I hope this one isn't true. Apparently Matt Smith is already thinking about leaving Doctor Who after the end of his second season as the Doctor, with sources indicating he wants to take a crack at Hollywood feature films. Smith is currently filming this year's Doctor Who Christmas special with Karen Gillan, who plays his companion Amy Pond, and opera star Katherine Jenkins. After the Christmas special he goes straight into production on a new Doctor Who series set to air next year.

Normally I would take such a rumour with a grain of salt, especially as it comes from a British tabloid, The Sun. However, The Sun ran a similar story (a highly accurate one as it turned out) regarding former Doctor Who cast star Christopher Eccleston, who also left the series earlier than expected. The BBC's response to Matt Smith's future (from the same newspaper article) was also vague to say the least. Apparently when asked about Smith's future beyond his second series as Doctor Who, the BBC replied: "Matt is filming the Christmas special and then goes on to film the second series. Beyond that, the BBC and Matt won't speculate on things." Surely if he was signed on for a third season, there would have been no problem revealing that information?

I think Matt Smith has grown rapidly into the role (in only one season) and appears to be enjoying it immensely, so it would be sad and odd to see him go so soon. The Doctor can't have too many regenerations left either? One or two at best I'm guessing. Unless of course they perform the body switching trick the Master used to prolong his life...

Matt Smith's premature retirement from Doctor Who is just a rumour, but we'll let you know if we hear anything more.

In other Doctor Who news, according to Blastr (the strange new name for SciFiWire), Doctor Who's Executive Producer Steven Moffat has revealed that the upcoming Christmas special will be all "your favourite Christmas movies at once" and will guest star Michael Gambon. Michael Gambon is most famous for playing Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, as well as starring in Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective many moons ago. The plot apparently involves a honeymoon, most likely for Amy and Rory who were married in Doctor Who's season finale.