David Tennant Reveals How His Doctor Who Return Happened

Doctor Who has been unafraid to acknowledge its bizarre and winding history, returning to the tales of previous Doctors and companions through new episodes, audio series, and so much more. In the near future, that will include the return of David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor, who has been confirmed to come back alongside Donna Noble actress Catherine Tate in a 2023 stint on the series. The news of Tennant’s return definitely surprised those who are fans of his 2005-2010 tenure on the series, especially as he is still regarded by many to be one of the best actors to play The Doctor. In a recent interview with BBC, Tennant explained exactly how his new return came to be — and revealed that it actually had to do with the pandemic-era watch alongs that the Doctor Who fandom held on social media.

“It all slightly happened a little bit by accident,” Tennant explained. “[The Doctor Who Lockdown “watch-alongs” is] where this all started. At a certain time and day everyone would press play on a certain episode and some of the people who had been involved in those episodes were tweeting along. I don’t tweet but my wife helped me.”

According to Tennant, these watch alongs led to him, Tate, and returning showrunner Russell T. Davies reminiscing over text, and ultimately deciding that it would be fun to return.

“[We] were just having a text exchange and Catherine said, ‘wouldn’t it be fun to do it again?’ Russell said, ‘We could do a one off, maybe they’d let us’. We said, ‘yeah that would be a laugh,’ and then it all went quiet. Suddenly Russell let us know that he was taking over the show again and he would be back fully in charge and would we come and play a little bit for him? So I don’t know if we gave him the idea to take Doctor Who back but certainly we thought if he’s doing it, we can’t let these young people have all the fun.”

Tennant and Tate are returning to Doctor Who as Ncuti Gatwa takes over the lead role as the Fourteenth Doctor. They’re joined by Neil Patrick Harris as a mystery villain, though some fans think they’ve figured out his identity. There’s also the new character Rose, played by Heartstopper breakout Yasmin Finney.

Are you excited for David Tennant’s return to Doctor Who? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!