10 Doctor Who Scenes Actors Hated Shooting
3. Matt Smith Feels The Wrath Of River Song
In The Impossible Astronaut, we see an astronaut – eventually revealed to be River Song – kill the Doctor. But this fate was nothing compared to the pain that River inflicted on the Doctor just a few scenes later.
Having just watched the Doctor die, only for him to appear seemingly alive, all Amy and Rory can do is watch on in shock. River, on the other hand, takes a more no-nonsense approach, greeting her husband with a slap in the mug.
The way the slap was shot (with the Doctor’s reaction captured front-on, in close-up) made it impossible to fake. And because multiple takes were required, it had to be staged multiple times – a far from enjoyable experience for Mr. Matt Smith.
“We had to do it so many times that he was starting to get really red-cheeked,” Alex Kingston told Doctor Who Confidential. “And I could see him starting to get cross with me as well… I felt so bad!"
"But at the same time I just thought, ‘well I’ve got to do it again, I’m sorry!’”
It wasn’t the first time the Doctor had been slapped (there are some good YouTube compilations, for anyone wondering), and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. But thankfully for the recipients, this unexpected trend seems to have died off in recent years.