David Tennant: It just feels scary… all the time | Television & radio | The Guardian The Observer David Tennant: It just feels scary… all the time He's been voted the best Doctor Who ever, but David Tennant's rule as the Timelord is coming to an end. So how will he cope with life outside the Tardis? Johnny Davis, who has spent the past year trailing him, talks to Britain's most popular actor Saturday 19 December 2009 19.05 EST First published on Saturday 19 December 2009 19.05 EST Close David Tennant. Photograph: Ellis Parrinder Last month David Tennant sold off his bed. It was, he admitted, "not the most delicious piece of furniture". It sat in reception at London's Absolute Radio looking every one of its 15 years in age, its wonky wrought-iron headboard accessorised by a Dalek bedspread and a handwritten sign: "Do not sit on this: prone to collapse". Tennant was hosting Absolute's Breakfast Show alongside regular presenter Christian O'Connell.

By 10am he'd played ping pong in the back of a Ford Galaxy, answered a series of questions from 12-year-olds and encouraged the actor Anthony Head to call in and sing "Lean on Me". Then there was his bed, being auctioned off for Children in Need. Fiona from Tadworth had pushed the bidding to £2,001, but off air O'Connell had a confession to make. The previous night he'd hosted a corporate do for the show's sponsors, British Gas. Things had got a bit carried away and everyone had climbed on the bed for a photo. "And it just sort of went 'poot'," O'Connell explained. "It was 10 of them. They were all trashed." "There's never been more than two people on that bed," said Tennant. Now its slats were snapped, the frame buckled beyond repair. "It's not the kind of thing you can just bend back into shape," noted Richie, the show's producer. "I felt bad; I told them it was for Children in Need," O'Connell said.

"But you've seen the state of that bed – it's got 'Prone to collapse' all over it!" "It wasn't prone to collapse," Tennant said. On air O'Connell came clean, and someone from British Gas called in to do the honourable thing: take the now-useless bed off their hands for £5,000. "How's your head this morning?" Tennant asked. Four hours of breakfast DJing behind him, he signed off with the Proclaimers' "King of the Road" and went outside to sign autographs and accept gifts from fans. Some had been waiting in the rain since 3.30am. "That's quite good," he said, unwrapping one in the car that sped him towards his next appointment, at Radio 1. It was a Housemartins T-shirt, one of his favourite bands. "I bet it's extra large – they always think I'm big. And I'm only little." Tennant was spending the day promoting his final three episodes of Doctor Who, the culmination of which will see him "regenerate" into a new Doctor, played by Matt Smith.

After a chat with Radio 1's Fearne Cotton, there was a round of interviews with the TV listings magazines. Tennant asked his publicist which journalist would be attending from one particular title. "Hmm," he said. "She'll always go for the 'Who-are-you-shagging?' type question." At Radio 1, he bumped into Chris Moyles. "So handsome," Moyles said to him by way of a greeting. Tennant explained he'd come from hosting a rival station's breakfast show. "According to the papers I seem to be leaving every week," said Moyles. "So you might as well have mine." Fearne Cotton appeared. "We'll get you in just after the news; some questions from listeners – nothing bizarre." Tennant explained he'd been doing the promotional rounds. "Do you ever get tempted to make stuff up?" Cotton asked. "So tempting," he said. "'Have you given Matt Smith any advice?' That's all I get asked. What am I supposed to say?" "That's ridiculous," said Cotton. She consulted her notes. "Cross that one off." Tennant wondered about the listener questions. "Are there rude ones?

Do you get sent rude pictures?" "All the time," said producer Stuey. "A lot of penises." "Especially if you ask for something specific," said Cotton. "We did this thing asking people to send in pictures of their teddy bears – 50% were cocks. You get willies and boobs all the time." On air Cotton asked Tennant about a poll that had voted him Britain's Sexiest Man, above Daniel Craig and Ewan McGregor, but also Jeremy Paxman ("Well, that's taken the sheen off"), discussed manual vs electric toothbrushes (Tennant's an electric man) and asked how his "complete army of fans" would cope when he's no longer on Doctor Who. "You know what will happen? Everyone will go: 'Oh, it'll never be the same.' And then two weeks in [to the new series] they'll go: 'Matt Smith: he's brilliant.' "That's what happened when I was a kid, when Tom Baker left," he said. "That's just how it works." It's possible, of course. But even Matt Smith must figure Matt Smith's got his work cut out.

Though it was Christopher Eccleston who jump-started Doctor Who's regeneration from 1970s wobbly setted laughing stock to one of the BBC's biggest properties, a brand now reckoned to be worth £100m, it was surely David Tennant who sealed the deal. Not only has the role seen him surpass even the immortal Tom Baker as "The Best Doctor Ever", as voted by readers of Doctor Who Magazine, and there's no sterner jury, it's seen him become one of our most respected, most loved actors. "David is arguably the most popular actor in England," says Patrick Stewart, who appeared with him earlier this year in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Hamlet, the film of which is on BBC2 this Christmas. "There was more anticipation for that production and David's performance than anything I've ever been in." Famously, it was Doctor Who that made the three-year-old Tennant want to act. At school he'd carry around a Tom Baker doll (though he was too shy to ask his parents for Baker's assistant, Romana).

As a teenager he wrote Who-themed essays called things like "Intergalactic Overdose", as his English teacher, Mrs Robertson, helpfully showed the News of the World recently. Even when he got the role, he lobbied the producers to change the credits to correct a longstanding inconsistency that had always bugged him – everyone knows the lead character is called "The Doctor", never "Doctor Who". (One afternoon I recalled how Jon Pertwee's Doctor used to dispatch foes with a neat line in kung fu. "Actually I think you'll find it was Venusian aikido," he corrected, not entirely humorously.) While all of this might have made him ideally suited to the job, leaving it has traditionally proved rather harder. None of the other actors who've played the Timelord have ever really lived it down. Baker has confessed that everything since has been "a muddle and a disappointment, an outrageous failure", and fear of typecasting led Eccleston to crash back to earth after just one series.

It was a problem not lost on Tennant – or his agent, who suggested that even a bit part on the show would mean "I'll never work again." "It did take me a few weeks to think it through," says Tennant, 38. "But the only other option is you don't do the job. I remember waking up one morning thinking: 'I can't turn this down. Even if it's the wrong thing to do.'" Yet his acting credentials already put him in a different league to his predecessors. Olivier Award-nominated at 31 and a veteran of the RSC, he has managed to fill the three remaining months of the year when he's not been in Cardiff filming Doctor Who with an impressively wide range of boldface gigs: the lead in Hamlet and Berowne in Love's Labour's Lost running on stage concurrently, a Harry Potter film and several weighty TV dramas, including playing Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington in Einstein and Eddington.

As well as Doctor Who and Hamlet this Christmas, there's the Stephen Poliakoff film Glorious 39 and the role of dastardly Lord Pomfrey in St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold. Which certainly shows range. "It's all the same thing," Tennant smiles. "It's all acting. I think Shakespeare was a man of the people." "When I started out, if you got known for one role, forget it," says David Morrissey, who co-starred with Tennant in Doctor Who and the 2004 TV musical-drama Blackpool. "But David's Doctor won't be the millstone around his neck that it's been for actors in the past. It might weigh him down in a personal way – walking down the street and stuff – but he's so gifted it won't ever restrict him professionally." What's more, Tennant's popularity is now such that he occupies a fairly unique position among his peers.

He is as likely to give an interview to the University of Cambridge's Shakespeare journal on Mark Rylance's 1989 production of Hamlet for the RSC as he is to appear on Top Gear's "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car", or turn on the Blackpool Christmas lights. In February he presented Comic Relief with Davina McCall – a remarkable thing for an actor to be asked to do. "Yes, but that's to do with Doctor Who," Tennant says. "I don't imagine I'll be in the frame for things like that any more. I'm sure in two years' time they'll want Matt Smith to do Comic Relief. I suspect I'm just passing through, really." David Tennant. Photograph: Ellis Parrinder Perhaps. When he joined Doctor Who in 2005 it made the BBC News At Six. It may be no exaggeration to say his departure is a national event. "David is very sad to leave," says his friend, the actress Arabella Weir. "But when do you leave the party? When everybody has stopped asking you to dance and is going: 'Look at that sad old cow, he's still here'? You don't know, is the short answer.

You just have to make that judgement." Tennant's final episodes will be broadcast on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Because filming happens non-sequentially, the last scene he recorded as The Doctor has actually already aired – an episode of spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, which went out last month. His final words were an unprepossessing: "You two, with me, spit spot." "It couldn't have been less memorable or less significant," he says. "It was robbed of any epic quality, but that was probably best. There are a lot of scenes in the final story that are very sad, and were very sad to play. If one of them had coincided with the actual final day, I'd have been a puddle." Come 1 January, writer and executive producer Russell T Davies is counting on us feeling the same way – greeting the New Year in cheery fashion, watching Tennant expire at the hands of The Master. "I can't watch it without crying, literally," says Davies. "I was checking it for the music cues the other night, which must have been the 17th time I've watched it, and I ended up crying.

It's heartbreaking." BBC Wales makes Doctor Who in several large hangars in Upper Boat studios near Pontypridd – Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures are also filmed here. One stage houses a vast permanent set of the Tardis interior, and round the back there's an endless props area, an I-spy of half-exploded Daleks, killer Christmas trees, Ood heads. A fortnight before filming each episode begins, the cast and crew meet in a nondescript Cardiff hotel for a script read-through. There is some secrecy surrounding these meetings, for reasons best illustrated by the time they had to eject a journalist from the Sun who'd been discovered sitting among them, mid-read-through. In early February I watched the cast read "The Waters of Mars", an episode transmitted in November, arranged around a long table with Tennant, boyish in a Dennis the Menace-style jumper. Two weeks later the script was being realised in three dimensions. Set aboard a Nasa-style base, it required Tony Award-winning actress Lindsay Duncan – last seen playing Margaret Thatcher in TV drama Margaret, today playing space-suited ball breaker Captain Adelaide Brooke – to be thrown around amid various explosions.

"I can't roll on the floor because of the gun," she worried to director Graeme Harper. "Dare I say it?" wondered Harper. "But are your knickers going to be OK?" "I'm wearing an all-in-one," she advised. Tennant was in the canteen ("The Blue Box"), not required for filming until after lunch. "You do get slightly institutionalised here," he said. "For four years I've always been going back to Cardiff at some point in the near future, so when I leave it will be like leaving campus. I don't mean to get things out of proportion, but I was keenly watching George Bush leaving the White House, and the thought of how his life is going to change… I'm not saying his life is like mine. I'm not the leader of the Free World, I'm really not…" Which would make Matt Smith Obama, of course. "Oh, that's not really worked out very well for me, has it? It's just the thought that you hand over… and it stops. Maybe I'll be whisked up into something equally all-consuming." One thing he may adjust to more quickly is a reduction in his own visibility.

"We always thought when the honeymoon period was over it would settle down, but with every series it seems to get more attention. The viewing figures went up last year considerably. It's sort of bewildering." While Tennant fully appreciated the level of attention Doctor Who would bring him personally, it's not necessarily something he regards as a perk. He was in the role for a matter of weeks before a tabloid reporter had him out of bed at 7am, threatening to run a story involving a brothel, prostitutes and drugs. "Funnily enough, they didn't have photographs." It's not what he joined Equity for. "You know you're going to have to cope with it on some level, but until it happens to you I defy anyone to really know what it feels like," he says. "When I saw people who were famous, and people whispered and pointed, it felt as though a very powerful individual had walked by. And actually, once you are that person, it just feels scary. All the time." He says he was helped enormously by having Billie Piper with him for his first year, playing the Doctor's companion Rose Tyler. "She'd been through it for years. And she had it much worse – women tend to.

She had become such a great friend and a real help through the madness that was beginning to explode. And then losing her, and thinking: 'I'm on my own!'" If Doctor Who saw Tennant join the select group of males favoured by the gossip pages, unlike, say, James Corden or Russell Brand, he's done a remarkable job of keeping his personal life just that. He's adept at giving nothing of himself away while remaining a charismatic personality. He apparently dated Sophia Myles, who played Madame de Pompadour in the show, and has been linked to his assistant director and another BBC Wales staffer. It's likely he's currently seeing Georgia Moffett, who played the Doctor's daughter in one episode and is ex-Doctor Peter Davison's daughter in real life (at which point you may think he's taken his enthusiasm for Doctor Who as far as it can go – "It can be odd when David comes round for Sunday lunch and we all sit at the table; me, an ex-Doctor, with my wife, and David, another Doctor, and my daughter," Peter Davison revealed). And years ago he went out with Anne-Marie Duff, now married to James McAvoy.

But you won't hear that from him. "Relationships are hard enough with the people you're having them with," he says, "let alone talking about them in public." "I resisted jumping his bones," says Billie Piper, "but women really fancy him. He's got a gorgeous face, and an energy that's contagious – the spirit of a child. My girlfriends were all in love with him." One female critic described his Doctor as "the first Timephwoard". His favoured trick for dealing with the inquisitor who inches towards the aforementioned "Who-are-you-shagging?" type question is a kind of reproachful look. "He's avoided any scandal because he keeps shtoom," says Piper. "He very rarely talks about anything that isn't related to his career or acting. You never see him falling out of clubs. He's never off his face. He's got far more patience than I have," Piper adds. "I don't mind signing autographs, but it becomes the topic of conversation at every social event you go to.

It starts off: 'So how are you?' Then it's: 'Anyway, about Doctor Who…' It's at that point I start reaching for the wine." In April, Tennant was at BBC Television Centre to promote the first of 2009's Doctor Who specials, "Planet of the Dead", to air that evening. It was 8am on Easter Saturday morning, yet BBC reception was uncharacteristically busy. Specifically, it was uncharacteristically busy with children. Tennant was due on BBC Breakfast and arrived cheerful as ever, wearing a jacket and thin tie. "You're on after the Association of British Drivers," said Kate, Breakfast's producer. "The people who blow up speed cameras." "I didn't know there was such a thing," Tennant said. Julia, the editor of programmes, appeared with five children. "It's my day off," she explained. "But I came in especially." Tennant signed autographs for everybody and posed for photos. He was ushered into the green room. "This is Frederick," said Kate. "He's reviewing the papers just before you." "Can I be the first to ask," Frederick said. "Would you mind signing this for my sister?

She's desperate to have your autograph." Then Maxine ap-peared. "I'm one of the holiday newsreaders," she said. "Would you – I mean, you're probably fed up of doing this – would you sign this for my nephew?" Tennant went on air and was interviewed by presenters Sonia Deol and Charlie Stayt. I watched from the control room. Stayt suggested that while the previous Doctors had been "interesting, quirky characters", Tennant was the first to be a sex symbol. "Lots of snogging you've done," he said. "Not lots," countered Tennant. "More than Jon Pertwee did." He was asked what he found scary in real life ("I'm not a fan of a rodent"), about changing his birth name from McDonald to Tennant for Equity by picking Neil Tennant's name from Smash Hits ("I could have been David Kajagoogoo") and whether he is ever able to go out in public and "be normal". "Has he talked about the next Doctor?" asked someone in the control room. "No. Can we ask him about the next Doctor?" They went on Wikipedia.

"It's Matt Smith." "Matt Smith," it was relayed to Deol's ear. "The new Doctor. Very young." "What about the new guy?" she said on air. "What advice have you got for him?" "I don't think you can give anyone advice about stuff like that, can you?" said Tennant. Afterwards he was collected by producer Kate. She was holding a pile of paper. "I shouldn't have walked through the newsroom," she said. "More requests." "More requests? We're not going to be allowed to leave, are we?" said Tennant, not unkindly. Kate seemed to be chewing something over. "I don't care. I've lost all dignity," she said to me. "I'm going to ask for a photo." The smell that reminds David Tennant of childhood is his father's homemade chicken and leek soup. He grew up in Paisley, near Glasgow, the youngest of three. His dad, Sandy, was a minister and later moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. His mum, Helen, devoted her life to charity work and helped found Paisley's Accord hospice. She died of cancer in 2007, aged 67.

There's a gap of six and eight years between him and his siblings, Blair, who works in the music business, and Karen, a nurse and teacher. His upbringing was grounding. "Not all men of the church are necessarily good human beings, but my dad happens to be. My mum was, too," he says. "I feel very thankful for that." He gained a place at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama at 17 – their youngest pupil. It was a combination of this and moving to Glasgow with his sister that brought him out of his shell. "Leaving home was one of the best things that happened to me. I was a bit green. I wasn't a particularly worldly 17-year-old." At drama school he was "surrounded by all these exotic older people who seemed to know about life. So it was a really brilliant time." He acted Ken Stott off the screen in Takin' Over the Asylum, the 1994 TV mini-series set in a Glasgow psychiatric-hospital radio station, playing bipolar DJ Campbell ("This is for all you having ECT tomorrow: hope you get some 'Good Vibrations'!").

On set he met Arabella Weir, moving to London the following year to spend five years as her lodger. He complained she never put the heating on; she teased him about alphabetising his CDs. Tennant was soon being talked up as a rising star of theatre, notably for comic roles – Touchstone in As You Like It, Captain Jack Absolute in Sheridan's The Rivals. "Even aged 22 he had an unusually strong sense of self," says Weir. "Most actors are in the business of wanting people to like them. He was: 'This is what I can do; I'm not interested in doing other jobs.'" He was mesmeric as love-struck policeman DI Peter Carlisle in 2004's Blackpool and head- turning as Russell T Davies's Casanova a year later. "No one could get it right," says Davies. "Everyone was playing the swarthy romantic lead – and here was this man who simply danced all over the script." "I think I've just been lucky, really," Tennant says, "because I'm not conventional leading-man stuff. I'm slightly left of centre.

I remember going up for Casanova thinking: 'I haven't got a chance – the other people are much more traditional square-jawed types.'" Plus, everyone agrees he's a generous team player. "When you're playing the leading role in a play, you have responsibilities that go beyond saying the lines," says Patrick Stewart. "You lead the company; you set an example. The stress of Hamlet must have got to him, but it never seemed to. You'd see him in the wings beforehand and you would have thought he was preparing to go out for dinner, he was so relaxed." "Everyone said I would adore working with David, and they were right," says Kylie Minogue, one-time Doctor Who companion Astrid Peth. "He made me feel at ease. I also felt he trusted me, which was important – it was a step back into acting for me. My time on Doctor Who was hard work, but I felt somehow I was 'home'." Tennant was back at Upper Boat in May, filming his final two Doctor Who episodes, "The End of Time". "Three weeks to go now," he said.

"Three weeks and counting." On set John Simm was doing something terrible as The Master that it would be wrong to reveal. "What have you done, you monster?" shouted Bernard Cribbins, who's returning as Wilfred Mott, father of Catherine Tate's Donna Noble. Tennant was feeling good about his final scenes. "It's all very heroic," he explained. "My final 100-yard dash." They were being even more wary than usual about leaks. Some on-location photographs had appeared that week, to everyone's disappointment. "And someone was discovered here the other day with a scanner," Tennant tutted. "They had tuned themselves into the radio mics inside the building and were writing down the dialogue." In June, the month after filming their finale, Tennant, Davies and John Barrowman travelled out to Comic-Con, the annual "popular arts" convention in San Diego. (Doctor Who has a US fanbase, while Torchwood has become the top-rated show on BBC America. Davies now works for BBC America in LA.) While he was there, Tennant found himself an American agent and did some auditioning.

"Just sniffing around, vaguely seeing what was out there." This resulted in him being cast as the lead in comedy-drama Rex is Not Your Lawyer, a role NBC had been trying to fill for months. Tennant will play Rex Alexander, a panic attack-prone Chicago litigator who starts coaching his clients to represent themselves. The pilot's being directed by David Semel, who did House and Lost. "I went to bed one night having had conversations that we could come to terms for this pilot, woke up, and it was on the front of the Hollywood Reporter," he says. "It's a different world in America." "I'm sure Hugh Laurie's success with House is an appropriate comparison," says Catherine Tate. "David's a brilliant comic actor. America would be mad not to love him." He's also likely to play opposite Simon Pegg in John Landis's black-comedy remake of Burke & Hare, about the 19th-century body snatchers, and the internet is convinced he'll be the Riddler in the next Batman. "I probably should be," he says. "But you'd think my agent would have mentioned something if it was true." Tennant finished his chat with Fearne Cotton, remembering to plug the upcoming episode.

That evening he was off to Stratford to see his friend Richard Wilson in Twelfth Night. In 10 days' time, visa permitting, he'd be filming his pilot in LA. But first it was off to Television Centre and Simon Mayo's Radio 5 show. Down one corridor he ran into a class of schoolchildren being given a guided tour. They couldn't have been more stunned if Tennant had stepped out of their own TVs. "And they've just seen the Tardis outside," their teacher beamed – a replica prop lit up outside reception. "That's how I got here," mugged Tennant. "I've just arrived." A lady from BBC promotions appeared. "If you don't mind, I've got a 16-year-old niece in Australia. She loves three men: you, some Australian footballer and Roger Federer." "What an interesting combination," said Tennant. "So if you could just sign…" On Mayo's show they discussed the upcoming Glorious 39 and St Trinian's 2 with film reviewer Mark Kermode. "Did you like St Trinian's 1?" Tennant teased. "It was one of the worst things that's ever happened to me," said Kermode.

But what everyone really wanted to talk about was Doctor Who. Tennant explained he'd just watched his final episode, with some key crew (more tears). Beforehand he'd been nervous. Afterwards he realised they'd done what they'd come to do. They were handing it over in rude health. "I feel like I've done all right by my eight-year-old self," he said.★ Doctor Who will be shown on Christmas Day and New Year's Day on BBC 1 at 6pm David Tennant: Doctor Who farewell was 'very emotional' | Television & radio | The Guardian Doctor Who David Tennant: Doctor Who farewell was 'very emotional' David Tennant declares himself 'jealous' of Doctor Who successor Matt Smith – and reveals his final lines in role Friday 30 October 2009 10.44 EDT First published on Friday 30 October 2009 10.44 EDT Close This article is 7 years old David Tennant today admitted that filming his final scenes for Doctor Who had been "very emotional" – and revealed what his final lines in the lead role will be.

Tennant also admitted he was "jealous" of Matt Smith, who will be seen taking over his role as the Doctor next year. He was speaking at the London launch of The Waters of Mars, the first of three remaining Doctor Who specials to be broadcast on BBC1 before the end of the year. They are a swansong for Tennant, after four years in the lead role, and for Russell T Davies , the executive producer and showrunner responsible for Doctor Who's hugely successful reinvention. Smith takes over from Tennant for next year's fifth series of the revived Doctor Who, which is being overseen by new showrunner Steven Moffat, who has written award-winning episodes of the drama including Blink, The Empty Child and The Girl in the Fireplace. The Waters of Mars is to be broadcast on BBC1 on Sunday 15 November at 7pm, with the remaining two specials to transmit over the Christmas holiday, in which Tennant is expected to bow out in tear-jerking scenes.

At the end of The Waters of Mars, viewers will glimpse some familiar faces who will appear in the Doctor's adventures to come, including Catherine Tate, who plays the Doctor's former companion Donna, and his arch-nemesis the Master, played by John Simm. "It's fitting and proper he should be there to see the Doctor off – if that's what happens," Tennant teased, speaking of Simm's return as the Master. "The Doctor now knows incontrovertibly that he's running from his own demise." He described shooting the final scenes as "emotional" but said that as they were filmed out of sequence, the situation did not get too weepy. Tennant said the last line he said as the Doctor was "You two, with me, spit spot," so it was robbed of any epic quality. "It was very emotional saying cheerio. Filming the final scene was very, very sad. There's lots of scenes in the final, final story that are very sad and were very sad to play," he added. The actor said he was excited for Smith because: "I remember how exciting it was starting out on this kind of a journey and nerve-racking.

I'm jealous that he's going through that now – but it couldn't happen to a nicer chap. I'm looking forward to not knowing what happens next. I'm looking forward to being a viewer again." Set on Mars in 2059, The Waters of Mars guest stars Lindsay Duncan as Adelaide – billed as the Doctor's "cleverest and most strong-minded companion yet". She and the Doctor face terror on the Red Planet in what is being seen as one of his darkest and scariest adventures. Peter O'Brien, of Neighbours, Flying Doctors and Casualty, guest stars as Ed, Adelaide's second-in-command at the base. "The Doctor finds himself in a situation where he knows what the end is. It's all about whether he can un-knit the inevitable," Tennant said. "With this particular Time Lord's life coming to an end, if he starts fiddling with the fundamentals of time and space, it might lead to his undoing." Looking back over his time on the show, Tennant said he had originally felt under some pressure in taking on the plum role. "It means so much to so many people. It meant so much to me," he said.

Asked if he felt he was in danger of becoming typecast, Tennant said: "I seem to have managed to do quite a variety of things while I've been doing Doctor Who. I haven't felt that it has been anything other than a positive." On playing the role, he said: "You're not really expected to follow what went before, you're sort of expected to go your own way and mess it up a little bit. The Doctor is different each time. "You know James Bond is always James Bond and Tarzan is always Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes is always Sherlock Holmes, but the Doctor is up to you – it's a blank sheet and you can scribble all over it. It's up to you." He compared the job to being the US president, saying: "You always get to be called the Doctor." • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

David Tennant - Biography - IMDb David Tennant Biography Showing all 152 items Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (3) | Trivia (98) | Personal Quotes (46) Overview (3) 6' 1" (1.85 m) Mini Bio (1) David Tennant was born David John McDonald in West Lothian, Scotland, to Essdale Helen (McLeod) and Sandy McDonald , who was a Presbyterian minister. He is of Scottish and Ulster-Scots descent. When he was about 3 or 4 years old, he decided to become an actor, inspired by his love of Doctor Who (1963). He was brought up in Bathgate, West Lothian and Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland and was a huge fan of the band The Proclaimers . He attended Paisley Grammar school and while there he wrote about how he wanted to become a professional actor and play the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who (1963).

He made his first television appearance (which was also his first professional acting job) when he was 16, after his father sent some photos of him to a casting director at Scottish television. He also attended a youth theatre group at weekends run by the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD - now renamed the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland [RCS]). When he was 16 he auditioned for and won a place at the RSAMD; the youngest student to ever do so, and started as a full time drama student when he was 17. He worked regularly in theatre and TV after leaving drama school, and his first big break came in 1994 when he was cast in a lead role in the Scottish drama Takin' Over the Asylum (1994). He then moved to London where his career thrived. Amongst other things, he spent several years as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and became famous from his lead roles in TV dramas Blackpool (2004) and Casanova (2005). In 2005, his childhood wish came true.

David was cast to play the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who (2005) alongside Billie Piper , after Christopher Eccleston decided to leave. Playing the Doctor made him a household name. Since leaving the series in 2010 his career has continued to rise, with lead roles in films, TV series and theatre. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Samtroy Spouse (1) ( 30 December 2011 - present) (4 children) Trade Mark (3) Raising his eyebrows a lot Trivia (98) David Tennant is a respected classical actor who has performed numerous starring roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company, including Touchstone in "As You Like It," Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet," Antipholus of Syracuse in "The Comedy of Errors," and Captain Jack Absolute in "The Rivals.". He was nominated for a 2003 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actor of 2002 for his performance in "Lobby Hero" performed at the Donmar Warehouse and the New Ambassador's Theatres. Attended Paisley Grammar. Graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Acted with the 7:84 Theatre Company, a genre-bending, ground-breaking, political Scottish Theatre Group. Decided to be an actor at the age of three. Cast as "Tenth Doctor" for BBC Doctor Who (2005) series to star alongside Billie Piper (April 2005). While attending Paisley Grammar School, he wrote an essay on how his greatest desire was to play Doctor Who on TV. Best friends with Louise Delamere ( No Angels (2004)). They went to Glasgow's Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama together and shared a flat. Chose his acting surname from Neil Tennant , singer with Pet Shop Boys . This came after reading an interview with Tennant in "Smash Hits" shortly after learning that he would have to change his professional name in order to join the actors' union, Equity, as there was already a registered member with his real name, David McDonald. Nominated for Best Classical Actor Under 30, Ian Charleson Award for his theater role in "Comedy of Errors" as Antipholus of Syracuse.

[2000] Won Best Male Performance, Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland, for his role in "Look Back in Anger" as Jimmy Porter. [2005] Won Best Actor, Theatre Management Association, for his role in "The Glass Menagerie" as Tom. Is a big fan of film director Alfred Hitchcock . Is the second Scots actor to be cast as "The Doctor" (and got a chance to use his actual accent, once, when the Doctor poses as a Scottish physician in episode Doctor Who: Tooth and Claw (2006)). The first was Sylvester McCoy , who was cast as the seventh Doctor in the original series. McCoy's time in the TARDIS was from 1987 to 1989. On August 31, 2007, he turned on the illumination lights for Blackpool. His heroes are John Cleese and Derek Jacobi . Says that his favorite Doctor from the original Doctor Who (1963) was Tom Baker . Considers Paisley as his hometown. His father is Sandy McDonald , a retired minister; mother Helen died of cancer in July 2007.

Has a brother, Blair, and a sister, Karen. Favorite actress is Audrey Hepburn . Favorite book is "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger . Along with Matt Smith , Elisabeth Sladen , John Leeson , Tommy Knight , Alexander Armstrong , Lachele Carl , and Nicholas Courtney , he is one of only eight actors to play the same character in both Doctor Who (2005) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007). So many people wanted to see him in the 2009 RSC Production of Hamlet; the London run at the Novello Theater sold out in three hours. Missed out for a nomination for the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for his "Hamlet" because he did not perform enough shows in London after the show transfered from Stratford-Upon-Avon, due to a back injury and surgery during the London run. Nominated 2009 Evening Standard Theater Award for Best Actor for his Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Won 2009 Critics Choice Award for Best Shakespearean Performance for his Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Nominated for the 2008 Royal Television Society Award-Best Actor for Recovery and Doctor Who. Nominated for the 2009 Broadcasting Guild Awards-Best Actor for his portrayal of "Sir Arthur Eddington" in Einstein and Eddington (2008) and "The Doctor" in Doctor Who (2005). Winner 2009 Theatregoers' Choice Award Best Regional Production was RSC Production of Hamlet with David Tennant and 2009 Theatregoers' Choice Award for Theatre Event of the Year was David Tennant's return to the stage in the RSC Production of Hamlet. From taking the role of The Doctor in 2005 to when he gave the role up in 2010, he became the second longest actor to play the title role on television and the third longest overall. Married to Georgia Moffett since 30th December 2011. They met on the set of Doctor Who (2005) in November 2007, but did not become a couple until some time later. She is the daughter of former "Doctor Who" actor Peter Davison .

In January 2011, UK tabloids reported that they had moved in together and become engaged. Moffett gave birth to the couple's first child two months later, and they married nine months after that. Tennant has never spoken about or confirmed their relationship to the media, though Moffett occasionally posts about him on her social media pages. Tennant revealed on The New Paul O'Grady Show (2004) that he had auditioned for the role of "the Blue Meanie" in the remake of Yellow Submarine (1968). His fiancée, actress Georgia Moffett , gave birth to his first child, a daughter named Olive, on 29 March 2011. He is the second of three non-English actors to portray the "Doctor Who" character. Along with Sylvester McCoy , and Peter Capaldi , all three are Scottish. Married Georgia Moffett on the 30th December 2011. He adopted his wife's son, Tyler, in 2011. He started acting with the hope that he would one day get to play the title role on "Doctor Who".

Is a big fan of the TV series, Firefly (2002). Son-in-law of Peter Davison and Sandra Dickinson . His all-time favourite Doctor Who character is the Zygons, who first appeared in Doctor Who: Terror of the Zygons: Part One (1975), a Fourth Doctor adventure. Auditioned for the lead role in the American NBC TV series Hannibal. Tennant was unsuccessful, but show-runner Bryan Fuller said in a magazine interview that Tennant's audition was so impressive, he wanted to write him a guest spot as a deranged serial killer. His wife became pregnant for the third time seven months after their wedding, and gave birth on 3rd May 2013. Did not enjoy doing the automatic dialogue replacement in post-production for Doctor Who (2005) episodes. Is the second in a string of Scotish born actors to play the Doctor along side Sylvester McCoy , the 7th Doctor, and Peter Capaldi the 12th Doctor. Used to get in trouble at school because all of the essays he wrote were about Doctor Who (1963) in some way.

His most treasured childhood possession was a scarf that an aunt knitted him that was modeled after the iconic multi-colored one worn by Tom Baker on ''Doctor Who''. The appearance of Lex Luthor's assistant Spalding in Paul Cornell 's run on ''Action Comics'' is based on him. Cornell has written many expanded universe stories featuring Tennant's Tenth Doctor. Legally changed his name to David Tennant, due to rules of the Screen Actors' Guild of America (one's stage name must be the same as one's legal name). Announced he is leaving Doctor Who (2005) after he films four "Bank Holiday" specials and a Christmas special for 2009. Has already finished work on the 2008 Doctor Who (2005) Christmas special. [October 2008] Filming mini-series drama, Single Father (2010), for BBC Scotland in Glasgow, Scotland. [April 2010] Margate, Kent: filming True Love (2012). Tennant started work on "True Love" two days after his play, "Much Ado About Nothing", ended.

[September 2011] London: Filming the TV series, The Politician's Husband (2013). (In June and July). [June 2012] Filming for Fright Night (2011), in Albuquerque, New Mexico. [September 2010] In Carlisle and Newcastle filming United (2011). [December 2010] Recording the radio play Kafka, the Musical in London. [January 2011] In London rehearsing for the play 'Much Ado About Nothing.' Rehearsals started on 4 April in Shepherd's Bush. [April 2011] Cardiff, Wales: Filming Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special [April 2013] Poland: shooting Spies of Warsaw (2013) (between early April and mid-June). [April 2012] Los Angeles, attending the TCAs. Tennant was in LA for three days only as he was in the middle of shooting different projects. [August 2012] London, shooting a TV commercial for Virgin.

[December 2012] Wales, filming the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special. [April 2013] London: Recording the audiobook 'How to Steal a Dragon's Heart.' [January 2013] Filming for the film, The Decoy Bride (2011), in Scotland and Isle of Man. [June 2010] Bristol: Filming the TV series, Broadchurch (2013) (from early August to December). [August 2012] Los Angeles: Auditioning for acting work and doing publicity for Spies of Warsaw. [December 2012] Filming Single Father (2010) in Edinburgh. [May 2010] London: recording the comedy panel game show ''Comedy World Cup'' (as presenter). Tennant filmed Broadchurch Mon-Fri in Bristol and returned to London on the weekends to record Comedy World Cup. [November 2012] Hertfordshire and London, filming The Escape Artist.

[February 2013] Scotland, filming The Escape Artist [March 2013] Guest starring in the comedy stage show 'Celebrity Autobiography' at the Leicester Square Theatre in London. Tennant made his first performance two days after he returned to England from New Mexico, where he'd been shooting the film Fright Night. [October 2010] Coventry, Wales and Warwickshire: filming Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger! (2012) (filming took place during October and November). [October 2011] As of April 16, 2005, officially announced as the tenth actor to play the classic television character "Doctor Who," taking over from Christopher Eccleston for the second series of the BBC's Sci-Fi show revival. [April 2005] Filming the 2007 Christmas episode of Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned (2007), with Kylie Minogue in Cardiff. [July 2007] Newcastle: shooting the BBC2 film, United (2011).

[November 2010] In Uganda filming for Comic Relief. [November 2010] London, filming the BBC1 drama series The Escape Artist (2013). During this month Tennant also recorded numerous audio books and radio plays. [January 2013] Playing "Hamlet" in RSC Stratford-upon-Avon, alongside Patrick Stewart . [August 2008] London and Watford, Hertfordshire, filming The Politician's Husband (2013) (between mid-June and the end of July). Tennant started work on the series two days after he returned from Poland. [June 2012] June-July 2012. London, filming )The Politician's Husband_. August - December 2012. Dorset and Somerset, filming Broadchurch. January - March 2013. London, Scotland and Hertfordshire, filming The Escape Artist (2013). April - May 2013. Filming the Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor (2013) in Wales. His son was born the day after his final day on set.

Tennant then took three weeks off, though he recorded several voice overs and TV commercials, and took a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon to have meetings for Richard II during this time. June - August 2013. Filming the movie What We Did On Our Holiday in Scotland. January - May 2014. Filming Gracepoint in Victoria, Canada. David flew to Canada the day after the final performance of Richard II. May - October 2014. Filming Broadchurch series 2 in Dorset, Devon and Somerset. David started work on Broadchurch three days after flying home from Canada. August 2013 - January 2014. Playing Richard II in the Royal Shakespeare Production of the play in London and Stratford-upon-Avon. Is a huge fan of Madonna and says "Like a Virgin" was the first single he ever bought. Is a huge fan of The West Wing (1999). In 2007, Tennant became only the second actor to play the Doctor in the Doctor Who TV series to be interviewed as a guest on the UK's most celebrated talk show, Parkinson (1971).

The first had been Jon Pertwee , who had been interviewed in 1980, six years after he had left the part. Won Best Actor Award for his role in 'Richard II' at British Stage Awards 2015. Amazed the audience at his first appearance on the BBC radio quiz show "Just a Minute" (25 Feb 2015) by speaking extemporaneously for a full minute on the topic "Exit, Pursued by a Bear.". (February 2015 - August 2015) New York, shooting 'aka Jessica Jones'. Is the only actor to play two canonical incarnations of The Doctor. Her fourth child a daughter named Doris was born in 2015. Personal Quotes (46) Drama school is a pretty intense experience and I think it changes who you are. I think I grew up at drama school (which was fairly useful personally as much as professionally) and I certainly got exposed to a huge range of ideas, techniques, and practices that I had no previous experience of. I wouldn't have known what I was doing as an actor if I hadn't gone.

On his early decision to become an actor: "I was very small, about 3 or 4 I think, and just wanted to be the people on telly telling these wonderful stories. Obviously the idea grew and matured with me but I can't ever remember wanting to do anything else. I've just sort of taken it for granted all my life that that was what I would do." I do thrive on hard work. Unlike other enduring characters such as Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan, being the Doctor allows you a certain freedom that is both very demanding and very thrilling. It allows you to make the character using elements of yourself. I was sent good luck cards from Tom Baker and Peter Davison . They were the Doctors I grew up watching, while eating toast and drinking Tizer at home, so I was very honoured. I've always been a geek and slightly awkward... slightly umm... I was never the cool kid at school. I'm as happy doing 'Postman Pat' as I am doing 'Hamlet.' I'm a good person, I hope. But I'm never as good as I want to be, never as nice as I want to be, never as generous as I want to be.

I love characters who are clever and smart, and you have to run to catch up with. I think there's something very appealing and rather heroic in that. I love a bit of political drama; 'The West Wing' is probably my favourite television series of all time. I'd love to work with Aaron Sorkin on something. Just the way he writes, he has no fear in writing people that are fiercely intelligent, and I love that. I was hugely formed by stories I was told as a child whether that was in a book, the cinema, theatre or television and probably television more than any medium is what influenced me as a child and formed my response to literature, story-telling and, therefore, the world around me. I remember a conversation with my parents about who the people on the TV were, and learning they were actors and they acted out this story and just thinking that was the most fantastic notion, and that's what I want to do. I have such fond memories of watching Doctor Who (1963) when I was a kid and growing up, that if I've left anybody anywhere with memories as fond, then I feel like I've done my job.

I don't think I have ever done anything for this age of children before, a pre-school audience. Generally speaking, we don't have vivid memories of that age and what influenced us, yet clearly they are hugely formative years and it's really important that we can create television of a high quality for that audience. Animation is a fascinating area from an acting point of view because it's not really like anything else because you are only providing a portion of the performance. That's very inspiring and it forces you to do things in a different way - to tell stories through your voice. Twitter! It's like being stalked by committee! The gritty indie films are a lot rarer than the films that aspire to fill multiplexes. The bad guys probably get the better lines, don't they? And they wear less spandex. That would be quite good. Hopes of first gay Doctor Who dashed as Matt Smith lands prime role Matt Smith is the new Doctor Who A 26-year-old relative unknown has been chosen as the next Doctor Who, smashing the hopes of some fans that the 11th incarnation of the TV Time Lord would be an out gay man. Matt Smith will be the next Doctor, the BBC revealed on Saturday.

He is best-known for his leading role in BBC2 political drama series Party Animals. Mr Smith will take over from David Tennant who leaves the show at the end of 2009. The tabloid press have been quick to establish that he has a Brazilian girlfriend and is likely to become a pin-up as the youngest-ever Doctor. The fifth series will also have a new lead writer and executive producer, replacing Queer As Folk creator Russell T Davies, who brought the Doctor Who format back to life. In November emails from Mr Davies printed in The Times revealed that he wanted out gay actor Russell Tovey to take on the iconic role. Mr Tovey, 27, appeared in the show’s 2007 Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, as Midshipman Frame. He gained rave reviews for his portryal of Rudge in the stage and film versions of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys and in the Royal National Theatre’s production of His Dark Materials. Russell T Davies said Mr Tovey was “going to be huge” and is “amazing.” Matt Smith will not appear on screen as Doctor Who until 2010.

In 2007 he played Henry in That Face, at the Royal Court and was nominated for an Evening Standard Best Newcomer award. He also played Guy opposite Christian Slater’s Buddy in Swimming With Sharks on stage in the West End. He starred alongside Billie Piper in Phillip Pullman’s period detective stories, The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North. Jay Hunt, Controller of BBC ONE, said: “Matt Smith will be a mesmerising eleventh Time Lord, true to the spirit of the show. “He is a worthy successor to David Tennant who has been utterly remarkable in the role and promises to continue in four special episodes.” The children’s science fiction series was on air from 1963 to 1989, with seven different incarnations of the Doctor, among them Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. Doctor Who was revived in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the eponymous time traveller. He was succeeded by David Tennant after one series.

Question: Who succeeded David Tennant in the role of TV's 'Doctor Who'?
Answer: MATT SMITH