Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Eleventh Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor's bow ties are hiding a secret, but did you spot what it is?
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00:00He's the doctor who thought bowties, fezzes and Stetsons were cool.
00:03He's the doctor who married River Song, visited his own grave and journeyed to the centre of the TARDIS.
00:08He is the 11th Doctor.
00:10Matt Smith took the show to new international heights,
00:13and became an instant fan favourite back in 2010.
00:16This year marks a decade since he regenerated,
00:18so it's a good time to reflect on the many cool details of the Raggedy Man's era.
00:22I'm Crispy with Hoo Culture and welcome to 10 Things You Didn't Know About The 11th Doctor.
00:28Number 10, his hair was very problematic.
00:30The 11th Doctor's quiff is almost as iconic as his bow tie,
00:34but it was also something of a continuity nightmare.
00:37This was a particular problem in The Time of Angels, the first story Matt Smith filmed,
00:41with the actor's wild hair magically changing lengths between scenes.
00:44For the beach scenes at the start of the episode,
00:46Smith had a much messier hairstyle, with his fringe hanging over his eyes.
00:50Coupled with windy conditions, this had the unfortunate effect of obscuring his face,
00:54with showrunner Stephen Moffat likening him to the Dulux Dog.
00:58The earliest scene in the museum was filmed months later,
01:00by which point the crew had established what they wanted to do with Smith's hair.
01:04The overall silhouette remained, but the fringe was cut shorter,
01:07and in a much more continuity-friendly way.
01:09This also explains why the 11th Doctor's hair gets progressively neater,
01:13and less chaotic over the course of his next two series.
01:16Number 9, he was inspired by Indiana Jones.
01:18What inspired the 11th Doctor?
01:20The second Doctor Patrick Troughton?
01:22Albert Einstein?
01:23Discussing his costume on Doctor Who Confidentials,
01:25Smith identified another unlikely reference point in the form of Hollywood's greatest archaeologist.
01:30He said,
01:31I think my costume sort of manages a bit of, god do I say this,
01:34a bit of Indiana Jones, and a bit of Professor, and a bit of an Explorer.
01:37Stephen Moffat described the 11th Doctor as,
01:39a cross between Indiana Jones and Stan Laurel,
01:42so this was clearly more than just a passing thought.
01:44Although the comparison might seem strange at first,
01:46there's definitely something indie about Smith's outfit,
01:49particularly with its tan colour scheme.
01:50Its resemblance to the bowtie slash tweed suit worn by indie in Temple of Doom is uncanny,
01:55and nowhere are the comparisons more on the nose than in Series 6,
01:59when the Doctor dons the Stetson hat.
02:01And hey, if Smith still wants to play the Doctor at the same age Harrison Ford just played indie,
02:05that means he can appear in Doctor Who's 100th anniversary in 2063.
02:09I mean, just imagine!
02:10Number 8, he encountered a record number of duplicates.
02:14Most Doctors have to contend with duplicates of some sort,
02:16be it evil lookalikes, or literal splinters of themselves.
02:20And the 11th Doctor was no exception.
02:22He came face to fleshy face with a double ganger in The Rebel Flesh slash Almost People,
02:26but the Flesh wasn't the only entity to seal this Doctor's likeness.
02:30Prisoner Zero did the same thing in The 11th Hour,
02:32as did the Tesser Lacta in The Wedding of River Song.
02:34Then there's the Spoonhead that impersonates the Doctor in The Bells of St John,
02:38and Mr Clever in Nightmare in Silver.
02:39And that's without even mentioning all the cases where timey-wimey shenanigans
02:43resulted in two Matt Smiths appearing on screen.
02:45There's the dead future Doctor in The Big Bang,
02:48the wibbly-leather Doctor in the Comic Relief Minnesota Time,
02:51the Deryllium Doctor in the DVD Minnesota Last Night,
02:54and the big friendly button Doctor in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS.
02:57The 11th Doctor also encounters another copy of himself in Let's Kill Hitler,
03:01when the TARDIS's voice interface briefly assumes his form.
03:04This is surely some kind of record.
03:06BBC bosses clearly realise you can never have too much Matt Smith.
03:10Number 7, he increased bowtie sales by over 90%.
03:13Few Doctor Who costumes can be regarded as genuinely fashionable,
03:17and few Doctor Who costume designers can be described as genuine trendsetters.
03:20But the bowtie and tweed ensemble devised by Ray Holman for Matt Smith's Doctor
03:25made waves in a way that nobody could have predicted.
03:27Matt Smith's debut series began at the start of April 2010,
03:30with Bowties are Cool quickly becoming one of his trademark lines.
03:34Plenty of people agree with him too.
03:36By the end of the month, The Telegraph was reporting that the bowtie had
03:39enjoyed a surge in popularity thanks to the 11th Doctor,
03:42with UK retailer Topman citing an insane 94% increase in sales.
03:47It's an even more impressive feat when you consider by this point,
03:50only 4 episodes of series 5 had aired.
03:52We can only imagine how many bowties were sold over the following weeks and beyond.
03:56It also makes you wonder what the Doctor's next viral fashion accessory might be.
04:00Will the fedora hat experience a resurgence following
04:02Shudy Gatwa's debut this Christmas?
04:04Only time will tell.
04:05Number 6, he almost wasn't played by Matt Smith.
04:09Every actor who plays the Doctor ends up becoming synonymous with the character,
04:12and there's always a rigorous audition process to find the show's new lead.
04:16Stephen Moffat has since stated that he was initially looking for an older Doctor for
04:20number 11, and although Matt Smith emerged as the favourite,
04:23lots of other actors were seen for the role.
04:25One potential candidate was Chewytel Ejiofor,
04:28wildly believed to be the actor who was offered the part but turned it down.
04:31Him aside, the rumour mill had its own ideas, with Patterson Joseph,
04:36and even Billy Piper speculated to be in the running.
04:39Meanwhile, outgoing showrunner Russell T Davies, who had of course stoked the
04:42fire himself by including a fake-out regeneration in The Stolen Earth,
04:46and titling the 2008 Christmas special The Next Doctor,
04:49wanted to see Alonzo actor Russell Tovey in the role.
04:52These are all exciting suggestions in their own right,
04:54but no one can deny that Smith was born to play the 11th Doctor.
04:58Number 5, he has history with the Master.
05:01Although the 10th, 12th and 13th Doctors all got their own Masters,
05:05the 11th Doctor did not.
05:06But he has more connections with his Time Lord foe than you might think.
05:10For one thing, the first and last episodes to feature Matt Smith
05:13both included incarnations of the Master,
05:15John Simmon the End of Time and Michelle Gomez in Deep Breath.
05:18Sure, they didn't actually meet, but it's still something.
05:20Where the 11th Doctor did come face to face with the Master was in the Expanded Universe,
05:25in the IDW comic book story Prisoners of Time.
05:28Then, Titan Comics introduced a brand new incarnation of the Master,
05:31resembling a young boy, in their second year of The 11th Doctor Adventures.
05:35This Master never actually crossed paths with Smith Doctor,
05:37but caused plenty of trouble for him behind the scenes.
05:40All things considered, the 11th Doctor has been adjacent to all the main Masters,
05:44save for Delgado and Dewan.
05:45Not bad for a Doctor who never met the character on TV.
05:48Number 4, his trademark dance was completely improvised.
05:52The 11th Doctor was something of a trailblazer,
05:54inventing the Quadricycle, Yorkshire Puddings, Fish Custard, Pasta and more.
05:59However, one of his most enduring innovations,
06:01if not the most enduring, was devised by Matt Smith himself.
06:04Upon arriving at Amy and Rory's wedding,
06:06the Doctor declares that he only came for the dancing,
06:08before breaking into a routine of the iconic Drunk Giraffe.
06:11As Karen Gillam recalled in Doctor Who Confidential,
06:14this iconic arm-shaking action was ad-libbed by Smith on the day.
06:17She said,
06:18Matt had to do this dance.
06:19It was written, obviously, that he's a terrible dancer,
06:22but Matt made up this whole routine.
06:24Arthur Darvill-Conkurt had said,
06:25that's just how he dances.
06:26With Steven Moffat adding,
06:28he's incredibly athletic and graceful in his own way.
06:31It's hardly the most stylish dance ever,
06:33but it was a hit with the kids at the Ponds wedding,
06:35and a whole generation of young fans watching at home.
06:38Maybe don't go doing it at weddings though, I don't know.
06:41Number 3, he has more stories than any new Who Doctor.
06:44Which Doctor has the most stories?
06:46It's always a contentious topic,
06:48not least because there are so many different ways to count.
06:50Is Flux one story or six?
06:52Are Two Parters one story or two?
06:54And is Utopia, The Sound of Drums,
06:56and The Last of the Time Lords really a three-parter?
06:58Well, whichever way you square it,
07:00the 11th Doctor comes out on top
07:01compared to every other new series Doctor.
07:04Counting Two Parters as one story,
07:05and Utopia as a standalone,
07:07each series of RTD contains 10 stories.
07:10Accounting for special leaves the 9th Doctor with 10 stories in total,
07:13and the 10th Doctor with 37.
07:14In contrast, the 11th Doctor had a more inconsistent series structure,
07:18with more standalone episodes and fewer two-parters.
07:20Series 5 was 10 stories long,
07:22while Series 6 had 11.
07:23Meanwhile, Series 7 was entirely comprised of single-part adventures,
07:27and a whopping 13 of them.
07:28With specials added into the mix,
07:30the 11th Doctor's story total stands at an impressive 39,
07:33which is more than the 12th and 13th Doctors too.
07:36So yes, we're all stories in the end,
07:38but the 11th Doctor more than most.
07:40Number 2, his bowties were colour-coded.
07:43The 11th Doctor certainly had good dress sense,
07:45but was there more to his outfits than meets the eye?
07:47It's not an exact science,
07:49but some fans have noticed that the colour scheme
07:51of the Doctor's bowtie in Series 5
07:53corresponds to the time period he's visiting.
07:55Red for future and present,
07:56and blue for the past.
07:58Just as the 13th Doctor's magenta t-shirt
08:00tended to appear more in historical stories,
08:02so did the 11th Doctor's blue bowtie.
08:04Featuring in all three Series 5 historicals,
08:07Victory of the Daleks,
08:08The Vampires of Venice,
08:09and Vincent and the Doctor.
08:10On the other hand,
08:11most of the contemporary and future set stories of Series 5
08:14feature the red bowtie.
08:15The only exceptions to this rule are The Lodger,
08:17which he uses the blue outfit,
08:18the Pandorica Open slash Big Bang,
08:20which uses the red one,
08:21and Amy's Choice, which uses both.
08:23The bowtie rule also continues into Series 6,
08:26though again, there are a few exceptions.
08:28We knew bowties were cool,
08:29but this takes things to a whole new level.
08:31Number one,
08:32his most iconic moment almost didn't happen.
08:34The 11th Doctor had countless memorable moments,
08:37from his speeches in the Pandorica Opens
08:39and the Rings of Akkaten,
08:40to intimidating Colonel Runaway
08:42and riding up the Shard.
08:43But one of his defining scenes
08:45wasn't conceived of until...
08:47the 11th hour.
08:48Towards the end of the Series 5 opener,
08:50the Doctor unmasks Prisoner Zero
08:52and hands him over to the Atraxxi.
08:54The all-seeing aliens swiftly depart,
08:56only to be called back by the Doctor for a scolding.
08:58If this scene seems a little tacked on,
09:00that's because it was,
09:01as Steven Moffat admitted during the 11th hour's lockdown tweet-a-long.
09:05The episode originally didn't include this moment,
09:07but BBC executive Jane Tranter,
09:09who would go on to co-fund Bad Wolf,
09:11the company now producing Doctor Who,
09:12had other ideas,
09:13arguing that the episode needed a big,
09:15swaggering hero moment for Matt Smith.
09:17And thank goodness she did.
09:19Not only does this scene cement Smith as the Doctor,
09:21it's easily one of the 11th's most iconic moments to boot.
09:24Not bad for something so last minute.
09:26And that is our list,
09:27let us know your thoughts in the comments below,
09:29and if I missed anything,
09:30don't forget to like, share and subscribe.
09:32You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at WhoCulture,
09:35and you can follow myself by looking up CrispyPro on YouTube.
09:38I've been Crispy with WhoCulture,
09:40and in the words of the 11th Doctor, Geronimo.