So a bookies lost some money... Anyone should care because?

for those of us across the pond and not so intimately familiar with BBC programming beyond the good Doctor, please provide some insight on this guy - what he's done and what he brings to the role as compared with previous Doctors. At first glance, he seems awful young to be playing someone so ancient.

I have to agree with some posters - Tennant has been my fave. He'll be a hard act to follow. Hope the newb is up to the task.

"So a bookies lost some money... Anyone should care because?"

I don't weep for the bookies, but I'm stunned that they thought it wise to take late bets on something like this. It's not like a football match, where you can be confident that no-one knows the result until the final whistle. In this case, you know that a small group of people have the information long in advance and if it leaks out to a part of the web that you and Google) haven't spotted yet, you're open to huge losses and you'll never be able to prove that you were cheated because the happy punters will have nothing in common except for an internet connection.

The Doctor has looked quite young before, but you'd have been very young at the time. And as a Time Lord, he can look as young as he likes. Some of us have got quite used to him being younger than we are, without ill effect...

Only one day before the announcement:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Matt_Smith_(British_actor)&diff=261479543&oldid=249450474

Still should've gone to the bookies!

I'm just pleased T Davies is finally off the scene!

The series has already been ruined by Russell T. Davies' abysmal "writing" skills (yes I know he's leaving, but his legacy of farting aliens and incompetent cliffhangers isn't going anywhere) - I don't see why they're even bothering to cast decent actors any more.

You may not like the details of his work (his queer agenda got on my tits) but the guy single-handedly reinvented Doctor Who for the 21st century. Give him some credit.

I'd like to see that!

Things are looking up for Dr Who after an abysmal last series.

David Tennant was excellent when he started, but his performance had definitely become a bit repetitive and self-referential by the end of the last series. I put a lot of that down to trying to get some screen time next to the wild gurning and random yelping of the talentless ball of ginger cat-sick they'd landed him with as a travelling companion.

There's only so long that many actors can take being defined by a single role (look at the way people who haven't played James Bond for 30 years are still 'ex-Bond', or all the soap starts who jump ship when they realise they, in the minds of the audience, are indistinguishable from their character) and he has taken the chance to leave.

Russell T Davies did a brilliant job of reinventing the series for the 21st Century, but he also seemed to have written as many variations on a theme as he could, and I'm pleased that he has taken the decision to move aside.

If they had gone for a bit of 'stunt' casting with David Morrissey or Eddie Izzard it really would have been time to put Dr Who out of its misery. So casting Matt Smith, someone with minimal previous exposure, shows that there is at least some serious intention in the BBC to continue to reinvent and develop the series, rather than just cynically milk the existing franchise until it runs dry.

So good luck Stephen Moffatt, and good luck Matt Smith - the show is a bit tarnished and tired at the moment, but it might well be repairable.