3. Matt Smith's Football Skills In The Lodger Were Real
In the end, The Lodger featured neither the Tenth Doctor or Meglos, but it did give audiences much hilarity as the Eleventh Doctor moved in with Craig. This ultimately worked out better. After all, Tennant's Doctor was very much at home with humanity whilst Smith's was much more of a fish out of water character. The Lodger was about the Eleventh Doctor trying his hand at being a human with varied results. One of the more successful elements was the Doctor's ability to play football. Smith demonstrated some keen skills on the pitch and all of it was real. Before he decided to become an actor, Matt originally wanted to be a professional footballer and only stopped when he sustained a back injury. While Gareth Roberts always planned to have the Doctor playing football, what audiences actually got was a taste of what Smith's alternative career path may have been if things had worked out differently. On a small side note, there is also a couple of continuity references in the episode that audiences might have missed. On Craig's fridge is an advert for the Van Gogh exhibit visited by Amy and the Doctor in Vincent and the Doctor, while the Doctor sings La donna รจ mobile in the shower, another connection to the Third Doctor who sang this in the story Inferno.