To a whole generation of Doctor Who fans, David Tennant is the Doctor. Not the Tenth Doctor or the Fourteenth Doctor, THE Doctor. And there’s good reason for that.
Not only is Tennant an excellent actor, of course, but he’s just as much a fan of the show as we all are. In fact, he even has a lot of us beat because he’s loved Doctor Who with a burning passion since early childhood. Tennant recently shared an anecdote to the Radio Times about his earliest TV memory and it was, ya guessed it, a scene from Who. A regeneration to be exact:
“Doctor Who—watching Jon Pertwee turn into Tom Baker.
It’s weirdly specific, especially considering things that have happened in my life since. I remember thinking, ‘That man just turned into another man. That’s wild.’ It’s so utterly unpredictable the way things worked out [landing the lead in Doctor Who], it’s so fantastically unlikely. The odds are so ludicrously small that if I think about it too much, it makes me feel vertiginous.”
But look back on Tennant’s younger years and maybe the odds weren’t that small. That little kid (known back then as David McDonald, fact fans) who saw the man turn into another man fast became OBSESSED with the magic and wonder of Doctor Who.
David Tennant was a boy with a dream
When he first became the Tenth Doctor back in 2005, the British media dug up an old essay Tennant had written at 13 called “Intergalactic Overdose.” It was all about his love for the show and Tom Baker’s version of the Doctor. Snippets of that essay and the accompanying article survive to the present day and Tennant’s childhood words are delightful:
“Everyone was persistent in the belief I would ‘grow out of it’, but not me. I believed this was going to be a life-long thing. When I was old enough I was convinced that I was going to play the part of the Doctor on TV. I was absolutely convinced.”
The outlet that got hold of the essay was Sunday Magazine (a supplement from the now-defunct News of the World) and they stopped off to interview some of Tennant’s friends and family about his TV obsession as well. (I’m sure most people can imagine nothing more mortifying, but Tennant seemed to take it in stride.) A schoolfriend remembered Tennant’s love of a Fourth Doctor-style scarf his grandmother had knitted, saying, “David wasn’t that tall, we were only 9 years old. It literally went down to his feet on both sides. That was his main prop.” Awww.
According to Tennant’s mom Helen, when Baker regenerated into the Fifth Doctor Peter Davison, Tennant simply changed his wardrobe and got his gran to knit him Five’s jumper instead. Double awww!
The magazine also notes that Tennant had a bedroom “crammed full of Doctor Who books, figures, and memorabilia, including a replica of robotic dog K9,” and “even got to meet Tom Baker once, when the actor visited Scotland.” No doubt about it, little David was doing fandom RIGHT, and man did it pay off!
Doctor Who gave David Tennant a family
Amusingly, the Sunday Magazine piece ends with Tennant’s mom musing, “I did mention to him that we have no babies in the family at the moment. But he doesn’t have a girlfriend so there’s not a lot he can do. It would be nice if he had somebody. He’d make a great dad.” Well! If you have even a passing familiarity with David Tennant’s career you’ll know what happened next. During the filming of the Who episode “The Doctor’s Daughter” Tennant fell for Georgia Moffett, the actress playing the title character … who herself was actually the (well, a) Doctor’s Daughter, as she was the child of Peter Davison! Yep, the man whose onscreen outfits Tennant once wore.
Tennant and Moffett married in 2011, and Tennant legally adopted Moffett’s son Ty, who’s now following in his dad’s and grandfather’s acting footsteps in shows such as Good Omens. The couple now have four other children and very successful careers! And a large portion of that is down to Doctor Who.
So, congratulations to David Tennant. No one in the history of television has ever fanboyed better.
(featured image: BBC)
