The Doctors Who's Who by Craig Cabell

Author:Craig Cabell [Cabell, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Entertainment & Performing Arts, General, Performing Arts, Television
ISBN: 9781782198246
Google: G1RlAgAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00GF3N0YY
Publisher: John Blake
Published: 2013-11-03T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

DAVID TENNANT

‘Time travel is increasingly regarded as a menace. History is being polluted.’

Life, the Universe and Everything

Douglas Adams

DAVID TENNANT WAS born David John McDonald on 18 April 1971 in Bathgate, West Lothian. He grew up in Ralston, Renfrewshire. His father was Alexander ‘Sandy’ McDonald, the local Church of Scotland minister. David had two older siblings, Blair and Karen, six and eight years his senior.

The young David attended Ralston Primary School and Paisley Grammar School, before earning a bachelor’s degree from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

He always had aspirations to become an actor (from the age of three) and, not unlike many other children growing up in the 1970s, he wanted to be Doctor Who. He managed to meet Tom Baker at a book signing in Glasgow and his single-mindedness seemed to persist right through to the role he made his own – just like his multi-coloured-scarfed mentor – for a whole new generation after the show was re-launched in the new millennium.

When joining Equity, David found that he couldn’t use his own name, as there was already an actor called David McDonald and so, inspired by a writer at Smash Hits magazine (and front-man of pop group the Pet Shop Boys), he used the surname, Tennant.

It wasn’t long before Tennant started to get roles on Scottish TV, one of his first being in an anti-smoking advert for Scottish TV. Extremely young, he played a teenager called Jim who is a smoker; but one of his gang refuses to buckle to the pressure of her peers to join in. It’s a good short film (5 minutes in duration).

One of his most famous Scottish parts was as an over-the-top transvestite barmaid in Rab C. Nesbitt. From this unusual start, he was noticed by the BBC and began to receive roles, albeit small ones to begin with.

Ever keen on the theatre, Tennant kept up the pace by treading the boards alongside his TV and occasional film work. His energy and natural enthusiasm shone through at all times and he became quite prolific. Years later, actors such as John Barrowman and Billie Piper would comment on Tennant’s fun side, despite the hard workload on Doctor Who. This was sometimes discussed in comparison to his more serious predecessor Christopher Eccleston, which was a shame as Eccleston was an entirely different type of actor.

In 2000, Tennant appeared in the first episode of the new Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), alongside Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer and Tom Baker. The episode was called ‘Drop Dead’ and he played emotionally unwell character (Gordon Stylus), who even wears a wedding dress in the episode.

His next significant role was in Foyle’s War (2002). He played Theo Howard in a story about an investigation into a young evacuee’s death from a booby trap in a summerhouse, after a Conscientious Objector dies in his cell after losing his appeal at court. Two unrelated subjects they may appear to be, but a judge appears to be the catalyst for much of what went on.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.