New Doctor Who tipped for stardom

David Tennant joins Billie Piper on the latest series of Dr Who.

Maybe he's not the most handsome actor on the block - tall and skinny, with an angular face and auburn hair. And maybe television viewers still have only a passing familiarity with him.

Nevertheless, 34-year-old Scottish actor David Tennant can lay claim to a dazzling roster of work in Britain.

His television roles have included show-stealing roles in both the BBC musical drama Blackpool and the title role of its Casanova. And he also snaffled a part as Voldemort's henchman in the latest Harry Potter film. But now has come the role that has tipped him from esteemed actor to stardom - the new Doctor Who.

When he was he growing up in Paisley, Scotland, Tennant formed an ambition to be an actor. With uncanny prescience, he declared that one day he wanted to play his hero - Doctor Who.

Tennant was the son of a minister. His father became the Moderator of the Church of Scotland - "that's our equivalent of the Archbishop of Canterbury".

His mother looked after him and his older sister and brother as they grew up amid the usual bustle of a minister's house. "There were always people dropping by, but it was what I'd grown up with so I never thought, how odd, why isn't my father going to an office?"

He has already filmed his first lines for this childhood-fantasy-come-true.

When he arrived on set to film, only a skeleton crew remained. The last episode of his predecessor Christopher Eccleston's Doctor Who had just been filmed, and there was an end-of-term feeling.

"There was hardly anyone there, and yet you're sensing the importance of the moment. My first line was, 'Hello! New teeth, that's weird.' It was very odd, saying my first line as the Doctor."

Whovians are already wondering what sort of Doctor he'll make. "I don't know how I'm going to play it yet," he laughs.

"It's a sort of thing where he can be anything. Peter Davison was younger than me when he did it. Paul McGann, I think, was about the same age. So, I mean, it started as an old man, but he sort of got progressively younger.

"And I think that's the joy of it. He can be whatever he is and hopefully the part kind of shrinks to fit."

His favourite previous incarnation? He names Tom Baker in the 1970s, then his successor Davison.

He won't be as badly dressed as those two, but he'll sound like he comes from the same neighbourhood - the Scottish actor will be putting on an English accent for the role - a fact that has already roused heated debate in Scotland.

"There'll be a bit of a story behind my English accent - it's not that straightforward. But anyway, I'm used to doing English accents."

Does he object to having his Scots brogue stripped from him, as some reports have suggested? "No. I don't feel any great nationalistic need to be Scottish. I am comfortable with my background.

"But I don't understand why there's this thing that actors from a certain place have to speak with the accent of where they come from otherwise they're somehow being un-Scottish. That feels very 'small nation' to me, and I think Scotland's a much bigger nation than that."

Roused from his early-morning languor to a state of almost crossness, you can suddenly see why directors respond so well to this actor.

He is charming, even when angry. Testament to this charm is the way that he won the plum role of Doctor Who after impressing its writer, Russell T. Davies, when he worked with him on Casanova.

But Tennant does talk about the weight of responsibility that comes with playing the Doctor.

He knows people care passionately about the series and have big expectations of any actor in the role.

In the past, pressure like this has led to moments of desperation for Tennant. He admits that every job has its low point when the nerves crash in.

"That's a regular visitor. I end up thinking: this will have to be the last job I do because, obviously, I'm messing it up so badly. Everyone else on set always seems much more relaxed and confident than me. I think that it's part of the psychology of what you do.

"You get used to it. But when you're in the midst of it, it doesn't feel like a part of the process, it just feels horrible and desperate."

The worrier in Tennant must cope with the rise in fame that will inevitably follow his new roles. No more mornings sitting undisturbed outside Mayfair cafes.

"I never ticked the box saying, 'Want people to come up to me'.

"But as long as people aren't unpleasant or violent or rude, then I don't mind. I think you look very poor if you start complaining when you're so lucky to be doing this job."

The concerns about fame are a far cry from his humble beginnings in acting.

He was christened David McDonald but told to change his name by Equity to avoid confusion with another actor of the same name. He happened to read an article about the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant, and thought that name would do.

After drama school he went on to repertory theatre, touring Scotland in a van and making periodic attempts to win a part in Taggart - a goal he never achieved.

The change in his fortunes has come gradually, so he has had time to get used to his success.

"I think I'm probably ambitious, but I've never had a long-term plan. I've just thought, I hope the next job is good. I don't know how else to be because you don't really have that much power in acting."

Even now, with so many roles coming his way?

"I suppose now there's an element of choice involved, which is a wonderful place to be."

And, presumably, the once-penniless actor has now got a very happy bank manager.

"Oh, I've done nothing with the money yet. Maybe I'll store it up for the future when I'm back working in Dundee rep."

Somehow, you know that's not going to happen.


Who: David Tennant, the 10th Dr Who

Born: David McDonald, April 18 1971, Bathgate, Scotland

Key roles: Blackpool (2004), Casanova (2005), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Latest: The new series of Dr Who starts on Prime on Thursday July 6

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