David Tennant has revealed that he was advised to turn down the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who.
The actor famously played the Tenth Doctor on the beloved sci-fi series from 2005 to 2010, before briefly returning to play the Fourteenth Doctor for the show's 60th anniversary specials in 2023.
Despite being one of his most iconic roles, Tennant has now revealed that he nearly turned it down after his agent at the time advised him not to "touch it".
"There was definitely a moment where I wasn't [going to do Doctor Who]," he shared on a new episode of his podcast David Tennant Does a Podcast With...
"About 48 hours after they asked me, and I had to go process everything that it meant. I had an agent at the time who was like, 'Don't touch it. It's not going to work.' Not my current agent. A previous brilliant agent who's since retired, but she didn't call that correctly."
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Speaking about how his life changed after he did accept the role, the actor continued: "Suddenly you've got to establish what the rules are for yourself, and there's not really anyone to help you or teach you. And that can be a little bit challenging.
"I've found things like my parents being doorstepped a lot early on, I found that really difficult because I felt like I had to protect them and they were not interested in being protected."
Tennant is next set to star in ITV's upcoming drama The Hack as real-life investigative journalist Nick Davies, who uncovered evidence of phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World.
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Recently speaking on the Off Menu podcast, Tennant opened up about filming the series and said it was "very intense".
"Just because there's a lot of quite complicated information in that," he continued. "I'm playing a journalist who sort of broke the case open, and there's just a lot of quite technical stuff.
"And obviously, you have to be very specific on that because there's a lot of lawyers watching to make sure you don't say the wrong thing."
Doctor Who airs on BBC One in the UK and Disney+ elsewhere. Classic episodes of Doctor Who are available on BBC iPlayer in the UK.
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Social Executive, Entertainment Portfolio After completing her joint honours degree in Journalism and English Literature at Cardiff University, Iona joined Digital Spy as a Content Production Intern in 2022, where she wrote across both news and features, specialising in TV and movies. Following her internship, Iona continued contributing to the site as a freelance reporter, becoming social executive for the Hearst UK entertainment portfolio in summer 2025. Iona now leads the DS social channels, covering red carpets with stars such as Paul Mescal, Austin Butler, and more.
