Goodbye Doctor

So David Tennant has decided to leave Doctor Who.  “What!” I hear you say.  “Since when?”  Well, he announced it on the evening of October 29th while accepting his award for Best Drama Actor at the NFT awards.  Naturally this has come as a total shock to the fans and the general public, it doesn’t surprise me to see the announcement come at this time in the show’s history.  Sure I’ll miss him when he does finally turn the role over to a new actor but what the show in a climate of change – RTD and leaving, Stephen Moffat taking over - and having been in the role for close to four years now, in some ways I’m not surprised to see him decide to move on.

I’d be one of the first to admit that he has been brilliant as the tenth Doctor from the moment he first stepped out of the TARDIS, but like most actors, they like to be continually challenged by new projects, new roles and its obvious that David is in that same spot.  This isn’t saying he hasn’t enjoyed the part or wouldn’t want to stay, but he has stated that he wants to move on.  “I think its better to go when there’s a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome.”

While we as fans would like him to stay, I have to agree by what David has stated.  He quickly became the most popular Doctor of all time in the series and its always best to leave when you’re at the top.  People will want you to stay on, but you don’t.  You move on.  Its a smart move as people will more likely remember your time in the show with great fondness.

As I’ve said earlier, I will miss him when he does finally go.  But, it will be with fond memories of an actor who brought something to a role and embued it with a liveliness that hadn’t been given to the part in quite sometime.  He was brilliant.  Thank you Mr. Tennant for playing the part.