David Tennant’s 15 best Doctor Who moments
In anticipation of the series' 60th anniversary specials, we’re counting down our favorite memories of the Tenth Doctor
TV Lists David Tennant
When we said goodbye to David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor after a multi-episode farewell tour back in 2010, we thought it was the last time we’d ever see him on Doctor Who. Boy were we glad to be wrong. Whether you go by ratings or audience polls, Tennant consistently scores as the most popular Doctor in the New Who era, which began in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston reviving the role after a period of dormancy. Tennant returned for the 50th anniversary special “The Day Of The Doctor” in 2013, and now he’s heading back into the TARDIS once again for three new specials celebrating the show’s 60th anniversary. The first of these, “The Star Beast,” airs on BBC One in the U.K. and Disney+ in the U.S. on November 23. It will be followed by “Wild Blue Yonder” on December 2 and “The Giggle” on December 9.
Technically, this new incarnation won’t actually be the Tenth Doctor at all but the Fourteenth, an entirely new character with the same old face (and teeth). It doesn’t matter much to us. We’re just excited to see Tennant back in the Who-niverse in any form—and not just him but Catherine Tate as well as former companion Donna Noble. In honor of his imminent return, we took the opportunity to rank our favorite moments from Tennant’s original 47-episode run, from “The Christmas Invasion” to “The End Of Time.” So, as the Doctor would say, “Allons-y!”
51 Comments
“Midnight” is a vastly underappreciated episode….
Is it? Not that it’s not good, but it seems like that one and ‘Blink’ are the two everyone points to as being the high points of Tennant’s time on the show.
Yeah those were ALWAYS the the two episodes that I was told I should watch then passed on to others. I think it’s just because they were really great stand alone episodes that didn’t require any prior knowledge of what a Doctor Who does.
Blink is a vastly overrated episode. It’s not bad, but people act like it’s the best Who story ever when it barely features the Doctor and goes out of its way to explain that the monsters of the week aren’t really that scary, and then tries really hard to make you scared of them.
Midnight and The Girl in the Fireplace are much better standalone Tennant stories.
I can’t watch it. It’s too sad and disturbing for me.
Yeah, I can never argue with the people who say it’s a great episode, because I think it very well might be, but it turns me off in such a way that I wouldn’t put it anywhere near the top of my list.
Yep. I’ve seen it and it is good. But I just can’t watch it anymore. I think that’s a compliment? It’s definitely giving the stress and despair that I think it intends to give. But yeah it’s not on my top anything list.
I feel like Midnight is the only time when people actually react to The Doctor in a realistic fashion. Instead of immediately following a bossy stranger, they’re suspicious and wary (and rude).I know it wouldn’t make for good or entertaining stories, but I do feel like most of the time that a bunch of people are suddenly thrust into the single most terrifying and chaotic moments of their life they’d be a lot more selfish and a lot more likely to yell “who the fuck are you?” than they would all come together and follow a guy who doesn’t fit in with the local culture and talks to himself more than to anyone else.
‘Midnight’ is, to me, the most terrifying episode of the show. The absolute powerlessness of the Doctor and the barely concealed delight of the creature as it nearly succeeds sends chills down my spine.
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That scene where he wipes Donna’s memory was utterly heart-breaking, especially with the late great Bernard Cribbins’s contribution. Thankfully Cribbins filmed some scenes for the specials before his death, so will be returning posthumously.
You have to be made of stone to not cry –
Thanks for including the John Smith/Family of Blood two-parter. I know that is not the most popular season for most fans, but it is my absolute favorite 10th Doctor story.
I don’t love the story but I’ve shown the Fury of the Time Lord clip to people who have never watched the show. “He was being kind” — the chills!Not sure what’s worse — The Doctor’s crown of burlap of Khal Drogo’s crown of gold.
BBC released a prose story a few years ago (written by Paul Cornell, who also wrote the original episode) in which the 13th Doctor visits Sister-Of-Mine and decides to release her from her imprisonment. It’s implied that Sister encountered versions of the Doctor hundreds of times while trapped in the mirror, which means she must have been in there for a very long time since the Doctor vowed he would visit her once a year.
I thought that was an interesting coda since it emphasized how Whitaker’s Doctor was different from Tennant’s: I could see Thirteen forgiving Sister-Of-Mine, but not Ten. The Doctor takes Sister back to her home planet and says she hopes Sister has learned what mercy is. Notably, The Doctor does not release any of the other Family members.
Although I generally like ‘Human Nature’/’The Family of Blood’, it was another step on the path of taking the Doctor from long-lived traveller with a few tricks up his sleeve to basically a god. He can trap people in mirrors now, and freeze them in time as scarecrows. It makes it seem like he has no limitations, and if that’s the case then to me he’s a much less interesting character.
In my book, that two-parter is the second best modern Who story ever, just very slightly behind Heaven Sent.
What, the speech to Lindsey Duncan at the end of Waters of Mars didn’t make this list!? That’s a glaring omission.
When I saw the title of this list “I don’t want to go immediately popped into my head.” So, good job there. So many great moments. He was a great doctor.
That moment traumatized me for a month.I don’t know if I can handle watching a David Tennant Doctor die a second time.
I’ve seen someone float the theory that maybe, this time, he will be ready to go.
Oh, I like that a lot!
When you do the same story for Matt Smith. This must be on the list.
I always thought that “The Girl in the Fireplace” was underrated.
The “Family of Blood” two-parter is one of the best things I’ve ever seen on television. This is a minority opinion but I also adore “Love & Monsters” – the one with Moaning Myrtle and a very game Marc Warren – even though the Doctor is barely in it. The way he says “the Absorber is being absorbed!” always kills me.
I don’t much like ‘Love & Monsters’, but I do enjoy the Klom exchange.
Warren and Shirley Henderson as the sorta-doomed geeky lovers saves that episode for me.
Donna was the perfect companion for the Doctor. To much of NuWho has been about a weird “will they, won’t they” with the Doctor and his companion for the most part and the fact that he and Donna were purely just damn good friends was a much needed change from everyone wanting to bone the Doctor
I love how direct they were about it, too. The Doctor straight up telling Donna when they first reunite that he doesn’t want any more romantic entanglements, he just wants “a proper mate.”And then Donna completely misinterpreting it and replying, “Well you’re not mating with me, sunshine!”
Agreed. It’s been done, we’ve seen it, we should be past it. The most interesting companions have been the ones that spend time on character development rather than making googly eyes at the back of the Doctor’s head.
I’m a huge fan of The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, in part because it solidified my love for the series, and I feel like they’re a bit unappreciated.I do rather enjoy his delight at finally meeting someone named Alonso in Voyage of the Damned so he can say “Allons-y Alonso!”
To me, Carey Mulligan isn’t the Oscar-nominated actress from An Education, she is Sally Sparrow from Dr. Who.I think most Americans have either forgotten, or never knew that her first real starring job was on the most famous episode of New Who.
Biggest mistake of her career to reject the vocal fandom demands for her to be the next companion of the Doctor and to go on and become an acclaimed and award winning star of stage and screen instead. Just think of all those sci-fi conventions she could have headlined…
Yeah, what was she thinking, right?
The conversation with Wilf where he BEGS the Doctor to take the gun and do what needs to be done. I thought Donna was the best long-term companion, but Wilfred… RIP Bernard Cribbins. He was one of the best things Doctor Who ever did.
School Reunion might not be the best episode of the new series, but it is my favorite. They really did justice to the return of Sarah Jane. I’m glad they now have realized some of the other old school companions like Ace, Tegan, and Mel deserve a swan song too
And don’t forget, Evil Giles!
I don’t know how true it is but I’ve heard rumors that, before Elisabeth Sladen’s passing, there were plans to have Ace show up (and possibly join the cast) in what would have been the next season of Sarah Jane Adventures.
“The Doctor’s Daughter” was a favorite one-off episode of mine – I was hoping for an Honorable Mention. Any hopes of a sequel or even a follow-up line about Jenny gallivanting around the universe as our first female Doctor have gone for naught. At least the onscreen chemistry between David and Georgia wasn’t lost forever. 12 years of marriage, 4 kids (5 total), and still going strong by all accounts. Good for them!Love the list.
For me, there is a moment missing from Christmas Invasion that is the defining moment for 10. The instant decision to kill the leader of the invaders who is attempting to renege on their surrender with a cold-blooded, “No second chances, that’s the kind of Doctor I am,” (paraphrased) is just too big to not include.
“we thought it was the last time we’d ever see him on Doctor Who”
If we knew nothing about the series or had never heard David Tennant talk about it, maybe we did.
Don’t number them if they’re not ranked.
The regeneration scene isn’t the best moment of any Doctor. Little bit insulting to suggest they saved their best moment for when they were leaving.
Doubly so for Tennant whose “I don’t want to go” was criticised so much at the time that Moffat later gave it a different meaning in Day of the Doctor.
im waiting this MGO777 come to show.
The numbering’s probably unavoidable with the article template.
They’re counting down, whereas other slideshows can have slide numbers counting up.
Fair ‘nuff, I hadn’t thought of that.
It’s not as showy as some other moments, but the bit in ‘Age of Steel’ where the Doctor disables a Cyberman and you hear the person inside it talking about how they were about to get married is just heartbreaking. There’s the person’s fear buried in a Cyberman voice, and the only thing the Doctor can say is, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
That’s definitely an underrated moment. Thinking about that also brings to mind Yvonne Hartman after her Cyber-conversion in ‘Doomsday.’ “I did my duty for Queen and country.”
The back half of Tennant’s second season is just insanely loaded: The Family of Blood two-parter immediately followed by “Blink,” and then the three-parter that firmly loops Torchwood into the mix on top of Ten’s face-off with The Master and one of my favorite needle drops in the series:
Yeah those were ALWAYS the the two episodes that I was told I should watch then passed on to others.https://www.birtikendrajituniversity.ac.in/
I’ve always loved the brutal power of the final moments of The Waters of Mars. The Time Lord Victorious. The hubris of the Tenth Doctor is on full display.