The Eleventh Doctor will be played by Matt Smith, whose previous credits include Party Animals and Moses Jones. He has also appeared opposite Billie Piper (who played former companion Rose Tyler) in The Ruby In The Smoke, The Shadow In The North, and Secret Diary Of A Call Girl. On stage, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for That Face in 2008. At 26 years of age, Smith is the youngest actor ever to have played the Doctor on television. Following the conclusion of contract negotiations around Christmas 2008, Smith's casting was formally announced during a special broadcast of Doctor Who Confidential on BBC1 on January 3rd, 2009.

Although few details about the nature of the Eleventh Doctor have been unveiled, on July 20th the BBC revealed that Smith's incarnation would wear a tweed coat, boots and a bow tie.

The Eleventh Doctor will be accompanied by Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan. Gillan costarred in The Kevin Bishop Show, while also appearing in programmes such as Coming Up, Harley Street and the telefilm Stacked. In 2008, she portrayed the Soothsayer in The Fires Of Pompeii. Gillan's casting was announced by the BBC on May 29th, 2009, while her character's name was confirmed on July 20th.

On September 3rd, 2007, it was announced that Doctor Who had been renewed for a fifth season, to begin airing on April 3rd, 2010. Filming of thirteen 45-minute episodes began on July 20th, 2009, and concluded on March 21st, 2010. A trailer for the new season debuted on February 20th, 2010.

On May 20th, 2008, it was revealed that Steven Moffat would be replacing Russell T Davies as both executive producer and head writer beginning with Doctor Who's 2010 season. In addition to writing The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, The Girl In The Fireplace, Blink and Silence In The Library / Forest Of The Dead, Moffat has also served as executive producer for Coupling and Jekyll, and has written for programmes such as Press Gang, Chalk, Joking Apart and Murder Most Horrid. Moffat has also written the screenplay for the 2009 Tintin feature film, produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Steven Spielberg.

On April 15th, 2009, the BBC announced that Doctor Who would have two full-time producers beginning with Matt Smith's first season. Tracie Simpson -- producer of several of the Doctor Who specials airing in 2009 -- would remain at the reins of the programme, to be joined by Peter Bennett, who produced the third season of Torchwood. In the past, Bennett has worked chiefly as an assistant director, with credits encompassing everything from the feature films Moonraker, Young Sherlock Holmes, The Princess Bride and The Mummy to the television programmes Minder, Inspector Morse, Poirot and Sea Of Souls. No newcomer to Doctor Who, he was a first assistant director on episodes beginning with Bad Wolf; he also served in that capacity on the Torchwood episodes Everything Changes and Day One.

In addition, the BBC also announced on April 15th that Doctor Who will have a third executive producer for the first time since the 2005 season. Joining Steven Moffat and Piers Wenger will be Beth Willis. Willis got her start as a script editor, working on programmes such as Poirot and The Amazing Mrs Pritchard. More recently, she produced Ashes To Ashes before being tasked to join Wenger on a variety of dramas from BBC Wales.

Besides Moffat (who will write six episodes, including The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below and The Time Of Angels / Flesh And Stone), the writers confirmed for the new season are:

• Chris Chibnall (two episodes; he wrote 42, and was the head writer on the first two seasons of Torchwood, contributing End Of Days and Adrift amongst others)
• Gareth Roberts (one episode; he wrote The Shakespeare Code and The Unicorn And The Wasp, and cowrote Planet Of The Dead)
• Mark Gatiss (Victory Of The Daleks; he wrote The Unquiet Dead and The Idiot's Lantern)
• Toby Whithouse (Vampires In Venice; he wrote School Reunion, as well as Greeks Bearing Gifts for Torchwood)
• Richard Curtis (one episode; he has written episodes of Blackadder, Mr Bean, Casualty and The Vicar Of Dibley -- which he also cocreated -- as well as feature films such as Four Weddings And A Funeral, Bridget Jones' Diary, Love Actually and The Boat That Rocked, the latter two of which he also directed)
• Simon Nye (one episode; he created Men Behaving Badly, The Savages and Hardware, and has written a number of pantomimes for television)

In addition, Neil Gaiman (writer of the Sandman graphic novels, books including Stardust, American Gods and Coraline, the feature film Beowulf, as well as episodes of Babylon 5 and the TV miniseries Neverwhere) has confirmed that he is writing an episode for the 2011 season. It bore the working title “The House Of Nothing”, but this has apparently been changed.

The list of directors for the new season includes:

• Ashley Way (two episodes; he's directed six episodes of Torchwood including End Of Days and Something Borrowed, the Attack Of The Graske interactive Doctor Who episode, the TARDISodes offered in conjunction with Season Twenty-Eight, and has also earned credits on Casualty, Belonging and Crash)
• Adam Smith (The Eleventh Hour and The Tikme Of Angels / Flesh And Stone); he's directed episodes of Skins and Little Dorrit)
• Andrew Gunn (The Beast Below and Victory Of The Daleks; he's directed episodes of The Bill, Life On Mars, Primeval and the relaunched Survivors)
• Jonny Campbell (two episodes, including Vampires In Venice; he's also directed episodes of Peak Practice, Spooks, Shameless and Ashes To Ashes)
• Catherine Morshead (two episodes; she's also directed episodes of Heartbeat, Silent Witness, Shameless and Ashes To Ashes)
• Toby Haynes (two episodes; he's directed episodes of MI High, Hollyoaks, Spooks: Code 9 and Being Human)

Returning monsters this season will include the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Weeping Angels (from Season Twenty-Nine's Blink. In addition, Alex Kingston will return to play the enigmatic River Song (who debuted in Season Thirty's Silence In The Library / Forest Of The Dead).

As part of the changes to Doctor Who being made by the incoming team, the TARDIS exterior has undergone some alterations to bring it more in line with the historical image of a police box -- as well as its appearance in the programme's earliest episodes -- such as the return of the St John Ambulance badge to its front doors.

On October 6th, a new Doctor Who logo was revealed, the first complete overhaul of the brand since the programme returned in 2005.

On March 18th, 2010, at the press screening to launch the new season, Piers Wenger confirmed that Matt Smith's second season had been commissioned by the BBC, to air in 2011. He also noted that there would indeed be a 2010 Christmas special.