August 31, 2012

David took part in a reading of Medea at the Cottesloe Theatre in London in February 2, 2001 at 2:30 pm, he read that part of the Bodyguard. This was part of a Greek Play reading series at The National that included readings of  Antigone, Ajax and The Dianiera. UK Theatre Web described the series as "Greek play readings celebrating a contemporary approach to the genre."

The reading was adapted by Liz Lochhead and directed by Graham McLaren.  The pair had collaborated on Medea for Graham's touring company called theatre Babel and this reading included some of that original cast including Maureen Beattie as Medea and Carol Ann Crawford as the Nurse.  Carol Ann had appeared with David early in his career in Merlin and The Princess and the Goblin and Maureen makes an appearance in The Decoy Bride.

                     

August 30, 2012

Traditionally the Royal Shakespeare Company invites its two Stratford assistant directors to put on a play each at the end of the season, but in 2000 they combined their efforts to stage Laughter in the Dark.

Laughter In The  Dark was written by Vladimir Nabokov, the book has been filmed and turned into an opera it has never previously been seen in the theatre.

The production, directed by Rebecca McCutcheon and Craig Higginson, was staged at The Other Place in Stratford . 

Craig Higginson was quoted in the Birmingham Post in an article by Terry Grimley:

'I was interested in adapting something, and when I got talking to Rachel we thought it would be a good idea if we pooled our efforts because we would be able to get double the budget and be able to do something more adventurous,'

'I generally don't think it's a good idea to adapt novels into plays, but this, which I literally took off the shelf, is only a short novel and it's very strong. Nabokov's later novels are quite textural and dense but this is quite simple, and it seemed something one could very easily adapt.'  - September 27, 2000

The book was written in Berlin in the 1920's and is about the downfall of a married middle-aged man through his infatuation for a young woman he meets in a cinema.

Higginson went on to describe the plot, 'It's quite like Lolita except that she's older, about 17,' 'She's much less a victim - she's already worked as a prostitute. The power balance between the two characters is more interesting than in Lolita. This girl uses him and destroys him.'

'He is a humanist, an art critic who loves beautiful things. She represents a younger and more ruthless generation.'

The play ran for an hour and a half with no interval and the set was staged to look like a film set. Staged like a film they even used film in the production, going on location to film in London and Warwick.

Performances were September 27th and October 4th at 1:30 pm and September 25th, 30th and October 2nd at 11:30 pm after the regular evening RSC performances.

David appeared as Dawid Tenemann who stars in the 'film' 'Kamera Obscura.' , which is the original title of Nabokov's book.

August 29, 2012

The Concert For Peace was organised by Janie Dee and took place at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London on March 23, 2003 at 7:30pm. They had one rehearsal on that day from 11am - 7pm, which unfortunately David was unable to attend. The gala was directed by Ian Talbot and the whole thing was arranged in 4 weeks time!! Each artist or group performed a reading or song that had particular meaning to them, or to the evening's cause. Ticket prices were £10, £15, £20, £25 or £50. All of the money raised went to charities which help victims of war, including the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Oxfam and CARE

David Tennant performed a piece called "Nevertheless" with Juliet Aubrey, Jemma Redgrave and Alan Cox.

 Arabella Weir, Lindsay Duncan and John Barrowman also took part as well as a long list of stars. You can click here for a copy of the programme.

 

August 28, 2012

On March 20, 2001 the RSC and the City of London Sinfonia (CLS) combined for a single performance of Midsummer Night's Dream. The performance was staged at Barbican Hall to mark the CLS's 30th anniversary and combined Shakespeare's text with Mendelssohn's 1843 score.

The conductor was Richard Hickox and Jonathan Best was the director.

From The Times - March 23, 2001 - Geoff Brown:

"The scene is set in a late Victorian drawing room, easy chairs, cushions, plants strewn about. Behind, members of the City of London Sinfonia , their music director Richard Hickox and the brightly coloured Joyful Company of Singers. In the audience: rows of black suits, Dame Janet Baker (the Sinfonia 's president) and the rest of us, all gathered to celebrate the Sinfonia 's 30th anniversary with a semi-staged gala of A Midsummer Night's Dream, complete with the Mendelssohn trimmings.

And the ten actors, doubling parts in hazy Victorian costumes, scripts in hand. Microphones placed at the platform edge and the natural stentorian gifts of Royal Shakespeare Company members combined to produce the kind of loud, ringing voices that once launched British battleships. Desmond Barrit's Bottom was a real bellower, and the way Alex Jennings's Oberon snarled "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania" was enough to produce the shivers. How could Mendelssohn's fairy scamperings survive alongside?

For all their clean, spirited playing, Hickox and the CLS did not have many interpretative niceties to offer. The evening's musical value lay more in the chance to experience Mendelssohn's goodies slotted into their proper place: not just the familiar chunks, but the wisps of accompaniment here and there, and the magical echoes of old friends such as the overture's first bars, used to signal Titania's awakening in Act IV. No selection gained so much from its context as the intermezzo, its worried mood and sinuous colours a perfect complement to the lovers' confusions at the end of Act II.

Here as elsewhere, Hickox relished the composer's instrumental kaleidoscope. Even the poor, abused Wedding March emerged bright and perky. What the evening lacked, perhaps, was the gossamer touch, something to make the ears really sit up. For a 30th anniversary gala evening, it was a pity that the Sinfonia were not more at the festivities' centre.

As it was, the RSC actors dominated easily, sprawling about on their plush furnishings, running round the auditorium, firing off hit-and-miss interpretations (Ian Hughes's Puck was annoyingly earthbound). The director Jonathan Best and the choreographer Victoria Pritchard performed modest wonders in the space available, though a restraining hand on David Tennant's Thisbe would have been helpful."

CAST:
Desmond Barrit* - Bottom
Samantha Bond - Titania/Hippolyta
Robert Gillespie - Starveling
Paul Greenwood - Peter Quince
Ian Hughes - Puck
Mali Harries - Hermia
Alex Jennings -Oberon/Theseus
Adam Levy** - Demetrius/Snug
Emily Raymond - Helena
David Tennant - Thisbe/Lysander/Flute

August 27, 2012

David Tennant performed Blue as a monologue, Blue was a film first, the performance given November 16, 1997 and was the first staged reading of the piece. Click here for the complete text of the work.

Independent - David Benedict - November 8, 1997

"More recently, she (Vanessa) and Corin (Redgrave) have been grappling with theatrical issues via Moving Theatre . Vanessa has unearthed an unperformed Tennessee Williams play which predates The Glass Menagerie and will be performed at the National next year. Meantime, we have their season of prestigious Sunday night performances at the more intimate Chelsea Centre Theatre .

There's more sexual politics when Corin directs the stage premiere of Derek Jarman's Blue (16 Nov) . . . Now you know what to do to fight off the Monday morning blues."

The Moving Theatre Company was founded by Corin Redgrave, his wife Kika Marham and his sister Vanessa Redgrave in 1993.

David has appeared on stage with Corin in the RSC production of The General From America in 1996 and they were both involved in the 2006 50th anniversary celebration of the first performance of Look Back in Anger.

August 26, 2012

In 2008 David was the second most searched name in the Celebrities Worldwide directory.  In 2007 he was in third place a big jump from 19th place in 2006!

Celebrities Worldwide provides charities and media and entertainment organisations with details of celebrity agents and representatives.

August 25, 2012

War Child was founded in 1993 by British filmmakers Bill Leeson and David Wilson when they returned from covering the war in former Yugoslavia.  Shocked by what they had seen, they raised enough money to return later that year with a convoy and mobile bakery to help provide for the children affected by the conflict.

One of the things that the charity does to raise money and awareness has been to release music albums with music recorded by world class artists.  The first one in 1995 was called Help and featured To 1995 and featured Oasis, Radiohead, Sir Paul McCartney and Paul Weller.

In 2009 the charity released Heroes - the ultimate cover album, this is the description from their website:

"Heroes brings together the hottest contemporary artists in the music industry to record cover versions of classic tracks by musical legends who have collectively sold more than 1.4 billion albums.

We asked 15 ultimate icons to select a favourite song from their classic back catalogue and to nominate the new act they most trust to create a unique interpretation of that hand-picked track. This album is the result: 15 exclusive and breath-taking cover versions."

The charity appointed the ad agency Peacock to create the radio and TV campaign and David Tennant was selected as the voice over artist for the ads.  The album was released on February 16, 2009 here is the TV ad:

 

August 24, 2012

Marie Curie Cancer Care is a UK charity campaigns for better care for terminally ill people.  Their nurses work with patients in their homes and in hospice.  They have many charity shops that help raise funds along with everything from bake sales to celebrity events and auctions.  One of the events is the annual Handbags and Gladrags Ball held in Newcastle.  The 2010 event was on March 13th from 7:00pm - 1:00 am and the cost to attend was £75.00. The ball featured a drinks reception, a four-course meal, live entertainment from the boy band Blake, a disco and a specialist silent auction.

Big names from the worlds of sport, television, film and music, have donated their handbags, manbags and gladrags to raise cash for charity.  The celebrities who have donated items for the auction include Toon legend Alan Shearer donated his signed Umbro kit bag, Doctor Who star David Tennant, Dame Helen Mirren, who even left her lipstick print inside the sequin bag she donated! Sir Ralph Fiennes donated a bag he used in an adventure race across New Zealand. Barbara Windsor donated a gold metallic bag she used on Eastenders and Cherie Blair donated a red sequin clutch with a pearl handle.  Bags were also donated by Dannii Minogue and Fearne Cotton and the event raised £50,000!

"David Tennant has used this Adidas kit bag all around the world.

He told Marie Curie it was something he used all of the time, even while filming Dr Who.

The large holdall also contains signed DVDs from the Dr Who series.

The tag reads: "This battered old thing has been all round the world and has been very faithful. There's a signed DVD inside - so it might be worth something..."

This is definitely one to bid for on the night." -   taken from an article by Katie Davies in the Evening Chronicle.

Hannah Wilson, a nurse at the Marie Curie hospice in Newcastle pictured here with David's bag among others.

August 23, 2012

Just When Stories is a collection of short stories in book and audio CD format, William Boyd, Hanif Kresishi, Lauren St. John and Michael Morpurgo have all contributed stories and Hugh Bonneville, Martin Jarvis and David Tennant, Romola Garai and Eddie Redmayneare are the narrators.  

All proceeds of the sale of the book/CD go to support the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and Wild Aid, which fight against illegal wildlife trade. The title was inspired by Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. 

The audio CD was issued in August 2010 as a limited edition and features five selected stories from the book on 2 CD's. 
David Tennant narrates The Legend of Earthseasky by Nury Vittachi, which is about the animals of planet Earth holding a meeting at a secret location to find an answer to the threat of the Two-Legged Terror, a fast-breeding creature that is wiping out all other animal species.

Here is an excerpt:

August 22, 2012

This article appeared in the Daily Record on  April 27, 2006

Time Lord hears their prayers. 

DOCTOR Who star David Tennant has helped out his father's former church by donating his copy of a script from the hit TV series.

The Bathgate-born actor has given a script of the first episode from the new series to St Andrew's and St George's Church in George Street, Edinburgh, to sell at their annual Christian Aid book sale.

David's father, the Very Rev Dr Sandy McDonald, is a former Kirk moderator who served as minister at the church for six months in 2003.

Tennant and his co-star Billie Piper have signed the script.

The series kicked off with an episode where the Time Lord and Rose stumbled upon a plague farm in the far future run by evil cat people. It was watched by around 8.3million people.

Sale organisers are consulting Dr Who memorabilia experts before setting a price on the script.

Mr McDonald, who is retired and living in Glasgow, said his 35-year-old son offered the script after he mentioned the sale in passing during a recent phone conversation.

He said: "David is particularly interested in the work of the special sale at St Andrew's and St George's.

"He's very genuinely concerned and hopes the script makes a lot of money for Christian Aid."

More than 50 Scots authors, including the late Muriel Spark, have sent copies of their work for the charity book sale.

August 21, 2012

 David did the voice over for the 2010 Scottish SPCA appeal and also for the Christmas appeal. The film was shot in Glasgow and Hamilton in February 2010 and was directed for The Gate Films, by Cosmo Wallace, the director of photography was Paul O'Callaghan and the background music is from the film American Beauty, written by Thomas Newman.

This is the Christmas audio:

 

Excerpt from CosmoWallace.com 

"Rolf, the three-legged pup with the head cone, was a neglected eight-month dog
who’d had his foot amputated the day before we turned up to shoot.

 

He played with us for two hours, and was the loveliest animal I’ve ever worked with."
 
If you would like to give, click here.

August 20, 2012

Claire Goose (Casualty,  sister of One Water founder Duncan Goose, David Tennant and Rebecca Lacey (Monarch of the Glen, Casualty)

When you drink One, Africa drinks too

Love One Water was setup by UK philanthropist and entrepreneur Duncan Goose to answer the problem that one billion people don't have access to clean water. We are working with Love One Water to ensure that we can all make a difference. Simply buy a bottle of One water from World Duty Free (Price: £0.99 per bottle) and you can make a difference. A significant percentage of the profit goes to Love One Water from each product sold. These in turn fund playpumps. 

'PlayPumps' are a unique water pumping system based on children playing on a roundabout that simultaneously pumps fresh, clean water from deep underground into storage tanks for use by entire communities. In its first year of trading One Water donated over £70,000, climbing quickly to £200,000 with a target of £2.5 million.

The water that is produced is clean and fresh, which means the children can go to school instead of collecting water and their parents can take care of crops. 

Duncan Goose, the founder, won Best Campaigner at the 2007 Best of British Awards.

David is one of many celebrities who  have been working with Love One and have their own labels on the bottles. In addition to having his own labeled bottle he did a photo shoot posing with the bottles and sitting on one of the play pumps and he features in an advert to promote the charity.

" I think One water is a really great idea. You buy it, their profits go to building Roundabout powered water pumps in Africa. Simple. And that's the way it should be. Why would you buy anything else when you can save lives just by buying One." - David's quote from his bottle.

The One Water advert was shown on video screens at Heathrow Terminal 5 Duty Free shops to help promote the campaign in 2008. 

 

August 19, 2012

David is a patron of the Scottish charity Circle, supporting families by providing holistic, community based support to marginalised children and families. They are highly regarded for pioneering a range of early years and family support services that promote children's healthy development and potential.

This is what David had to say about the charity:

‘I was blessed with a safe and happy childhood. It is unacceptable to me that any child in Scotland should grow up in poverty or neglect. I am delighted and honoured to be supporting Circle in Scotland as they spread their invaluable work across the country.’

You can find out more information about the charity here.

August 18, 2012

Cardigan Bay in Wales is well known for it's sea birds and marine life and most notably for the pod of 200 Atlantic bottlenose dolphins.  In 1995 the area has been designated as a European Special Area of Conservation mainly because of the dolphins, they are one of only two semi-permanent resident dolphin colonies in the UK.  In 2001 a management scheme was put in place to monitor the dolphins and Sea Watch has been involved from the start.  They help monitor the interaction between people and dolphins, they take a sea life census every year to track the population and they run a wonderful adopt-a-dolphin scheme to raise money to help protect the dolphins.

To help increase awareness of the scheme several celebrities have adapted named dolphins so you can adopt the same dolphin as your favourite celeb.  David's dolphin is named Nic Nic and David's quote about the charity is "Research is vital if we want to continue to see dolphins and whales around the coast. Support Sea Watch!"

NIC NIC was first recorded in Cardigan Bay as long ago as 1990. She is one of the most regularly seen dolphins in the bay, and is a firm favourite with our observers. She is a nifty and skilful swimmer and loves surfing the waves. She is mum to Splash who was born in 2004 and Autumn who was born in July 2010.

If you would like more info or if you would like to adopt click here.

August 17, 2012

In November 2009 international aid agency Oxfam launched an online game called Climate Challenge which featured celebrities asking questions on topics such as energy use and bills, recycling, renewables and greenhouse gases.  The players able to control which answers the celebrities give and you get a different response depending on if you pick the correct answer or not.

The aid agency launched ahead of the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December of that year with the hope that it will raise public awareness about global warming.

David was one of the celebrities featured along with Mackenzie Crook, Gael Garcia Bernal, Ashley Jensen, Heather Graham and Miranda Richardson. Also taking part are musicians Amadou and Mariam and Jon Foreman.

You log on and  navigate your way through six different sets of questions. The Challenge is crammed full of interesting facts and statistics.  At the end of each game, players will also be able to add their name to a global petition.

The interactive games was created Monterosa Productions, they specialize in second screen technology, and Everybody's Content Ltd. developed the game.  The software company Adobe funded the mobile version of the game.

This is a short video that was made to promote the game.

 

In addition to the game Oxfam also made two short videos Good Ideas and Bad Ideas to promote the Climate Change Campaign.

 

The game is no longer online but you can read all about Oxfam and the work they do.

August 16, 2012

A TV pilot is a television show produced and filmed or taped as a sample of a proposed series and David has filmed several some have aired and some have not.

Miles Better - aired July 1, 1992 as part of a Bunch of Five, a comedy series of five pilots for original situation comedies on Channel Four.  David had a very small part as a hapless policeman.  The story set in Glasgow tells the story of Miles who runs CU Alarm Systems to peddle peace of mind to the people of Bardonald. 

David starred in a pilot made by BBC Imagineering which later was renamed Research & Development.  The 20 minute film called Only Human was first shown in August 2002 at the BANFF Media Conference at a panel presented by Rowena Goldman.  David plays Tyler, a private detective who finds himself with an AI (artificial intelligence) assistant.  At the beginning of the film it states that the BBC shot this pilot to assess how motion carture/live animation can help create a dramatically engaging relationship between an actor and an animated character.

The Deputy, aired February 23, 2004 on BBC 1.  The 60 minute pilot was about the constant stream of politcians making life hard for Deputy Prime Minister Bob Galway, played by Warren Clarke, but he's kept grounded by his private secretary and radical wife. David played Christopher Williams, Mr, Galway's head cabinet secretary.

In December of 2009 David was in Los Angeles to film a pilot for NBC television in America called Rex is Not Your Lawyer.  The show was about a lawyer who suffered from panic attacks that he could no longer argue a case in appear in court.  He decides to start coaching his clients to represent themselves. The pilot episode, titled "Mabel Howard's Wrongful Termination," which was about a case involving a private school bus driver Mabel Howard. NBC decided not to green light the project and the pilot never aired.  

Spaced - was a pilot for Channel 4 hosted by Robert Webb, each week on his ship 'Captain Robert' is joined by three celebrities.

In a series of rounds they will nominate their most precious possessions, guilty pleasures, best loved landmarks or even all time favourite humans that they believe encapsulate earth as we know it. It is up to Robert and his crew plus the studio audience to decide which of these items will make it onto the ship.

The pilot was recorded on February 16,  2011 but was not aired they other two panelist in addition to David were Richard Ayoade and Fern Britton.

August 15, 2012

In honor of Julia Childs 100th birthday, todays post is all about food!  In interviews over the years David has mentioned things he likes to eat and things he doesn't!

shortbread

"not a great fan of a pot noodle"

Fav guilty pleasure - plain white bread toasted, peanut butter, Mattesson's sausage, sliced thin and sunk into the peanut butter

Used to like Mr Kiplings French Fancies  but when he was doing DW he was brought 2 everyday with his tea so he kind of went off them

Likes millionaire shortbread

Must have turkey at Christmas

"Not excited by an egg & cress sandwich"

Doesn't like salmon

Takes coffee black and not instant
 

Mr Kipling;s

Prefers sweet popcorn to salted

Likes Peri Peri chicken

"Like a bit of haggis"

Doesn't like mince pie - "like a bunch of sweepings"
 

Cupcakes from Primrose Bakery in London

Laphroaig whiskey
 

August 14, 2012

Yesterday's post was all about historical figures that David has portrayed on stage, screen and TV but he has also lent his voice to some famous men as well.

He portrayed Captain Raymond Hinchliffe in the 1998 BBC Radio drama The Airmen Who Wouldn't Die.

Captain Hinchliffe was a Royal Navy flying Ace in WWI and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. 

On March 13, 1928 Hinchliffe and Elsie Mackay took off in the Endeavour from RAF Cranwell, Elsie was attempting to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic and Raymond would have been the first man to fly across from Europe to America, they never arrived in New York.

The radio play tells the story of the events surrounding the true story of the crash of the airship R-101, the biggest airship ever built, in 1930 and the famous seance that was conducted by Eileen Garrett.  First messages were received from Hinchcliffe through a oija board and later through the brilliant medium, Eileen Garrett. Hinchcliffe was concerned for his wife and small children, but also sent messages about what had happened to his flight, along with ominous predictions about the R101 flight to India ending in disaster due to poor design. Later, the deceased crew of the dirigible sent messages through mediums, and two men, each unaware of the work of the other, received communications through medium Eileen Garrett. Later, the communication received by each was available to investigators, who, in every case, concluded that communication with the deceased was the only viable answer to how these messages could have come about.

Also in 1998 David played the artist John Everett Millais in the BBC Radio 4 play The Order of Release. Millais was friends with leading Victorian art critic John Ruskin and fell in love with his wife Effie while painting her. The name of the painting - The Order of Release. 

In 2002 he portrayed composer William Walton in the BBC Radio 4 play Facade. 

The composition was started in 1921 and all of the numbers had been composed by 1927.  Walton continued revisions until 1947–8 and the definitive version was first performed on Friday, 29 May 1942 at Aeolian Hall, London with Constant Lambert, to whom the piece was dedicated,  as the reciter and William Walton conducting.  

In 2003 he was Gaius Caligula in the BBC Radio 4 production Peeling Figs for Julius. 

In 2010 he starred in Murder in Samarkand, based on the memoirs of British political activist Craig Murray former ambassador to Uzbekistan.

In 2011 he not only got to portray Kafka but he got to sing as him as well in BBC Radio 3 play Kafka The Musical written by Doctor Who soundtrack composer Murry Gold. 

Also in 2011 he got to be Robert Louis Stevenson in two plays for Radio 4, Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes and The Amateur Emigrant, portray two hugely significant journeys in Stevenson's life.  The stories attempt to capture Stevenson's feelings for Fanny Osbourne, who would later become his wife, and how they affected him on his travels.

In 2012 he got to be another painter, Mario Minnitti, in BBC Radio 4's Waiting for the Boatman.  In the play Minniti has travelled to Naples to seek out his old friend and former mentor Caravaggio. But on arrival, the great painter is nowhere to be found. In a bid to find him, Mario retraces Caravaggio's last known movements. His search reveals a life lived dangerously.
 

 

August 13, 2012

David Tennant has portrayed many real life historical figures throughout his career starting in drama school.
 

David narrated four performances of Mozart A to Z on March 5,6,8 and 9, 1991 at the New Athenaeum Theatre, Glasgow.The Opera School staged the performances to celebrate the composer's bicentenary and David read excerpts from letters that Mozart had written between selections from his operas.

"David Tennant played Mozart. He not only looked good in the part, but his performance was full of character, witty, poignant and pleasantly lacking in sentimentality . . all in a robust Scottish acccent too." - The Herald - Wilma Paterson - March 6, 1991

He also appeared in a musical called The Matchgirls while at school playing the part of George Bernard Shaw. The play is based on fact and tells the story of a strike by the girls in a match factory in 1888, when unions were still groping for recognition and mass withdrawal of labour was an almost unheard-of strategy in industrial relations. The match-cutters finally rebel against working conditions in which young girls had their jaws rotted away by phosphorus, and discipline was maintained by a system of crippling fines and sanctions.

During the 1996 RSC season he portrayed Col. Alexander Hamilton, George Washington's aid in The General From America. The play is about Benedict Arnold's betrayal of his country during the Revolutionary War.

"...the alert, intelligent David Tennant as Hamilton, Washington's secretary, who firmly interrogates Arnold while holding a quill in one hand and a cup of tea and a piece of cake in the other."

The Independent on Sunday - July 28, 1996 - Robert Butler

Also in the 1996 season he portrayed Jack Lane in The Herbal Bed, a played that is based on the 1613 slander suit brought by Susanna Hall (Shakespeare's daughter) and her husband against John Lane Jr.

"And Tennant's 17th century lad, a fool to himself and a menace to peace of mind and good order, is funny and even queasily engaging, against the plot's odds." - Daily Mail - Shaun Usher - November 6, 1996

 In 2005 he starred in the BBC Three mini-series Casanova as Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt, which was a break out role for him in his career.

In 2006 he had a small part in the BBC mini-series The Romantics, about the 18th century Romanticism movement.  David portrayed Jean-Jacques Rousseau a Genevan philosopher, writer and composer.

 

 Also in 2006 he portrayed Richard Hoggart in the BBC TV movie The Chatterley Affair which was about the 1960 Obscene Publications Act trail for the D H Lawrence book Lady Chatterley's Lover.  Hoggart, who was an English Professor at Birmingham University, testified in favor of the book at the trial.    

In 2008 David starred in Einstein & Eddington, a film about British scientist Sir Arthur Eddington, who in 1919 provided the first confirmation of Einstein’s theory that gravity will bend the path of light.

August 12, 2012

"David Tennant plays Jack with exactly the right dash, and is blessed with the most eloquent left eyebrow since Roger Moore's." - The Daily Telegraph - Charles Spencer - April 3, 2000 (taken from a review of the 2000 production of The Rivals)

August 11, 2012

Every year for San Diego Comic Con exclusive figures are released.  In 2008 a set of two figures was issued to commemorate the Time Crash Children in Need special.  The 10th Doctor was a new figure with a burgandy shirt.

August 10, 2012

In November 2007 Character Options launched the Doctor Who Micro Universe which included 32 characters, 6 ships, a TARDIS that came with The Doctor and a special TARDIS shaped carry case.  On the base of each figure is a rating for Logic, Temporal, Fear Factor and Physical Ability to be used when playing the exclusively designed combat game.  Every figure was hand painted so no two were ever the same and they were only 1.38 inches high (35m).

In January of 2009 Character Options launched a line of 2 inch cartoon figures called Time Squad.  In addition to being able to get The Doctor in a 5 pack set that included the Supreme Dalek, Davros, a Slitheen, and a Weeping Angel.  You could also get The Doctor in a 2 pack set that included a Vasta Nerada or a 2 pack set that included a Sontaran.

In January of 2009 Character Options launched a line of 2 inch cartoon figures called Time Squad.  The Doctor came in a 5 pack set that included the Supreme Dalek, Davros, a Slitheen, and a Weeping Angel.  You could also get The Doctor in a 2 pack set that included a Vasta Nerada or a 2 pack set that included a Sontaran.

August 9, 2012

There were two gift packs issues in 2007 that included he Doctor with his 3D glasses from Doomsday. In the May re-release of the Doomsday Gift Pack and in August in the Woolworth's exclusive 6 figure gift pack.

Also in June 2007 Character Options started issuing The Doctor wearing the blue suit, glasses with red Chucks and in August 2007 the sae figure was released without the glasses.

Finally in November 2007 they issued the blue suit version with the coat and in the red Rentallion space suit from the episode 42.

January 2009 saw the release of the old and ancient Doctor's from Last of the Time Lords.

                               

In January 2010 the End of Time series was issued and included the injured 10th Doctor.

August 8, 2012

 In February of 2006 Character Options launched the first set of new Doctor Who action figures. There were three versions of David's Doctor in that release, wearing the striped suit with the coat, in just the suit and in a double pack called the Regeneration Set with him wearing the 9th Doctor's clothes. In January of 2008 an improved version of this figure was issued.

 

 In January 2008 a new 10th Doctor figure was issued with the same suit but he came with the triangulation gear from Army of Ghosts.

Then in February of 2008 The Doctor was issued with the portable Wire from The Idiot's Lantern this was one of thee toys that were exclusive to Woolworth's.  Also issued at the same time was The Doctor in the orange, dirty, spacesuit with the cracked helmet from Satins Pit.  The figure was then re-released in June of 2008 with the two urns and pedestals and no helmet.

In July 2008 Character Options issued the Doctor wearing his glasses and accompanied by 5 Adipose from the Partners in Crime episode.

Pary 2 of toys tomorrow!