WHEN SFX catches up with David Tennant at Bad Wolf Studios in Cardiff, it’s the day after his birthday, and he’s still a young fanboy at heart(s). “I’m going around taking pictures of everything I can,” he laughs. “I’ll probably have my phone confiscated as I leave…”
A little bird tells us that he grabbed a few selfies with the Wrarth Warriors on the set of “The Star Beast”, the first of three anniversary specials being released this month. “Oh, always!” he says, scoffing jovially. “Oh, of course. That’s day one…”
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. This is April 2023. It’s before episode title reveals, before trailers and Toymakers, and we’re still in the time (Lord)-honoured tradition of everything being a secret. What we do know is that Tennant is indeed back, back, back! But he’s not the Tenth Doctor. No, he’s not even the Meta-Crisis Doctor. He’s the Fourteenth Doctor – officially. But did he ever think he’d ever be playing any Doctor again?
“I think it would be disingenuous to pretend I wasn’t entertaining that as a possibility, because there’s precedent for it,” he admits. “I’ve done it for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. I suppose I might have been called back for a subsequent anniversary if I was still able to get in the suit and run around.
“What I imagine is that I would be back as the Doctor for any length of
