David Tennant

Off Camera with Sam Jones

offcamera

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Off Camera

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2019

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When David Tennant was a child in Scotland, he spent his free time running around the back garden pretending to be characters from the TV shows he loved. In honor of his favorite show, Doctor Who, his grandmother knit him a multi-colored scarf to wear, just like his favorite Doctor, as he let his imagination run wild.During that time, David realized he wanted to become an actor—he just happened to live in a place devoid of actors. His parents were pushing him towards a more practical, stable career, but David was having none of it. “Becoming an actor was something I was very set on, and it was an idea that grew up alongside me as I began to understand more of what being an actor was. I never wavered from it.” At 17, David got into drama school, and the world opened up for him as he met like-minded people. His dream slowly became a reality.Between his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, his work in shows like Broadchurch, and most recently, Good Omens, David has amassed a large body of work on stage and on screen. Of course, his biggest claim to fame in the U.K. was his role as the tenth iteration of the Doctor in Doctor Who. If fate didn’t get him that role, then perhaps it’s because he’d been preparing for it his entire life.David joins Off Camera to talk about the self-critic that always seeks to undermine him, why losing your anonymity feels a bit like being flayed, and the retirement speech he prepares as a backup in case he forgets his lines on stage.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey folks Sam Jones here.
0:06.0	Welcome to another edition of Off-camera, the show where I get to talk to iconic, creative, curious artists, and find out how they got that way and in this episode I sit down with actor David Tenant
0:17.6	When David Tenant was a child in Scotland he spent his free time running around the back garden
0:22.4	pretending to be characters from TV shows he loved.
0:25.0	In honor of his favorite show, Dr. Who, his grandmother knit him a multi-colored scarf to wear,
0:31.0	just like the doctor, and he let his imagination run wild.
0:35.0	During those times, David came to the realization he wanted to become an actor,
0:39.0	even though he didn't know any actors, or really even understand how one goes about becoming an
0:43.7	actor. His parents were pushing him towards a more practical, stable career, but
0:47.8	David was having none of it. As he says, I was very set on it, and I never wavered from it.
0:54.2	At 17, David got into drama school, becoming the youngest student in his class, and the world opened
1:00.0	up for him.
1:01.4	After his education and some moderate success in Scotland, David went to
1:05.1	London to find out if he could make it in the big leagues and he became one of the
1:08.8	youngest actors ever admitted to the Royal Shakespeare Company. Apparently he knew what he was doing.
1:14.0	Though it never felt like that to him,
1:16.0	to this day he feels like he's going to be found out as a fraud.
1:19.0	As he describes it, fear motivates everything I do.
1:23.0	It's a constant engine.
1:24.6	There's always this demon on my shoulder
1:26.3	that is saying, you can't do this.
1:28.8	Between his work at the Royal Shakespeare Company,
	...

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