Early life

Tennant was born in Bathgate, West Lothian, to Dr. Alexander 'Sandy' McDonald (1937-2016; later Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland) and Helen McLeod (now deceased). He grew up with his brother Blair and sister Karen in Ralston, Renfrewshire, where his father was the local minister. Tennant's maternal great-grandparents, William and Agnes Blair, were staunch Protestants from County Londonderry, and were among the signatories of the Ulster Covenant in 1912. William Blair was a member of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland. Tennant's maternal grandfather, footballer Archie McLeod, met William and Agnes's daughter Nellie while playing for Derry City. McLeod's parents were from the Isle of Mull and are descended from tenant farmers.

At the age of three, Tennant told his parents that he wanted to become an actor because he was a fan of Doctor Who, but they tried to encourage him to aim for more conventional work. He watched almost every Doctor Who episode for years, and he spoke to Tom Baker at a book-signing event in Glasgow. Tennant says he was "absurdly single-minded" in pursuing an acting career. Tennant was educated at Ralston Primary and Paisley Grammar School. He acted in school productions throughout primary and secondary school.

Tennant's talent at this young age was spotted by Scottish actress Edith MacArthur. After seeing his first performance at age 11, she told his parents he would become a successful stage actor. Tennant also attended Saturday classes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama; at 16, he passed an audition for the Academy, one of their youngest students, and studied there between the ages of 17 and 20, taking his stage name from the Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant after reading a copy of Smash Hits magazine because there was another David McDonald already on the books of the Equity union. Tennant has stated that he later had to legally change his name to Tennant to meet Screen Actors Guild rules.

Career

Early work

Tennant made his professional acting debut while still in secondary school. When he was 16, he acted in an anti-smoking film made by the Glasgow Health Board which aired on television and was also screened in schools. The following year, he played a role in an episode of Dramarama. Tennant's first professional role upon graduating from drama school was in a staging of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui costarring Ashley Jensen, one of a few plays in which he performed as part of the agitprop 7:84 Theatre Company. He also made an early television appearance in the Scottish TV sitcom Rab C Nesbitt as a transsexual barmaid called Davina. In the 1990s, he appeared in several plays at the Dundee Repertory Theatre.

Tennant's first major TV role was as the manic depressive Campbell in the Scottish drama series Takin' Over the Asylum (1994). During filming, he met comic actress and writer Arabella Weir. When he moved to London shortly afterwards, he lodged with Weir for five years and became godfather to her youngest child. He has subsequently appeared with Weir in many productions: as a guest in her spoof television series Posh Nosh, in the Doctor Who audio drama Exile (during which Weir played an alternate version of the Doctor), and as panellists on the West Wing Ultimate Quiz on More4 (Weir later guest-starred on Doctor Who itself after Tennant left the series). One of his earliest big-screen roles was in Jude (1996), in which he shared a scene with Christopher Eccleston, playing a drunken undergraduate who challenges Eccleston's Jude to prove his intellect. Coincidentally, Eccleston portrayed the incarnation of The Doctor immediately preceding Tennant's.

Tennant developed his career in the British theatre, frequently performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. His first Shakespearean role for the RSC was in As You Like It (1996); having auditioned for the role of Orlando, the romantic lead, he was instead cast as the jester Touchstone, which he played in his natural Scottish accent. He subsequently specialised in comic roles, playing Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors and Captain Jack Absolute in The Rivals, although he also played the tragic role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.

Tennant contributed to several audio dramatisations of Shakespeare for the Arkangel Shakespeare series (1998). His roles include a reprisal of his Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, as well as Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, Edgar/Poor Tom in King Lear, and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, all of which he performs in his natural accent. In 1995, Tennant appeared at the Royal National Theatre, London, playing the role of Nicholas Beckett in Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw. In television, he appeared in the first episode of Reeves and Mortimer's revamped Randall and Hopkirk in 2000, playing an eccentric artist. This is one of his few TV roles in his native Scottish accent. During the Christmas season of 2002, he starred in a series of television advertisements for Boots the Chemists. He began to appear on television more prominently in 2004 and 2005, when he appeared in a dramatisation of He Knew He Was Right (2004), Blackpool (2004), Casanova (2005), and The Quatermass Experiment (2005). In film, he appeared in Bright Young Things (2003), and later that same year appeared as Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Doctor Who (2005-2010, 2013)

See also: Tenth Doctor

Doctor Who returned to British screens in 2005, with Christopher Eccleston playing the role of the Ninth Doctor in the first series. Tennant replaced him as of the second series, making his first, brief appearance as the Tenth Doctor in the episode "The Parting of the Ways" (2005) at the end of the regeneration scene, and also appeared in a special 7-minute mini-episode shown as part of the 2005 Children in Need appeal, broadcast on 18 November 2005. He began filming the new series of Doctor Who in late July 2005. His first full-length outing as the Doctor was a 60-minute special, "The Christmas Invasion", first broadcast on Christmas Day 2005. Tennant had been formally offered the role of the Doctor during rehearsals for The Quatermass Experiment. Although the casting was not officially announced until later in April, both castmates and crew became aware of the speculation surrounding Tennant; in the live broadcast Jason Flemyng (Quatermass) changed his first line to Tennant's Dr Briscoe from "Good to have you back, Gordon" to "Good to have you back, Doctor" as a deliberate reference.

Tennant has expressed enthusiasm about fulfilling his childhood dream. He remarked in a radio interview: "Who wouldn't want to be the Doctor? I've even got my own TARDIS!" In 2006, readers of Doctor Who Magazine voted Tennant "Best Doctor" over perennial favourite Tom Baker. In 2007, Tennant's Doctor was voted the "coolest character on UK television" in a Radio Times survey.. Writer Russell T Davies made the decision not to use Tennant's own Scottish accent for the character as he did not want the Doctor's accent "touring the regions", using Estuary English instead. Tennant has gone on record as saying that, contrary to tabloids reports, he was not upset at not being able to play the role in his own accent and in fact had never wanted to. However he was pleased to be able to use his own accent in one episode, when the Doctor briefly masquerades as "Dr Jamie McCrimmon" of Edinburgh in Tooth and Claw - a nod to the Second Doctor's companion.

He previously had a small role in the BBC's animated Doctor Who webcast Scream of the Shalka. Not originally cast in the production, Tennant was recording a radio play in a neighbouring studio, and when he discovered what was being recorded next door convinced the director to give him a small role. This personal enthusiasm for the series had also been expressed by his participation in several audio plays based on the Doctor Who television series which had been produced by Big Finish Productions, although he did not play the Doctor in any of these productions. His first such role was in the Seventh Doctor audio Colditz, where he played a Nazi lieutenant guard at Colditz Castle. In 2004 Tennant played a lead role in the Big Finish audio play series Dalek Empire III as Galanar, a young man who is given an assignment to discover the secrets of the Daleks. In 2005, he starred in UNIT: The Wasting for Big Finish, recreating his role of Brimmicombe-Wood from a Doctor Who Unbound play, Sympathy for the Devil. In both audio productions, he worked alongside Nicholas Courtney, who reprised the character of Sir Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. He also played an unnamed Time Lord in another Doctor Who Unbound play Exile. UNIT: The Wasting, was recorded between Tennant getting the role of the Doctor and it being announced. He played the title role in Big Finish's adaptation of Bryan Talbot's The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (2005). In 2006, he recorded abridged audio books of The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner, The Feast of the Drowned by Stephen Cole and The Resurrection Casket by Justin Richards, for BBC Worldwide.

He made his directorial debut on the Doctor Who Confidential episode that accompanies Steven Moffat's episode "Blink", entitled "Do You Remember The First Time?", which aired on 9 June 2007. In 2007, Tennant's Tenth Doctor appeared with Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor in a Doctor Who special for Children in Need, written by Steven Moffat and entitled "Time Crash". He later performed alongside Davison's daughter, Georgia Moffett (as "Jenny") in the 2008 episode "The Doctor's Daughter".

Tennant featured as the Doctor in an animated version of Doctor Who for Totally Doctor Who, The Infinite Quest, which aired on CBBC. He also starred as the Doctor in another animated six-part Doctor Who series, Dreamland. Tennant guest starred as the Doctor in a two-part story in Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, broadcast in October 2009. He continued to play the Tenth Doctor into the revived programme's fourth series in 2008. However, on 29 October 2008, he announced that he would be stepping down from the role after three full series. He played the Doctor in four special episodes in 2009, before his final episode aired on 1 January 2010, where he was replaced by the eleventh doctor, portrayed by Matt Smith. The Daily Mirror reported that Tennant was forbidden from attending Doctor Who fan conventions while playing the role, to avoid the chance that he could accidentally let slip any plot points during filming of the series. However, Tennant claimed this was false and that he had never been banned or discouraged from attending conventions.

Tennant and Billie Piper returned to Doctor Who for the 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor" broadcast on 23 November 2013, with then-stars Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman and guest star John Hurt. The same month, he also appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot directed by Peter Davison.

In October 2015, Big Finish Productions announced that Tennant would return to the role of the Tenth Doctor alongside Catherine Tate as his former companion Donna Noble in three new stories from Big Finish. The stories feature current and previous Doctor Who actors, including Strax actor Dan Starkey, former Davros actor Terry Molloy, and many veterans of Big Finish, including Niky Wardley, who portrayed Eighth Doctor companion Tamsin. The three stories will be released in May 2016.

Other television roles

2005-2012

While playing the Doctor, Tennant was also in the early December 2005 ITV drama Secret Smile. His performance as Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger at the Theatre Royal, Bath, and Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, was recorded by the National Video Archive of Performance for the Victoria and Albert Museum Theatre Collection. He revived this performance for the anniversary of the Royal Court Theatre in a rehearsed reading. In January 2006, he took a one-day break from shooting Doctor Who to play Richard Hoggart in a dramatisation of the 1960 Lady Chatterley's Lover obscenity trial, The Chatterley Affair. The play was written by Andrew Davies and directed by Doctor Who's James Hawes for the digital television channel BBC Four. Hoggart's son, Simon, praised Tennant's performance in The Guardian newspaper.

On 25 February 2007, Tennant starred in Recovery, a 90-minute BBC One drama written by Tony Marchant. He played Alan, a self-made building site manager who attempted to rebuild his life after suffering a debilitating brain injury. His costar in the drama was friend Sarah Parish, with whom he had previously appeared in Blackpool and an episode of Doctor Who. She joked that "we're like George and Mildred - in 20 years' time we'll probably be doing a ropey old sitcom in a terraced house in Preston". Later that same year he starred in Learners, a BBC comedy drama written by and starring Jessica Hynes (another Doctor Who costar, in the episodes "Human Nature", "The Family of Blood" and "The End of Time"), in which he played a Christian driving instructor who became the object of a student's affection. Learners was broadcast on BBC One on 11 November 2007. Tennant had a cameo appearance as the Doctor in the 2007 finale episode of the BBC/HBO comedy series Extras with Ricky Gervais. In November 2008, Tennant played Sir Arthur Eddington in the BBC and HBO biographical film Einstein and Eddington, which was filmed in Cambridge and Hungary.

In 2009, he worked on a TV film version of the RSC's 2008 Hamlet for BBC Two. From October 2009, he hosted the Masterpiece Contemporary programming strand on the American Public Broadcasting Service. In December 2009, he filmed the lead in an NBC pilot, Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, playing Rex, a Chicago lawyer who starts to coach clients to represent themselves when he starts suffering panic attacks. The pilot was not picked up and the project was shelved. In October 2010 he starred as Dave, a man struggling to raise five children after the death of his partner, in the British drama Single Father. For this role he was nominated as Best Actor at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards 2010. In 2011, he starred in United, about the Manchester United "Busby Babes" team and the 1958 Munich air disaster, playing coach and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy. In September 2011, he appeared in a guest role in one episode of the comedy series This is Jinsy, and also started filming True Love, a semi-improvised BBC One drama series, on location in Margate, Kent; the series aired in June 2012.

In April 2012, Tennant played lead in a one-off drama The Minor Character for Sky Arts. Between April and June, he filmed Spies of Warsaw for BBC Four, in the lead role of Jean-François Mercier. This drama series shot in Poland is an adaptation of Alan Furst's novel The Spies of Warsaw. Tennant auditioned for the role of Hannibal Lecter in NBC's Hannibal; he was narrowly beaten for the part by Mads Mikkelsen, but show developer Bryan Fuller has indicated that he was sufficiently impressed by Tennant that he would like to cast him in another role in the series. On 9 June 2012, he started filming the 3-part political drama series The Politician's Husband for BBC Two, playing an ambitious cabinet minister who takes drastic action when his wife's career starts to outshine his. Also in June it was announced that Tennant would star in the new ITV detective series Broadchurch. The series was filmed in Clevedon, North Somerset, and Bridport, Dorset, between August and November 2012, and aired in March 2013 . Tennant also presented the new comedy quiz show Comedy World Cup, in Autumn 2012 which ran on Saturday nights for seven episodes.

2013-present

Between late January and March 2013, Tennant filmed The Escape Artist for BBC One. He plays a talented, junior barrister who is yet to lose a case. The three-part series aired on BBC One in October and November 2013. Between January and May 2014, Tennant filmed the US remake of Broadchurch, re-titled Gracepoint. Tennant filmed the second series of Broadchurch during summer 2014. Tennant also portrayed the villainous Kilgrave in Jessica Jones, a television series from Marvel and Netflix. All 13 episodes were released on 20 November 2015.

In autumn 2015, Tennant's name was announced for Scottish feature film I Feel Fine, a thriller set in Glasgow in the 1980s. However, as of January 2016, the film has been postponed indefinitely. In February 2016, he began filming Mad to be Normal (previously titled Metanoia), a biopic of the renowned Scottish psychiatrist R.D.Laing, produced by Gizmo Films. In summer 2016, he is due to shoot the third series of Broadchurch.

In late 2016, Tennant will appear in writer/director Daisy Aitkens' first feature film, Fish Without Bicycles. The film is co-produced by Tennant's wife, Georgia Tennant, and will co-star his father-in-law, Peter Davison.

Royal Shakespeare Company (2008-present)

Despite his recent focus on television work, Tennant has described theatre work as his "default way of being". He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), to play Hamlet with Patrick Stewart and Berowne in Love's Labours Lost in 2008. From August to November 2008 he appeared at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon as Hamlet, playing that role in repertory with Berowne that October and November.

Hamlet transferred to the Novello Theatre in London's West End in December 2008, but Tennant suffered a prolapsed disc during previews and was unable to perform from 8 December 2008 until 2 January 2009, during which time the role was played by his understudy Edward Bennett. He returned to his role in the production on 3 January 2009, and appeared until the run ended on 10 January. On 12 April 2011, a photograph of Tennant as Hamlet featured on a stamp issued by the Royal Mail to mark the RSC's fiftieth anniversary.

In January 2012, Tennant was appointed to the Royal Shakespeare Company board, to be on the selection committee interviewing and choosing the new artistic director. It was announced on 23 January 2013 that Tennant would return to the RSC for the company's 2013 winter season, playing the title role in Richard II at Stratford-upon-Avon (from 10 October to 16 November) and transferring to the Barbican Centre in London (from 9 December to 25 January 2014). Tennant will repeat his performance as Richard II in the RSC's 'King and Country' cycle in 2016, starting at the Barbican Theatre in London before transferring to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.

Other work

Tennant was the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" on Top Gear in December 2007, where he claimed to have unsuccessfully auditioned for a role on Taggart 26 times. Tennant is the voice behind the 2007 advertising campaign for catalogue retailer Argos, and appeared in adverts for The Proclaimers' 2007 album and learndirect in June 2008 (using his natural Scottish accent in both). Tennant also lent his voice to adverts for Tesco Mobile, Nintendo Wii, and American Express.

Tennant appeared in Derren Brown's Trick or Treat. In TV & Satellite Week (26 April - 2 May issue), Brown is quoted as saying: "One of the appeals of Doctor Who for David is time travel, so I wanted to give him that experience. He was open and up for it, and I got a good reaction. He's a real screamer!" The episode aired on Channel 4 on 16 May 2008, and showed Tennant apparently predicting future events correctly by using automatic writing. Tennant also returned for the final episode of the series with the rest of the participants from the other episodes in the series to take part in one final experiment.

Tennant appeared in the 2008 episode "Holofile 703: Us and Phlegm" of the radio series Nebulous (a parody of Doctor Who) in the role of Doctor Beep, using his Lothian accent. Also in 2008, he voiced the character of Hamish the Hunter in the 2008 English language DVD re-release of the 2006 animated Norwegian film, Free Jimmy, alongside Woody Harrelson. The English-language version of the film has dialogue written by Simon Pegg, who also starred in it as a main voice actor. In early 2009, Tennant narrated the digital planetarium space dome film "We Are Astronomers" commissioned by the UK's National Space Centre. On 13 March 2009, he presented Red Nose Day 2009 with Davina McCall. He joined Franz Ferdinand onstage to play the guitar on their song "No You Girls" on a special Comic Relief edition of Top of the Pops. In summer 2009, Tennant filmed St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold. The film was released in December 2009.

In November 2009, he co-hosted the Absolute Radio Breakfast Show with Christian O'Connell for three consecutive days. He returned to cohost the show for one day in October 2010 and again in September 2011. Tennant also provides the narration and all the character voices for the audio book versions of the Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III stories by Cressida Cowell such as How to Train Your Dragon. In these audio books, he employs his vocal skills to create a vast cast of recognisably distinct voices. Some of his most memorable characterisations include the Norfolk yokel of Norbert the Nutjob, the broad Glaswegian of Gobber the Belch, the hissing and whining Cockney of Toothless the Dragon and the sly insinuations of Alvin the Treacherous. He also played the role of Spitelout in the recent animated film adaption of said books.

On 7 March 2010, he also appeared as George in a one-part BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Of Mice and Men in the Classic Serial strand. He appeared with former costar Catherine Tate in the Shakespeare comedy Much Ado About Nothing at London's Wyndham's Theatre from 16 May 2011 to 3 September 2011. For his performance as Benedick he won the BroadwayWorld UK Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play.

In September 2011, it was announced that Tennant would voice a character in the movie adaptation of Postman Pat named You Know You're the One with a planned 3D theatrical release for spring 2013. In October 2011, Tennant started shooting the semi-improvised comedy film, Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger in Coventry. He played dual roles: the main character, put-upon teacher Mr Peterson, and his "golden boy" twin brother and rival. He appeared in a multi-million-pound campaign for Virgin Media. One advert was voluntarily withdrawn after a complaint lodged by BBC Worldwide, which believed that the advert broke the corporation's guidelines by featuring references to Doctor Who that appeared to be a commercial endorsement of the service.

Tennant starred opposite Rosamund Pike and Billy Connolly in a BBC/Origin Pictures film, What We Did on Our Holiday, a semi-improvised comedy from the writers of the popular BBC sit-com Outnumbered; shooting took place from 17 June to 30 July 2013 in Scotland. The film was released in September 2014. He is the narrator on Xbox One video game Kinect Sports Rivals.

On 9 February 2015, Tennant appeared on the Radio 4 panel show Just a Minute, becoming the show's most successful debut contestant.

Public image

Tennant was named "Coolest Man on TV" of 2007 in a Radio Times survey. He won the National Television Awards award for Most Popular Actor in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010. He was voted 16th Sexiest Man in the World by a 2008 Cosmopolitan survey. Tennant was ranked the 24th most influential person in the British media in 9 July 2007, according to MediaGuardian. He appeared in the paper's annual media rankings in 2006. In December 2008, he was named as one of the most influential people in show business by British theatre and entertainment magazine The Stage, making him the fifth actor to achieve a ranking in the top 20 (in a list typically dominated by producers and directors). He was voted the third best dressed man in Britain in GQ reader's poll for 2013. Tennant's popularity has led to impersonations of him on various social networking sites, leading the BBC to issue a statement making it clear that Tennant does not use any of these sites and any account or message purporting to be or from him is fake. In the expansion EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction for the game EverQuest, a character was introduced called Tavid Dennant, named after David Tennant. The character when interacted with makes a number of references to Doctor Who.

In 2008, Tennant was voted "Greenest Star on the Planet" in an online vote held by Playhouse Disney as part of the Playing for the Planet Awards. Later that year, he underwent surgery for a prolapsed disc. He is a supporter of the Labour Party and appeared in a party political broadcast for them in 2005; in 2010, he declared his support for then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In April 2010, he lent his voice to a Labour Party election broadcast. In 2012, he introduced Labour Party leader Ed Miliband at the Labour Party Conference. In 2015, he also lent his voice to a Labour Party General Election broadcast. He is a patron of Worldwide Cancer Research.

In December 2005, The Stage placed Tennant at No. 6 in its "Top Ten" list of the most influential British television artists of the year, citing his roles in Blackpool, Casanova, Secret Smile, and Doctor Who. In January 2006, readers of the British gay and lesbian newspaper The Pink Paper voted him the "Sexiest Man in the Universe". A poll of over 10,000 women for the March 2006 issue of New Woman magazine ranked him 20th in their list of the "Top 100 Men". In October 2006, he was named "Scotland's most stylish male" in the Scottish Style Awards.

Personal life

From 2005 to 2007, Tennant dated actress Sophia Myles, with whom he acted in Foyle's War and the Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace". He married actress Georgia Moffett on 30 December 2011, having met her when they co-starred in the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Daughter". They have four children, including Moffett's child from a previous relationship whom Tennant adopted. Tennant does not discuss his personal life or relationships in interviews, stating in 2009 that "relationships are hard enough with the people you're having them with, let alone talking about them in public". He believes that religion "must have" shaped his character, and he is an occasional churchgoer.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Spaces	Vinny	Short film
1996	Jude	Drunken undergraduate
1997	Bite	Alastair Galbraith	Short film
1998	L.A. Without a Map	Richard
1999	The Last September	Captain Gerald Colthurst
2000	Being Considered	Larry
2001	Sweetnight Goodheart	Peter	Short film
2002	Nine 1/2 Minutes	Charlie	Short film
2003	Bright Young Things	Ginger Littlejohn
2004	Traffic Warden	Traffic warden	Short film
	Old Street	Mr. Watson	Short film
2005	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Barty Crouch Jr.
2006	Free Jimmy	Hamish	Voice only
2009	Glorious 39	Hector
	St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold	Sir Piers Pomfrey
2010	How to Train Your Dragon	Spitelout	Voice only
2011	The Decoy Bride	James Arber
	Fright Night	Peter Vincent
	The Itch of the Golden Nit	News announcer / Stretchy McStretch	Voice only
2012	The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists	Charles Darwin	Voice only
	Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger	Donald Peterson / Roderick Peterson
2014	Postman Pat: The Movie	Wilf	Voice only
	What We Did on Our Holiday	Doug
2015	Reds and Grays	Robbie	Voice only, Pre-production
	96 Ways to Say I Love You	Mark	Short film
2016	Mad to be Normal	RD Laing	Post-production (Previously titled Metanoia)
	I Feel Fine		Pre-production
	Chew	Mason Savoy	(voice only)
2017	Fireman Sam: Alien Alert	Buck Douglas	Voice only
	Fish Without Bicycles	John

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Anti-smoking film	Jim	Glasgow Health Board PSA
1988	Dramarama	Neil McDonald	Series 6, Episode 13: "The Secret of Croftmore"
1992	Strathblair	Hiker	Series 1
	Bunch of Five	Policeman	Series 1, Episode 5: "Miles Better"
1993	The Brown Man	Ventriloquist
	Rab C Nesbitt	Davina	Series 3, Episode 2: "Touch"
1994	Takin' Over the Asylum	Campbell Bain
1995	The Bill	Steve Clemens	Series 11, Episode 128: "Deadline"
	The Tales of Para Handy	John MacBryde	Series 2, Episode 2: "Para Handy's Piper"
1996	A Mug's Game	Gavin	Series 1, Episode 4
1997	Holding the Baby	Nurse	Series 1, Episode 2
	Conjuring Shakespeare	Angelo	Episode 6: "Like a Virgin" (appeared in a scene from Measure for Measure)
1998	Duck Patrol	Simon "Darwin" Brown
1999	The Mrs Bradley Mysteries	Max Valentine	Series 2, Episode 1: "Death at the Opera"
	Love in the 21st Century	John	Episode 1: "Reproduction"
2000	Randall and Hopkirk	Gordon Stylus	Series 1, Episode 1: "Drop Dead"
2001	People Like Us	Rob Harker	Series 2, Episode 4: "The Actor"
	High Stakes	Gaz Whitney	Series 2, Episode 1: "The Magic Word"
	Only Human	Tyler	Pilot
2002	Foyle's War	Theo Howard	Series 1, Episode 3: "A Lesson in Murder"
	Boots UK advert	Husband
2003	Terri McIntyre	Greig Millar	Series 2
	Scream of the Shalka	Caretaker	1 Episode
	Trust	Gavin MacEwan	Series 1, Episode 6
	Posh Nosh	Jose-Luis	Series 1, Episodes 3 and 8: "Paella" and "Comfort Food"
	Spine Chillers	Dr. Krull	Series 1, Episode 1
2004	The Deputy	Christopher Williams
	He Knew He Was Right	Rev Gibson
	Blackpool	DI Carlisle
2005	The Quatermass Experiment	Dr. Gordon Briscoe
	Casanova	Giacomo Casanova
	Secret Smile	Brendan Block
	Doctor Who: A New Dimension	Narrator	Doctor Who Confidential pilot
2005-10, 2013	Doctor Who	The Doctor	Series 2, 3, 4, 2008-10 Specials 50th Anniversary Special
2006	Who Do You Think You Are?	Himself	Series 3, Episode 4
	Ready Steady Cook	Himself	1 episode
	The Romantics	Jean-Jacques Rousseau
	The Chatterley Affair	Richard Hoggart
2007	Recovery	Alan Hamilton
	Comic Relief Sketch	Mr. Logan / The Doctor	Appeared alongside Doctor Who co-star Catherine Tate
	Dead Ringers	Regenerated Tony Blair
	The Infinite Quest	The Doctor
	Learners	Chris
	Extras	Himself / The Doctor	Christmas Special
	The Friday Night Project	Guest host	Series 4, Episode 1
	The Human Footprint	Narrator
	Top Gear	Himself	Series 10, Episode 10
2008	Everest ER	Narrator
	What Makes Me Happy	Poetry reader	Series of short films that include poetry
	Trick or Treat	Himself	Series 2, Episodes 3 and 6
	The Friday Night Project	Guest host	Series 6, Episode 2
	Einstein and Eddington	Sir Arthur Eddington
2009	The Sarah Jane Adventures	The Doctor	Series 3, Episodes 5 and 6: "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith"
	Rex Is Not Your Lawyer	Rex Alexander	NBC pilot
	Dreamland	The Doctor	6 episodes
	The Catherine Tate Show	Ghost of Christmas Present	"Nan's Christmas Carol"
	Hamlet	Prince Hamlet
	Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions	Narrator
	Comic Relief 2009	Presenter
	Doctor Who: Tonight's the Night	Himself
	Troubled Young Minds	Narrator
	QI	Himself	QI Christmas Special
	Never Mind the Buzzcocks	Guest host	Series 23, Episode 12
	Alan Carr: Chatty Man	Guest	Series 2, Episode 7
2009-10	Masterpiece Contemporary	Host
2010	Single Father	Dave Tiler
	Caught in the Web - A Newsround Special	Narrator
	Eddie Izzard: Marathon Man	Narrator
	My Life	Narrator	Episode: "Karate Kids"
	Diet or My Husband Dies	Narrator
	Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide	Himself
	Stealing Shakespeare	Narrator
	Ask Rhod Gilbert	Authenticator	Series 1, Episode 5
	Paul O'Grady Live	Guest	Series 1
	Chris Moyles' Quiz Night	Himself	Regular slot: "David Tennant's Celebrity Impressions"
	Polar Bear: Spy on the Ice	Narrator	BBC Wildlife Specials
2011	United	Jimmy Murphy
	This is Jinsy	Mr. Slightlyman	Series 1, Episode 1
	The Father of Australia	Narrator
	Starlight: For the Children	Narrator	Narrated episodes 5-10
	The TA & The Taliban	Narrator
	Gerry Rafferty: Right Down the Line	Narrator
	Shrek: Once Upon a Time	Narrator
	Earthflight	Narrator
	Laughing at the...	Himself	Series 1, Episode 2: "Catherine Tate: Laughing at the Noughties"
2011-12	Twenty Twelve	Narrator	Series 1 and 2
2012	Playhouse Presents	Will	Series 1, Episode 1: "The Minor Character"
	True Love	Nick	Series 1, Episode 1
	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	Huyang
	Tree Fu Tom	Twigs
	Wild About Pandas	Narrator
	We Won't Drop the Baby	Narrator
	Discovering Hamlet	Himself
	Shakespeare Uncovered - Hamlet	Himself
	Virgin Media adverts	Himself
	Comedy World Cup	Presenter
	Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell	Narrator
2012-present	DreamWorks Dragons	Spitelout	Series 1, Episode 12: "Thawfest"; Series 2, Episode 5: "Race to Fireworm Island"; Series 3, Episode 3: "Imperfect Harmony"; Series 4, Episode 1: "Astrid's Team"; Series 4, Episode 5: "Snotlout Gets the Axe"
2013	Penguins - Spy in the Huddle	Narrator
	Comic Relief 2013	Presenter
	Fish Hooks	Oscar's Brain	Series 3, Episodes 3 and 12: "Live at the Hamsterwood Bowl" and "Assignment Babies"
	Spies of Warsaw	Jean-François Mercier
2013-present	Broadchurch	DI Alec Hardy	Series 1 - 2013, Series 2 - 2015, and Series 3 - TBA
2013	The Politician's Husband	Aiden Hoynes
	The Escape Artist	Will Burton
	The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot	Himself
2014	Gracepoint	Emmett Carver	US remake of Broadchurch
	Dolphins - Spy in the Pod	Narrator	BBC Wildlife Specials
2014-present	W1A	Narrator	Sequel to Twenty Twelve
2015	Pets - Wild at Heart	Narrator	BBC Wildlife Specials
	Growing Up Wild	Narrator	BBC Wildlife Specials
	Jessica Jones	Kevin Thompson / Kilgrave	11 episodes
	Jake and the Neverland Pirates	Dread	Episode: "Dread the Evil Genie"
	Mickey Mouse Clubhouse	Igor the Door	Episode: "Mickey's Monster Musical", Voice only
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Fugitoid	Voice only
	Inside Einstein's Mind: The Enigma of Space and Time	Narrator	British version only. The US version was narrated by Jay O. Sanders
	Knights of Classic Drama	Narrator
	Dames of Classic Drama	Narrator

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	The Ghost of Benjy O'Neil	The Ghost	Phantom Productions
1990	Fools	Leon Steponovitch Tolchinsky	Made in Glasgow (RSAMD Student Company), Chandler Studio, RSAMD
	Twelve Angry Men	Juror 8	Theatre Positive Scotland, Arches Theatre, dir Iain Reekie
1991	Mozart from A to Z	Mozart	RSAMD
	The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui	Various characters	7:84 Theatre Company Scotland
1991-92	Shinda the Magic Ape	Kenny	Royal Lyceum Theatre
1992	Jump the Life to Come	Malcolm	7:84 Theatre Company Scotland
	Merlin	Arthur	Royal Lyceum Theatre
	Scotland Matters	Various characters	7:84 Theatre Company Scotland
	Hay Fever	Simon	Royal Lyceum Theatre
	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf	Nick	Dundee Repertory Theatre
	Tartuffe	Valere	Dundee Repertory Theatre
1992-93	Merlin the Magnificent and the Adventures of Arthur	Arthur	Dundee Repertory Theatre
1993	Antigone	Haemon	7:84 Theatre Company Scotland
1993-94	The Princess and the Goblin	Curdie	Dundee Repertory Theatre
1994	Long Day's Journey into Night	Edmund	Dundee Repertory Theatre
	The Slab Boys Trilogy	Alan	Young Vic
1995	What the Butler Saw	Nick	Royal National Theatre
	An Experienced Woman Gives Advice	Kenny	Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
1996	The Glass Menagerie	Tom	Dundee Repertory Theatre
	As You Like It	Touchstone	Royal Shakespeare Company
	The General from America	Hamilton	Royal Shakespeare Company
	The Herbal Bed	Jack Lane	Royal Shakespeare Company
1997	Hurly Burly	Mickey	Old Vic Queen's Theatre
	Tamagotchi Heaven	Boyfriend	Did not appear on stage, only in a filmed segment
	Matters of Life and Death - "Blue"	Himself	Chelsea Theatre
1998	The Real Inspector Hound	Moon	Comedy Theatre
	Black Comedy	Brinsley Miller	Comedy Theatre
	For One Night Only	Performer	The Other Place Performed as part of the Stratford-upon-Avon Fringe Festival on 19 July 1998
1999	Vassa - Scenes from Family Life	Pavel	Albery Theatre
	Edward III	Edward, the Black Prince	Shakespeare's Globe (staged reading)
	King Lear	Edgar	Royal Exchange Theatre
2000	The Comedy of Errors	Antipholus of Syracuse	Royal Shakespeare Company
	The Rivals	Jack	Royal Shakespeare Company
	Romeo and Juliet	Romeo	Royal Shakespeare Company
	Laughter in the Dark	Dawid Tenemann	The Other Place (in a filmed segment)
2001	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Lysander / Flute	Royal Shakespeare Company
	Comedians	Gethin Price
	Medea	Bodyguard	Royal National Theatre (staged reading)
2002	Push-Up	Robert	Royal Court Theatre
	Lobby Hero	Jeff	Donmar Warehouse Ambassadors Theatre
2003	London Concert for Peace	Performer of Nevertheless	Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
2003-04	The Pillowman	Katurian	Royal National Theatre
2004	The Fleer	Lord Piso	Shakespeare's Globe (staged reading at the Globe Education Centre)
2005	Look Back in Anger	Jimmy Porter	Theatre Royal, Bath Royal Lyceum Theatre
2006	Look Back in Anger	Jimmy Porter	Royal Court Theatre
2008	Hamlet	Hamlet	Royal Shakespeare Company Novello Theatre
	Love's Labour's Lost	Berowne	Royal Shakespeare Company
2010	Celebrity Autobiography	Various characters	Leicester Square Theatre
2011	Much Ado About Nothing	Benedick	Wyndham's Theatre
2013-14	Richard II	Richard II	Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Theatre and The Barbican
2016	Richard II	Richard II	Royal Shakespeare Company The Barbican and the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Radio and CD audio drama

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Fifty Friends of Simon Goberschmitt	Raymond	BBC Radio 4
	The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Policeman	BBC Radio 4
1994	Knocking on Heaven's Door	Lindsay Lerner	BBC Radio 4
1996	Paint Her Well	The Son	BBC Radio 4
1998	Hemlock and After	Eric Craddock	BBC Radio 4
	The Airmen Who Would Not Die	Captain Raymond "Hinch" Hinchliffe	BBC Radio 4
	The Golden Triangle: The Order of Release	John Everett Millais	BBC Radio 4
1999	Fire in the Heart	Reader	BBC Radio 4
2000	Henry VI, Part 1	Henry VI	Arkangel Shakespeare
	Henry VI, Part 2	Henry VI	Arkangel Shakespeare
	Henry VI, Part 3	Henry VI	Arkangel Shakespeare
	The Sea	Willy Carson	BBC Radio 3
2001	Much Ado about Nothing	Benedick	BBC Radio 4
	Sunday Worship	Himself	BBC Radio 4
	The Long Firm	Narrator	Whole Story Audiobooks
	He Kills Coppers	Narrator	Whole Story Audiobooks
	True Crime	Narrator	Whole Story Audiobooks
	Doctor Who: Colditz	Feldwebel Kurtz	Big Finish
	Dr Finlay: Adventures of a Black Bag	Jackson	BBC Radio 4
2002	Dr Finlay: Further Adventures of a Black Bag	McKellor	BBC Radio 4
	Double Income, No Kids Yet	Daniel	BBC Radio 4
	Facade	William Walton	BBC Radio 4
2003	Doctor Who: Sympathy for the Devil	Colonel Brimmecombe-Wood	Big Finish
	Doctor Who: Exile	Time Lord No. 2 / Pub landlord	Big Finish
	Caesar! - Peeling Figs for Julius	Caligula	BBC Radio 4
	Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka	Caretaker	BBCi
	The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents	Dangerous Beans	BBC Radio 4
	Pompeii	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
	The Rotters' Club	Bill Trotter	BBC Radio 4
	Mansfield Park	Tom Price	BBC Radio 4
	Strangers and Brothers	Donald Howerd	BBC Radio 4
2004	Dalek Empire III	Galanar	Big Finish
	Doctor Who: Medicinal Purposes	Daft Jamie	Big Finish
	Quite Ugly One Morning	Narrator	Time Warner
	Starter for Ten	Narrator	Hodder & Stoughton
	Whiteout	Narrator	Macmillan Digital Audio
	The Merchant of Venice	Launcelot Gobbo	Arkangel Shakespeare
	Richard III	The Archbishop / Ghost of Henry VI	Arkangel Shakespeare
	How to Train Your Dragon	Narrator	Part of the How to Train Your Dragon series
	How to Be a Pirate	Narrator	Part of the How to Train Your Dragon series
2005	UNIT: The Wasting	Colonel Brimmecombe-Wood	Big Finish
	Dixon of Dock Green	PC Andy Crawford	BBC Radio 4
	The Adventures of Luther Arkwright	Luther Arkwright	Big Finish
	The Beasts of Clawstone Castle	Narrator	Macmillan Digital Audio
	Macbeth	Porter	Arkangel Shakespeare
	King Lear	Edgar	Arkangel Shakespeare
	The Comedy of Errors	Antipholus of Syracuse	Arkangel Shakespeare
	Romeo and Juliet	Mercutio	Arkangel Shakespeare
2006	The Virgin Radio Christmas Panto	Buttons	Virgin Radio
	Doctor Who: The Stone Rose	Narrator	BBC Audio
	Doctor Who: The Resurrection Casket	Narrator	BBC Audio
	Doctor Who: The Feast of the Drowned	Narrator	BBC Audio
	How to Speak Dragonese	Narrator	Part of the How to Train Your Dragon series
2007	The Wooden Overcoat	Peter	BBC Radio 4
	How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse	Narrator	Part of the How to Train Your Dragon series
2008	Doctor Who: Pest Control	Narrator	BBC Audio
	Nebulous	Doctor Beep	BBC Radio 4
2009	Doctor Who: The Day of the Troll	Narrator	BBC Audio
	How to Twist a Dragon's Tale	Narrator	Part of the How to Train Your Dragon series
2010	Of Mice and Men	George Milton	BBC Radio 4
	Murder in Samarkand	Craig Murray	BBC Radio 4
	How to Ride a Dragon's Storm	Narrator	Part of the How to Train Your Dragon series
	Doctor Who: The Last Voyage	Narrator	BBC Audio
	Doctor Who: Dead Air	Narrator	BBC Audio
	Bear Snores On	Narrator	Simon & Schuster Children's Books
	Dogfish	Narrator	Simon & Schuster Children's Books
	How Roald Dahl Shaped Pop	Narrator	BBC Radio 2
	Book at Bedtime - A Night with a Vampire	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2011	My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece	Narrator	Orion Books
	Kafka: The Musical	Franz Kafka	BBC Radio 3
	The Gobetweenies	Joe	BBC Radio 4
	Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Narrator	BBC Learning
	The Purple Land	Richard Lamb	BBC Radio 4
	Life and Fate	Nikolai Krymov	BBC Radio 4
	How to Break a Dragon's Heart	Narrator	Part of the How to Train Your Dragon series
	A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons	Narrator	Part of the How to Train Your Dragon series
	Supermarket Zoo	Narrator	Simon & Schuster
	Book at Bedtime - A Night with a Vampire 2	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again	Narrator	Macmillan Digital Audio
	The Pied Piper of Hamelin	Narrator	BBC Radio 4
2012	Love Virtually	Leo	BBC Radio 4
	Book at Bedtime - Stonemouth	Reader	BBC Radio 4
	Believe It!	Young Richard Wilson	BBC Radio 4
	Romeo and Juliet	Prince Escalus	BBC Radio 3
	Twelfth Night	Malvolio	BBC Radio 3
	Silver: The Return to Treasure Island	Narrator	Whole Story Audiobooks
	How to Steal a Dragon's Sword	Narrator	Part of the How to Train Your Dragon series
	On Her Majesty's Secret Service	Narrator	BBC Audio
2013	Every Seventh Wave	Leo	BBC Radio 4
	The Great Scott: The Fair Maid of Perth	Walter Scott	BBC Radio 4
2015	Carmilla	Dr. Martin Hesselius	Amazon Audible
2016	Doctor Who: Technophobia	The Doctor	Big Finish Productions
	Doctor Who: Time Reaver	The Doctor	Big Finish Productions
	Doctor Who: Death and the Queen	The Doctor	Big Finish Productions

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2014	Kinect Sports Rivals	Narrator
2015	Lego Dimensions	The Doctor (archival audio used)
	Just Cause 3	Propaganda Minister

Awards and nominations

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
1995	An Experienced Woman Gives Advice	Manchester Evening News Theatre Award	Best Actor	Nominated
1996	The Glass Menagerie	Theatre Management Association	Best Actor	Nominated
2000	The Comedy of Errors	Ian Charleson Award	Best Classical Actor Under 30	Nominated
2003	Lobby Hero	Olivier Award	Best Actor	Nominated
2005	Look Back in Anger	Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland	Best Male Performance	Won
2006	Casanova, Secret Smile, and Doctor Who	Broadcasting Press Guild Award	Best Actor	Nominated
2006	Doctor Who	TV Quick and TV Choice Award	Best Actor	Won
2006	Doctor Who	National Television Award	Best Actor	Won
2007	Doctor Who	BAFTA Cymru	Best Actor	Won
2007	Doctor Who	TV Quick and TV Choice Award	Best Actor	Won
2007	Doctor Who	Constellation Award	Best Male Performance in a 2006 Science Fiction Television Episode	Won
2007	Doctor Who	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	Won
2007	-	Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award	Screen Award	Won
2008	Doctor Who	Constellation Award	Best Male Performance in a 2007 Science Fiction Television Episode	Won
2008	Doctor Who	TV Quick and TV Choice Award	Best Actor	Won
2008	Doctor Who	National Television Award	Outstanding Drama Performance	Won
2008	Doctor Who	Satellite Award	Best Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated
2008	Recovery and Doctor Who	Royal Television Society Programme Award	Best Actor	Nominated
2009	Hamlet	Critics' Circle Theatre Award	Best Shakespearean Performance	Won
2009	Hamlet	Theatregoers' Choice Award	AKA Theatre Event of the Year	Won
2009	Hamlet	Evening Standard Theatre Award	Best Actor	Nominated
2009	Einstein and Eddington and Doctor Who	Broadcasting Press Guild Award	Best Actor	Nominated
2009	Doctor Who	BAFTA Scotland	Best Actor - Television	Nominated
2009	Doctor Who	Saturn Award	Best Actor on Television	Nominated
2010	Doctor Who	National Television Award	Outstanding Drama Performance	Won
2010	Doctor Who	Constellation Award	Best Male Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode	Won
2010	Hamlet and Doctor Who	Broadcasting Press Guild Award	Best Actor	Nominated
2011	Single Father	TV Choice Award	Best Actor	Won
2011	Single Father	Royal Television Society Programme Award	Best Actor	Nominated
2011	Much Ado About Nothing	BroadwayWorld UK Award	Best Actor	Won
2012	Kafka: The Musical	BBC Audio Drama Award	Best Actor	Won
2012	Much Ado About Nothing	What's on Stage Award	Best Actor	Nominated
2012	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program	Won
2013	Broadchurch	TV Choice Award	Best Actor	Won
2014	Broadchurch	National Television Award	Best TV Detective	Nominated
2014	Broadchurch	Broadcasting Press Guild Television and Radio Award	Best Actor	Nominated
2014	The Escape Artist	BAFTA Scotland	Best Actor - Television	Won
2015	Gracepoint	People's Choice Award	Favorite Actor in a New TV Series	Won
2015		National Television Award	Special Recognition Award	Won
2015	Richard II	What's on Stage Award	Best Actor in a Play	Won
2015	What We Did on Our Holiday	BAFTA Scotland	Best Actor - Film	Nominated
2016	Jessica Jones	Saturn Award	Best Supporting Actor on Television	Pending

[ Source: Wikipedia ]