Doctor Who: The Star Beast
by Russell T. Davies; dir. Rachel Talalay (BBC, 2023)
Russell T. Davies returns to Doctor Who as if on a season pass he misplaced for fifteen years, and brings David Tennant and Catherine Tate along for the ride, scripting a fun, tonally frivolous special that nevertheless checks assumptions at every turn.
Doctor Who: Time Crash
by Steven Moffat; dir. Graeme Harper (BBC, 2007)
An 8-minute charity special that should very much be considered canonical. Moffat’s mini-script is first-rate, pairing the Fifth and Tenth Doctors in a humorous yet sentimental melding of eras (thus also director Graeme Harper). David Tennant and Peter Davison work brilliantly together.
Doctor Who: The Stuntman
(Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions)
by Lizie Hopley (Big Finish, 2022)
A fast-paced mess with running about galore and great dollops of exposition. The pairing of David Tennant and Sarah Sutton will warm fans’ hearts, but Dr Gommen is a bog-standard evil scientist (and mostly absent). John Leeson enjoys a rare non-K9 outing.
Doctor Who: Splinters (Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions)
by John Dorney (Big Finish, 2022)
Dorney captures the energy and insouciant veneer of the Tenth Doctor, albeit perhaps with a little too much verbiage (witty though this is). David Tennant and Louise Jameson forge an instant and convincing dynamic. The threat is disquieting but too easily overcome.
Doctor Who: Attack of the Graske
by Gareth Roberts; dir. Ashley Way (BBC Red Button, 2005)
A plush, interactive Christmas special aimed at young viewers. While David Tennant does his best to rise above the Choose Your Own Adventure format, the available choices are (severely) limited and the story, shorn of its gimmick, is an utterly banal non-starter.
The Escape Artist
by David Wolstencroft; dir. Brian Welsh (BBC, 2013)
Each episode of this three-part miniseries carries a different emotional tone, allowing David Tennant to play three characters in one: supremely confident lawyer and family man; helpless, grieving husband; and wily avenger. Toby Kebbell is suitably disturbing as his psychopathic ex-client adversary.
Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the Wasp
by Gareth Roberts; dir. Graeme Harper (BBC, 2008)
Consciously overplayed comedy serving as a mid-season palate cleanser. David Tennant and Catherine Tate are obviously enjoying themselves. The story, while hokey, has enough of an idea to remain credible, poking gentle fun both at itself and at the murder mystery genre.
Des
dir. Lewis Arnold (ITV, 2020)
A three-part miniseries about 1980s serial killer Dennis Nilsen, played by David Tennant. The production remains true to life and derives its impact from Nilsen’s acute emotional remove—an unsettling detachment rendered darker still by his harangues in favour of due process.
Never and Forever
by Cressida Cowell (Hodder, 2020); audiobook read by David Tennant (Bolinda, 2021)
The finale of Cowell’s Wizards of Once series proves both cathartically climactic and something of a let-down, the extended codas drawing attention to a bloated cast of characters and the padding these provide. Nonetheless, a rousing MG adventure, elevated in audiobook form.
How to Train your Dragon
by Cressida Cowell; audiobook read by David Tennant (Hodder, 2004)
A simple, self-contained beginning to what would become a long and fantabulous series. Cowell introduces us to Hiccup, a brainy Viking in a world of boneheaded heroism and deadly dragons. The story, though predictable in its arc, is magical in the telling.