David's insight into some of his darker characters from an interview in The Independent - December 7, 2005 - Sarah Shannon
"So, who is David Tennant? The amiably eccentric Timelord, Orton's angry young man, or does he have Block's dark, villainous side? "God, no!" he laughs. "There's no dark side of David Tennant. I'm completely pure and clean. But I think everyone understands what it feels like to be dumped." He coyly admits to past obsessions with the opposite sex. "It's always a very intoxicating and irrational thing to be that obsessed with someone. I hope I dealt with it better than Brendan Block." He felt grateful, he says, for his single status during filming. "It would have been a nightmare if I'd been breaking up with someone while playing Brendan..." He liked the role because it felt vaguely Hitchcockian, and he loves the darkness of films such as Marnie.
For someone "pure and clean", he certainly likes art and literature that examines the bleaker side of life. Occasionally, his characters' bad habits have crept into his life. Osborne's Jimmy Porter was one example. "I didn't become any more furious than normal, but I did become deeply politically incorrect. That's what Jimmy does, he pushes the boundary and then goes beyond it. I was being rude at really inappropriate moments."