David Tennant and Catherine Tate return for upcoming Doctor Who special

It’s an amazing time for Doctor Who fans! It was recently announced that Ncuti Gatwa will be taking over the role of everyone’s favorite Time Lord following Jodie Whittaker’s final appearance as the 13th Doctor later this year. Now, we’re getting another bit of really exciting news: both David Tennant (the 10th Doctor) and Catherine Tate (his companion Donna Noble) will be returning for the long-running show’s 60th anniversary special, which airs in 2023, per ScreenRant!

Doctor Who has always had a knack for pulling off these kinds of big crossover specials. It did something similar with its 50th anniversary special, which featured both David Tennant’s 10th Doctor and Matt Smith’s 11th. This go round, we’ll once again see Tennant…but according to incoming showrunner Russell T Davies, we might not see him in the way we expect. This is a show with time travel, alternate dimensions, and other such trappings, after all; anything could happen.

“Maybe this is a missing story. Or a parallel world. Or a dream, or a trick, or a flashback,” Davies teased. “The only thing I can confirm is that it’s going to be spectacular, as two of our greatest stars reunite for the battle of a lifetime.”

The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble return for Doctor Who 60th anniversary special

When last we saw Donna and the Doctor together, he had just wiped her memory to save her life after she absorbed a huge amount of Time Lord energy from the Tardis, briefly becoming Doctor Donna until it began fracturing her human mind. Their parting was heartbreaking, so it will be interesting to see how the show works these characters back into the story without undermining what’s generally regarded as a high point in the series.

Russel T Davies is taking over Doctor Who for Gatwa’s run, but he was also the showrunner back when Tennant and Tate were both series regulars, from 2005-2010 and 2006-2010 respectively. It’s starting to feel a bit like the Doctor Who dream team is getting back together.

Jodie Whittaker’s final performance as the 13th Doctor is due later this year in the regeneration special, which is also when Gatwa will make his first appearance as the Fourteenth Doctor. Tennant and Tate are filming now for the 60th anniversary special, which releases next year.

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