Matt Smith was threatened by a gun-carrying man in a bar in South Africa

Speaking to MR. PORTER The Journal, he said: "This guy came up to us and said, 'What are you looking at?'

"We were drunk. We said, 'Nothing, mate. No worries.' He was like, 'I'll f***ing shoot you, bru!' He had a gun!

"Really stupidly, we just went to the bar across the street. I don't know why we didn't just leave altogether. He came up to the window, and went (tap, tap, tap on the glass), no word of a lie, he had a Crocodile Dundee knife in his hand.

"A bouncer came up and was like, 'Get out of here!' "

Shortly after signing up for the Netflix drama, Matt was left feeling awkward when someone told Philip's grandson, Prince William, about his new role.

But thankfully for the British star, the young royal approved of his casting.

He recalled "I met Prince William at an event and someone said, 'Matt's going to play Prince Philip.' And I thought, 'Oh God, no, no don't say that. What's he going to think? This is going to be awful.'

"And he just went, 'Legend.' "

Matt - who is dating Lily James - became a household name when he took on the lead role in 'Doctor Who' and he admits nothing could have prepared him for the attention the sci-fi drama brought.

He said: "Every single part of my life was affected. You have to be hyper-aware, because ['Doctor Who'] is a children's show ultimately, and you have to behave accordingly, I suppose.

"I went from being an actor doing theatre and stuff, to overnight being on the front page of every newspaper. There's journalists going to my granddad's house offering him £40,000 [for stories]. Nothing can prepare you for that."