WITH the announcement that David Tennant and Catherine Tate will be returning for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, we're taking a look back at some of the Scottish actor's most memorable moments in the Tardis.
Tennant, 51, first stepped into the role in 2005 with his final episode airing on New Year’s Day in 2010.
Throughout his time in the famous blue box, Tennant provided fans with some of the show’s most memorable and heart-breaking moments.
When he lost his beloved Rose …
In the final episode of his first full season, Tennant’s Doctor is pitted against both the Daleks and the Cybermen as his archenemies take over London.
To stop them, he sends them all into the void – a space between worlds. Tragically, it looks as though his first companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) is going to be sent into the void as well before she’s caught at the last minute and transported to a parallel universe where she’ll never be able to see The Doctor again.
As if that wasn’t enough, the pair have one last communication via the Tardis when, just as the Doctor is seemingly about to confess his love for Rose, they’re cut off forever. As sad as it was, the pair were briefly reunited a few years later at the end of season four.
When he wasn’t the Doctor at all…
In a particularly memorable two-part episode in season three, the Doctor made himself human in order to hide from a group of aliens who wanted to steal his life force. In an episode that showed the character’s more vulnerable side, the human Doctor, named John Smith, falls in love in early 20th century England before realising he has to give everything up. It’s one of the show’s more ruthless moments as The Doctor returns to his old two-hearted, time-lord self and imprisons his enemies forever. Turns out he wasn’t hiding from them; he was giving them a chance to stop.
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When he wiped his companions’ memory…
Things never seem to end well for The Doctor’s companions. In the final episode of season four, Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) took on the life-force of a Time Lord to save Earth. Her mind becomes overwhelmed though and the Doctor is forced to wipe all the pair’s fond memories together from Donna’s head.
As if that wasn’t sad enough, we’re forced to watch Donna enter the scene as the Doctor explains everything to her family, wholly unaware that the man she saved the universe with is standing in her living room. Oh, and who could forget it gave us that famous GIF of Tennant staring longingly into space in the pouring rain.
Fans shouldn’t get too upset though as Donna Noble has also been announced as returning for the 60th anniversary.
When he was forced to regenerate…
It was quite the way to bring in the New Year. After facing off against his own species and then saving the life of Donna Noble’s grandfather, the Doctor is forced to say his goodbyes before regenerating. In a fitting tribute to the 10th iteration of the character, we see him visit Donna’s family to give them a winning lottery ticket. He also travels back in time to see Rose in the year he knows they’ll meet for the first time. As the Tardis flies off into space, he takes one last look around before uttering those immortal words: “I don’t want to go.”
When he returned for the 50th Anniversary…
Despite that emotional farewell, it wasn’t the last fans would see of David Tennant. He returned for the show’s 50th Anniversary in 2013.
He paired up with Matt Smith and John Hurt’s iterations of the character to take down an army of shape-shifting aliens. It was a well-received episode as everyone loved seeing the chemistry between the three characters and the return of such an iconic character.
It wasn’t without it’s emotional side either. As the Doctor steps into the Tardis at the end of the episode, he says those final words once again. Tennant himself has clearly taken those words to heart given he’ll be returning to our screens in 2023.
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