How the 11th Doctor nearly ended up playing professional football

The Crown star Matt Smith has opened up about the back condition which ended his promising football career.

The actor, 35, suffers from spondylosis and only took up acting after the injury scuppered his chances of making it as a footballer when he was released by Leicester City aged 16.

He told Kirsty Young on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs: “It was a tough time because I just felt unfulfilled, to be honest, I felt like I was so certain that that is what I was going to do.

“It was very difficult for me to tell people that I had been released because the vain part of me was like, I am that and I am the footballer, you know, and at school I was the footballer and suddenly I wasn’t that,” the former Doctor Who star said.

“Fortuitously there was a drama teacher, Terry Hardingham, who said, ‘you were never meant to be a footballer, I always thought you were really great at acting’.”

Smith said he considered acting to be “a bit girly” at the time, adding: “I kept it secret for a bit.

"But, I got the same sense of freedom doing that, which is really difficult now as an actor, that I did playing football.”

The actor also revealed he had been “thinking about kids quite a lot” and would like “a lot of them”.

“A lot of my friends are having children and dare I say it I think I’d be quite a good dad," he said.

"I guess in the fantasised version of my life I have a big family and loads of dogs and all that,” he said.

Asked about the doubts raised by fans over his age and experience when cast in Doctor Who, Smith said: “I’d walk down the street and people would say things like ‘don’t break it’.

“But I think I’d be quite a good boxer, like I think I’m quite good on the ropes. If you back me into a corner, I’ll come out punching.”

Among his song choices were The Notorious B.I.G’s Juicy, LCD Soundsystem’s All My Friends and Luciano Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma.

Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday at 11.15am.

Credit: Leicester Mercury

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Doctor Who: Series 11 Intros #1 [Fanmade]

So some of these videos were done before the logo release and some after.

Enjoy these fan made creations.

By It's A Guy Thing Animations

By Aaron S

By david246msi

By Valox

By Casterborous

By Walrus Is In The Matrix

Enjoy these brilliant intros! There are more to come... There is alot of creativity!

Till next time

Emz x

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Matt Smith 'nearly turned down Doctor Who'

Actor Matt Smith has revealed he nearly turned down his career-making role as the 11th Doctor in Doctor Who.

Speaking on Desert Island Discs, Smith said he had had "a wobble" after being told he'd be David Tennant's successor.

"I was like, 'I don't think I'm going to do it'," he told BBC Radio 4. "My agent said, 'You're going to do it.'"

He also said he was "the wrong class" to play Prince Philip in The Crown but had pulled it off thanks to "a great wig".

"He's a rock star," Smith told presenter Kirsty Young, revealing he had "kind of sided" with the royal consort he played in two series of the Netflix drama.

Smith made his first appearance as the Doctor in 2010 and continued in the role until 2014, when he was replaced by Peter Capaldi.

The Northampton native said he had "loved every minute" of playing a Time Lord, even if it did lead to some curious encounters.

During the interview, he also recalled seeing tattoos of his face on the flesh of dedicated "Whovians", one of whom had "me and David [Tennant] on both thighs".

Smith described Jodie Whittaker as "a brilliant choice" to play the sci-fi drama's first female Doctor.

"The show relies on big, broad, creative brushstrokes," the actor continued. "It's brilliant, it's high time and she'll be sensational."

Smith said he had not given Whittaker any advice but admitted in the interview that playing the Doctor had sometimes been an ordeal.

"It's the hardest thing you'll ever do in your life," he said, citing the "gargantuan number of lines" as a major factor.

Smith also revealed he had been "thinking about kids quite a lot" recently and that he'd "like a lot of them".

"A lot of my friends are having children," he told Young. "I think I'd be a good dad."

Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 at 11:15 GMT.

Credit: BBC Entertainment News

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Doctor Who: Series 11 - Alan Cumming To Play King James I

Jodie Whittaker's first series of Doctor Who will apparently bring her TARDIS companions face-to-face with proper legend Alan Cumming.

The X-Men and Good Wife star let slip on the latest edition of Will Young and Chris Sweeney's podcast Homo Sapiens that he'll soon start filming a guest appearance as the Scottish monarch King James I.

"I'm about to go and do an episode of Doctor Who," he revealed. "I'm so excited! I've never been in it."

Alan even indicated that King James I could become a recurring figure in the 11th series of Doctor Who when Will and Chris questioned him on if he's going to be "a baddie".

"Like a nice baddie. I'm like a sort of dandy, foppy character who becomes alright in the end," he revealed. "They said he might come back."

Digital Spy has reached out to the BBC for more information about Alan Cumming's guest appearance in Doctor Who.

Cumming joins a long list of acclaimed actors who've played historical figures in Doctor Who — Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill, Pauline Collins as Queen Victoria and Tony Curran as Vincent van Gogh, among them.

On-set photos leaking over the past few weeks have tipped a number of historical adventures for the Thirteenth Doctor and her compatriots in the upcoming 11th series.

Early indications are that one episode will see The Doctor travelling far into the past, while another adventure could feature civil rights activist Rosa Parks in some way.

Info from Digital Spy

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Doctor Who: Series 4 DVD Covers and Posters [Fanmade]

Here are some fanmade designs - Posters/ dvd covers for Series 4 of Doctor Who.

Enjoy!

by MrPacinoHead

by Mr-Saxon

by mhtrek.net

by disneydoctorwhosly23

by christophersdrwhodvdcovers.webs.com

Thats all for now.

They are brilliant right?

Till next time

Emz x

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Freema Agyeman Cast in new US Drama Pilot NBC’s 'Bellevue'

Doctor Who alumna Freema Agyeman and Anupam Kher (The Big Sick) are set for series regulars roles in NBC’s Bellevue hospital hourlong drama pilot from David Schulner, Peter Horton and Universal TV.

Written by Schulner, the Bellevue drama is produced by Dr. Eric Manheimer, MD, the former medical director at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital and author of the memoir Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital which inspired the series.

The character-driven medical drama follows the new director of Bellevue Hospital, whose maverick approach disrupts the status quo while always prioritizing patient care. Located in Manhattan, Bellevue is the only hospital in the world that has the capability to treat Ebola patients, prisoners from Rikers Island and the President of the United States all under one roof.

Agyeman will play Dr. Hana Sharpe, the lead doctor at the hospital who has not practiced medicine in a while. Rather, she appears on talk shows across the country pitching Bellevue hospital. Kher will portray Dr. Anil Kapoor, one of the oldest doctors at the hospital. He believes the hospital needs to change but does not feel he needs to change his ways.

Agyeman is known for her role as Martha Jones on Doctor Who. She and Kher worked together recently on Netflix’s Sense8.  Agyeman is repped by WME and Independent Talent Group.

Kher co-starred in The Family Man opposite Gerard Butler, Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina, and most recently starred in The Big Sick opposite Kumail Nanjiani, Ray Romano and Holly Hunter. He’s repped by LINK Entertainment, United Agents and attorney Rick Genow.

Credit: Deadline.com

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