Doctor Who star David Tennant says series ‘deserves to run forever’

Detailed summary

The sci-fi series currently faces an uncertain future after its annual Christmas special was axed for the second year in a row.

David Tennant has said Doctor Who “deserves to run forever” after it was put out for tender by the BBC.

The sci-fi series currently faces an uncertain future after its annual Christmas special was axed for the second year in a row while screenwriter and TV producer Russell T Davies, who rebooted the programme in 2005, announced his Doctor Who departure in June.

Tennant, 55, played the 10th incarnation of the Doctor from 2005 to 2010 and briefly returned as the 14th Doctor in 2023.

The Scottish actor has now weighed in on the future of the show and said he hoped it could continue.

He told Deadline: “I hope so. I love it. It’s a true television original, and it deserves to run forever. It will in some form, the fandom will keep it alive.

“We’ll have to wait and see, I’m sure somebody brilliant will give it a go. So, there’s no reason why not.”

Asked if he thought the franchise – which was first broadcast by the BBC in 1963 – would survive, he added: “It depends who gets it, doesn’t it, and what they do with it.

“It’s clearly a format that has legs. It’s done all right to survive since 1963, so there’s every reason to believe that it can.”

He added: “I think it’s difficult for anything in the current environment, especially a show like that, which needs a bit of money behind it, and I don’t necessarily know where that will come from.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Evening Standard. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.