DOCTOR WHO

The star of the new Doctor Who series first came to public attention with his affecting portrayal of Derek Bentley in the film, Let Him Have It. Since then he hasn't looked back notching up a wealth of movie and TV credits including Shallow Grave, The Others, Flesh and Blood and Cracker.

Christopher played the Ninth Doctor in Russell T. Davies' 2005 version of TV classic Doctor Who. Starring alongside Billie Piper in the new series, he took on new foes as well as old adversaries the Daleks, before regenerating into David Tennant at the end of the series.

He's appeared in a host of popular TV drama series and one-offs. As well as Cracker, his roles include Hearts and Minds with Our Friends in the North, Clocking Off, Linda Green and Flesh and Blood.

Hollywood soon took notice of Christopher's rising star and he was cast in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ with Jude Law, The Others with Nicole Kidman and Gone in Sixty Seconds with Nicholas Cage.

After the successful premiere of Rose and the announcement of a second series being commissioned by the BBC, the story broke that Christopher Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor, would not be returning for the second series. On 16 April 2005, the BBC announced that David Tennant had been selected for the role of the Tenth Doctor. His first appearance in the series was for 20 seconds following the Ninth Doctor's regeneration at the end of The Parting of the Ways. His first full episode as the Doctor, barring an appearance in a "mini-episode" during the 2005 Children in Need show, was the 2005 Christmas Special, The Christmas Invasion. He then appeared in the 2006 series, the second seasonal episode, the 2007 series and the third Christmas special, and is to appear in the 2008 series and in three specials to be aired throughout 2009. There has been no confirmation that he will play the character beyond this point, though a full series is set to air in 2010.

In 2006, readers of Doctor Who Magazine voted Tennant's Doctor "Best Doctor", over perennial favourite Tom Baker.

A thirteen-part cartoon adventure, The Infinite Quest, featuring the Tenth Doctor and companion Martha Jones (voiced by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman) premiered on Totally Doctor Who (the last episode of The Infinite Quest was shown with all previous episodes as an entire Doctor Who episode on Saturday 30th June 2007) on 2 April 2007. It also features Anthony Head as the evil space pirate Baltazar, "Scourge of the Galaxy" and Toby Longworth as Baltazar's robot parrot Caw.

While the previous Doctor was never explicitly referred to as the Ninth on-screen, the exact number of incarnations thus far was confirmed in-series by sketches of the ten Doctors to date in the sketchbook A Journal of Impossible Things that appeared in 2007's "Human Nature" (although only five incarnations are visible on-screen, the other four appear on a two-page scan seen on BBC's website). In School Reunion, the Tenth Doctor commented to Sarah Jane Smith that he had regenerated half a dozen times since they had last met. Sarah Jane last saw the Doctor at the end of the Fourth Doctor serial The Hand of Fear (in the anniversary special "The Five Doctors" (1983), Sarah is paired up with the Third Doctor, and also meets the Fifth Doctor, Second Doctor, and First Doctor). Off-screen, on the DVD commentary for "The Parting of the Ways", Julie Gardner states after the regeneration sequence, 'Tennant is Ten!'. For the soundtrack of "The Christmas Invasion", a specially commissioned piece played during the sequence in which the Doctor chooses his new outfit was titled "Song for Ten". BBC's official website refers to Eccelston's Doctor as "The 9th Doctor" as do all promotional materials for the show such as trading cards, action figures, etc.

The Tenth Doctor generally displays a light-hearted, talkative, easy-going, witty and somewhat cheeky manner, but combines this with a somewhat egocentric sense of unstoppability when facing his enemies. He is perhaps as ruthless and dangerous as his seventh incarnation ever was, although much less inclined to, or capable of, complex schemes and set goals. This emerged early on when he sent the Sycorax leader (who was attacking him from behind) tumbling to his death while commenting that, with him, there were "no second chances." In "School Reunion", he acknowledges that he is less merciful than he used to be and has stuck to his "one warning" code, punishing his enemies if they persist in their hostilities. This was most explicitly demonstrated in "The Runaway Bride" when he drowned the Empress of Racnoss' children, and in "The Family of Blood" where he gave each Family member an individual and eternal punishment. His strong personal sense of justice makes him quick to anger when he feels it is violated, as in "New Earth" when he learned of the plague farm run by the Sisters of Plenitude, and after Prime Minister Harriet Jones had given the order to destroy the retreating Sycorax ship, the Doctor warned her that he could "bring down" her government with six words ("Don't you think she looks tired?", whispered to Jones' aide, Alex).

Like the Seventh and Ninth Doctors, the Tenth sometimes uses a cheerful, energetic façade to mask inner emotions. He has a tendency to babble, mixing apparent nonsense with vital information, sometimes acting erratically to put his enemies off guard like some of his earlier incarnations. He can also be rude on occasion, and is not always aware of it. He has a tendency to use technobabble to describe scientific concepts before substituting it with a simpler, analogous explanation. Further to this, he tends to infantilise names and concepts - his description of non-linear temporal physics as "a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff" is perhaps the most well known example. He is also able to rapidly switch between moods, from mania to anger to nonchalance and uses this as a form of reverse psychology on several occasions ("Fear Her", "Love & Monsters" and "Army of Ghosts"). In the latter, by switching gears suddenly after failing to dissuade Yvonne Hartman from her current activities, he is able to make her uncertain enough to get his way. Unlike the Ninth Doctor, who showed off his vengeful, rage-filled dark side when up against the Daleks, the Tenth Doctor displayed a more confident, self-assured side when around them, but did not hesitate to taunt them.

It has been made clear that the Doctor is, despite constant interaction with others, a lonely person deep down. In "School Reunion", he describes the ability of Time Lords to live so long as a curse, because while his human companions all someday leave him and eventually die, he continues to live. Other characters have also commented on the Tenth Doctor's loneliness. During a phone call with the Master, he admits that, since the end of the Time War and the loss of the other Time Lords, he has been "lonely ever since", viewing the Master's return as the end of this loneliness. Indeed, when the Master subsequently dies, the Doctor openly weeps over his body. While the Ninth Doctor was somewhat standoffish in certain situations, particularly "domestics", the Tenth is more extroverted and gregarious, quickly establishing a firmer rapport with Rose Tyler's friends and family than he ever did in his previous incarnation, though his talkativeness sometimes irritates others not used to him. The Tenth Doctor is also fonder of mankind, and is apparently in awe of their tenacity and curiosity, a trait exhibited by his fourth incarnation. In "The Impossible Planet", he hugs the leader of an Earth expedition for daring to explore a planet orbiting a black hole. In "The Age of Steel", he describes human beings as both brilliant and stupid in the same sentence while arguing the necessity of emotions with the Cyber-Controller. However, he is also quick to criticise mankind when he feels it is necessary.

The Tenth Doctor and Rose often faced their adventures with a cheerful, almost blasé attitude, even when terror and death happened around them, contrasting his previous selves, who displayed more serious attitudes when in trouble. Queen Victoria commented on this in "Tooth and Claw" when she banished them, and producer Russell T. Davies hinted that there would be consequences to this carefree attitude later in the series. In "Doomsday", the two were separated seemingly forever when Rose was left in a parallel universe as a consequence of foiling a Dalek and Cyberman invasion of Earth.

The 2006 series continued the exploration of the Doctor's romantic aspects, with the Tenth Doctor sharing kisses with Rose (albeit while she was possessed by Lady Cassandra) and Madame de Pompadour. In "School Reunion", Sarah all but confesses that she had been in love with him. In "Doomsday", during their farewell, Rose tells the Doctor she loves him; he begins to reply but only manages to say her name before the transmission is cut off, leaving him alone in the TARDIS with tears on his cheeks. After this, whenever he is reminded of Rose he sometimes becomes depressed or pensive. In the audio commentary for "Doomsday" the executive producer Julie Gardner claims that she will confirm to the nation the Doctor was going to 'say it back'. In 2007 episodes, the Doctor learned that Martha harbored unrequited feelings for him before she left his company and also exchanged kisses with Astrid in honor of "an old tradition" from her home planet. Following the sudden loss of Astrid, the Doctor seems reluctant to embark on any other potentially romantic adventure, and makes sure that, before allowing her to join him, Donna understands that all he wants is a friend.

The Tenth Doctor sometimes dons a pair of spectacles, like the Fifth Doctor, whose youthful appearance he shares. In the Children In Need special, Time Crash, the Tenth Doctor notes other inherited/inspired tendencies when meeting the Fifth Doctor aside from "the brainy specs" (which he observes were worn by the Fifth simply to look clever rather than out of necessity, therefore implying that his are used for the same reason) such as wearing plimsolls/trainers and both of their voices becoming high-pitched when shouting. He also exhibits a remarkable sense of taste, again similar to the Fifth Doctor, ("Planet of Fire"), able to identify the blood type of a blood sample ("The Christmas Invasion") or the presence of mistletoe oil ("Tooth and Claw") just by licking. The Tenth also admitted to the Fifth that he was his favorite past incarnation.

The Tenth Doctor speaks with an Estuary English accent, rather than the Northern inflection that the Ninth Doctor used, the Received Pronunciation of most earlier Doctors, or Tennant's natural Scottish brogue. In a December 23 interview on BBC Radio 1, Tennant explained that a line had been scripted for the Christmas special explaining that the newly regenerated Doctor had imprinted on Rose Tyler's accent, "like a chick hatching from an egg," but the line was cut from the final programme. (Had the line been kept, it might have caused a continuity issue, since the first voices both the Sixth Doctor and the Eighth Doctor heard were American, and the Seventh Doctor sounded slightly Scottish despite first hearing an R.P. (or possibly Gallifreyan) accent. The Tenth Doctor also briefly affected a generic American Appalachian accent in the Children in Need special and "The Christmas Invasion", and a Scottish accent (David Tennant's own) in "Tooth and Claw".

Appearance

The Doctor seemed disappointed that his tenth incarnation was not "ginger". He wears a dark brown (with blue pinstripes) or a blue (with red pinstripes) suit, a shirt and (usually) a tie, a light brown overcoat (which he claims was given to him by Janis Joplin), and a pair of trainers, in colours ranging from cream (brown suit), black (tuxedo) or maroon (blue suit), a costume which Tennant described as "geek chic".[12] The blue suit debuted in Series 3, episode 1, "Smith and Jones" and both suits were worn from his adventures with Martha Jones onwards. According to an interview on Parkinson, David Tennant and Russell T Davies got the idea for the Tenth Doctor's costume from an outfit Jamie Oliver had worn on Parkinson just after David had taken the role. Another additional part of the Tenth Doctor's costume is a pair of dark tortoise-shell rectangular frame glasses; since The Christmas Invasion he has required them in numerous episodes. As noted above, the Tenth Doctor credited the Fifth Doctor with inspiring his trainers and glasses.

Knowledge of popular culture

Like his predecessor, the Tenth Doctor shows a fondness for human popular culture - a characteristic not all of his previous incarnations seemed to share - but even more so, to the point where he finds himself unconsciously quoting the song Circle of Life from Disney's The Lion King during a confrontation with the Sycorax leader. In School Reunion he responded to a student with 'correctamundo', an exclamation often made by The Fonz on the TV show Happy Days. In "The Girl in the Fireplace", he sings "I Could Have Danced All Night" from the musical My Fair Lady. He also appears to be a fan of pop music, quoting Kylie Minogue and Status Quo, and has made quips about Balamory (in "Tooth and Claw"), EastEnders (in "The Impossible Planet"), and Ghostbusters (in "Army of Ghosts"). He also has a fondness for pop/rock music, attempting to take Rose to an Ian Dury and the Blockheads concert in 1979, and Elvis Presley's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in NYC in the 1950s (he fails to reach his destination both times). Also, in "42" he refers to the Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun". In "The Shakespeare Code", he mentions having read the seven

"It was a long, thorough search to find Billie," explains Executive Producer Russell T. Davies. "We auditioned all sorts of actors, but Billie is absolutely perfect, and very close to the description of Rose on the page.

"I think the companion is as pivotal to these adventures as the Doctor himself - Rose can be our eyes, discovering spaceships and alien creatures with awe and wonder, and a vital sense of humour.

"When I was a kid, I always imagined becoming the companion. Now, at last, I'm close, 'cos I get to write her!

"And it won't be an easy ride for Rose. As well as the wonders of time and space, she discovers the horrors - and some of them are on her own doorstep!"