Tennant checking out
- Publication: Belfast Telegraph
- Date: 2009-12-23
- Author: Susan Griffin
- Page: 6
- Language: English
Susan Griffin talks time travel and Doctor Who pants with the exiting doctor, David Tennant
Doctor Who star David Tennant is to regenerate as a kids' storyteller this Christmas.
The actor, who appears in the acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet on Boxing Day on BBC2, swaps the Tardis for the Bedtime Story chair on CBeebies.
Tennant will read five stories during the festive season. On Christmas Eve he will be seen reading The Christmas Bear by Henrietta and Paul Strickland.
But viewers get the real thrill when we see him bow out as BBCI's Doctor Who this Christmas in an apocalyptic two-part story. The End Of Time.
Tennant admits there's been a sense through the autumn that the tenth Doctor's days are numbered.
"Storm clouds hang over the last series," he said. "Things start to happen that mean things can never be quite the same again."
As tough as it was for the 38-year-old Scot to decide to leave when he did, he says he's pleased his time as the Doctor is satisfyingly wrapped up. while hinting at a new future.
"Yeah, it feels like we need to have a big 'end of an era' story and to get on. which I think is important in this show, which let's face it has been going a long time before we showed up and no doubt will carry on into the far distant future.
"I think we tell a big old farewell story and then hand it over in rude health."
As is the way in TV-land, events move at a frantic pace and paparazzi pictures of the new Doctor filming on the streets of Cardiff have already been leaked to newspapers.
"I remember thinking that will probably happen. that we'll probably start seeing snaps of them (Matt Smith and his new assistant, Karen Gillan) on street corners wearing anoraks and having cups of tea between takes.
"I was nervous about how I'd feel about that," he says. "Of course you feel a little bit proprietorial but I've just been really excited to see that it's going on.
"I remember what it felt like to be where Matt is now and it's really exciting to be seeing someone else starting out on that journey again."
Despite beating Tom Baker to the title of 'Best Doctor Who' by the fans of Doctor Who Magazine, Tennant remains humble about attaining such an accolade.
But he reveals that shooting the final scene wasn't as emotional as he'd expected. Due to the series being filmed out of sequence. Tennant's last day as the Doctor was actually spent on the set of the spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures. "The last line I said as the Doc toris halfway through an episode and it's, 'You two, with me, spit spot'.
They were the last words I uttered in the suit, so I guess it was robbed of any epic quality," says Tennant laughing.
"That was probably best because it was very emotional saying cheerio and filming the very, very final scene was very sad. If the scene had coincided with the actual final day. I'd have been in trouble. I was in a bit of trouble as it was, but I was all right, I kept a mildly stiff upper lip."
Reflecting on his time as the Doctor, he says without question the most rewarding aspect has been the starstruck reaction of the show's younger fans.
"Quite often, when I meet kids, they don't !mow what to say," he says.
"They get a bit overwhelmed by it, which I remember is what it did to me. I remember how enthused I got by the worlds that Doctor Who took me to and how special it seemed.
"When you feel like you're creating a similar world for a child and you see it reflected back because they don't know how to express it or how to say it, that's very special."
But is it as special as finding your face plastered on an array of merchandising items?
For when it comes to a series as popular as Doctor Who, there are the requisite off-shoots, such as Doctor Who bath bombs, Doctor Who lunch-boxes, Doctor Who cuff links — you name it, the Doctor's face has probably been on it.
So what's the strangest item Tennant's seen his face on? "Pants," he says. "I think pants are probably the oddest, because they're urn... pants... I'm wearing some now:' he adds, presumably joking.
"Oh, and I do have some plastic action figures.
"I quite like having a plastic homunculus of myself It's a very odd thing and I'm not sure if it's entirely healthy, but it's quite fun."
Dr Who: The End of Time Pt 1 BBC 1, Christmas Day, 6pm Pt 2 BBC 1, New Year's Day, 6.40pm
Caption: The Doctor (David Tennant) bows out, pictured here with Wilt (Bernard Cribbins) and The Master (John Simm)
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- APA 6th ed.: Griffin, Susan (2009-12-23). Tennant checking out. Belfast Telegraph p. 6.
- MLA 7th ed.: Griffin, Susan. "Tennant checking out." Belfast Telegraph [add city] 2009-12-23, 6. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Griffin, Susan. "Tennant checking out." Belfast Telegraph, edition, sec., 2009-12-23
- Turabian: Griffin, Susan. "Tennant checking out." Belfast Telegraph, 2009-12-23, section, 6 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Tennant checking out | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Tennant_checking_out | work=Belfast Telegraph | pages=6 | date=2009-12-23 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=26 August 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Tennant checking out | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Tennant_checking_out | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=26 August 2025}}</ref>
