Matt Smith! At the young age of 26, Matt is officially going to play the Doctor. The actor will make his first appearance as the 11th Doctor in the fifth series of the show, due to air in Spring 2010. He was cast during Christmas and will begin filming for the fifth series in the summer. Matt said: "I've got this wonderful journey in front of me where I've got this six months to build this Time Lord - and that's such an exciting prospect." Piers Wenger, the head of drama at BBC Wales said that as soon as he had seen Matt's audition he had "knew he was the one". "It was abundantly clear that he had that 'Doctor-ness' about him," he said. "You are either the Doctor or you are not." Matt Smith's television debut was in the 2006 adaptation of The Ruby in the Smoke, which also starred Billie Piper. He has acted opposite Billie Piper in the follow-up, The Shadow in the North and in ITV2's Secret Diary of a Call Girl. In 2007 the actor had a leading role in BBC Two's political drama Party Animals. Matt Smith's previous stage work has included appearances with theatre companies such as the Royal Court and National Theatre. Matt Smith was born in Northampton in 1982 and has studied drama and creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Click here to see the BBC's press release.