Two Mr Smiths on Doctor Who

The latest person to come out as a fan of the actor playing the new Doctor Who has every reason to do so: both are called Matt Smith.

Matt Smith – the actor – takes over from tenth Doctor David Tennant in the spring. Matt Smith – the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Blaenau Gwent in Wales – doesn’t, but he boasts that it’s an “amazing coincidence” that they share a name. Matt Smith the candidate says on his blog that his favourite TV programme is Doctor Who, “without a shadow of a doubt.” If he gets into Parliament, he won’t be alone in being a fan. Several MPs have “come out” as Whovians – a collective name for Who fandom – in the past few years, and some of them have been known to hold private showings of Doctor Who stories within the Palace of Westminster, home of the UK’s two legislative houses. Still on the subject of politics and Who, it’s emerged that David Tennant is once again putting his weight behind Labour for the forthcoming general election in the UK, along with that mistress of fantasy, J K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of novels. It’s not Tennant’s first outing as a supporter of New Labour, though: he appeared in a party political broadcast for Labour in 2005.