Doctor Who: David Tennant on how he was persuaded to make epic return
“Wouldn’t it be fun to get the band back together one last time?”
Doctor Who star David Tennant has provided some more insight into how he and Catherine Tate were brought back to the hit BBC drama.
David and Catherine will return to their roles of The Doctor and Donna Noble on Saturday night (25 November).
‘The Star Beast’ will be the first of the special episodes to mark Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary.
But after so long away from the beloved programme, which is once again being helmed by Russell T Davies, Tennant revealed what it was that persuaded himself and Catherine to make an epic return.
“Wouldn’t it be fun to get the band back together one last time?” – David Tennant
Chatting alongside showrunner Davies on BBC Radio 2’s Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Tuesday (21 November), he explained how the Covid lockdown played a part.
“Do you remember the call coming David?” the host asked.
The actor responded: “It sort of emerged bit by bit. First of all, during lockdown, there were these things called the Tweet-A-Longs.
“People from the show got enlisted by Emily Cook who works for Doctor Who Magazine. She just decided, wouldn’t it be fun as a bit of international Doctor Who community? Wouldn’t it be fun if everyone presses start on an episode of Doctor Who at the same time and tweets along?”
He went on to recall how this “grew”, leading to Cook bringing in people who’d appeared on the show to join in.
“We all got enlisted to watch… it was ‘The Runaway Bride’ first. We all watched this episode.
“I don’t tweet, but I got through with the help of my tech friendly wife. We all joined in and we just had fun!”
This then “led to conversations” between Davies, Tate and Tennant. They then agreed: “Wouldn’t it be fun to get the band back together one last time?”
“And here we are!” Davies noted in the interview.
“We all joined in and we just had fun!”
‘The Star Beast’ will be followed by ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ on 2 December and ‘The Giggle’ on 9 December.
Joining Tennant and Tate will be Heartstopper‘s Yasmin Finney, Miriam Margolyes, Jacqueline King, Karl Collins, Ruth Madeley, and Jemma Redgrave.
Neil Patrick Harris will star as the terrifying Toymaker, who. looks set to cause all sorts of mayhem for The Doctor.
The series will lead up to a special festive airing when Ncuti Gatwa will take over the Tardis.
Doctor Who returns on Saturday, 25 November, at 6.30pm, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer