At the age of three, actor David Tennant decided he’d become an actor with one goal in mind–to someday play the Doctor on his favorite TV show, “Doctor Who.”
“There are only 10 people who have had that shot. Statistically it was much less likely I’d ever play the Doctor than Hamlet, actually,” Tennant recently reflected in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.
It took 31 years, but Tennant finally got his chance to enter the TARDIS three years ago when actor Christopher Eccleston left the role as the universe’s most famous Time Lord. The actor recalls getting a phone call from producer Russell T. Davies and BBC excecutive Julie Gardner that they wanted to meet with him. This was right before the first episode of the revived “Doctor Who” had hit the airwaves and it was at this time that Davies and Gardner floated the idea of Tennant becoming the Doctor to him.
Tennant said his first reaction was to ask if could “have a long coat” and described the moment as “utterly surreal.”
Tennant said it took him two weeks to decide on whether on to accept the famous role.
“How could you sit at home and watch someone else do this part? You’ve got to do it.'” he said. His parents were “gobsmacked”, though Tennant smiles when he tells of how his father said, “Oh, I thought it would come to you eventually.”
“With a part like the Doctor it’s very tempting to think, I’ve got to make it mine by doing x, y, z. Tom Baker had a long scarf, and Peter Davison wore a cricket jumper and so on. I think if you’re trying to be too self-consciously clever it trips up somehow, so I thought, um, I’ll see what Russell writes and go from there,” he said.
One thing Tennant knew he’d have to get right was the costume. Previous Doctors have had very distinctive costumes and Tennant knew nailing the right look for his Doctor was essential.
He said the idea for the slightly rumpled suit with Converse trainers came to him while watching television. Tennant decided he wanted “something that could be quite authoritative and then messing it up, so the [Doctor’s] suit was always wrinkled and slightly too tight.”
And while being the Doctor has been a lot of hard work, Tennant still hasn’t outgrown his childhood love for the show.
“I saw it as futuristic and scientific and at the same time all a bit hand-knitted,” Tennant said. “Something about that appealed. It always felt he only needed a ball of string to save everything. And, of course, this great character, who just burns through the middle with enthusiasm and glee and you can absolutely trust him and yet you can never quite predict what he’s going to do.”
Tennant will return as the Doctor later this month in “Doctor Who”‘s Christmas special, “The Next Doctor.”
Peter from Poland says
If David loves the show so much, why is he leaving the show when it’s going great?
I can’t understand that…
I think he’s the best doctor ever…… , why?
Becouse he’s doing it with passion… and energy… he’s got that magic touch….
Matt Smith doesn’t have “it” … “there is no doctorness” …his face is blank….
I’m gonna miss David in the show, …probably I won’t watch it when DW returns in 2010… 🙁