David Tennant Says He’d Never Dare Give Peter Capaldi Tips on Playing the Doctor

He's afraid to incur the wrath of the eyebrows.
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David Tennant is happy to star in Broadchurch—or Gracepoint for those of you living in the colonies—and play a role people might want to ask him about that doesn’t involve 50 years’ worth of rabid fandom. He’s so happy, in fact, that he’d rather butt out of Doctor Who altogether except to watch, because Peter Capaldi’s Doctor is doing just fine without timey wimey advice from his younger self.

But that doesn’t mean he’s not watching. About Capaldi, he told Radio Times, “Of course I’ve seen him, he’s fantastic. I think it’s illegal not to watch Doctor Who in this country, isn’t it?”

He doesn’t even hold a grudge against Capaldi using his real Scottish accent on the show, which Tennant wasn’t allowed to do. He said,

It clearly works. That character is defined by little other than whatever each individual brings to it. It’s great to see Peter bringing so much of him to it and running with it. You want to keep reinventing that character, taking it in different directions, that show is a very broad canvas.

And it does work. The accent Tennant used on Doctor Who was meant to reflect his time spent with Rose Tyler and her influence on him, and Capaldi’s follows as a great reference to Amy Pond.

But unabashed compliments were where Tennant’s input on his old show ended. When asked if he’d given Capaldi any tips, he replied, “We’ve caught up a bit, but I didn’t give him tips! How dare I give Peter Capaldi tips?!”

Who could blame him for being intimidated by this?

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I’ve heard Daleks are too scared to even appear on the show anymore.

But really, David Tennant is just a wonderful, humble man that we’ve all been blessed to have in our lives, and that question is unthinkable to him. Give tips to Peter Capaldi? How dare you, sir. How dare you.

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(via Radio Times)

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Dan Van Winkle
Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct Geekosystem (RIP), and then at The Mary Sue starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at Smash Bros.