Big announcement Embargoed until Midnight. It's either that cache of missing episodes that people keep claiming have been recovered or it's bye-bye Matt...
Going from that email posted a few days ago we could see this Lead up to Smiths end -Anniversary special -Christmas special -Easter special. This would qualify as Season 8 episode 1 and confirm Matt is in season 8 in some capacity -12 episodes in August 2014 with all new doctor
Well I did predict a midseason regeneration. Plus Moffat liked to kick of a new series with a big bang. Series 5, Matt Smiths first episode, series 6, the epic Silent two parter which felt more like a series finale, series 7, return of the daleks, and now could series 8 start of with the departure of Matt Smith?
My twitter stream think Matt's leaving in Season 8, which will start in August 2014 and run uninterrupted. Though that's just gossip at this stage.
If it is what's being announced I wonder why they're doing it now, unless he's lined up a big new role that's about to be announced and they want to get ahead of the curve.
That was my feeling too: I'd expect them to get him to announce at an event, like Tennant, if they possibly can. If it's anything to do with the current series, I'd incline to it being Steve Moffat leaving after next season (but again, why announce now?), or some guest casting for the Christmas special (but it's a little early for that, surely? Announce just before shooting begins actually...) Interesting. Only three hours to go till we know, anyway.
Maybe we're looking in the wrong place. It is Moffat casting the role still after all. https://twitter.com/StephenMangan/status/340929821855055872/photo/1
Ian Levine's Twitter stream leaves the impression that his Tweet about the BBC Worldwide e-mail a few days ago put the BBC into panic mode. The panicked reaction strikes me as odd, though, because apparently the e-mail concerned itself with broadcast dates, not with who was starring, unless Moffat really thought he could pull off a surprise regeneration but the August 2014 broadcast date suggested too much about his plans so they decided to get in front of the story instead of leaving the media to ferret out the story.
What do we know of John Hurt's character? Will he make it to the Christmas special? Maybe Smith's regeneration will have something to do with him.
I said it 3 years ago and i'll say it again. The next actor will probably be some unknown who's had little parts in BBC dramas.
Idris Elba would definitely be my number one choice but I'd love Iain Glen (he's Irish but close enough ).