David Tennant as Doctor Who

David Tennant as Doctor Who

With the latest series of Doctor Who set to kick off tonight, FemaleFirst have a little look back at the time lords that made the show what it is today.

While we won’t go back to the bad old days of Tom Baker and Sylvester McCoy (those shows are nigh on unwatchable nowadays), we thought we’d have a quick look at the two actor before our current star Matt Smith took over the sonic screwdriver.

 

Christopher Eccletone –

The often forgotten and criminally underrated Doctor, Ecclestone was the first of the new era of Doctor Who.

The casting of Christopher Eccleston was a statement of intent from the show’s producers. Not again was the show going to devolve to the tomfoolery and silliness of before. No more enormous scarves and silly hats. Eccleston was an actor without much family or comedy experience, but took to the cheeky-chappy role like a duck to water.

Eccleston’s Doctor was the simplest and more stripped back. Wearing the simplest of outfits, a black leather jacket and jeans and far more down to Earth than the series would take its protagonist.

Playing him as a hedonistic survivor with an almost light switch facial expression (between a massive grin and an introspective frown), Eccleston was effortlessly charming in the role, going a long way to securing the show’s continued fanbase and viewership.

Eccleston’s dramatic background was the absolute backbone to his success, with his ability as a Shakespearean thespian helping the show’s more dramatic portions hit their marks with aplomb.

Eccleston’s terror at the first sighting of a Dalek and his sheer joy at having saved the day in the Blitz themed The Doctor Dances are still, to this day, two of the finest moments the show has ever produced.

While Eccleston only stayed for one series, leaving in order to not have him type cast as the role, his impact on the show as a whole is not to be understated. The gauntlet was thrown down.

David Tennant -

The recent fan favourite and the only person to use the phrase ‘Allons-Y’ through both space and time, David Tennant’s three seasons on the show were when Doctor Who really picked up the pace and became the colossus it is today.

It was during these three series that we saw the return of the Cybermen, in introduction of the Ood and the Doctor fight a giant wasp with Agatha Christie.

Tennant was the bedrock of the show though, with his pinstripe suit, 3D specs and tendency to shout when it really wasn’t truly necessary a fantastic constant. While he’s gone on to do far more dramatic work, the life Doctor Who fan is never one to distance himself too much from the franchise that made him a household name.

The BBC’s new policy of hiring actors far better than they need to be for a family show continued to pay dividends, as Tennant wasn’t just brilliant when he was being a barrel of laughs throughout his tenure.

When the time came of emotion, Tennant showed his class. His doctor had a wickedly unforgiving vengeful streak that neither Christopher Eccleston’s nor Matt Smith’s recent incarnations possess. It gave the show that little dark streak that it needed from time to time to spice it up.

 

While the part will change and the actors will leave, we all have our favourite Doctor. So let us know in the comments below who you enjoyed spending time in the TARDIS in most. Despite the efforts of Matt Smith and David Tennant, this writer’s got to plump for the first of the new order, Christopher Eccleston.

 

FemaleFirst Cameron Smith

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