Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Eleventh Doctor
9. His Hair Was Quite Problematic
The Eleventh Doctor’s quiff is almost as iconic as his bow tie – but it was also something of a continuity nightmare.
This was a particular problem in The Time of Angels (the first story Matt Smith filmed), with the actor's wild hair magically changing length between scenes.
For the beach scenes at the start of the episode, Smith had a much messier hairstyle, with his fringe hanging over his eyes. Coupled with windy conditions, this had the unfortunate effect of obscuring his face, with showrunner Steven Moffat likening him to the Dulux Dog.
The earlier scene in the Delirium Archive museum was filmed months later, by which point the crew had, according to Moffat, "established what they wanted to do" with Smith's floppy mop of hair.
The overall silhouette remained but the fringe was cut shorter, and in a much more continuity-friendly way. This also explains why the Eleventh Doctor’s hair gets progressively neater, and less chaotic, over the course of his next two series – it took time to figure out how best to manage it.
Ironically, by the time of Smith’s final story, he had no hair whatsoever, having shaved it all off for his role in the Ryan Gosling movie Lost River.
Talk about cutting your hair to spite your face!