Actor Sam Shepard suspected of DUI

Normal, Ill. — Police in Illinois say actor and playwright Sam Shepard has been arrested on preliminary charges of speeding and drunken driving.

Police Lt. Mark Kotte says officers stopped Shepard early Saturday in the central Illinois town of Normal.

Kotte says the 65-year-old Shepard was driving 16 mph over the 30 mph speed limit.

Kotte says a breath test indicated Shepard’s blood-alcohol level was double the legal limit.

Shepard told police he had been at a tavern in nearby Bloomington and was heading to a hotel. He said he was on his way to his home in Kentucky from Minnesota.

Shepard won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for drama for his play “Buried Child.”

He posted bail in Bloomington. A man who answered the jail phone said he did not know the amount of bail. Attempts to locate an attorney for Shepard were unsuccessful.

Relative unknown to take lead in ‘Dr Who’

London — The BBC says little-known actor Matt Smith will take over the title role in the long-running sci-fi series “Doctor Who.”

The 26-year-old is the 11th actor to star in one of Britain’s most popular TV shows — and the youngest.

Smith has appeared on the London stage and starred in the political TV drama “Party Animals,” but is a relative unknown. The new role will make him a major star in Britain, where “Doctor Who” regularly draws 10 million viewers an episode.

“Doctor Who” was first broadcast in 1963 and centers on a time-traveling alien known only as The Doctor who can regenerate into new human bodies.

Current star David Tennant plans to leave the show after four special episodes this year. The BBC said Saturday that Smith will take over in 2010.