctor Who Live, new games
Posted By ouchevy48 1 August 30, 2010 07:06:36 PM

Maybe I'm just a easily entertained "yank", but I enjoyed the RTD era as much as the moffat era(still going) in different ways. I liked the love aspect of Billie Piper and DT, but I also enjoyed the Matt Smith being like the bigger brother role of Amy Pond and earth. I enjoyed the fun stories that RTD used with DT and I enjoy the more serious roles that Moffat and Matt Smith use....equally entertaining for different reasons.
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