10 Unbelievable Doctor Who Facts That Are Somehow True
6. Wendy Padbury Discovered Matt Smith
What do Tegan and Zoe have in common?
Well, both Janet Fielding and Wendy Padbury went on to become talent agents after leaving Doctor Who. It's well-known that Janet Fielding was Paul McGann's agent when he was cast as the Eighth Doctor in the 1990s, but it's less well-known that Wendy Padbury signed a fresh-faced Matt Smith many years before he was cast in Doctor Who.
At Gallifrey One in 2009, Padbury recounted the story of how she went to see a National Youth Theatre production of The Master and Margarita, and was struck by the magnetism of young Matt's performance. Padbury asked Smith about his career aspirations and invited him to a meeting at her agency – which also represented the Brigadier himself, Nicholas Courtney!
Smith then signed with Padbury, and the rest, as they say, is history. Perhaps this is the real reason that Matt Smith was so drawn to the Patrick Troughton era while researching the role of the Doctor – it was a Second Doctor companion who ultimately helped him get cast as number Eleven!
It's hard to believe that in such a busy industry, two huge Doctor Who stars would find each other like this, but as the Eleventh Doctor famously said... you should never ignore a coincidence.