Matt Smith has no plans to beat Tom Baker's record

Matt SmithMatt Smith has no plans to stay in Doctor Who for as long as Tom Baker, a previous star of the sci-fi series.


Matt SmithMatt Smith (pictured, right) has no plans to stay in Doctor Who for as long as Tom Baker, a previous star of the sci-fi series.

There is, at the moment, some confusion as to how long Matt Smith will continue playing the 11th Doctor. There are some reports stating he has “no plans” to leave Doctor Who just yet while other reports claim he has just one year left in the BBC series. Perhaps some indication of how long Smith will remain with the series can be drawn from his latest comments in which he has stated he doesn’t think he will stay for as long as Tom Baker did.

“I just sort of take each year as it comes, really. We’ve got all the rest of this year to get through, and then we’ll just sit down and review it from there and see where it goes, But I love playing the part, and I love working with Steven Moffat. I think there will need to be a younger, cooler person than me—or maybe an older, cooler person, who knows? But I don’t think I’ll be doing it as long as Mr. Baker.” – Matt Smith as quoted by Blastr

Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor - BBCTom Baker played the Fourth Doctor from 1974 to 1981, a staggering seven years. He holds the record for playing the Doctor for the longest, on-screen, than any of his predecessors or successors. Baker took over from Jon Pertwee in Planet of Spiders and handed over to Peter Davison (pictured, left) in Logopolis.

When Colin Baker took over the role in 1984 he stated he hoped to beat Tom Baker’s record of seven years but the sudden cancellation of the series, by Michael Grade, in 1985 put halt to those plans and although the series was brought it back it never truly recovered and Baker was later replaced by Sylvester McCoy.