David Tennant got in the nostalgic spirit when he was joined by Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies on the latest episode of his interview podcast.
The pair worked together for five years on the BBC sci-fi show, which Russell was showrunner of when it returned to our screens in 2004, with Christopher Eccleston playing The Doctor.
During their conversation, David recalled he’d been working on another of Russell’s projects, Casanova, when he was invited to a dinner party at his house alongside executive producer Julie Gardner.
“We trapped you,” Russell quipped.
David said that after Russell and Julie played him some episodes of Doctor Who on VHS, she then “sprang this idea” about potentially playing the Time Lord.
“Julie said it. I wish I’d said it. Julie led the way saying ‘would you ever be interested?’,” Russell said to which David questioned exactly “how stage managed” the dinner party was.
“Oh, completely,” Russell continued. “That was the night to find out if you’d be interested. That’s the only reason you came out.
“I was gutted that she said it first. I think the actual plan was for me to say it and she said it. And there was a pause. And you said, ‘I want a coat down to there’. And I was like, ‘we got it’.”
David added that Russell initially told him to go away and think about his decision, which the producer seemed surprised to be reminded of.
“You have to think through all the ramifications of this. Presumably because that’s something you’d had to go through yourself,” David replied, prompting Russell to remember just how much Doctor Who would do for the Scottish actor’s profile.
Russell said: “It’s a life-changing part. I remember midway through your run, sitting in Cardiff Bay one day having a coffee, and I think it was a Saturday, and you ran through Cardiff Bay – you must have needed milk from the Tesco – with your baseball cap down.
“You were like a hunted ferret, and you scampered through keeping your head down. I thought, ‘I did that to him’.”
After leaving Doctor Who in 2010, Russell eventually returned to the franchise in 2023, which coincided with the show’s 60th anniversary.
To mark the occasion, David also returned to the show, portraying the Fourteenth Doctor alongside his former companion Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate, in a handful of specials.
Following this, the Time Lord bi-generated, at which point Ncuti Gatwa took over at the helm of the Tardis.
Listen to David Tennant and Russell T Davies’ conversation in full in the latest episode of David Tennant Does A Podcast With…