It was more than rumour.
"I was approached and asked if it was something I'd be interested in doing. Apparently, usually when it's announced that the [old] Doctor is leaving, the new Doctor's already firmly in place. But a BBC email had apparently been leaked, talking about Matt Smith's departure or something, so they had to announce it officially much sooner than they'd have liked.
"I don't know whether my name was also on that e-mail as was stated in lots of those rumours, but I was one of the names on one of their many lists they had as a possible replacement.
"So I was asked, and when I eventually managed to peel myself off the ceiling, I said, 'Yeah, of course it'd be something I'd be interested in doing,' and I was hugely excited by it.
"I was a huge fan of the show as a kid, like we all were really. My era was Jon Pertwee into Tom Baker and then also when it returned, penned thrillingly by the amazing Russell T Davies with Christopher Eccleston. To be thrown into that mix as a possibility was fantastic.