This is Grant from Mythbusters dressed as the Doctor!
October 31, 2012
This is Grant from Mythbusters dressed as the Doctor!
October 30, 2012
Looking to start your Christmas list early - ask for one of these! A mere snip at 55 pounds!
The actors lending their voices to the various characters are a real treasure, with Hugh Grant leading a cast that includes Martin Freeman, Brian Blessed, Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton (as a pirate-hating Queen Victoria), joined by Jeremy Piven, Salma Hayek and even David Tennant! Wow!
A sure cannon-fire hit and a true classic of the future, we are very excited to be releasing an initial six figures from this fantastic film, including the Pirate Captain himself and clear-cut baddy Black Bellamy.
- A Limited Edition hand painted ceramic resin figurine / statue from the Aardman Animations new film 'The Pirates!'.
- Designed and sculpted in Shropshire, England by Robert Harrop Designs.
- Approximately 6 inches (155mm) tall.
- Limited Edition of Only 150 pieces Worldwide.
- Each piece is individually hand numbered on the base with a unique Limited Edition Number.
- Comes complete in a presentation box.
October 29, 2012
Rod Tame is a UK poet who fancy's he looks like David Tennant. He wrote a poem about David that he is performing here in 2008. He has also written poems about Patrick Macnee and the show Most Haunted.
October 28, 2012
We all know that David "officially announced his retirement from Doctor Who live on national TV when accepting his 2008 NTA Award for Best Actor but did you know that Catherine Tate actually let the news slip out ten months prior.
While being interviewed on BBC Radio 2 by Jonathan Ross she said "I think it's maybe David's last series."
When pressed on whether Tennant would return to play the timelord in special Dr Who shows in future, Tate, who has been filming series four in Wales, replied, "Possibly.
he BBC refused yesterday to comment on Mr Tennant's future as the show's star.
But it has admitted that the show with take a "gap year" in 2009, with Tennant starring in three specials instead.
BBC Fiction controller Jane Tranter said, "Doctor Who is one of the BBC's best loved and most successful dramas.
"Its journey over the past three series has been one of the most ambitious and exciting that we have had, and I'm delighted to be able to confirm not only three exciting specials for 2009, but a fifth series in 2010."
During the radio broadcast on Saturday, Tate also confirmed the forthcoming series, where she stars as the Doctor's sidekick, would be her last.
Taken from The Western Mail - Cardiff - December 17, 2007 - Hannah Jones
While being interviewed on BBC Radio 2 by Jonathan Ross she said "I think it's maybe David's last series."
When pressed on whether Tennant would return to play the timelord in special Dr Who shows in future, Tate, who has been filming series four in Wales, replied, "Possibly.
he BBC refused yesterday to comment on Mr Tennant's future as the show's star.
But it has admitted that the show with take a "gap year" in 2009, with Tennant starring in three specials instead.
BBC Fiction controller Jane Tranter said, "Doctor Who is one of the BBC's best loved and most successful dramas.
"Its journey over the past three series has been one of the most ambitious and exciting that we have had, and I'm delighted to be able to confirm not only three exciting specials for 2009, but a fifth series in 2010."
During the radio broadcast on Saturday, Tate also confirmed the forthcoming series, where she stars as the Doctor's sidekick, would be her last.
Taken from The Western Mail - Cardiff - December 17, 2007 - Hannah Jones
October 27, 2012
David in an interview with MTV at Comic Con 2009 - I am not now or ever will I be a Hobbit!
But he does have hairy toes!
October 26, 2012
If you didn't like Karen before here is a really good reason to start!
"Karen (Gillan) also admitted that her favourite Doctor is fellow Scot David Tennant . She laughed: "I feel a bit weird saying that as you're sitting right here, Matt!" Karen said she was proud to be able to bring Doctor Who to Inverness and the theatre where her own acting dreams started."
Taken from The Sun - March 31, 2012
October 25, 2012
The Mervyn Stone Mysteries are a series of books from Big Finish - you know the Doctor Who Audio people. Mervyn was a script editor on the TV show Vixens from the Void who has a knack for solving crime.
"Mervyn was script editor of the BBC television series Vixens from the Void, a ‘Dynasty in Space’ soap opera which gripped the nation in the 1980s; an intergalactic, glitter-themed, shoulder-padded bitchfest featuring wobbly spaceships, wobblier women and the wobbliest performances ever.
Mervyn is never allowed to forget his guilty past. The fans won’t let him. This is why, twenty years later,
Mervyn reluctantly finds himself at ‘ConVix 15’, a Science Fiction convention.
It’s a funny thing; it seems everywhere Mervyn’s dormant career takes him, there are murders."
This is a part of the synopsis taken from the Big Finish website, I like the description on the front cover of the books better!
"Fiendish and funny Columbo meets Blake’s Seven – with gags – and sex,” - David Tennant
Wanna buy one - click here.
"Mervyn was script editor of the BBC television series Vixens from the Void, a ‘Dynasty in Space’ soap opera which gripped the nation in the 1980s; an intergalactic, glitter-themed, shoulder-padded bitchfest featuring wobbly spaceships, wobblier women and the wobbliest performances ever.
Mervyn is never allowed to forget his guilty past. The fans won’t let him. This is why, twenty years later,
Mervyn reluctantly finds himself at ‘ConVix 15’, a Science Fiction convention.
It’s a funny thing; it seems everywhere Mervyn’s dormant career takes him, there are murders."
This is a part of the synopsis taken from the Big Finish website, I like the description on the front cover of the books better!
Wanna buy one - click here.
October 24, 2012
When David's production of Hamlet was set to open in the West End a flurry of press surrounding 'celebrity' casting in theatre appeared, spear-headed by Sir Jonathan Miller.
This topic has been around for ages and reared it's head again in 2011 when producers suggested replacing Oliver Ford Davies with Harry Hill for a London audiance.
Unlike Miller, Sir Alan Auckbourn recognised that David IS a theatre actor and not just a 'celebrity'.
And while he expressed admiration for Hill’s work as a comedian and television presenter, he suggested that the idea to cast him as the notoriously melancholy poet was indicative of a wider problem.
“There are people like David Tennant who is a first-class actor, full stop, who just happens to have been in Doctor Who,” he said.
“But if you come out of I’m a Celebrity … and then turn up doing Hedda Gabler at the Royal Court, you could well be on a hiding to nothing. It’s just ridiculous.”
Taken from The Daily Telegraph - September 6, 2011 -
You can click here to read the whole article.
This topic has been around for ages and reared it's head again in 2011 when producers suggested replacing Oliver Ford Davies with Harry Hill for a London audiance.
Unlike Miller, Sir Alan Auckbourn recognised that David IS a theatre actor and not just a 'celebrity'.
"The award-winning playwright said the tendency to rely on household names,
many of whom have had no acting training, in order to attract a wider
audience was “just ridiculous”.
And while he expressed admiration for Hill’s work as a comedian and television presenter, he suggested that the idea to cast him as the notoriously melancholy poet was indicative of a wider problem.
“There are people like David Tennant who is a first-class actor, full stop, who just happens to have been in Doctor Who,” he said.
“But if you come out of I’m a Celebrity … and then turn up doing Hedda Gabler at the Royal Court, you could well be on a hiding to nothing. It’s just ridiculous.”
Taken from The Daily Telegraph - September 6, 2011 -
You can click here to read the whole article.
October 23, 2012
Last night, here in the US, was guilty pleasure song night on Dancing With the Stars. Here is a quote from The Guardian where David admits to one of his guilty pleasure artists!
"Actually, I have two Beverley albums,' blushes Tennant, his facial hair partially concealing his red cheeks. 'I have the eponymous one that I fall back on if I'm in a bad way, and I also have the album that came out after that. Love Scenes, I think it's called.' He hangs his head in shame. 'Now that is too Radio 2 even for me.'
As for Beverley Craven, Tennant's search for a fellow fan goes on.
'Now she is more of a guilty pleasure,' he concedes. 'But,' he adds, desperately trying to distance himself from her, belatedly aware that he has divulged too much, 'I haven't had a Beverley moment in some time, you know.'"
Taken from an interview with Paul Mardles - Observer Music Monthly - June 17, 2006
"Actually, I have two Beverley albums,' blushes Tennant, his facial hair partially concealing his red cheeks. 'I have the eponymous one that I fall back on if I'm in a bad way, and I also have the album that came out after that. Love Scenes, I think it's called.' He hangs his head in shame. 'Now that is too Radio 2 even for me.'
As for Beverley Craven, Tennant's search for a fellow fan goes on.
'Now she is more of a guilty pleasure,' he concedes. 'But,' he adds, desperately trying to distance himself from her, belatedly aware that he has divulged too much, 'I haven't had a Beverley moment in some time, you know.'"
Taken from an interview with Paul Mardles - Observer Music Monthly - June 17, 2006
October 21, 2012
It's good to know that David's homeland certainly knew talent when they saw it!
This blurb from the October 1, 1994 issue of the Glasgow Daily Record:
"But there is some interesting young talent out there in telly land, as the very different Takin' Over The Asylum (BBC2) proved.
David Tennant , who was Campbell the would-be DJ assistant and patient at St Jude's Mental Hospital, is clearly a name to remember. And this comedy/drama is shaping up as a 'must'. It's just a pity that the Beeb didn't have the bottle to give it the BBC1 slot it deserved."
This blurb from the October 1, 1994 issue of the Glasgow Daily Record:
"But there is some interesting young talent out there in telly land, as the very different Takin' Over The Asylum (BBC2) proved.
David Tennant , who was Campbell the would-be DJ assistant and patient at St Jude's Mental Hospital, is clearly a name to remember. And this comedy/drama is shaping up as a 'must'. It's just a pity that the Beeb didn't have the bottle to give it the BBC1 slot it deserved."
October 20, 2012
In case you are not familiar with the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon it is based on the "six degrees of separation"idea that any two people on Earth are, on average,
about six acquaintance links apart. That idea turned into this popular game. People challenge each other to find the
shortest path between an arbitrary actor Kevin Bacon.
David Tennant was in L.A. Without a Map with Julie Delpy and she was in The Air I Breathe with Kevin Bacon. This gives David Tennant a Kevin Bacon number of 2. You can also link him this way - David was in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with Gary Oldman and Gary Oldman was in Murder in the First with Kevin Bacon.
Just for fun since David loves the West Wing so much here is his Six Degrees of Separation from the main cast:
1 degree from Stockard Channing - they were both in Bright Young Things
2 degrees from Dule Hill - Dule who was in Sugar Hill with Joe Dallesandro who was in L.A. without A Map or Dule Hill was in Sexual Life with James Legros who was in L.A. Without a Map
2 degrees from Allison Janney who was in Chumscrubber with Jason Isaacs who was in HP and the Goblet of Fire - or Allison Janney was in Piccadilly Jim with Pam Ferris who was in Nativity 2 also you can use Piccadilly Jim with Hugh Bonneville who was in Glorious 39 or Allison was in The Hours with Toni Collett who was in Fright Night
2 degrees from Rob Lowe who was in Tommy Boy with Dan Aykroyd who was in Bright Young Things or Rob Lowe was in I Melt with You with Jeremy Piven who was in Pirates! Band of Misfits or he was in Oxford Blues with Pip Torrens who was in St. Trinian's 2
2 degrees from Janel Moloney who was in Safe with James Legros who was in L.A. Without a Map
2 degrees from Richard Schiff who was in Made in Dagenham with Richard Lloyd-Pack who was in HPGOF or Richard was in Johnny English Reborn with Clara Paget who was in St. Trinian's 2
2 degrees from Martin Sheen who was in JKF with Gary Oldman who was in HPGOF
2 degrees from John Spencer who was in Twilight with Stockard Channing who was in Bright Young Things
2 degrees from Bradley Whitford who was in Decoding Annie Parker with Alice Eve who was in The Decoy Bride or Bradley was in Bottle Shock with Alan Rickman who was in HPGOF or he was in My Fellow Americans with Dan Aykroyd who was in Bright Young Things
David Tennant was in L.A. Without a Map with Julie Delpy and she was in The Air I Breathe with Kevin Bacon. This gives David Tennant a Kevin Bacon number of 2. You can also link him this way - David was in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with Gary Oldman and Gary Oldman was in Murder in the First with Kevin Bacon.
Just for fun since David loves the West Wing so much here is his Six Degrees of Separation from the main cast:
1 degree from Stockard Channing - they were both in Bright Young Things
2 degrees from Dule Hill - Dule who was in Sugar Hill with Joe Dallesandro who was in L.A. without A Map or Dule Hill was in Sexual Life with James Legros who was in L.A. Without a Map
2 degrees from Allison Janney who was in Chumscrubber with Jason Isaacs who was in HP and the Goblet of Fire - or Allison Janney was in Piccadilly Jim with Pam Ferris who was in Nativity 2 also you can use Piccadilly Jim with Hugh Bonneville who was in Glorious 39 or Allison was in The Hours with Toni Collett who was in Fright Night
2 degrees from Rob Lowe who was in Tommy Boy with Dan Aykroyd who was in Bright Young Things or Rob Lowe was in I Melt with You with Jeremy Piven who was in Pirates! Band of Misfits or he was in Oxford Blues with Pip Torrens who was in St. Trinian's 2
2 degrees from Janel Moloney who was in Safe with James Legros who was in L.A. Without a Map
2 degrees from Richard Schiff who was in Made in Dagenham with Richard Lloyd-Pack who was in HPGOF or Richard was in Johnny English Reborn with Clara Paget who was in St. Trinian's 2
2 degrees from Martin Sheen who was in JKF with Gary Oldman who was in HPGOF
2 degrees from John Spencer who was in Twilight with Stockard Channing who was in Bright Young Things
2 degrees from Bradley Whitford who was in Decoding Annie Parker with Alice Eve who was in The Decoy Bride or Bradley was in Bottle Shock with Alan Rickman who was in HPGOF or he was in My Fellow Americans with Dan Aykroyd who was in Bright Young Things
October 19, 2012
David has collaborated with several directors more than once. Early in his TV career he worked several times with David Blair, which is how he got his first starring role in Takin' Over the Asylum. When he was starting out in the theatre he worked with Richard Baron and he has been directed by him in five productions, most recently in his CATS Award winning performance as Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger.
Greg Doran who directed David both on stage and on screen as Hamlet also directed him on stage in The Real Inspector Hound/Black Comedy and Love's Labour's Lost.
He has even worked with a couple of his Doctor Who directors outside of the TARDIS. James Strong directed seven episodes of the series and recently directed him in the movie United.
James Hawes, who directed The Christmas Invasion, New Earth and School Reunion also directed David's episode of Mrs. Bradley's Mysteries, which also featured former Doctor Peter Davison! Hawes was the director of the TV movie The Chatterley Affair in which David had a cameo appearance as Dr. Hoggart.
Dan Zefff directed Love and Monsters and also the short film Sweetnightgoodheart.
Greg Doran who directed David both on stage and on screen as Hamlet also directed him on stage in The Real Inspector Hound/Black Comedy and Love's Labour's Lost.
He has even worked with a couple of his Doctor Who directors outside of the TARDIS. James Strong directed seven episodes of the series and recently directed him in the movie United.
James Hawes, who directed The Christmas Invasion, New Earth and School Reunion also directed David's episode of Mrs. Bradley's Mysteries, which also featured former Doctor Peter Davison! Hawes was the director of the TV movie The Chatterley Affair in which David had a cameo appearance as Dr. Hoggart.
Dan Zefff directed Love and Monsters and also the short film Sweetnightgoodheart.
October 18. 2012
Duck Patrol got many, many sarcastic barbs printed about it including Jonathan Ross's quip I printed yesterday. However the show did well in the ratings - to the chagrin of many critics!
The People - August 2, 1998: Weekly ratings list Duck Patrol ITV 10.30 - they were 4th
The People - August 9, 1998: Weekly ratings list Duck Patrol ITV 8.72 - they were 7th - beating Men Behaving Badly - which was 8th! Proving not everything starts out as a hit!
The Mirror - August 11, 1998 - Charlie Catchpole:
"Despite all attempts to blow it out of the water (mine included), Duck Patrol is bobbing along nicely in the ratings, with a steady audience of around nine million viewers."
This was a quote from the creators of the show to critic Charlie Catchpole printed in The Mirror on August 18 1998: "Even if you're not quackers about Duck Patrol , around seven million viewers are. Apart from the soaps, it's getting the biggest audience of any show this summer transmitted before dusk."
From The Independent - August 31, 1998 - Duck Patrol (at no. 16 with a bullet)
I'll leave you with this quote from Richard Wilson from The Daily Record - May 15, 1998
"But coming from Clydeside and my father working in the yards - I used to go down there - means that I do like boats.
"So I was attracted by the idea of messing about in them. I've enjoyed that immensely and I can turn a police launch on a sixpence now."
The People - August 2, 1998: Weekly ratings list Duck Patrol ITV 10.30 - they were 4th
The People - August 9, 1998: Weekly ratings list Duck Patrol ITV 8.72 - they were 7th - beating Men Behaving Badly - which was 8th! Proving not everything starts out as a hit!
The Mirror - August 11, 1998 - Charlie Catchpole:
"Despite all attempts to blow it out of the water (mine included), Duck Patrol is bobbing along nicely in the ratings, with a steady audience of around nine million viewers."
This was a quote from the creators of the show to critic Charlie Catchpole printed in The Mirror on August 18 1998: "Even if you're not quackers about Duck Patrol , around seven million viewers are. Apart from the soaps, it's getting the biggest audience of any show this summer transmitted before dusk."
From The Independent - August 31, 1998 - Duck Patrol (at no. 16 with a bullet)
I'll leave you with this quote from Richard Wilson from The Daily Record - May 15, 1998
"But coming from Clydeside and my father working in the yards - I used to go down there - means that I do like boats.
"So I was attracted by the idea of messing about in them. I've enjoyed that immensely and I can turn a police launch on a sixpence now."
October 17, 2012
During the 1998 British Comedy Awards hosted by Jonathan Ross on ITV he used this line:
"Comedy on TV is no laughing matter - as Duck Patrol so graphically proved."
I wonder if he even remembers saying that or if he ever mentioned to David now that they are mates! LOL
"Comedy on TV is no laughing matter - as Duck Patrol so graphically proved."
I wonder if he even remembers saying that or if he ever mentioned to David now that they are mates! LOL
October 16, 2012
David appeared in the highly acclaimed drama Recovery which aired on BBC One on February 25, 2007. He was once again teamed with his Blackpool co-star Sarah Parish and it was while doing research for the part of Alan Hamilton that he started his association as patron of the Headway charity.
Here are some of the reviews and press about the show:
This is an excerpt from the Nottingham Evening Post - February 27, 2012 - Lisa McCarthy
"Headway, the brain injury association, whose headquarters is based in King Edward Street, has seen a record 200% rise in calls - from 20 a day to between 80 and 100 - following the dramatisation of Recovery on BBC 1 on Sunday night.
Peter McCabe, chief executive of Headway, described the reaction as 'phenomenal'. "I have never seen a day like it," he said. "The response has been phenomenal," he said. "We have had a 200% rise in calls, which is huge, especially for a Monday.
"It is wonderful that such a hidden condition has been given a primetime audience for the first time. Hopefully this level of exposure can take us to a completely different level," he added.
"As a consequence of the programme there are millions of people who now have a better understanding of traumatic brain injury," he said."
The Express - February 26, 2012 - excerpt from TV Express - Charlotte Civil/Matt Baylis:
". . . this was clearly a piece developed in close consultation with a lot of experts on a lot of issues. In addition to the diligent research, it was faultlessly written and acted, to the point where even the most hardened viewer would have been moved by the events unfolding before them. The clever editing made a good job of showing us the jagged, jarring, incomplete way that Alan saw the world after recovering from his coma, contrasting sharply with flashbacks to a happier time. No single piece of TV drama could have done a better job of depicting the frightening character changes that can follow a brain injury, or the lasting harm done to a victim's family." (This article did go on to say that they thought the drama was too real and that it forgot that people want to be entertained!)
Sam Wollaston from The Guardian - February 26, 2007:
"David Tennant is playing Alan, . . . He's extremely good at it, totally convincing as the husk of his former self. And Sarah Parish is also brilliant as his broken wife. It wasn't over-sentimental, just believable. And much more powerful for that. Anyone who says they didn't have a lump in their throats is either an unfeeling brute or a liar."
David Belcher - The Herald - Feburary 26, 2007:
"First things first: if you watched Recovery , I'm sure you'll be feeling inspired to make a donation to Headway. . . the play was one of TV's saddest, most harrowing dramas ever - and one that should, if there's any justice, produce bucketloads of awards for its two stars David Tennant and Sarah Parish. (ED: IT DIDN'T and MANY people thought David should have gotten a BAFTA for his performance.) Jolly entertainment, Recovery wasn't; heart-breakingly educative, it was.
With deft thespian rigour, David T and Sarah P portrayed your average happily-married couple . . ."
"The best dramas then deliver that hope - after all, too much bleakness is too much to bear - but it's always a slim hope, a reminder that often in life there is no fairytale happy ever after. Recovery was such a piece of television. . . It was so intense, I think I need a lie-down to recover - but, my word, it was worth it." - Leicester Mercury - February 26, 2007
Sarah Parish and David Tennant are both really good actors, and Recovery gives them both the opportunity to shine in ways that they haven't been able to before. . . . His inability to look after his kids, make toast, shower himself or get dressed, is the least of it. Rather, and this is what Parish and Tennant represent so well, it is his fury at his new incapacity, coupled with his terrible vulnerability and his complete lack of social graces that makes this such a moving piece of drama." - The Observer - February 25, 2007 - Rebecca Seal
According to the Glasgow Sunday Mail - February 25, 2007: "the Scots actor based his character on the true story of ex-Sunday Mail reporter Brian Cullinan, who was moved to tears by David 's portrayal of his struggle"
"Tennant is superb as always . . ." - Birmingham Sunday Mercury - February 25, 2007 - Roz Laws
"Tennant shows he can do misery and volcanic rage as well as he does dapper charm." - Sunday Times - February 25, 2007 - John Dugdale
"Tennant is brilliant in the role, especially in the scenes in which he explodes into impotent, anguished fury. Initial reservations that he looks too boyish to convince as a father of two growing boys are vanquished as his powerful performance unfolds." - The Scotsman - February 24, 2007 - Paul Whitelaw
David's thoughts as quoted in The Sun - February 24, 2007 - Kate Noble:
"Our brain is our personality, If that gets knocked sideways, you become fundamentally different." "You can't imagine what it must be like to be married to someone who becomes a different human being,"
"To research the role, I visited a self-help group of people, who talked about their own experience of brain injury. I also met a family who were very open about what it is like to live with this condition." (In another interview Sarah P also talked about her and David having dinner with this family and also screening the programme for them, which they said portrayed their situation realistically.)
"Headway had felt misrepresented by other dramatic representations of this. They were keen to make sure that we had got it right, and to make sure that there was no happy ending. There are no absolutes about these injuries. Every situation is different. At the one end of the spectrum you can end up like Hammond, but at the other you have got people whose lives are never the same."
"Initially, after a brain injury, there's this period of blessed oblivion. I've been told over and over by the experts not to call it a coma. But it's such a good word. Anyway, you come out of this sleep and then there's this process of realisation," he says. "Alan believes he's fine to start with. But his brain has lost the ability to know these things are wrong with him. Alan has no sense of how he has changed to the outside world.
It's weird, all that brain and identity stuff. It's like when you start thinking about physics too hard, and after a certain point you start feeling really vertiginous." "Appropriateness is often an issue sexually, and telling people what you think," "Most patients' relationships split up after the injury. Many are abandoned by their families."
"It gets very existential very quickly," he says. "Is Alan the same person Tricia married? He looks the same but can't act the same.
Emotionally, he's not capable of being a husband the way he was. It makes me think about who we are and what happens when we change. What is it about the chemical reactions in our heads that give us a personality? What would it take to change them? How many criteria do you need to change to cease to be the person that you were?"
"Life can get better and easier for them, yeah. Things can be achieved that might be felt to be important. But the fact is that life is different and must be coped with differently. There were a lot of unhappy stories among the men I met -and it was mostly men who get this,"
- taken from an interview in The Times - February 24, 2007 - John Naish
Here are some of the reviews and press about the show:
This is an excerpt from the Nottingham Evening Post - February 27, 2012 - Lisa McCarthy
"Headway, the brain injury association, whose headquarters is based in King Edward Street, has seen a record 200% rise in calls - from 20 a day to between 80 and 100 - following the dramatisation of Recovery on BBC 1 on Sunday night.
Peter McCabe, chief executive of Headway, described the reaction as 'phenomenal'. "I have never seen a day like it," he said. "The response has been phenomenal," he said. "We have had a 200% rise in calls, which is huge, especially for a Monday.
"It is wonderful that such a hidden condition has been given a primetime audience for the first time. Hopefully this level of exposure can take us to a completely different level," he added.
"As a consequence of the programme there are millions of people who now have a better understanding of traumatic brain injury," he said."
The Express - February 26, 2012 - excerpt from TV Express - Charlotte Civil/Matt Baylis:
". . . this was clearly a piece developed in close consultation with a lot of experts on a lot of issues. In addition to the diligent research, it was faultlessly written and acted, to the point where even the most hardened viewer would have been moved by the events unfolding before them. The clever editing made a good job of showing us the jagged, jarring, incomplete way that Alan saw the world after recovering from his coma, contrasting sharply with flashbacks to a happier time. No single piece of TV drama could have done a better job of depicting the frightening character changes that can follow a brain injury, or the lasting harm done to a victim's family." (This article did go on to say that they thought the drama was too real and that it forgot that people want to be entertained!)
Sam Wollaston from The Guardian - February 26, 2007:
"David Tennant is playing Alan, . . . He's extremely good at it, totally convincing as the husk of his former self. And Sarah Parish is also brilliant as his broken wife. It wasn't over-sentimental, just believable. And much more powerful for that. Anyone who says they didn't have a lump in their throats is either an unfeeling brute or a liar."
David Belcher - The Herald - Feburary 26, 2007:
"First things first: if you watched Recovery , I'm sure you'll be feeling inspired to make a donation to Headway. . . the play was one of TV's saddest, most harrowing dramas ever - and one that should, if there's any justice, produce bucketloads of awards for its two stars David Tennant and Sarah Parish. (ED: IT DIDN'T and MANY people thought David should have gotten a BAFTA for his performance.) Jolly entertainment, Recovery wasn't; heart-breakingly educative, it was.
With deft thespian rigour, David T and Sarah P portrayed your average happily-married couple . . ."
"The best dramas then deliver that hope - after all, too much bleakness is too much to bear - but it's always a slim hope, a reminder that often in life there is no fairytale happy ever after. Recovery was such a piece of television. . . It was so intense, I think I need a lie-down to recover - but, my word, it was worth it." - Leicester Mercury - February 26, 2007
Sarah Parish and David Tennant are both really good actors, and Recovery gives them both the opportunity to shine in ways that they haven't been able to before. . . . His inability to look after his kids, make toast, shower himself or get dressed, is the least of it. Rather, and this is what Parish and Tennant represent so well, it is his fury at his new incapacity, coupled with his terrible vulnerability and his complete lack of social graces that makes this such a moving piece of drama." - The Observer - February 25, 2007 - Rebecca Seal
According to the Glasgow Sunday Mail - February 25, 2007: "the Scots actor based his character on the true story of ex-Sunday Mail reporter Brian Cullinan, who was moved to tears by David 's portrayal of his struggle"
"Tennant is superb as always . . ." - Birmingham Sunday Mercury - February 25, 2007 - Roz Laws
"Tennant shows he can do misery and volcanic rage as well as he does dapper charm." - Sunday Times - February 25, 2007 - John Dugdale
"Tennant is brilliant in the role, especially in the scenes in which he explodes into impotent, anguished fury. Initial reservations that he looks too boyish to convince as a father of two growing boys are vanquished as his powerful performance unfolds." - The Scotsman - February 24, 2007 - Paul Whitelaw
David's thoughts as quoted in The Sun - February 24, 2007 - Kate Noble:
"Our brain is our personality, If that gets knocked sideways, you become fundamentally different." "You can't imagine what it must be like to be married to someone who becomes a different human being,"
"To research the role, I visited a self-help group of people, who talked about their own experience of brain injury. I also met a family who were very open about what it is like to live with this condition." (In another interview Sarah P also talked about her and David having dinner with this family and also screening the programme for them, which they said portrayed their situation realistically.)
"Headway had felt misrepresented by other dramatic representations of this. They were keen to make sure that we had got it right, and to make sure that there was no happy ending. There are no absolutes about these injuries. Every situation is different. At the one end of the spectrum you can end up like Hammond, but at the other you have got people whose lives are never the same."
"Initially, after a brain injury, there's this period of blessed oblivion. I've been told over and over by the experts not to call it a coma. But it's such a good word. Anyway, you come out of this sleep and then there's this process of realisation," he says. "Alan believes he's fine to start with. But his brain has lost the ability to know these things are wrong with him. Alan has no sense of how he has changed to the outside world.
It's weird, all that brain and identity stuff. It's like when you start thinking about physics too hard, and after a certain point you start feeling really vertiginous." "Appropriateness is often an issue sexually, and telling people what you think," "Most patients' relationships split up after the injury. Many are abandoned by their families."
"It gets very existential very quickly," he says. "Is Alan the same person Tricia married? He looks the same but can't act the same.
Emotionally, he's not capable of being a husband the way he was. It makes me think about who we are and what happens when we change. What is it about the chemical reactions in our heads that give us a personality? What would it take to change them? How many criteria do you need to change to cease to be the person that you were?"
"Life can get better and easier for them, yeah. Things can be achieved that might be felt to be important. But the fact is that life is different and must be coped with differently. There were a lot of unhappy stories among the men I met -and it was mostly men who get this,"
- taken from an interview in The Times - February 24, 2007 - John Naish
October 15, 2012
David and his Doctor Who co-star from 'Human Nature/Family of Blood', Jessica Hynes, starred in a one hour comedy called Learners. It was written by Jessica based on her trouble passing her driving test - in fact she had to actually get her license to film the show! Shaun Dingwall, who has also appeared in Doctor Who four times as Rose's father, plays Jessica's husband.
The show aired in November 11, 2007 on BBC One at 9:00 pm - opposite Daniel Radcliffe in My Boy Jack, a drama about Rudyard Kipling's son who went MIA on his first day of service in WWI over on ITV.
Daniel beat David ratings wise with an average of 5.7 million views versus 5.5 million for Learners.
Shaun's character even gets an HP related line - "Since Harry Potter, owls have gone through the roof"
Every review I read was less than favorable about the story but I did manage to find this about David from David Belcher in The Herald - November 12, 2007.
"What we surely knew already is that David Tennant is believably, commendably different in every role he undertakes. As the time-travelling oddity Doctor Who, he remains sparkily all-knowing.
In Recovery, he was a loving husband and father who, after suffering a braininjury, couldn't help becoming a pitiable domestic monster. And in Learners , he was Chris: a super-patient, nerdy, ultra-supportive Christian mouse who lived life by the good book."
A few more newspapers also had great things to say about David - even if they panned the story.
"Tennant, as always, is great - funny, understated and charming. He even tries to have a rubbish haircut and wear geek glasses to be nerdy Chris, but he's far too foxy for that." - Leicester Mercury - November 12, 2007
"She's nabbed her co-star there, David Tennant , for her first solo writing project, a canny move since Tennant currently can do no wrong with British viewers - he could probably persuade people to watch the Parliament Channel if he appeared on it and if QVC snapped him up, overnight the nation would be ordering its weight in diamonique.
"Tennant was certainly his usual appealing self as Chris, a nervy and earnest Christian; all the manic verve of his Doctor Who role buttoned down in a careful portrayal of a sweet man who just wanted to teach people to drive and to find love for himself. His romance with the driving school owner and her on-off affair with a married man threatened to take over the story, while his other hopeless pupils provided a sort of chorus of minor comic relief." - The Scotsman - November 12, 2007 - Andrea Mullaney
The Sunday Mercury - November 11, 2007 - Roz Laws - had the best quote from Jessica:
Jessica laughs: "From now on, I'm only taking roles in which I kiss David Tennant . I'm getting very choosy!"
She also got to snog him in Doctor Who.
Victoria Segal from The Times called David a space-fox in her pick of the day article.
The Sun - November 10, 2007 - had the best headline - David Tennant drives Jessica Hynes crazy!
They also mentioned the twice kissed Jessica with this quote: "The writer insisted on it," Jessica smiled . . "What a drag!"
He even gets to sing a bit - Take Your Wheel - which was really written by Jessica Hynes and sung by Mitch Benn. In the show Chris says that the song was by Paul Collinson and The Learners - in 1992 - on their 50/50 tour!
You can click here to read in Mitch's blog how the song came about - here is a quote from it:
I had to re-construct the tune based on that weird Dylan-ish bit of singing David does in the car
The show aired in November 11, 2007 on BBC One at 9:00 pm - opposite Daniel Radcliffe in My Boy Jack, a drama about Rudyard Kipling's son who went MIA on his first day of service in WWI over on ITV.
Daniel beat David ratings wise with an average of 5.7 million views versus 5.5 million for Learners.
Shaun's character even gets an HP related line - "Since Harry Potter, owls have gone through the roof"
Every review I read was less than favorable about the story but I did manage to find this about David from David Belcher in The Herald - November 12, 2007.
"What we surely knew already is that David Tennant is believably, commendably different in every role he undertakes. As the time-travelling oddity Doctor Who, he remains sparkily all-knowing.
In Recovery, he was a loving husband and father who, after suffering a braininjury, couldn't help becoming a pitiable domestic monster. And in Learners , he was Chris: a super-patient, nerdy, ultra-supportive Christian mouse who lived life by the good book."
A few more newspapers also had great things to say about David - even if they panned the story.
"Tennant, as always, is great - funny, understated and charming. He even tries to have a rubbish haircut and wear geek glasses to be nerdy Chris, but he's far too foxy for that." - Leicester Mercury - November 12, 2007
"She's nabbed her co-star there, David Tennant , for her first solo writing project, a canny move since Tennant currently can do no wrong with British viewers - he could probably persuade people to watch the Parliament Channel if he appeared on it and if QVC snapped him up, overnight the nation would be ordering its weight in diamonique.
"Tennant was certainly his usual appealing self as Chris, a nervy and earnest Christian; all the manic verve of his Doctor Who role buttoned down in a careful portrayal of a sweet man who just wanted to teach people to drive and to find love for himself. His romance with the driving school owner and her on-off affair with a married man threatened to take over the story, while his other hopeless pupils provided a sort of chorus of minor comic relief." - The Scotsman - November 12, 2007 - Andrea Mullaney
The Sunday Mercury - November 11, 2007 - Roz Laws - had the best quote from Jessica:
Jessica laughs: "From now on, I'm only taking roles in which I kiss David Tennant . I'm getting very choosy!"
She also got to snog him in Doctor Who.
Victoria Segal from The Times called David a space-fox in her pick of the day article.
The Sun - November 10, 2007 - had the best headline - David Tennant drives Jessica Hynes crazy!
They also mentioned the twice kissed Jessica with this quote: "The writer insisted on it," Jessica smiled . . "What a drag!"
He even gets to sing a bit - Take Your Wheel - which was really written by Jessica Hynes and sung by Mitch Benn. In the show Chris says that the song was by Paul Collinson and The Learners - in 1992 - on their 50/50 tour!
You can click here to read in Mitch's blog how the song came about - here is a quote from it:
I had to re-construct the tune based on that weird Dylan-ish bit of singing David does in the car
October 14, 2012
Here are some comments on David's performance as Reverend Gibson in He Knew He was Right:
". . .and the wonderfully expressive David Tennant , who is the most delightfully appalling clergyman ever to steal the show in a Trollope adaptation." - The Daily Telegraph - Sydney - June 16, 2004 - Eleanor Sprawson
"The gloriously poignant yet poisonous love triangle between Mr Gibson and the French sisters (a performance of collective brilliance by David Tennant , Fenella Woolgar and Claudie Blakley) . . . " - The Observer - May 16, 2004 - Kathryn Flett
"David Tennant was hilarious as the clergyman, Mr Gibson, who found himself in an impossible position after playing fast and loose with the affections of unmarried sisters Arabella and Camilla French, finally plumping reluctantly for Arabella to avoid ruin and disgrace.
In an outrageous act of larceny, the quartet of Tennant , Claudie Blakley and Fenella Woolgar, as the sisters, and Barbara Flynn, as their mother, made off with whole chunks of He Knew He Was Right with their story within a story." - Daily Mail - May 10, 2004 - Peter Paterson
"David Tennant 's hilarious Rev Gibson and Anna Massey's brilliant Miss Stanbury were the highlights of this episode, as they were in episode two." - The Mail on Sunday - May 9, 2004 - Jaci Stephen
"David Tennant - currently wowing audiences as a money-grubbing young clergyman in the television version of Anthony Trollope's He Knew He Was Right" . . . - The Scotsman - May 8, 2004 - Joyce McMillan
"Newcomer (at least, I've never seen him before) David Tennant as Mr Gibson is very funny, too." - Leicester Mercury - May 3, 2004 - ED NOTE - people in Leicester should get out more - David was a very well know stage actor by 2004 and had been on TV many times!
Perhaps whoever wrote that article should have read Elisabeth Mahoney's article on David in The Guardian on January 1st that year which included this subtitle:
"On stage or screen, David Tennant is a favourite with writers because of his ability to go from nerdy cop to handsome lover 'in just one moment'"
". . .and the wonderfully expressive David Tennant , who is the most delightfully appalling clergyman ever to steal the show in a Trollope adaptation." - The Daily Telegraph - Sydney - June 16, 2004 - Eleanor Sprawson
"The gloriously poignant yet poisonous love triangle between Mr Gibson and the French sisters (a performance of collective brilliance by David Tennant , Fenella Woolgar and Claudie Blakley) . . . " - The Observer - May 16, 2004 - Kathryn Flett
"David Tennant was hilarious as the clergyman, Mr Gibson, who found himself in an impossible position after playing fast and loose with the affections of unmarried sisters Arabella and Camilla French, finally plumping reluctantly for Arabella to avoid ruin and disgrace.
In an outrageous act of larceny, the quartet of Tennant , Claudie Blakley and Fenella Woolgar, as the sisters, and Barbara Flynn, as their mother, made off with whole chunks of He Knew He Was Right with their story within a story." - Daily Mail - May 10, 2004 - Peter Paterson
"David Tennant 's hilarious Rev Gibson and Anna Massey's brilliant Miss Stanbury were the highlights of this episode, as they were in episode two." - The Mail on Sunday - May 9, 2004 - Jaci Stephen
"David Tennant - currently wowing audiences as a money-grubbing young clergyman in the television version of Anthony Trollope's He Knew He Was Right" . . . - The Scotsman - May 8, 2004 - Joyce McMillan
"Newcomer (at least, I've never seen him before) David Tennant as Mr Gibson is very funny, too." - Leicester Mercury - May 3, 2004 - ED NOTE - people in Leicester should get out more - David was a very well know stage actor by 2004 and had been on TV many times!
Perhaps whoever wrote that article should have read Elisabeth Mahoney's article on David in The Guardian on January 1st that year which included this subtitle:
"On stage or screen, David Tennant is a favourite with writers because of his ability to go from nerdy cop to handsome lover 'in just one moment'"
October 13, 2012
Besides the many, many images and fan vids of David as The Doctor - probably the most used image is David eating ice cream in Blackpool.
When you search for the video on You Tube - be careful - we all want to see this - make sure you wait for the lick at the end!
This - however - maybe not so much! LOL
October 12, 2012
David's thoughts on Blackpool from The Sun - November 11, 2004 - Georgina Reid
"David said: "It's a bit of everything, a whodunnit, a rite of passage, a love triangle, a musical - I loved it as soon as I read it."
David, who has had little training in singing or dancing, said: "Not many jobs would find me dancing underneath Blackpool Prom in the dead of night.
"I've done some very odd things, like being in a pool fully clothed, or dancing the tango with David Morrissey to These Boots Are Made For Walking.
"It's been eye-opening and invigorating to get to do all these things at once."
He confessed: "It's a completely and utterly inappropriate affair with Natalie.
"Carlyle is usually full of integrity but he finds himself on the slippery slope for the first time."
One thing he did enjoy was the mix of music on the show, with everything from Nancy Sinatra to The Faces, The Communards, Gabrielle, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Elvis and The Smiths.
He said: "The Smiths track The Boy With The Thorn In His Side was the most fun to do. It's a full-on number with 25 dancers and the actors. It's quite scary.
"Because you're playing the character you tend to be at the forefront of the scenes but you're surrounded by these dancers who can all do it - and you've got to sing and act at the same time."
But he claims his biggest regret was not being able to persuade writer Peter Bowker to include a track from his own favourite band.
He said: "I was desperate to get some Proclaimers in. I'm a huge fan and at least I would have been able to sing it in my own accent.""
"David said: "It's a bit of everything, a whodunnit, a rite of passage, a love triangle, a musical - I loved it as soon as I read it."
David, who has had little training in singing or dancing, said: "Not many jobs would find me dancing underneath Blackpool Prom in the dead of night.
"I've done some very odd things, like being in a pool fully clothed, or dancing the tango with David Morrissey to These Boots Are Made For Walking.
"It's been eye-opening and invigorating to get to do all these things at once."
He confessed: "It's a completely and utterly inappropriate affair with Natalie.
"Carlyle is usually full of integrity but he finds himself on the slippery slope for the first time."
One thing he did enjoy was the mix of music on the show, with everything from Nancy Sinatra to The Faces, The Communards, Gabrielle, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Elvis and The Smiths.
He said: "The Smiths track The Boy With The Thorn In His Side was the most fun to do. It's a full-on number with 25 dancers and the actors. It's quite scary.
"Because you're playing the character you tend to be at the forefront of the scenes but you're surrounded by these dancers who can all do it - and you've got to sing and act at the same time."
But he claims his biggest regret was not being able to persuade writer Peter Bowker to include a track from his own favourite band.
He said: "I was desperate to get some Proclaimers in. I'm a huge fan and at least I would have been able to sing it in my own accent.""
October 9, 2012
Sir Piers Pomfrey - and all his words of - eh wisdom!
Men were built to govern, women were built to make cakes and babies.
We're your worst nightmare!
Bono, wants to go for beers - again!
Women are for making cakes and babies (yes he gets to say it twice!)
Those LITTLE BITCHES!
I want them found, I want them crushed, I want them DESTROYED!
OH - you're going to tell on me - oh please don't tell on me, oh please don't tell on me!
Who's going to believe a bunch of jumped up porky telling schoolgirls over me - I play tennis with Sting for Christ sakes!
BLOODY WOMEN!
Men were built to govern, women were built to make cakes and babies.
We're your worst nightmare!
Bono, wants to go for beers - again!
Women are for making cakes and babies (yes he gets to say it twice!)
Those LITTLE BITCHES!
I want them found, I want them crushed, I want them DESTROYED!
OH - you're going to tell on me - oh please don't tell on me, oh please don't tell on me!
Who's going to believe a bunch of jumped up porky telling schoolgirls over me - I play tennis with Sting for Christ sakes!
BLOODY WOMEN!
October 8, 2012
Not only did Casanova bed many woman he also had many "occupations":
Lawyer - expert in property law
Doctor - expert physician
Astrologer
and violinist!
October 7, 2012
DI Carisle certainly had an oral fixation - here is a list of everything we see him eat throughout the series!
Cup of tea and a breakfast buttie
Welks
Bowl of cereal
Donut
Flake 99(Ice cream cone w/ chocolate stick in it)
Biscuit - I think it's a Jammie Dodger (cookie)
Candy Floss - cotton candy
Cup of tea
Pint of beer
A Drumstick - the candy kind
More Donuts
Cup of tea
Biscuit
Cup of tea
Beer
Heart shaped lolly
Cup of tea
Beer
A chip - fry
He also chews on a pencil and a pen.
He gets a cup of tea in the cafe with Natalie but does not drink it
He pours sugar into a cup of tea when interviewing Mike's fiance but we don't see him drink it
He also rubs his eyes and pulls on his nose a great deal!
Cup of tea and a breakfast buttie
Welks
Bowl of cereal
Donut
Flake 99(Ice cream cone w/ chocolate stick in it)
Biscuit - I think it's a Jammie Dodger (cookie)
Candy Floss - cotton candy
Cup of tea
Pint of beer
A Drumstick - the candy kind
More Donuts
Cup of tea
Biscuit
Cup of tea
Beer
Heart shaped lolly
Cup of tea
Beer
A chip - fry
He also chews on a pencil and a pen.
He gets a cup of tea in the cafe with Natalie but does not drink it
He pours sugar into a cup of tea when interviewing Mike's fiance but we don't see him drink it
He also rubs his eyes and pulls on his nose a great deal!
October 5, 2012
Some great lines spoken by a great actor!
"Sometimes you have to look somebody in the eye and tell the truth that should be instead of the truth that is" - Campbell Bain
You got this done in a single day?" ``Aye," says Campbell . ``Don't you wish you were manic?"
"Sometimes you have to look somebody in the eye and tell the truth that should be instead of the truth that is" - Campbell Bain
You got this done in a single day?" ``Aye," says Campbell . ``Don't you wish you were manic?"
October 4, 2012
Here is the most ridiculous story I could find for you in honor on my 50th birthday today!
Gotta Love The Sun!
Sun saves day
BARMY bakers told a disabled boy's mum he couldn't have a Dr Who birthday cake - unless he got star David Tennant 's permission first.
Asda bosses claimed it would breach strict copyright laws unless the actor agreed to have his picture on 11-year-old Robin Freeman's cake.
But then mum Jane, 36, asked The Sun to help.
And we raced one of our copyrighted pictures of Tennant as the Doctor to the store in Cannock, Staffs.
They finally agreed to bake Robin's special cake and, complete with 11 candles, we rushed it to the church hall where he held a party for 20 pals.
Last night Jane, from Rugeley, said: "You saved the day." And Robin, who suffers from dyslexia and learning difficulties, added: "It's been a good birthday ."
Asda said: "With the Sun's help we were happy to produce the birthday cake the boy wanted."
Gotta Love The Sun!
Robin Asda have cake!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Author: Andrew Parker
BARMY bakers told a disabled boy's mum he couldn't have a Dr Who birthday cake - unless he got star David Tennant 's permission first.
Asda bosses claimed it would breach strict copyright laws unless the actor agreed to have his picture on 11-year-old Robin Freeman's cake.
But then mum Jane, 36, asked The Sun to help.
And we raced one of our copyrighted pictures of Tennant as the Doctor to the store in Cannock, Staffs.
They finally agreed to bake Robin's special cake and, complete with 11 candles, we rushed it to the church hall where he held a party for 20 pals.
Last night Jane, from Rugeley, said: "You saved the day." And Robin, who suffers from dyslexia and learning difficulties, added: "It's been a good birthday ."
Asda said: "With the Sun's help we were happy to produce the birthday cake the boy wanted."
October 3, 2012
HEY HEY HEY! An early Birthday present for me! Thanks to TVAJB on You Tube we have ANOTHER Boots advert from 2002 - 3 for 2 offers! I have edited out just David's bit - this person had uploaded the last ever closing broadcast from LWT - which included this ad!
ENJOY - I DID!!!!!
ENJOY - I DID!!!!!
October 2, 2012
David was part of the RSC Stand Up for Shakespeare campaign that was started in March 2008. The initiative is still going strong - it is all about getting children interested in the Bard by getting them involved in the spoken word and performance aspect of his work.
October 1, 2012
Last Saturday David appeared in a BBC America documentary about Doctor Who's association with America, in it he mentioned that the only time he actually came to the US for the show was to attend San Diego Comic Con. This video documentary shot by the Confidential team that has some behind the scenes footage of David, Russell and Julie.
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