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In October 2008, David Tennant announced he was leaving Doctor Who. Almost 15 months later, he finally left. Here, we revisit how his departure was spread across just 5 ‘specials’ and why, despite his consistently wonderful performance, we were all glad to see the back of him.
So it’s late 2008, we’ve just learnt that Tennant’s off, and then we find out that the upcoming Christmas special will see him star alongside David Morrissey (in a very Doctor Who-style costume) in an episode called ‘The Next Doctor’. Well, of course, we all got terribly excited, conveniently forgetting that the episode was penned by King of the Loophole, RTD. Sure enough, it turns out that Morrissey is actually playing a man named Jackson Lake, who has had the memories of the Doctor transplanted in his head and thinks he is the man himself. Oh.
The second of the specials, ‘Planet of the Dead’, arrived at Easter, and it’s one of those episodes that just sort of speeds along, finding sneaky little ways to get out of ‘impossible situations’. Handy that the crystal used to power that spaceship was encased in those anti-gravity clamps that could be attached to the bus, allowing it to fly back through that wormhole. Yes, very handy. So it’s not a great episode, but it doesn’t deserve the level of hatred that was thrown at it upon its original airing; if it had been the sixth episode of a regular series, it would have been filed under ‘enjoyable hokum’ rather than ‘loathsome bus crash’. The main problem is that it’s an hour-long episode building up to a 30-second moment about someone knocking. A dramatic game of dominoes perhaps?
Ever wondered what the perfect Doctor Who episode to cheer you up after a hard day’s time travelling would be? Well it’s not ‘The Waters of Mars’. You can throw away that barrel, because you’re only going to need a thimble to collect all the laughs from this episode. But after the Easter Bunny failed to deliver, a dark tone was exactly what was needed. And it couldn’t have been much darker if... hey, who turned out the lights? In essence, ‘Mars’ is an episode of two halves. The first features an OK ‘monster-of-the-week’ plot that doesn’t exploit enough of its potential. The second, however, is where ‘Mars’ really shines, exploring what a Doctor who ignores the rules would be like. It’s fascinating, surprisingly bold stuff, with Tennant adding yet another layer to his performance, just when you think he’s played his hand.
But now. This is it. We’ve had the end of the world. We’ve survived the end of reality. But now it’s ‘The End of Time’. Itself! Watching it now, free of that ridiculous level of expectation that made initial viewing such a disappointment, it fares considerably better than you would think. It features a good balance of excitement and emotion, even if the self-indulgence still veers on the unbearable. (See the Martha and Jack skits – if you’ve never found reason to do so before, this is the time when Doctor Who will have you cowering behind the sofa.) But for all the noise and overblown drama, ‘The End of Time’ excels the most in its quieter moments: when The Doctor and Wilf are in the café; when Wilf tries to give him the gun; and when DT realises that Wilf is knocking four times… OK, there’s a pattern emerging. If only Wilf had been in the final scene, as he would have leant some much needed gravitas to Tennant’s pathetic wailing. Sure, he was a brilliant Doctor, but it was the right time for him to go. If only a worthy replacement had followed in his stead.
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