'Doctor Who' Season 11 Teaser Features References to Matt Smith's Doctor

During today's World Cup finals between France and Croatia, the BBC debuted the first teaser trailer for Doctor Who Season 11. Attentive Doctor Who fans may notice that the trailer has multiple Easter eggs reference the Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith.

The trailer is less than a minute long and offers a series of quick introductory looks at the Doctor's three new companions.

The first Easter egg comes just after a shot of Ryan, played by Tosin Cole. After sensing the Doctor's presence, Ryan looks around and notices someone eating fish fingers and custard.

This is the special meal that the Doctor ate with young Amelia Pond in Matt Smiths debut episode, the Season Five premiere "The Eleventh Hour," after the TARDIS crash-landed outside of Amelia's house following the Doctor's regeneration. Fish fingers and custard became a special memory for the Doctor and Amy Pond after the Doctor returned to find the young girl all grown up and still waiting for him.

The second reference comes in the scene featuring Graham, played by Bradley Walsh. Graham is reading a paper at a diner counter when he senses the Doctor and looks around. When he turns back to his paper, he finds it has been replaced by an issue of the British comics anthology Beano.

Not just any issue of Beano, but the Beano Summer Special from 1981, the same issue that the Doctor was reading in the Doctor Who Season 7 episode "The Rings of Akhaten" that first aired in 2013.

So now we're left to wonder why these nods to Matt Smith's Doctor were chosen for inclusion in the trailer. Is it because Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor is drawing inspiration from Matt Smith's Doctor and so she wanted to pay homage? Is it because there is a certain poetry in referencing the Eleventh Doctor in the teaser for the eleventh season of Doctor Who? Or is it just for fun?

Whittaker is set to make her Comic-Con debut as the Doctor during a panel at this year's Comic-Con International: San Diego. She will be joined by Cole, Mandip Gill, new showrunner Chris Chibnall, and executive producer Matt Stevens. The Hall H panel is said to feature a sneak peek at the new season, so perhaps Doctor Who fans won't have to wait long for more footage and possibly more nods to past Doctors.

What do you think of these Matt Smith references in the Doctor Who teaser? Let us know in the comments!

Doctor Who Season 11 premieres this fall.