Reminder: You are not Doctor Who’s biggest fan because David Tennant is still alive. A Lothian-born bloke, David Tennant was born David MacDonald, but had to adopt a screen name for
guild reasons (the "Tennant" coming from the last name of Neil Tennant of
Pet Shop Boys, who is DT's first cousin). Best known for being
The Tenth Doctor, as well as the lead role in a
Casanova miniseries. In
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, his character is played by Brendan Gleeson for most of the movie, but Tennant does get a few scenes to display his..."
eager" face (his face is wonderfully expressive, as you can see in any of his TV or film work). Played "Dangerous Beans" in a BBC radio adaptation of the
Discworld novel
The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents. Did manage to get a role as a
very convincing pre-op transsexual on
Rab C. Nesbitt. Has auditioned several times for
Taggart and failed each time.
In 2008, he played the eponymous character in the Great Performances production of
Hamlet from the Royal Shakespeare Company alongside
Patrick Stewart. The film adaptation can be viewed on
PBS'
website.
In 2011, he played Benedick
opposite Catherine Tate in a production of
Much Ado About Nothing.
Tennant is also a
Promoted Fanboy. A
Doctor Who fan since childhood, he specifically went into acting to play the Doctor (
in a strange case of irony, his first big role was in something called
Takin' Over The Asylum) and has shown himself to be quite knowledgeable about the history of the series in interviews. He
Jumped at the Call for bit parts when
Scream Of The Shalka and
Big Finish Doctor Who were produced, auditioned for the part of the Ninth Doctor in 2005, and became the Tenth a year later. His Doctor is now rated among the top two of the eleven canon Doctors and he is now regularly winning "Best Doctor" polls.
Contrary to an infamous question on
The Million-Pound Drop, he's
not the longest-running Doctor. Hell,
he doesn't even crack the top three (that record still belongs to the seven-year run of Tom Baker, although how one counts the "Wasteland Years" makes this up for debate.)He left
Who after the 2009 specials. When he initially announced his departure at the National Television Awards, the fangirl (
and fanboy) screams shattered glass fifty miles away. He was replaced by the eleventh doctor
Matt Smith.
He's married to
Georgia Moffett (and has a child with her, Olive), who not only played his
Opposite-Sex Clone in "
The Doctor's Daughter" but is also ex-Doctor
Peter Davison's real-life daughter. (And guess which role inspired Tennant to go into acting? Right in one. David Tennant is now
the ultimate Promoted Fanboy.) Sorry, ladies (
and gentlemen).
Tennant is also the current host for
Masterpiece Contemporary.
He was hard to avoid on
The BBC on Christmas 2009 - he was even in the
Station Idents! Which also was repeated concurrently on BBC America.
He is a public supporter of the Labour Party, delivering a very scathing criticism of
David Cameron in early 2010 as well as providing the voiceover for Labour's 2010 Election Broadcast, although he avoided political commentary during his tenure as the Doctor because he felt it was improper. In 2011, he played showy vampire slayer Peter Vincent in the
Fright Night (2011) remake, and romantically confused author James Neil Arber in
The Decoy Bride. In 2012, he had a minor voice role as Professor Huyang, the lightsaber construction droid, in
Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In 2013, he played the role of DI Alec Hardy in
Broadchurch and announced his return for Who for the 50th Anniversary Special. He also hosted
Comedy World Cup, a
Panel Game based on comedy history and trivia.
He likes
Kate Bush,
Coldplay,
The Proclaimers,
Come Dine With Me,
Firefly, and Honey Nut Shredded Wheat.
Deal with it.
Tropes commonly associated with David Tennant, or even applicable to him in Real Life:
- Actor Allusion: Referenced his most famous role in a Virgin Media advert, although it was swiftly pulled at the BBC's request. note The BBC have a no-advertising policy and people might think they were being paid for it.
- Cast Incest: While playing the Doctor, he met (and is now married to) the actress who played the Doctor's daughter. And now they have a daughter. As noted above, for extra bonus points Miss Moffett is the real-life daughter of Peter Davison. (Start thinking too hard about how the Actor Allusion works out and you may wind up in My Own Grampa territory.)
- Defictionalization: Due to the Tenth Doctor lighting the cauldron for the London 2012 Olympics in the episode "Fear Her," there have been online petitions to have Tennant light it for real. (Such as this one.) The fans possibly did have something to do with the Doctor actually carrying the Olympic torch, but it was the current one and he only ran for one leg of it in Cardiff instead of actually lighting the flame in London. Also, the TARDIS was heard warping in during the opening ceremonies.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: His Beatrice in 2011's Much Ado was real-life close friend and former Who co-star Catherine Tate — see Vitriolic Best Buds below.
- Keet: He frolics. At 6 foot 1, the only thing he can't tick off on the list is short.
- Large Ham: THE LAWS OF TIME ARE HIS! AND THEY WILL OBEY HIM!!!
- Like Brother and Sister: Counts Billie Piper and Catherine Tate among his friends, but despite massive Actor Shipping has never been romantically involved with either.
- Locked Out of the Loop: When the mysterious (and very important) character River Song first showed up in Doctor Who, Steven Moffat refused to tell anyone who she was. The Doctor's confusion is absolutely genuine.
- May-September Romance: Tennant is thirteen years older than Georgia Moffett.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Though best known for playing a heroic Time Lord, he was also a Death Eater. The sheer contrast between the homicidal lunacy of Barty Crouch Jr. and his adorkable and cuddly interview at the Goblet of Fire premiere is a sight to behold.
- For a better example, see him in his early The Bill appearance where he plays a Serial Killer. Or for the ultimate example: see him as Brendan Block in Secret Smile.
- Meaningful Name: David TEN-nant was Doctor #10.
- Older Than They Look: He's 41, but could easily be more than a few years younger.
- It has its limits, though. He couldn't quite pull off the 19-year-old Barty Crouch Jr shown in a flashback.
- One of Us: Being a Promoted Fanboy of Who, this is to be expected. Also visible in his video diary footage are Star Wars figures and The West Wing DVDs. He also said he was a fan of Firefly and Serenity at Comic-Con, unfortunately at the same time as denying that his long brown coat was a deliberate reference to them.
- Promoted Fanboy: Let's count the ways.
- Grew up a huge fan of the Doctor, and got into acting specifically to play him.
- Was a big fan of Sarah Jane Smith (of course, who isn't?); got to work with Elisabeth Sladen in "School Reunion" and "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith", and was able to give Sarah Jane the "goodbye" from the Doctor she's been waiting decades for. Then was asked to write the foreword to Sladen's autobiography after her untimely death in 2011.
- Was a big fan of the Fifth Doctor, and got the chance to work with Peter Davison (as the Fifth Doctor) in the special "Time Crash".
- Furthermore, now that he's married to Davison's daughter Georgia Moffett, not only is he Davison's fan, he's also his son-in-law. Someone give him the Promoted Fanboy crown, please.
- He's a big Star Wars fan, and played a role in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
- During which he got into a pissing match with R2-D2.
- As of this point, he is to the average Promoted Fanboy as Vespasian was to the average Roman politician.
- Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Giving his incarnation of the Doctor these was his idea, in order to provide a hero for children with glasses.
- Romance on the Set: How he met both former girlfriend Sophia Myles ("The Girl in the Fireplace") and wife Georgia Moffett ("The Doctor's Daughter").
- Squee: Tends to get this reaction a lot from his hordes of fangirls (and John Barrowman, when David kissed him at a con). As for David himself, he did this as a in- and out-of-universe version as the Tenth Doctor/himself to the Fifth Doctor/Peter Davison in "Time Crash".
- You can hear the fanboying in his head (and see it all over his face) when he meets Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane as the Doctor in "School Reunion".
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Catherine Tate are close friends in real life (and have been since they first met while filming the Doctor Who Christmas Special in 2006), and have done various shows together - aside from Who, they've done a few one-off Catherine Tate Show charity skits together and a theater run of Much Ado About Nothing in 2011). Every time, they always seem to be on opposite sides of a snark-off, and their chemistry seems to be at its best when they're sniping at each other.
- What Might Have Been: He tried out for the part of Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal, but lost out to Mads Mikkelsen. Bryan Fuller was so impressed by his audition, however, that he promised him the part of a psychopathic serial killer later in the series.
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