Doctor Who: David Tennant's 14th Doctor Debuts in First Clip

Watch the new short from the BBC Children in Need special.

By Jenna Anderson

Our first look at David Tennant's Doctor Who return has officially arrived. On Friday, Doctor Who released a new short for the 2023 BBC Children in Need special, which offers a brief short film of Tennant reprising his role. Tennant, who previously portrayed the Tenth Doctor on the series, is returning to play a newly-regenerated Fourteenth Doctor in a trio of new specials.

"It was like being handed a very lovely present," Tennant said in an interview earlier this year. "It was joyous, it was great fun. It was a very happy, joyous time 15 years ago, and returning to that could've been, well, who knows? It might've felt awkward, it might've felt difficult, I might not have been able to run as fast. But we had a lovely time. Russell T. Davies is back running the show, it felt like we had never been away."

When Will Doctor Who Return?

The first new Doctor Who special, "The Star Beast", will premiere on Saturday, November 25th. This will be followed by "Wild Blue Yonder" on Saturday, December 2nd, and "The Giggle" on Saturday, December 9th.

For the first time ever, these Doctor Who specials will be available on both the BBC and Disney+, the latter of which is now co-producing the new era of the series.

Who Will Be the Next Doctor Who?

Following Tennant's specials, Sex Education and Barbie star Ncuti Gatwa is set to play the Fifteenth Doctor in the upcoming 60th anniversary season of Doctor Who.

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"Oh God, what a force of nature," Tennant exclaimed in a recent interview. "I've caught a little bit of him at work and it's pretty exciting. I mean, what advice would you give someone? You can see Ncuti has so much talent and energy. He's so inspired and charismatic. The thing about something like this is: it's the peripherals, it's not the job. It's the other stuff that comes with it, that I didn't see coming. It's a show that has so much focus and enthusiasm on it. It's not like Ncuti hasn't been in a massive Netflix series [Sex Education,] but Doctor Who is on a slightly different level. It's cross-generational, international, and has so much history, that it feels like it belongs to everyone. To be at the center of the show is wonderful and humbling, but also a bit overwhelming and terrifying. It doesn't come without some difficulties, such as the immediate loss of anonymity. It takes a bit of getting used to if that's not been your life up to that point. I was very lucky that when I joined, Billie Piper [who portrayed on-screen companion, Rose] was still there. She'd lived in a glare of publicity since she was 14, so she was a great guide for how to live life under that kind of scrutiny. I owe a degree of sanity to Billie."

What do you think of the first look at David Tennant's Doctor Who return? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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