Matt Smith will be the next "Doctor Who." Photo/BBC

The next Doctor is in. Well, he will be in 2010 anyway.

BBC announced Saturday that the relatively unknown 26-year-old Matt Smith will be the actor who will replace David Tennant in the title role of its popular science fiction series “Doctor Who.”

Smith, who is the youngest actor to take on the role, will first appear on TV screens as the 11th Doctor in 2010 when he joins the series’ new creative team led by executive producers Steven Moffat and Piers Wenger.

Smith was born in Northampton in 1982 and studied drama and creative writing at the University of East Anglia.

Smith’s stage work has included stints with theater companies such as the Royal Court and National Theatre. His West End debut was in “Swimming With Sharks” opposite Christian Slater.

Smith’s TV debut was in the 2006 adaptation of Philip Pullman’s “The Ruby in the Smoke,” which starred former “Doctor Who” companion Billie Piper as Sally Lockhart.

He has also acted opposite Piper in the follow-up, “The Shadow in the North” and “Secret Diary of a Call Girl.” In 2007, he had a leading role in BBC Two’s political drama “Party Animals,” in which he played a parliamentary researcher, and he has also appeared in an episode of ABC’s “Boston Legal.”

Smith was named as Tennant’s replacement in Saturday’s edition of “Doctor Who Confidential” on BBC One. Tennant said in October that he would stand down from the show after filming four special episodes in 2009.

“Doctor Who” began in 1963, and seven actors played the Doctor before the show was dropped in 1989. After a TV movie in 1996 starring Paul McGann the TV series returned in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston in the lead role. Tennant took over the same year. Smith was cast over Christmas and will begin filming the fifth season of the latest “Doctor Who” incarnation this summer.

— JDB