TARDIS Report: Wednesday
Wednesday, 21 December 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
David Tennant made his appearance on BBC One's Breakfast at a little after 9am today (Wednesday 21 December), without Russell T Davies but with a couple of clips from 'The Christmas Invasion'. He talked again about the challenges of taking on the role ("daunting, exciting... a bit surreal"), watching Tom Baker as a child, and marvelling at Christopher Eccleston's performance this year. When asked, Tennant confirmed that he'll be back for another series and that Billie Piper "is hanging around. Despite what you may have read in the tabloids, Billie's hanging around." One of the preview clips was another outing for the TARDIS's arrival at the start of the Christmas special; the second involved the Doctor, Rose and Mickey on a balcony on the Powell estate, with the sonic screwdriver scaring off some menacing Santas - the Santas teleport away, and Mickey reckons they're "a bit rubbish" if they're scared of the screwdriver, the Doctor collapses again. BBC Breakfast's web pages carry a report on the interview and a link to watch the interview in full on the BBC Media Player. It's also still possible to see Christopher Eccleston's recent reports from Banda Aceh.
There is also a new interview with David Tennant online at BBC News: in "New Doctor prepares for invasion", the actor mentions that he's had good luck cards from Tom Baker and Peter Davison, but has not discussed the role with Christopher Eccleston. Tennant also talks about the possible pitfalls in playing the Doctor - "You can drop yourself in it by saying 'My Doctor must always hop on a Tuesday' so you end up with this rather ugly mannerism for no good reason."
RTE also reports this morning on the forthcoming Tennant interview on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, while Digital Spy has a piece on the improbable story that the lead singer of the Kaiser Chiefs was offered the part of the Tenth Doctor but turned it down.
The Telegraph today has a story noting that "XBoxes and Daleks all in short supply." "Shoppers are struggling to get hold of many of this year's "must have" electronic presents because of supply problems. mazon, the online store, has said it will take four to six weeks to send out a Sony PlayStation Portable games machine, while the new XBox 360 games console will not be available until 'early 2006'. The remote-control 12in-tall gold Daleks from Doctor Who are also in short supply in the shops, as are black iPod Nano music players. The shortages have fuelled some frenzied bidding on the auction website eBay." BBC News on Tuesday evening also had a feature on Christmas shopping with news that the Daleks 'had all run out in Milton Keynes!' as part of the feature.
Other items: the website of the London Theatre Guide discusses Christopher Eccleston's forthcoming appearance in Peter Whelan's "The School of Night" which we reported a few days ago. So does What's On Stage. Today'sScotsman discusses the National Theatre of Scotland and has a brief mention of how the year was kicked back by David Tennant's appearance in John Osborne's Look Back In Anger. Contact Music talks about today's BBC Breakfast appearance. Sky Showbiz yesterday noted that "Glamour model Jordan is keen to land a cameo in series three of Doctor Who. 'I think that would be an ideal starting ground for me, acting-wise,' she said. 'I could play a non-speaking baddie who kills people with my ample charms.' Bearing in mind exactly what Jordan's 'ample charms' are, it wouldn't really be for kiddy TV, would it?"
(Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, Chuck Foster, John Bowman, Steve Freestone and Peter Weaver)