“Doctor Who star David Tennant says returning for 60th anniversary shows was 'an unexpected treat” You could fill many rooms in the famously capacious time travel craft the TARDIS with fans who have strong opinions about the best actor to play the titular hero of Doctor Who. But very few of the 13 people to portray the periodically "regenerating" alien on a regular basis since the British show premiered in 1963 inspire quite the amount of love as David Tennant. Relatively unknown when he took the role in 2005, the actor spent five years playing the Doctor in an energetic, comedic, and, yes, easy-on-the-eye fashion, becoming a firm fan favorite along the way. When the BBC announced in May of last year that Tennant and costar Catherine Tate, who played the Doctor's time-traveling companion Donna Noble, would be reprising their roles to mark the show's 60th anniversary this November, Whovians were thrilled. Turns out, few fans could have been more excited that Tennant, a diehard watcher of the show since early childhood. "Oh, joyous," says the actor, when asked to describe filming the three anniversary episodes, in an interview conducted prior to the SAG strike. "Just an unexpected treat to get to revisit something that had been such a lovely wonderful experience 15 years ago. To get to have another proper runaround, in an albeit slightly different long coat, was a joy I never really imagined."