Before They Were Doctors: Tenth Doctor Edition, David Tennant
By Sundi Rose
In this weekly new series, Before They Were Doctors, we’re taking a closer look at the stars of Doctor Who before they were on the show.
In this week’s installment of “Before They Were Doctors” we’re taking a look at the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant. Even before he was the Time Lord, he had an incredibly robust career, and a pretty interesting life to boot.
Here’s a few times you would have seen him before he was a doctor, and few tidbits about his life you probably didn’t know.
He was Jessica Jones’ Big Bad.
Photo: Netflix
Coming off a very successful run as the Tenth Doctor, Tennant took on the role of Kilgrave, in the Netflix original series, Jessica Jones. Also known as “The Purple Man,” Kilgrave was a sadistic abuser who controlled Jessica through manipulation, telepathy, and just good ol’ fashioned fear.
Kilgrave is such a leap from Tennant’s stint as the Doctor, it’s easy to forget from whence he came. As one of the most insidious villains in the Marvel universe, he proved to be an extremely formidable enemy to Jessica. She eventually bested him at the end of season 1, but the effects of his abuse are long reaching.
He was *this* close to playing alongside Hannibal Lecter.
For fans of the psychological thriller on NBC, it’s hard to imagine anybody but Hugh Dancy as the crazed and driven FBI Agent, Will Graham. But the part almost went to David Tennant.
Although Tennant didn’t get cast in the role, the director was so impressed with his performance, they insisted he appear as a guest on future episodes. Although the show ended it’s network run before this match-up could see the light of day, there’s still hope for fans of the Tenth Doctor. Rumors of the Hannibal resurgence have been floating around since it’s cancellation, so there’s still time to make the ultimate of crossovers happen.
He played a pre-op transgender woman.
Photo: BBC Scotland
In the early days of Tennant’s career, he cleverly said yes to almost anything he was offered. Whether it was an anonymous extra or a small bit on a children’s show. All this exposure was a good thing for him, and in 1993 producers for the BBC sitcom, Rab C noticed his versatility.
They cast him as Davina, a pre-op transgender woman, and you can watch strutting his stuff in the below clip. I’ll admit, I didn’t immediately recognize him, which is a testament to his commitment to his craft.
He’s married to his daughter, and to the Fifth Doctor’s daughter.
Photo: BBC America
Ew. Not like that. David Tennant is married to Georgia Moffatt in real life, but in the Whoniverse, she played his daughter. Well, if someone who was artificially created in a progenation machine using a sample of his DNA even counts as his daughter.
Moffatt is also the daughter of the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison. She and Tennant have been married since 2011, and are raising four children together.
David Tennant isn’t his real name.
Doctor 10 was born David McDonald, but had to change it in his teens. The young actor attended a performing arts high school, and there discovered there was another working actor by the same name. He changed it to Tennant as a nod to Neil Tennant, lead singer of the band, Pet Shop Boys.
Brooding on Broadchurch
Photo: BBC
Tennant played a detective on the popular and award wining British drama, Broadchurch. Tennant’s character, Alec Hardy, and the series, went on to win a handful of awards over the course of it’s three seasons.
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He was a Whovian long before he was a Doctor.
As a boy, Tennant was a HUGE Doctor Who fan – particularly a Fourth Doctor fan. As a kid, he had a Tom Baker doll and asked his gran to knit him a hat similar to Baker’s. In high school he wrote an an essay declaring he’d play the role someday. He even stood in line for hours to get Baker to sign a book for him.