New Doctor Who Trailer Released – But Was The Show Nearly Cancelled When David Tennant Left?
The very first trailer for Doctor Who series 8 has now been released but according to reports, the show nearly ended when David Tennant left!
Following in the footsteps of Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant was the tenth actor to portray The Doctor and he worked on the programme for a total of five years. He was a clear fan favourite; so much in fact that the BBC apparently considered pulling the plug on Doctor Who when he stepped down from the role.This news comes after Steven Moffat, Doctor Who's current showrunner, attended the Hay Festival in Wales yesterday. According to DoctorWhoTV, Steven said the following during his question and answer session:
“David owned that role (The Doctor) in a spectacular way, he gave it an all-new cheeky sexy performance and became a national treasure. And he didn’t do it instantly, he did it over time. So the idea that Doctor Who could go on at all in the absence of David was a huge question.”
“I didn’t realise how many people thought it wouldn’t succeed at all. That was quite terrifying when I found out about it later. I think there were plans maybe to consider ending it. It was Russell T Davies (Doctor Who's previous showrunner) saying, you are not allowed to end it.”
We're glad Doctor Who wasn't cancelled. David may be our favourite Doctor to date but we definitely wouldn't have wanted the show to finish. Can you imagine how devastating that would have been?
Matt Smith was cast as the eleventh incarnation of The Doctor and he enjoyed three years in the role. His time on the show was still hugely successful and Matt's seasons made Doctor Who more popular in America than ever before. Now it's time for Peter Capaldi to take on the role of the famous Time Lord.
Peter will begin his reign as The Doctor in the eighth series of Doctor Who which has now been confirmed for transmission in Autumn. With such a late start date, we can't help but wonder whether the season will lead straight into this year's Christmas special? I guess we'll just have to wait and find out!
