Happy Birthday, David Tennant! 10 Great Tenth Doctor Moments 

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Happy Birthday, David Tennant! 10 Great Tenth Doctor Moments

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on April 18th, 2015

David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor (Pic: BBC)

It’s his birthday (April 18). What further excuse do we need for a wallow in some of David Tennant‘s greatest hits?

“No second chances” (“The Christmas Invasion”)

Still very much deciding what kind of Doctor he would be, this is the point at which he takes charge. It’s his equivalent of Matt Smith’s speech at the end of “The Eleventh Hour,” the bit where the new Doctor stops faffing about with the debilitating effects of regeneration and resumes control of himself.

most beloved companion more than pays off when a fresh dynamic emerges between Elisabeth Sladen—facing yet another Doctor as Sarah Jane Smith—and David’s friendly-but-brittle Tenth with an accusatory stare.

“What sort of man is that?” (“The Family Of Blood”)

There is a lot said about Bad Wolf Bay (either visit), and David’s final scene as the Doctor, and rightly so, but for my money the lost history of John Smith is the saddest storyline in all of

Watch it for the bits where he’s reacting to Donna mouthing her story, and then the nodded “run!” at the end.

“Why do you have handcuffs?” “Spoilers” (“Forest of the Dead”)

You don’t often see anguish, desperation and confusion fight for control of the Doctor’s face. Not like this, anyway.

A new Doctor emerges, with a lot of Donna’s mannerisms. What better way to show off the comedy chemistry between David and Catherine Tate?

“Sorry, really I’m so sorry” (“The Next Doctor”)

And at the other end of the emotional scale, we see David Morrissey as Jackson Lake, tearing his own brain apart looking for clues, lead by the gentle, authoritative Doctor showing all the compassion in the universe.

Here’s that brittleness again. Because what consequences will there be if you interfere in a tragedy that was meant to happen? And what gives even a Time Lord the right to meddle indiscriminately? To go from imperious and cold to scared and beaten in just a few seconds is quite some journey.

“Some new man goes sauntering away” (“The End of Time”)

At this point we were 46 years and ten Doctors into the mythology of

, and yet this was the first time it became clear that each Doctor not only mourns his own passing when he regenerates, but he resents the new man (or woman) he will become. And you get to seem him as the old man he is, sharing a drink with fellow veteran Wilf.

“I don’t want to go” (“The End of Time”)

What’s your favorite Tenth Doctor moment? Tell us here:

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Tagged: Catherine Tate, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Elisabeth Sladen, The Tenth Doctor

Fraser has been writing and broadcasting about music and popular culture for over 15 years, first at the Top of the Pops website, and most recently for the NME, Guardian and MSN. He also wrote BBC Radio 1\'s Chart Blog and reviews albums for BBC Radio 2. He is Anglophenia\'s current resident Brit, blogging about British slang and running around the Mall taking snaps of the crowd at the Royal Wedding, as well as reigniting a childhood passion for classic Doctor Who and cramming as much music in as he can manage. Fraser invites you to join him on Twitter: @csi_popmusic

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