Entertainment

Tennant: Capaldi's 'Doctor Who' Is Lazy

by Alanna Bennett

David Tennant is, for those who have watched Doctor Who, one of the most beloved people in British pop culture. His run as the Tenth Doctor was as iconic as you can get playing a predetermined iconic character, and as an added bonus, he's also the biggest Doctor Who fanboy in the world, so it was a dream come true for everybody. Which is why when David Tennant talks about Doctor Who , you listen. The guy knows his stuff.

Tennant — who is returning to Who for this season's 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" — attended a Doctor Who event in London recently, and expressed his opinions on the decision to have upcoming Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi keep his Scottish accent in the classic British role.

"I just think it's lazy," said Tennant, who is also Scottish but adopted a British accent when he played the role.

He also waxed poetic on his time as the Doctor, and what caused him to leave.

Part of me would have stayed doing it forever. But it’s one of those things where you just have to take a deep breath and think: ‘If I don’t leave this show now, people will resent me still being there in 25 years.’

Tennant was so beloved as Ten that we're tempted to scream and stomp and say that he's wrong and lock him in that TARDIS forever with a video camera, some hair gel, and a pinstriped suit. But he's right: TV audiences are notoriously fickle, especially when it comes to things living past their prime. Painful as it might have been (and "I don't want to go" still makes us want to curl into the fetal position under a pile of blankets), Tennant stepped out at the height of the audience's love for him, and that remains quite the savvy move.