With the departure of the Ponds, halfway through the next series, you might well have expected Matt Smith to follow them to the world of BBC biopics. But the befezzed one announced at the National Television Awards last night that he had no plans to leave. Geronimo!

Matt told reporters: "I always knew that me and Karen would have slightly different journeys in the show. People say, 'Are you not sad?' I am sad because I have enjoyed working with Karen and Arthur, they are wonderful guys. But the show is bigger than all of us actors in it.

"It's bigger than everyone in it and it will continue far longer, way after me. I am here for a very small period of time.”

The show is bigger than all of us? Like the TARDIS? Like time itself? Like Beth Ditto?

And how long is this “small period of time” he speaks of?

"I'm here for the future, I love working on the show. I have no plans to leave."

The future? The whole future? That’s ages.