- 5 days ago
He's got wild hair and waves his arms a lot, but how well do you REALLY know the Eleventh Doctor?
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00:00He's the Doctor who proclaimed that bow ties, fezzes and stetsons were cool.
00:05He's the Doctor who married River Song, the best character,
00:08visited his own grave and journeyed to the centre of the TARDIS.
00:12He is the 11th Doctor.
00:13Matt Smith became an instant fan favourite back in 2010,
00:17despite having some pretty big converse to fill.
00:20He had three main companions, two TARDIS interiors and one sonic screwdriver.
00:25And there are many interesting details about his era you might not be aware of.
00:29I'm Ellie for Who Culture here with 10 things you didn't know about the 11th Doctor.
00:34Number 10.
00:35His favourite dance was improvised.
00:38The 11th Doctor was something of a trailblazer,
00:41inventing the quadricycle, Yorkshire puddings, fish custard and pasta, allegedly.
00:46But arguably his most enduring innovation was devised by Matt Smith himself.
00:50Upon arriving at Amy and Rory's wedding,
00:53the Doctor declares that he only came for the dancing,
00:55before breaking into a routine hilariously dubbed the Drunk Giraffe.
00:59Basically, just stick your arms in the air on either side of your head and wiggle them from side to side.
01:03Simple, yet bound to make you the talk of the family Christmas party.
01:07As Karen Gillum recalled to Doctor Who Confidential,
01:10this iconic arm-shaking action was ad-libbed by Matt Smith on the day.
01:14She said, quote,
01:15It was written, obviously, that he's a terrible dancer.
01:17Matt made up this whole routine.
01:19Arthur Darville concurred that, quote,
01:21This is just how he dances.
01:22With Stephen Moffat adding that, quote,
01:24He's incredibly athletic and graceful in his own way.
01:27It's hardly the most stylish dance ever,
01:29but it was a hit with the kids at the Ponds wedding,
01:32and a whole generation of young fans watching at home.
01:34Maybe don't go doing it at weddings in real life, though.
01:37Number nine,
01:37His hair was quite problematic.
01:40The 11th Doctor's quiff is almost as iconic as his bow tie,
01:43but it was also something of a continuity nightmare.
01:46This was a particular problem in The Time of Angels,
01:49the first story Matt Smith filmed,
01:51with the actor's wild hair magically changing length between scenes.
01:55For the beach scenes at the start of the episode,
01:57Smith had a much messier hairstyle,
01:59with his fringe hanging over his eyes.
02:01Coupled with windy conditions,
02:03this had the unfortunate effect of obscuring his face,
02:06with showrunner Stephen Moffat likening him to the Dulux dog.
02:09The earlier scene in the Delirium Archive Museum
02:12was filmed months later,
02:14by which point the crew had, according to Moffat,
02:16quote,
02:17establish what they wanted to do with Smith's floppy mop of hair.
02:20The overall silhouette remained,
02:22but the fringe was cut shorter,
02:23and in a much more continuity-friendly way.
02:26This also explains why the 11th Doctor's hair
02:28gets progressively neater and less chaotic
02:30over the course of his next two series.
02:33It took time to figure out how best to manage it.
02:35Ironically, by the time of Smith's final story,
02:38he had no hair whatsoever,
02:39having shaved it all off for his role
02:40in the Ryan Gosling movie Lost River.
02:42Talk about cutting your hair to spite your face!
02:45Number 8.
02:46He increased bow tie sales by over 90%.
02:49Few Doctor Who costumes are regarded
02:51as genuinely fashionable,
02:53and few Doctor Who costume designers
02:55can be described as genuine trendsetters.
02:58But the bow tie and tweed ensemble
02:59devised by Ray Holman for Matt Smith's Doctor
03:02made waves in a way that nobody could have predicted.
03:05Matt Smith's debut series began
03:06at the start of April 2010,
03:09and bow ties are cool
03:10quickly became one of his trademark lines.
03:13Bow ties are cool.
03:13Bow ties are cool.
03:14Bow ties are cool.
03:15Bow ties are cool.
03:16Bow ties are cool.
03:18Plenty of people agreed with him too.
03:19By the end of the month,
03:20The Telegraph was reporting
03:22that the bow tie had enjoyed a, quote,
03:24surge in popularity,
03:25thanks to the 11th Doctor,
03:27with UK retailer Topman
03:29citing an insane 94% increase in sales.
03:32It's an even more impressive feat
03:33when you consider that by this point
03:35only four episodes of Series 5 had aired.
03:37We can only imagine how many bow ties
03:39were sold over the following weeks and beyond.
03:41It also makes you wonder
03:42what the Doctor's next viral fashion accessory might be.
03:45Only time will tell, I guess,
03:46but if any Doctor can challenge
03:47for that coveted Best Dressed award,
03:49then it's definitely Shooty Gatwa.
03:51Number 7.
03:52He encountered so many duplicates.
03:55Most Doctors have to contend
03:57with duplicates of some sort,
03:59be they evil lookalikes
04:00or literal splinters of themselves.
04:02And the 11th Doctor was no exception.
04:05He came face to fleshy face
04:06with a doppelganger in Rebel Flesh
04:08and the Almost People.
04:09But the flesh wasn't the only entity
04:11to steal this Doctor's likeness.
04:13Prisoner Zero did the same thing
04:14in the 11th Hour,
04:15as did the Tesselector
04:16in The Wedding of River Song.
04:18Then there's the Spoonhead
04:19that impersonates the Doctor
04:20in The Bells of St. John
04:21and Mr. Clever in Nightmare in Silver.
04:24And that's without even mentioning
04:25all the cases where timey-wimey shenanigans
04:27resulted in two Matt Smiths
04:29appearing on screen.
04:30There's the dead Future Doctor
04:31in The Big Bang,
04:32the Wibbly Lever Doctor
04:34in Comic Relief Minisode Time,
04:36the Daryllium Doctor
04:36in DVD Minisode Last Night,
04:39and the Big Friendly Button Doctor
04:40in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS.
04:42The 11th Doctor also encounters
04:44another copy of himself
04:45in Let's Kill Hitler
04:46when the TARDIS voice interface
04:48briefly assumes his form.
04:50This is surely some kind of record,
04:51and almost certainly more
04:52than any other Doctor.
04:53The BBC boss has clearly realised
04:55you can never have too much Matt Smith.
04:57Number 6.
04:59He was inspired by Indiana Jones.
05:01What inspired the 11th Doctor?
05:03There was clearly a hint of Patrick Troughton's
05:05second Doctor with the whole bowtie thing,
05:07and Tomb of the Cybermen
05:09is also one of Matt Smith's favourite stories as well.
05:11Elsewhere, Albert Einstein
05:13has also been cited as a key influence.
05:15Discussing his costume on Doctor Who Confidential,
05:17Smith identified another unlikely reference point
05:20in the form of Hollywood's greatest archaeologist.
05:23He said, quote,
05:24I think the costume sort of manages a bit of,
05:26God do I say this,
05:27a bit of Indiana Jones,
05:28and a bit of a professor,
05:30and a bit of an explorer.
05:31Stephen Moffat also described the 11th Doctor
05:33as, quote,
05:33a cross between Indiana Jones and Stan Laurel.
05:36Although the comparison might seem strange at first,
05:39there's definitely something
05:40of the whip-wielding adventurer about Smith's outfit,
05:43particularly with its tan colour scheme.
05:45Its resemblance to the bowtie tweed suit
05:47worn by Indy in Temple of Doom is uncanny,
05:50and nowhere are the comparisons more on the nose
05:53than in Series 6,
05:54when the Doctor dons a Stetson hat.
05:56Certain 11th Doctor stories
05:57have an Indiana Jones aesthetic too.
06:00In fact,
06:00the torch-lit Underhenge from The Pandorica Opens
06:03was directly inspired by the various caves and tunnels
06:06seen in the indie movie franchise.
06:08And hey,
06:08if Smith is still playing the Doctor
06:09at the same age Harrison Ford just played Indiana Jones,
06:13that means he can appear in Doctor Who's 100th anniversary in 2063.
06:17Can you imagine?
06:18Number five,
06:19he almost wasn't played by Matt Smith.
06:22Every actor who plays the Doctor
06:23ends up becoming synonymous with the character,
06:26and there's always a rigorous audition process
06:28to find the show's new lead.
06:30Stephen Moffat has since stated
06:31that he was initially looking for an older Doctor for number 11.
06:34And although Matt Smith emerged as an early favourite,
06:37lots of other actors were seen for the role.
06:39One potential candidate was Chiwetel Ejiofor,
06:41who is widely believed to have been offered the role
06:44but turned it down.
06:45The rumour mill had its own ideas with Patterson Joseph,
06:48who played Roderick in Bad Wolf and the Parting of the Ways,
06:51Sean Pertwee, son of 3rd Doctor John Pertwee,
06:53and even Billy Piper,
06:55speculated to be in the running.
06:57Yep, that is serious Billy Piper.
06:58Meanwhile,
06:59outgoing showrunner Russell T. Davis,
07:01who had of course stoked the fire himself
07:03by including a fake-out regeneration in the Stolen Earth
07:06and titling the 2008 Christmas special The Next Doctor,
07:09wanted to see Alonzo
07:11and the War Between the Land and the Sea actor Russell Tovey in the role.
07:14These are all exciting suggestions in their own right,
07:17but no one can deny that Matt Smith was born to play the 11th Doctor.
07:22Number 4.
07:22He's crossed paths with the Master.
07:25Although the 10th, 12th, and 13th Doctors all got their own masters,
07:30the 11th did not,
07:31but he has more connections with his Time Lord foe than you might think.
07:34For one thing,
07:35the first and last episodes to feature Matt Smith
07:38both included incarnations of the Master.
07:40John Simm in The End of Time
07:42and Michelle Gomez in Deep Breath.
07:44Sure, they didn't actually meet,
07:45but it's still something.
07:46Where the 11th Doctor did come face-to-face with the Master,
07:49the Antony Ainley version in this case,
07:52was in the expanded universe
07:53in the IDW comic book story Prisoners of Time.
07:57Then, Titan Comets introduced a brand new incarnation of the Master,
08:01resembling a young boy in their second year of 11th Doctor adventures.
08:05This Master never actually crossed paths with Smith's Doctor,
08:08but did cause plenty of trouble for him from behind the scenes.
08:12When you take all of this into account,
08:14the 11th Doctor has been adjacent to all of the main Masters,
08:17save for Delgado and Dewan.
08:19Not bad for a Doctor who never met the character on TV, eh?
08:22Number 3.
08:23His bow ties have a colourful secret.
08:26The 11th Doctor certainly has a good dress sense,
08:28and there's more to his outfits than meets the eye.
08:31It's not an exact science,
08:32but some fans have noticed that the colour scheme
08:34of the Doctor's bow tie in Series 5
08:37corresponds to the time period he's visiting,
08:39red for the future and present, and blue for past.
08:42Just as the 13th Doctor's magenta t-shirt
08:45tended to appear more in historical stories,
08:47so too did the 11th Doctor's blue bow tie,
08:50featuring in all three Series 5 historicals,
08:53Victory of the Daleks,
08:54The Vampires of Venice,
08:55and Vincent and the Doctor.
08:56Conversely, most of the contemporary and future set stories of Series 5
09:01feature the red bow tie.
09:02The only exceptions to the rule are the lodger,
09:04which uses the blue outfit,
09:06the Pandorica Opens and the Big Bang,
09:08which uses the red one,
09:09and Amy's Choice, which uses both.
09:11And to be fair, in those last two cases,
09:13those stories are either set within dreams,
09:15or they hop about all over the place,
09:17so there wasn't really a correct bow tie colour to assign them.
09:19This bow tie rule also continues into Series 6,
09:22though again with a few exceptions.
09:24It also continues a similar detail found in the Eccleston and Tennant era time vortexes,
09:29which were blue whenever the TARDIS was travelling backwards in time,
09:32and red whenever it went forwards.
09:34Eagle-eyed fans will also notice that there are two different tweed jackets
09:38worn by Smith in Series 5.
09:40The more checkered tweed,
09:41worn in Victory of the Daleks and the Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone,
09:44and the more textured tweed,
09:46worn across the rest of the series.
09:47You already knew bow ties were cool,
09:49but this takes things to a whole other level.
09:51Good luck unseeing this, by the way.
09:53Number 2.
09:54He has more stories than any modern Doctor.
09:57Which Doctor has the most stories?
09:59It's always a contentious topic,
10:01not least because there are so many different ways to count them.
10:04Is Flux one story or six?
10:06Are two-parters one story or two?
10:08And is Utopia, The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords really a three-parter?
10:12Please discuss.
10:13Anyway, whichever way you square it,
10:14The Eleventh Doctor comes out on top compared to every other new series Doctor.
10:19Counting two-parters as one story and Utopia as a standalone,
10:23each series of Russell T. Davis' first era contains ten stories.
10:27Accounting for specials leaves the Ninth Doctor with ten stories in total,
10:31and the Tenth Doctor with 37.
10:33In contrast, The Eleventh Doctor had a more inconsistent series structure,
10:37with more standalone episodes and fewer two-parters.
10:40Series 5 was ten stories long, while Series 6 had 11.
10:44Meanwhile, Series 7 was entirely comprised of single-part adventures,
10:48a whopping 13 of them.
10:50With specials added into the mix,
10:52The Eleventh Doctor's story total stands at an impressive 39,
10:56which is more than The Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctor's totals too.
10:59So yes, we're all stories in the end,
11:01but The Eleventh Doctor more than most.
11:04Number 1.
11:05His defining moment almost didn't happen.
11:07The Eleventh Doctor had countless memorable moments,
11:11from his speeches in the Pandorica Opens and the Rings of Akaten,
11:15to intimidating Colonel Runaway and riding up the Shard.
11:18But one of his defining scenes wasn't conceived of until the eleventh hour.
11:23Get it?
11:24Did you get it?
11:24I'll stop anyway.
11:26Towards the end of the Series 5 opener,
11:27The Doctor unmasks Prisoner Zero and hands him over to the Atraxi.
11:31The all-seeing alien swiftly departs,
11:33only to be called back by the Doctor for a scolding.
11:36If this scene seems slightly tacked on, that's because it was,
11:40as Stephen Moffat admitted during the Eleventh Hour's lockdown tweet-along.
11:43The episode originally didn't include this moment,
11:46but BBC executive Jane Tranter,
11:48who would go on to co-found Bad Wolf,
11:50the company now producing Doctor Who,
11:52had other ideas,
11:53arguing that the episode needed a big swaggering hero moment for Matt Smith.
11:57And thank goodness she did.
11:59Not only does this scene cement Smith as The Doctor,
12:02it's easily one of Eleven's most iconic moments to boot.
12:05Not bad for something so last minute.
12:08And that concludes our list.
12:10But while we're talking about things you didn't know,
12:12why not check out 10 things you didn't know about UNIT?
12:15In the meantime,
12:16I've been Ellie for Who Culture,
12:17and in the words of Riversong herself,
12:19goodbye, sweeties.
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