Tenth Doctor

"I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old, and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?"

- The Tenth Doctor

The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by actor David Tennant, who replaced Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor in the 2005 series finale, "The Parting of the Ways", having reintroduced Doctor Who that same year. As the incumbent Doctor, Tennant has appeared in three series to date, as well as four Christmas specials.

David Tennant has announced during the acceptance of a National Television Award for his role as the Tenth Doctor that he will not return in this role for the fifth series, currently scheduled to be broadcast in 2010. He will make his final appearance in the role in the last of the television specials that are scheduled to be aired in 2009 and early 2010.

Regeneration
When the Doctor absorbed TARDIS Time Vortex from his companion, Rose Tyler, the forces contained in himself began to destroy every cell in his body. He regenerated for a ninth time to save his life. The Doctor immediately dematerialized the TARDIS from its location on Satellite 5, leaving the now-immortal Captain Jack Harkness (made so by the Bad Wolf) behind. (DW: The Parting of the Ways) The Doctor would later say that the presence of such an unnatural being as Jack caused a form of instinctive distress. (DW: Utopia) The Doctor piloted the ship back to Powell Estate in London on Christmas Eve 2006 and lapsed into a comatose state, but snapped out of it briefly and then for a longer time in order to beat back an invasion of planet Earth by the Sycorax on Christmas morning. During this adventure he had his hand cut off while in a sword fight with the Sycorax leader but, still retaining enough cellular energy from his regeneration, grew it back. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)

Adventures with Rose
The Doctor and Rose embarked on adventures together through time and space. Their first broadcast adventure together was their trip to New Earth. They were summoned to the New New York hospital. There the Doctor toppled the regime of the Sisters of Plenitude. The sisters were creating human clones with no sentience and infecting them with every disease in the world in order to find cures. During this time, the Doctor and Rose also encountered Cassandra. They had met her before in (DW: The End of the World) and believed her to be dead. Cassandra possessed Rose's body, but the Doctor eventually convinced Cassandra to "end it." The Doctor here also sees the Face of Boe. It was he who summoned them via the psychic paper. The Face of Boe thought he was going to die, but the Doctor's actions with the new humans encouraged him to keep living. (DW: New Earth)

Next they took a trip to 1879 Scotland. There the Doctor and Rose stopped a werewolf from biting Queen Victoria and starting The Empire of the Wolf. As a reward, the Doctor was knighted Sir Doctor of TARDIS and Rose was knighted Dame Rose of the Powell Estate. They were then banished from the British Empire, since their blase attitude to danger unnerved the Queen. The Doctor also inadvertently inspired Queen Victoria to found the Torchwood Institute, dedicated to defending Britain from the alien threat. (DW: Tooth and Claw),

Back on 21st century Earth, the Doctor went undercover as John Smith, a physics teacher at a school which the Krillitane had infiltrated. The Doctor had a chance reunion with his past companions Sarah Jane Smith and K-9. The Doctor also allowed Mickey Smith to accompany him and Rose on their travels at Sarah Jane's suggestion. (DW: School Reunion)

The Doctor, Rose and Mickey next met a preteen girl Reinette (later known as Madame de Pompadour.) She would grow up to be a beautiful noblewoman and the mistress of the King of France living in 18th century Versailles. The Doctor saved her as a child from the Clockwork Droids. The droids and Reinette were connected by a fireplace in her bedroom and simultaneously on board the SS Madame De Pompadour. The Doctor saved her several times throughout her life and was strongly affected by her death.(DW: The Girl in the Fireplace)

On a parallel Earth, the Doctor, Rose and Mickey witnessed the birth of that universe's Cybermen. The adventure ended with Mickey deciding to stay in the parallel universe, leaving Rose and the Doctor to continue their travels together. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel)

The Doctor and Rose planned to see an Elvis concert, donning the outfits of the fifties and riding a scooter, however, they accidentally end up in England. It is June 2, 1953, and they are just in time to witness the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The Wire is planning to steal the essences and faces of everyone watching the coronation on television. Rose falls victim to the Wire, but during the coronation the Doctor defeats the Wire, restoring the faces of it's victims. (DW: The Idiot's Lantern)

The Doctor and Rose then travelled to the planet of Krop Tor, an impossible planet that orbitted a black hole. On Krop Tor they find a Sanctuary Base where humans are living. The humans have journeyed to Krop Tor to discover the source of power emanating from the planet's core which was allowing the planet to orbit a black hole without falling in. The Doctor and a researcher from the crew of Sanctuary Base 6 named Ida, descended into the core of the planet to explore. There they discovered a pit, into which the Doctor went, alone. Once he'd reached the bottom, he found himself face to face with the Beast. The Beast had been terrorizing the explorers on the surface and possessing their servants, the Ood. The Beast had also possessed a crew member named Toby Zed. The Doctor trapped the Beast by imprisoning it in the black hole and was joyfully reunited with Rose and the TARDIS. (DW: The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit)

Some time later, he and Rose defeated an Abzorbaloff. This was a creature from the planet Clom which is the sister planet of Raxacoricofallapatorius from whence the Slitheen family hails. The abzorbaloff had infiltrated LINDA (London Investigative 'N' Detective Agency) which was a social group following the adventures of the Doctor and attempting to find him. (DW: Love and Monsters)

He and Rose then travelled to 2012 to see the London Olympics. He met a girl named Chloe Webber who had been possessed by a lone Isolus. Chloe was trapping other children from her street in drawings to stop the Isolus from feeling lonely. After briefly being trapped in a drawing himself, along with the TARDIS, the Doctor ran with the Olympic torch to the stadium, lit the Olympic flame and then reunited with Rose. Whilst watching the firework display, the Doctor remarked to Rose that "a storm is coming..." (DW: Fear Her)

Separation from Rose
When the Doctor and Rose returned to present-day London, they found that the entire planet was being visited by beings believed to be ghosts. The Doctor tracked the signal to Torchwood Tower and was subsequently held prisoner by the Torchwood Institute. The Institute had been founded by Queen Victoria after they had left Scotland in the Victorian Era and its charter stated that the Doctor was their greatest alien enemy. He strongly opposed their use of "ghost shifts" for a power source, since it was ripping a hole between parallel worlds which increased in size with every "ghost shift". The Director of Torchwood One, Yvonne Hartman took the Doctor to examine the Sphere. The Sphere was the object that had originally caused the rift between the universes, and the location of this breach had decided the location of the Torchwood Tower. The Doctor pronounced the Sphere to be a "Void Ship" and advised it be sent back to where it came from. Later, three computer technicians (who were secretly under the control of Cybermen) restarted the ghost shift. This lead to the realization that the ghosts were actually Cybermen, coming through from the parallel world where the Doctor and Rose had left Mickey. As the Cyberman invasion of Earth began, the Void Ship opened, revealing Daleks (specifically the Cult of Skaro). The Doctor was visibly shocked to see the Daleks and was also horrified to discover that the Daleks had possession of a Time Lord prisoner ship, which they referred to as the "Genesis Ark".

The Genesis Ark was Time Lord technology in that, like the TARDIS, it was bigger on the inside. The Ark contained millions of Daleks that had been imprisoned by the Time Lords at the end of the Time War. In order to save both dimensions from annihilation and defeat the Daleks and Cybermen, the Doctor had to open the Void. This opening would suck anything covered in "Void stuff" into it. Realising that himself, Rose and the others were also covered in Void stuff, the Doctor sent Rose, against her will, to the parallel world, along with Mickey, Pete Tyler and her mother, where they all would be safe from the Void. However, Rose returned, refusing to leave the Doctor and knowing that in making her choice she would never see her family again. Together, the Doctor and Rose opened the Void and the Daleks and Cybermen were sucked in. The plan initially went smoothly, until Rose's lever malfunctioned, threatening to halt the process. Rose managed to secure the lever but couldn't hold on and was almost sucked into the Void, much to the Doctor's terror and despair. Rose was saved at the last second by her parallel father and taken back across to the parallel universe, forever separating her from the Doctor. The Doctor and Rose were able to meet one last time on Bad Wolf Bay in Norway; the Doctor orbiting a supernova for enough power to project an image through the last gap between the universes. The image of the Doctor had sound but they were not able to touch one another, though it did give them a several brief minutes to say goodbye. Rose told him that she was working for the parallel Earth's Torchwood and that her mother was three months pregnant. The Doctor told her that she'd been declared dead in his world since she had gone missing at The Battle of Canary Wharf. Rose then broke down in tears and told the Doctor that she loved him. He began to reply, getting as far as "And, I suppose, if it's my last chance to say it... Rose Tyler..." before fading away. Rose ran into her mother's arms and the Doctor was left standing alone in his TARDIS, tears streaming down his cheeks. (DW: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday)

A Noble meeting
Whilst he was grieving over Rose, a bride named Donna Noble, to the Doctor's shock, appeared inside the TARDIS during her wedding ceremony. The Doctor discovered the involvement of the ancient Racnoss and defeated them. After the Doctor's destruction of the Racnoss, and largely because of the Doctor's merciless treatment of them, Donna decided not to travel with him and left after telling the Doctor to "find someone." (DW: The Runaway Bride)

Martha Jones
The Doctor met Martha Jones, a London medical student, and, after defeating a Plasmavore on the Moon, invited her to travel with him in the TARDIS, they arrived in Shakespearian London and folied the Carrionites and discovered the mystery of Love Labours Won. He then met Queen Elizabeth who greeted the Doctor as an Arch enemy, he then broadened Martha's trip to one to the past and one to the future after being chased out of the time. (DW: Smith and Jones) He next landed on New Earth, which he had previously visited with Rose, he heard the final words of the Face of Boe: You are not alone. (DW: Gridlock) In 1930s New York City, the Doctor once again met and defeated the Cult of Skaro. (DW: Daleks in Manhattan) However, Dalek Caan survived. (DW: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End)



The Doctor hid from the Family of Blood, a family of aliens who wanted his timelord brain, by using a Chameleon Arch to transform himself mentally and physically into a human school teacher named John Smith, hiding completely his Time Lord self so that his alter ego had no recollection of the Doctor. John Smith subsequently fell in love, much to the disappointment of Martha, with the matron of the school, Joan Redfern and would have spent the rest of his life with her. However, the Doctor was forced to retake his Time Lord body to save the Earth from destruction, and sought suitable punishment for the Family of Blood. (DW: Human Nature/The Family of Blood)

Return of the Master
In Cardiff, where the Doctor had gone to "refuel" the TARDIS using the Cardiff rift, Captain Jack Harkness jumped onto and physically clung to the exterior of the TARDIS, hitching a ride to the planet Malcassairo in the very far distant future. On Malcassairo, the Doctor found Professor Yana, actually his most fearsome nemesis: The Master. The Master had been made human by another Chameleon Arch, however, Professor Yana opened the Chameleon Arch and once again became the Master. After being shot by the human Professor's assistant Chantho and facing imminent regeneration, the Master locked himself inside the Doctor's TARDIS and despite the pleas of his enemy, hijacked the ship and escaped, leaving the Doctor, Jack and Martha to die at the hands of the Futurekind. (DW: Utopia)

Using the human name of Harold Saxon, the Master made himself Prime Minister of Great Britain and invited an army of Toclafane to invade the world. (DW: The Sound of Drums) The Master imprisoned the Doctor for a year, during which time, he used his laser screwdriver to artificially age the Doctor 900 years, turning him into a small creature. The Master was later defeated by manipulation of his Archangel Network to the Doctor's own advantage. The Doctor displayed great powers during this period, using the psychic energy of the Earth to restore himself and manipulating it to grant him almost god-like powers. After disarming the Master with the telekinesis he had acquired from the psychic energy, the energy seemed to either dissipate or have been released. The Doctor then approached the Master and spoke the words the Master was terrified to hear: "I forgive you." The Master was shot soon afterward by his human wife, Lucy, who sought revenge for his treatment of her. Subsequently, the Doctor decided to attempt to rehabilitate the Master, planning to keep him a prisoner aboard the TARDIS. At the thought of becoming the Doctor's captive, the Master refused to regenerate and died for, supposedly, the final time in the arms of the Doctor, thus leaving the Doctor truly the last Time Lord in existence. The Master's death leaves the Doctor grief-stricken, yet, interestingly, as the scene of the Master's funeral pyre fades, an emerald ring drops from the fire and is picked up by a female hand. The Master's laughter can be heard above the music.

Following the events of the Year That Never Was, Martha leaves the Doctor, believing that she needed to live her own life and be with her family. Her family had been tortured at the hands of the Master and Martha felt partly responsible for their suffering. Not only that but, almost from the very first episode, Martha had fallen in love with the Doctor, however, she knew that her love was unrequited and that he only saw Rose when he looked at her. Martha explained this to the Doctor and they parted amicably. (DW: Last of the Time Lords)

(DW: Time Crash) Shortly afterward, he made a new friend, Astrid Peth, on board an alien spacecraft, the Titanic (modeled after the Earth original) but, just managing to save her before her death, could only save her by transforming her into a being of light. (DW: Voyage of the Damned)

A Noble Reunion
"That's how I see the universe. Every waking second, I can see: what is, what was, what could be, what must not. That's the burden of a Time Lord, Donna. And I'm the only one left."

- The Doctor.

While investigating Adipose Industries, the Doctor was reunited with Donna Noble, who finally accepted his invitation to travel with him. The Doctor was quick to rule out the possibility of a romantic involvement, giving their companionship a different dynamic to that of the ones the Doctor had previously experienced with Rose and Martha. (DW: Partners in Crime)

During their travels, the Doctor realized he was responsible for the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii, in order to avert world domination by the Pyroviles. (DW: The Fires of Pompeii) He also helped set free the enslaved Ood of the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire, (DW: Planet of the Ood) and disrupted a Sontaran stratagem on Earth, during which time he was reunited with Martha Jones. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem)

One of the most seminal events in the Doctor's life came when the TARDIS transported himself, Donna and Martha to Messaline, where his DNA was stolen and replicated to produce Jenny, his biological daughter. Initially critical of the girl due to her strong prediliction for violence, the Doctor came to love his daughter, and mourned her death at the hands of General Cobb. He overcame his desire for revenge, however, in order to help found a new society on the planet. (DW: The Doctor's Daughter)

Another important woman in the Doctor's life was introduced to him in The Library: Professor River Song, who claimed to know the Doctor from a distant point in his future. (DW: Silence in the Library) She displayed knowledge of the Doctor's real name, as she revealed prior to sacrificing herself to save the Data Ghosts trapped in the Library's core. The Doctor, inspired by her faith in him, was able to save River Song by preserving her ghost in the core's virtual reality. (DW: Forest of the Dead)

Shortly afterward he and Donna visited the leisure planet Midnight. Donna stayed at the leisure palace whilst the Doctor took a four-hour shuttle bus ride to the Sapphire Waterfall. The bus was subsequently attacked by an unknown creature which possessed one of the passengers, Sky Silvestry and eventually the Doctor.(DW: Midnight)

Universe in Danger
Next, the Doctor and Donna visit the Chinese-influenced planet of Shan Shen. Donna goes to get her fortune told but actually creates an alternate universe where she never met the Doctor. In this alternate universe she meets Rose who tells her two words to tell the Doctor. After Donna corrects the universe and is back in the fortune teller's tent her memory of the alternate universe begins to fade. The Doctor says that one of the Trickster's Brigade caused Donna to change the universe. Donna then tells the Doctor the two words: Bad Wolf. Donna asks what it means and the Doctor replies with The end of the Universe. (DW: Turn Left)

After finding out that Rose was in Donna's parallel universe in Turn Left he rushed back to Earth to check that everything was OK and if she was there. When he went back into the TARDIS with Donna, the whole Earth began to shake and when he opened the doors they were orbiting in space. Finding no clue as to where the Earth was he went to the Shadow Proclamation and learned that 27 planets including Earth had been stolen. With a bit of help from Harriet Jones, Captain Jack Harkness, Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Martha Jones, Mr Smith and Rose Tyler as well as Donna's mother and grandfather he was able to be contacted and managed to lock on to the location of the Earth. After a quick chat with his friends and Davros (who had been saved by Dalek Caan from the Last Great Time War) he landed on Earth. While talking to Donna, Donna pointed out that Rose was behind him. He turned around and the two began to run towards each other. Then a Dalek emerged from the shadows and fired at him. It was only a glancing blow but was enough to mortally wound him. He had to be taken back into the TARDIS where he (apparently) began to regenerate. (DW: The Stolen Earth)

Journey's End
Using his nearby severed hand, he used the regeneration to heal himself, but not to regenerate into a new form. He and his companions ended up having to face off with the Daleks and thanks to the new Doctor (see human Doctor ), born from his severed hand and the power left by the regeneration, and Donna who was accidentally made part-Time Lord becoming the DoctorDonna as the Ood foretold. DoctorDonna stopped Davros from destroying the Universe and the three Doctor's sent the planets back to their original time and space. However, he was horrified by the actions of the new Doctor, who wiped out the last remaining members of the Dalek race. The Children of Time used the TARDIS to tow Earth back to it's original time and space and the Doctor began to make sure that his "Children" were alright. He knew that the new Doctor was what he had once been like and decided to leave him on the parallel earth known as Pete's World to be with Rose. As a pure Time Lord and ever the self sacrificing hero, he was unable to say what he felt and would have said to Rose during the events of Doomsday. Though it broke his heart to do so, he knew that the new part human version of himself could give Rose what he could not, and that Rose was the only one who could make him better. The original Doctor then left Bad Wolf Bay, knowing that while painful for him, he in essence was finally able to get the girl.

Sadly, the tragedy continued as he was also forced to remove all memory of himself and anything he and Donna had done together as her Time Lord side started to overwhelm her human side. Upon bringing Donna home, he told her grandfather and mother that she must never be told what she had done and who she had been, as this would cause her death. The losses that day took a toll on the Doctor and once he left his best friend's house who could never know him again, he returned to traveling alone. The first three series' had ended with him being distracted by an unexpected new event, but this time nothing arrives to stop him from simply feeling sad. (DW: Journey's End)

Meeting the "Next Doctor"
An unknown length of time after leaving Donna, the Doctor traveled to London, Christmas Day 1851, the Doctor met a man calling himself 'the Doctor' and at first assumed him to be his future incarnation, however he was revealed to be a human man; Jackson Lake, a Maths teacher who had been attacked by the Cybermen, along with his family. Upon being attacked, he had picked up an Infostamp containing information about the Doctor in all his incarnations.  The firing of this information into his brain combined with the dissociative fugue from the loss of his wife and child in the attack led Lake to believe he was the Doctor.  Jackson and Rosita aided the Doctor in stopping the plot of the Cybermen and their ally, Mercy Hartigan. London was saved, Lake was reunited with his son, and invited the Doctor to share Christmas dinner with his new family (an offer which was at first denied, then accepted by the Doctor). (DW: The Next Doctor)

Other Travels
The Doctor once remarked to Agatha Christie that he had been to Belgium before, "looking for Charlemagne". Agatha Christie replied: "But Doctor, Charlemagne lived centuries ago", to which he responded: "I have a very good memory." There is a flashback to when the Tenth Doctor is in Belgium; he is trekking through the jungle carrying a machete, with arrows in a receptacle on his back (DW: The Unicorn and the Wasp). After Sally Sparrow's encounter with The Doctor, but before he meets her, she sees him running down the street her shop is on, and calls out to him. The Doctor is with Martha Jones, they both have receptacles carrying arrows on their backs and are running off to solve a problem involving "four things and a lizard". Sally gives The Doctor the means to save her in her past, but in his future (DW: Blink). Rose Tyler, when contemplating her life with The Doctor, shows a flashback where they are standing on a prehistoric-like planet (which could be the Earth in the past) watching dinosaurs fly past. He asks her how long she plans to stay with him; she replies "forever" (DW: Army of Ghosts).

Companions
As with previous incarnations, the Tenth Doctor has travelled with a number of companions, most notably Rose Tyler, whose loss had a profound impact on him. Others have included (in order) Mickey Smith, Martha Jones (who rejoined the Doctor on at least two occasions after leaving the TARDIS), Jack Harkness (former companion to the Ninth Doctor who rejoined the Tenth on at least two occasions), Donna Noble and Majenta Pryce. He also had opportunity to share at least two adventures with Sarah Jane Smith, companion to the Third and Fourth Doctors, and he also once briefly took on Rose's mother, Jackie Tyler as an unwilling TARDIS passenger-come-companion. He is known to have invited at least two individuals, Astrid Peth and Jenny, to be companions, but both died before they could join him. Others who have aided him in his adventures (even though they never travelled in the TARDIS) have included Harriet Jones, Jake Simmonds, Mrs. Moore, William Shakespeare, Tish Jones, Sally Sparrow, Agatha Christie, Jackson Lake and Rosita. He also reportedly travelled briefly with a female from the planet Gratt named Grayla, although he chose not to invite her to become a companion, a decision he later regretted. (IDW: The Whispering Gallery)

Personality
Like his predecessor, this Doctor was capable of boundless enthusiasm, though in his case often at inappropriate times. While many Doctors have intentionally flouted social conventions, the Tenth seems to be genuinely surprised when he is rude or uncouth. Charismatic and manic and with boundless energy, he retained and even exceeded his last incarnation's capacity for righteous anger, especially when Rose was threatened or at risk, as when the Wire stole her face. (DW: The Idiot's Lantern) When driven by anger or righteousness, he would act without hesitation to strike down those who opposed him; for example, he toppled the regime of Harriet Jones with just six well-chosen words after she committed what the Doctor considered mass murder (DW: The Christmas Invasion)

The Doctor also showed his anger when he gave each member of the Family of Blood an eternal punishment, fulfilling their wish for immortality in a twisted way. (DW: The Family of Blood) While he had resolved much of the survivor's guilt felt previously, he is beginning to feel his age and, behind the outward playfulness, he feels a deep loneliness. His keen sense of loss leads him to empathize with those who have also suffered.

There was an undeniable shadow cast over the jollity of the Doctor. He had a ruthlessness, bordering on arrogance that was almost eerie to behold. Beneath his youthful veneer, the Doctor is a very old man who has seen many terrible things; and in some matters, his patience and capability for mercy and compassion has worn out or diminished. His exuberant demeanor somewhat disappeared after the loss of Rose, and he became angrier and more sober. He was also never as open or caring towards Donna or Martha, being less inclined to hug them, suggesting that he never completely overcame his loss of Rose.

After meeting Agatha Christie and witnessing the events that lead to her infamous disappearance and amnesia, the Doctor theorizes that what kept her writing all of the years that followed was a desire to remember the events she had forgotten and makes a notable comparison to that desire to his compulsion to travel. This subtle remark suggests that the reason the Doctor travels is because he is trying to recapture memories that he has lost or that were taken from him.

The Doctor has a very hard time accepting defeat or failure, for example when he was unable to save Astrid he kicked a teleport, screaming "I can do anything!". (DW: Voyage of the Damned) Arguably this may be because he has seen so much destruction he feels driven to try to prevent it where possible, also River Song thought if he lost this trait the universe would become a darker place. (DW: Forest of the Dead)

He frequently gets into trouble because of his vast and loose sense of superiority (DW:Midnight) and provides his name (his chosen name, not his birth name) as a threat, which only rarely works, despite his apparent expectations (perhaps because so few species know of his existence).

The Doctor frequently ignores reproach; when companions point out he's committing horrible acts, he ignores them or changes the subject. The Doctor is willing to go to extreme lengths to keep the historic timeline from being disrupted and/or protect innocent civilizations, even to the point of having to cause deaths (DW: The Fires of Pompeii, etc.). However, as time went on, he became more hesitant to kill, choosing often to give his enemies a chance to surrender without suffering any harm. This is a change he attributes to Rose Tyler, telling her she helped him overcome a time in his life that was "full of blood and anger", eventually making him a "better man". (DW Journey's End)

Habits and Quirks
The Doctor made frequent reference to twentieth century pop culture, including the Ghostbusters theme (DW: Army of Ghosts), the song "Circle of Life" from The Lion King (DW: The Christmas Invasion), and one of Kylie Minogue's songs, "Never Too Late". (DW: The Idiot's Lantern) He had also read the Harry Potter books, saying that he cried after reading the seventh book (DW: The Shakespeare Code) Even though he knows so much of pop culture he has been shown to not understand certain remarks, such as being called a "science geek". (DW:The Lazarus Experiment) He's fond of rock and roll, trying to take Rose to see concerts by both Elvis Presley (DW: The Idiot's Lantern) and Ian Dury (DW: Tooth and Claw), and dresses in the manner of an indie Brit-pop musician. He wore trainers and faux reading glasses — both deliberate homages to his fifth incarnation. (DW: Time Crash) He often remarks that exotic technology or life is "beautiful" and is genuinely enthralled by such discoveries, sometimes to the extent that he places himself or his companions in danger. When this Doctor is faced with an occurrence that dumbfounds him he says, "What?" repeatedly increasing the confused expression on his face each time (He has said this a total of 10 times). While attempting to explain something he'll often interrupt himself with a "Well..." and further elaborate what it was he was talking about (see DW: Blink for an example).

Until they left his life, he continued his previous incarnation's habit of mildly abusing both Mickey and Jackie, though generally in a more obviously playful fashion.

The Doctor is also fond of the phrase "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry". He has said the phrase a total of 20 times. Another favoured phrase is "Allons-y!" which he has used 9 times to date. He also often responds "I'm always all right" even when all evidence points to the contrary (a response which the Seventh Doctor also used to deflect the same question). He has also been known to often refer to things as "brilliant", a variation on his previous incarnation's favourite exclamation, "Fantastic!". Soon after his regeneration, the Doctor discovered that his physical changes - specifically the new teeth - made it difficult for him to utter the catchphrase, though he eventually managed to do so (DW: The Christmas Invasion - deleted scene, although his successful utterance is in the broadcast version).

The Doctor has a stated fondness for "little shops", the gift stores usually found in hospitals and other public places. (DW: New Earth, Smith and Jones, Silence in the Library)

This incarnation of the Doctor relies heavily upon his sonic screwdriver, pushing it to limits not seen in previous incarnations and even chiding his fifth incarnation for going "hands free". (DW: Time Crash; a reference to the fifth Doctor's loss of the device in The Visitation) Other tools he uses frequently include psychic paper (also used by his predecessor) and, incongruously since he is not a medical doctor, a stethoscope (although the Doctor's stethoscope appears to have additional abilities; for example he used it to assist his phone in receiving a signal from the relocated Earth. (DW: The Stolen Earth)

Like previous incarnations, he appears to have the ability to carry a large and diverse number of objects in his pockets, stating once that they're similar to the TARDIS (Bigger on the inside)which is also shown in the Fourth Doctor's first episode "Robot" who produces several objects from his new apparel. (DW: The Runaway Bride) At one point he produces a wind-up mouse from a pocket. (DW: The Doctor's Daughter)

He also follows the trend of his immediate successors in displaying increasing skill for using the TARDIS, on several occasions even using it in the form of a standard spaceship rather than simply dematerializing it every time. (DW: The Runaway Bride and Partners in Crime) He is told by a future companion that he will one day be able to command the TARDIS by a click of his fingers and initially believes this to be nonsense, but later finds out that he does possess such abilities (probably signifying an increasingly powerful telepathic connection between the TARDIS and himself). (DW: Forest of the Dead)

He has taken to carrying a GSM cell phone with him; the number can be used to contact him anywhere in space and time. (DW: The Sontaran Strategem; The Stolen Earth) Like his previous incarnation did with Rose Tyler's "superphone", this incarnation has also taken to "upgrading" the mobile phones of his later companions in order to facilitate communication with their families and with the Doctor: both Martha Jones and Donna Noble's phones were so modified and, like Rose's mother, their close relatives were aware that they could communicate through time and space as a result. (DW: The Stolen Earth) The phone he carries is Martha Jones' superphone, given to him by her so she could contact him if need be, apparently he can be called using any standard phone. (DW: The Sontaran Strategem The Stolen Earth)

Body
This incarnation had brown eyes. He had a mole between his shoulder blades that he noticed post-regeneration that he was initially bothered by but quickly warmed to. (DW: Children in Need Special) On several occasions, Donna Noble remarked about his slender build. (DW: Partners in Crime, et al)

Grooming and hair
The Doctor seemed disappointed that his tenth incarnation was not "ginger" (red-headed), but has worn his own dark brown hair in various ways throughout the series: unstyled (DW: The Christmas Invasion), a fifties-style quiff in. (DW: The Idiot's Lantern), and flattened forwards in (DW: The Runaway Bride)

Clothes
This Doctor has had several variations of dress.

He has been seen wearing a dark brown (with blue pinstripes) suit (DW: The Christmas Invasion through Doomsday) A blue (with red pinstripes) suit (DW: Smith and Jones through Journey's End) later given to his "clone", and on rare occasions, a tuxedo. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen, The Age of Steel, The Lazarus Experiment, Voyage of the Damned)

To go with his suits he usually wore a shirt and a tie (otherwise, open-shirted with a light grey t-shirt/vest (DW: Tooth and Claw), (DW: Planet of the Ood), a red-hued t-shirt. (DW: 42) or a black t-shirt ((DW: Midnight) Both brown and blue suits are often accompanied by a light brown overcoat (which he claims was given to him by Janis Joplin). It was revealed in the series three DVD commentary by Russel T Davies that the brown suit was worn in the past and the blue in the future, this is incorrect as he only wore the brown in the second and on occasion such as Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks which are set in the past he wore the blue version.

The blue suit was obtained by the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor upon his generation and nakedness in the TARDIS and was last seen being worn by this clone Doctor in Pete's World (DW: Journey's End); however there is an unconfirmed report that suggests the Doctor may own more than one of these suits. (DW: Music of the Spheres). The recent revelation of images from the filming of the 2nd 2009 special, have shown the Doctor wearing the Blue Suit however.

His choice of footwear was trainers, in colours ranging from cream (to go with his brown suit), black (for wearing with a tuxedo and on one occasion with his brown suit in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit) or burgundy to go with the blue suit). Another part of the Doctor's attire was a pair of dark tortoise-shell rectangular frame glasses which he called "brainy specs". Although he has been seen to pet them on numerous occasions, he once confessed that he didn't need them, they just made him look smarter. (DW: Time Crash)

Alternate timeline
In the parallel timeline known as Donna's World, this incarnation of the Doctor was the last, as he was killed as a result of his defeating the Empress of the Racnoss without the aid of Donna Noble (who in this timeline never met the Doctor). His former companion, Rose Tyler, along with the alternate timeline version of Donna, eventually restored the original timeline. (DW: Turn Left)

Key Life Events

 * Still in the first 15 hours of his new regeneration, the Doctor defeated the Sycorax but lost his right hand in the process. He immediately regrew the lost limb, but the original hand (unknown to him at the time) was later obtained by Captain Jack Harkness. The severed limb was preserved, it was later obtained by The Master, using it's genetic code to age The Doctor and later reobtained by the Doctor who carried it in the TARDIS for a time before it was used to stave off a regeneration and later grew into the clone Tenth Doctor. (DW: The Christmas Invasion; TW: Everything Changes; DW: Utopia (TV story), The Sound of Drums,Last of the Time Lords, DW: The Doctor's Daughter and DW: Journey's End)


 * Met Queen Victoria while fighting a Werewolf. He was knighted 'Sir Doctor of TARDIS' by the Queen, but was then named an enemy of the state and technically banished from Britain. Unknown to him at the time, his encounter with Victoria sparked the creation of the Torchwood Institute. (DW: Tooth and Claw)


 * Reunited with Sarah Jane Smith and K-9. At Mickey's request, and Sarah Jane's belief that the Doctor needed a 'Smith' on board, the Doctor rewards Mickey for his help by allowing him to become a companion. (DW: School Reunion)


 * Met Madame de Pompadour at several times in her life and shares a romantic bond with her. He is affected by her death. (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace)


 * Encountered the Cybus Cybermen for the first time on a parallel Earth. He also saw Mickey off on the same planet. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel)


 * Faced the Cult of Skaro and defeated them, as well as the Cybus Cybermen by sending them into The Void. He was also unwillingly separated from Rose, who also remains trapped on a parallel Earth. He is prevented from expressing his true feelings towards Rose in their final meeting. His loss of Rose has a longstanding emotional impact on him. (DW: Army of Ghosts / Doomsday)
 * Met Donna Noble for the first time. Commits an act of genocide by destroying the children of the Empress of the Racnoss. Invites Donna to travel with him, but is refused. (DW: The Runaway Bride)


 * At Royal Hope Hospital, medical student Martha Jones joined the Doctor on his travels. (DW: Smith and Jones)


 * Took Martha to New Earth, rescued the surviving New Humans and Catkind who were unknowingly trapped in the undercity of the planet after an epidemic, and heard the Face of Boe's last words: "You Are Not Alone". (DW: Gridlock)


 * Traveled to New York City during the Great Depression, once again met the Cult of Skaro and defeated all but Dalek Caan,who escaped using an emergency temporal shift. (DW: Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks)


 * Used Chameleon Arch to become human in to avoid The Family, and spent several months as John Smith. John Smith met and fell in love with Joan Redfern. (DW: Human Nature / The Family of Blood)


 * Discovered he was not the last surviving Time Lord when he found the Master living in the far future, disguised as a human. He also reunited with both Jack Harkness and his severed hand. (DW: Utopia)


 * Spends a year prematurely aged and held captive by the Master, during which time Martha undertakes a mission on his behalf. Suffers the loss of the only other Time Lord known to have survived the Time War when the Master commits suicide by refusing to regenerate. (DW: The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords.


 * Met his fifth incarnation. (DW: Time Crash)


 * Reunited with Donna while facing Miss Foster. She asked to join him in his travels. Unknown to him, Rose Tyler returns to Earth only a few blocks away. (DW : Partners in Crime)


 * Caused the creation of his daughter, Jenny on the planet Messaline, but erroneously believed her to be dead when she was shot while saving his life. (DW : The Doctor's Daughter)


 * Met River Song, a woman from his future who knows his true name and apparently married him. Discovered that his abilities are evolving beyond what Time Lords are usually capable of. (DW : Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead)


 * Moments after finally being reunited with Rose, he was shot by a Dalek and began tenth regeneration, but managed to halt it by projecting the energy into his severed hand contained within a jar which was found and kept for years by Captain Jack in the TORCWHOOD Hub. This caused another Doctor, the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor, to be born from the energy in the hand when it was in danger of being destroyed with Donna and the TARDIS. Defeats Davros who may or may not have emergancy temporal shifted himself out of the explosion (DW : The Stolen Earth / Journey's End)


 * Returned Rose to her alternate earth, in the company of the Biological Meta-Crisis Doctor and is again unable to tell her his feelings toward her. Removed Donna Noble's memories of their time together to prevent her death and left her behind on Earth. (DW: Journey's End)

Other information
To date there have been three intervals in which the Doctor is left without a companion and traveled on his own for an unknown length of time, or perhaps traveled with unchronicled companions: between Donna Noble's initial invitation to join the TARDIS and his first meeting with Martha (DW: The Runaway Bride, Smith and Jones); after dropping Bayldon Copper off on Earth and his reunion with Donna (DW: Voyage of the Damned and Partners in Crime) and between the departure of Donna and his other companions and (at least) his encounter with the Cybermen (DW: Journey's End/ The Next Doctor).

At one point the Doctor travelled with a green-skinned young alien named Majenta Pryce (from DWM: Thinktwice on) and also reunited with on-again, off-again companion Maxwell Edison who had previously shared adventures with the Doctor's Fifth and Eighth incarnations. (DWM: The Stockbridge Child)

There is a possibly apocryphal account that immediately after leaving Donna in the care of her mother and grandfather, that the Doctor experienced an adventure within the TARDIS' Matrix in which he met with, and interacted with, manifestations of all nine of his former incarnations. During this incident, he stated that, through his life, the companion he regretted leaving behind the most was his granddaughter, Susan. (IDW: The Forgotten)

Casting
Before taking on the part, David Tennant had a lot of interest in Doctor Who and had appeared in a number of Big Finish Productions audio plays. Russell T Davies had earlier cast him as the title role in the television serial Casanova.

Costuming
David Tennant described his costume "geek chic". The blue suit debuted in, Smith and Jones, and both suits were worn from his adventures with Martha Jones onwards, until the fourth series finale (DW: Journey's End) in which the Meta-Crisis Doctor donned the blue suit and was left in a parallel universe with Rose Tyler, although the Doctor was subsequently seen wearing it in Music of the Spheres. According to an interview on Parkinson, David Tennant and Russell T Davies got the idea for the Tenth Doctor's costume from an outfit Jamie Oliver had worn on Parkinson just after David had taken the role.

Relinquishing of the role
David Tennant announced during the acceptance of the National Television Award for his role as the Tenth Doctor on 29th October 2008 that he will not return in this role for the fifth series, currently scheduled to be broadcast in 2010. He will make his final appearance in the role in the last of the television specials that are scheduled to be aired in 2009 and early 2010.

Matt Smith is set to replace David Tennant in 2010.