And at 26, he is the youngest actor ever to play the Doctor. Yesterday the BBC named Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor Who. Andrew Pettie of the Telegraph has some ideas about why this is a good move for the Beeb, and while the reactions at places like SciFi Heaven range the gamut, I find this promising. The actor has played in the Phillip Pullman screen renderings of The Shadow in The North and The Ruby in the Smoke, as well as showing up in an episode of Secret Diary of a Call Girl; all with Who veteran Billie Piper. He has also worked with Moffatt on a few previous projects, so the new season should be fairly interesting.