Doctor Who, like any action and sci-fi series, requires some stunt work of its actors. Sometimes those things go well, and at other times what seemed like a perfectly good idea at the time has to be rewritten.
Apparently a recent episode for Doctor Who was to have included a flooded TARDIS and the Doctor and Amy swimming to safety. Whereas this sounds simple enough to execute with a diving tank and a little CGI movie magic, it hinges upon one thing: the cast needs to know how to swim. It looks like no one asked Karen Gillan and, alas she can’t, though she did give it her best effort.
According to The Scotsman Gillan stated, “I can’t swim. There was actually a scene in one episode when I needed to swim in the Tardis, and they cut it out. I have ruined the show.” Matt Smith added further commentary on Gillan’s botched effort, “I thought she was drowning.”
Fortunately for the show, Matt Smith did far better at horseback-riding than Gillan did at swimming. For this Saturday’s Western-themed episode, “A Town Called Mercy”, the script called for the Doctor to ride a horse. According to The Radio Times, Smith was a natural. He stated, “After two lessons I was cantering already. I’ve never ridden before. It was purely for Doctor Who“. Given that Smith was quite a talented athlete before a knee injury sidelined what could have been a promising football career, it is probably not surprising that he took to riding so quickly. It’s not the first time that Smith had to learn a new athletic skill on short notice. Earlier in the year he had to learn to row for his appearance in the BBC Olympic drama Bert and Dickie.
Are you looking forward to Matt Smith on horseback this Saturday? What other stunts would you like to see the show attempt?
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