“The very first person we saw for Dr Watson was Matt Smith, who came in and gave a very good audition - but he didn't have a chance in hell of getting it because he was clearly more of a Sherlock Holmes than a Dr Watson. There was also something a bit barmy about him - and you don't actually want that for Dr Watson. You want somebody a bit straighter. But Matt gave a very good account of himself and you could feel the effort in him clamping down on his barminess in order to do the audition. That was the thing, it was all about finding the match, and we saw a lot. Including him, a week before he auditioned for Doctor Who. Thank god though, because he is the perfect Doctor.”