Started Out As: A young, obsessed Doctor Who fan whose schoolteachers had to tell him to shut up about it. But Became: The Doctor. Settle down, freaky nerd ladies. Recently, Doctor Who won a victory over Star Trek by becoming the longest-running science fiction series ever. Twice as many actors have played the Doctor over its entire run as have played James Bond. All the way back in the '70s, the role belonged to Tom Baker (the fourth Doctor), and his biggest fan in the universe was a geeky kid named David McDonald. And McDonald was a megafan to an extent that few men could begin to realize. As a child in school, it was all he ever wrote about, to the point where his teacher had to tell him to stop before she had to fail him. His most treasured possession was the stripy Doctor Who scarf his grandmother knitted him. She also knitted him that wicked '70s white guy 'fro. But he was a talented kid, even if he channeled all that talent into incessantly ranting about Doctor Who (a teacher still has one of his essays about the Doctor, titled "Intergalactic Overload," in which McDonald talked about becoming obsessed with the thought of being the Time Lord himself). And where most kids eventually drop their fantasy of growing up to be, say, a Jedi, David McDonald stuck to his guns and joined acting school. Only, because they already had a guy named David McDonald, he changed his name to something that a lot of nerds will find instantly familiar: David Tennant. Tennant worked hard, forging himself a successful career in Shakespearean stage productions, until one day, while recording a radio play, he learned of a project that was being recorded next door: a Doctor Who animation being produced in an attempt to revive the series after a 14-year hiatus. This was Tennant's big break. He crashed the production and managed somehow to convince the director to give him a small role. Now that his foot was in the door, he was able to audition for the role he was born to play once the series geared up again. And guess what? He lost to Christopher Eccleston. Oh, but they gave Tennant the role a year later, when Eccleston quit. And Tennant went on to be voted the best version of the Doctor ever by fans, which makes sense, because he knew the character better than anyone in the history of the universe. As if that wasn't a big enough screw you to the realists who mocked his obsession, he also married the daughter of Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor. Because apparently his good fortune just wasn't implausible enough already. She's three and a half feet tall.
And am I the only one that sees this as a representation to the awesomeness of his Doctor Who character?
That is extremely interesting. It completely explains why he was the Doctor through and through. Thanks for the find.
I knew his name used to be David McDonald, I knew that he married the Fifth Doctor's daughter and I knew that he had been a fan since he was a kid, but this whole backstory makes me realize that he and I are both pretty big nerds in our own way. Thanks for posting this. It was a nice read. coming from one of the freaky nerd ladies you had to tell to shut up
Now I know for sure he's living in a fantasy world. For such a dedicated fan, he left pretty quickly then, in my eyes.
Well, he was the second longest Doctor (technically spanning from 2005-2010 if you count when the episodes where boradcast) just behind Tom Baker. He had a plan to leave with Russel and Julie and said he feared that if he didn't leave then then he never would and we'd be peeling him away years to come. He wanted to leave when he knew that he would be missed... which is true and perhaps he was right to do so, I mean, I'm sure he could ahve stayed for a while longer before fans got tired of him but I think it was a good time to move on. Also, for Tom Baker- playing the Doctor ruined his career because everything he played people expected him to play like the Doctor and he could never really be seen as anything else. If Tennant stayed for much longer perhaps the same would have happened to him but since 2005 I think his career has excelled tremendously. Anyway, sorry for the speech xD Also... is it bad that I already knew all that information in the OP? O.o
it may not have been his decision. It could have been more of the way that they wanted the show to change directions and that meant a new Doctor.
