The David Tennant Treat 4 Today is an interview with Steven Moffat about David Tennant from around the time of the second
series of Doctor Who (David Tennant's first series) which we believe comes from the Doctor Who Magazine.
You were talking about the new series having a new Doctor, which is obviously one of the biggest stories of the year for Doctor Who. How early in your writing process did you find out that you weren't writing for Chris?
Oh, at the same time you
found out! In fact, I didn't even see the headlines in the papers,
Paul [Cornell] told me, he phoned me up or got me on Yahoo Messenger or
something, 'Have you heard the news that Chris has quit?'. And I was
literally, that day, sitting down to start work on The Girl in the Fireplace.
So I had to email Russell, in my usual grump, saying 'What the ****'s
going on?!'. And he said 'It's too long to explain - phone me!'. I knew
who it was, insofar as any of us had any doubt who it was going to be.
A fantastic case of somebody simply casting themselves! By common
consent, the entire nation said 'It's David Tennant, isn't it?'. I
think I told you that after watching Blackpool I emailed
Russell - I've still got the emails - and said 'Well, there's Doctor
10' and he emailed back, saying 'You're the fourth person to say
that'...
Well, I was saying 'Oh Doctor Who's on' every time he's appeared on TV for about the past eighteen months. How little I knew...
But there is something very, very Doctorish about David. And look at Blackpool and Casanova...
I haven't actually asked anyone on the production about this, but I
don't think there was a great deal of debate about who to cast. And
he's known to love it, he's known to be a fan, therefore he will give
it the full-blooded attention that the part requires. And I suppose
there's also the question of what other actor of his level - and he is actually
a very high-level actor now, having played the lead in several major
BBC dramas, he's now a major name, he's all over the shop - what other major star was going to take over from Chris?
And given that it had been someone as big as Chris, it needed to be someone that big again...
And someone that good again. And Chris is a phenomenal actor...
Given that it happened the day you were sitting down to start work - did you still sit down and start work that day?
Yes, I did. Because there's a certain amount of Doctor Who
work that is going to be the same whoever is playing the Doctor. 'They
walk out of the TARDIS and something dreadful happens to them'... it
wasn't a huge adjustment. I had my chat with Russell, which
wasn't very long, about how things were going to be with David Tennant
now playing that part. So: still not posh, still none of that
faux-eccentricity. I sat and watched Casanova, and got used to
the idea of him being the Doctor, and I wrote my episode completely
separately from Russell writing his, and when we compared episodes we'd
written the same Doctor, it was very similar. In fact, I think we'd
written, on one occasion, the same line. I think David maps very easily
onto that part - so much of what he does is a bit Doctor Who-ish, you know?
And have you seen him in action yet?
I
haven't seen film, but I was at two readthroughs, including the
readthough for mine, and it was amazing. On readthrough performance
alone, David is the best Doctor ever. He's one of those dazzling
technicians, in that he can do anything with a line, he really can do anything with a line. Now, a certain amount of Doctor Who
dialogue is inevitably going to be 'There's a spaceship over there,
let's go and look at the spaceship', and David can find ways of
undercutting it and spinning it. He puts a lot of very good spin on his
dialogue, and I think he'll be astonishing. I think he will conquer
the world as the Doctor. But you've always got to wait and see - one of
the things with David is... do you know David?
Actually, yeah, I've worked with him!
...of
course - one of the things is that David in person is just an
incredibly nice bloke, an extremely courteous, kind, pleasant man. With a
Paisley accent, which is kind of weird. Have I told you my funny story
about his Paisley accent?
Not that I recall...
Sue
[Vertue, Steven's wife and noted TV producer] and I were at a wrap
party for Sue's sitcom, and we got back very drunk. So I staggered
upstairs to get my messages, and I hear this message that I assume is
from me! It's this Scottish voice going 'Hello, it's very late...' -
and I assume I've left a message for Sue and forgotten about it.
'...Ah, Steven, yes..' - and the voice starts raving on about my
script. And I think '****ing hell - I've phoned myself about how good I
am! My ego has got so big it's phoned me! This is unhealthy,
I've got to see someone...'. And then at a certain point he remembers,
in that scatterbrained David way, to say 'Oh, it's David Tennant, by
the way...'. But then, of course, I was incredibly thrilled to have a
message on my answerphone from Doctor Who himself. Saying I was clever!
But anyway, as I was saying - in person David is this very pleasant,
quite good-looking bloke. On screen, a whole new thing happens, he
becomes quite mad, quite dangerous. His eyes become different, and you
think he's actually got a touch of the Chris thing, of being slightly
scary. There's something odd about his eyes, and his edgy, brittle
manner that I think becomes very arresting and quite powerful...
It's really noticeable in Blackpool, where it's a very small performance in physical terms, he's not throwing himself around like on Casanova, but you can't take your eyes off him.
Exactly.
And he was up against David Morrissey, who's fantastic, and stole the
show from him. He is absolutely making his presence felt, which is just
astonishing. And even as Casanova where he's playing a loveable,
affable bloke, underneath it he's got this dangerous thing. It wouldn't
surprise you if he turned round and was quite mean to you - and I
think that's probably quite close to his Doctor. I think the Doctor
should have that thing that he's not just 'nice', although he is very
nice he's also slightly dangerous. What I liked about Chris was that
there was something about Chris that was slightly mental - his Doctor,
you're not quite sure where you are with him, 'I like you but I don't
quite know where I am with you'. There's a moment in The Long Game
where he's saying goodbye, and then as they turn away he suddenly
becomes serious - and it's not an ordinary actor that can do that, that
can just turn the temperature like that. And I think we're going to see
David doing the same stuff - that's what he's got to rise to, but I
think he will. More humour, obviously - he's funny, David, and it would
be daft not to use that.