Matt Smith: "The Doctor does not have Asperger's!"

In an interview with 'The Times' newspaper, Matt Smith has admitted his version of the Doctor is "slightly more asexual than some of the others", but agrees he is eccentric. "He is fascinated by human behaviour but doesn't necessarily understand it, be that cooking or women or…"

Does the Doctor have Asperger's, the interviewer asks bluntly?  "No, he does not," Smith retorts a mite crossly. "That's too easy a choice. 'Oh someone's strange, let's give them Asperger's.' It's because he is an alien and he does understand. But he gets involved and he gets it wrong, and ultimately that's funny."

"I mean, he's 1,000 years old," he adds. "And he sees people who meet at 30 and stay together for 40 years. With one person. Marriage. So you stay together and you have children and that's it? To the Doctor that seems completely baffling."

Would the Doctor want kids? "No, I think the burden of his life and what he has to do… He can't ever commit to that."

In the interview Smith admits that, though born a Catholic, he became an atheist after reading Richard Dawkins's 'The God Delusion'. And that his grandfather often replies to his more X-rated fan mail from 50-something Essex housewives.

'Dr Who' returns to BBC1 on 30 March