Jodie Whittaker’s time as the Thirteenth Doctor ended nearly a full year ago, but rather than regenerate into Ncuti Gatwa’s forthcoming iteration of The Doctor, “The Power of The Doctor” ended with David Tennant, who previously starred in Doctor Who as the Tenth Doctor, taking her spot. Now officially classified as the Fourteenth Doctor, Tennant will star in this fall’s three episodes celebrating the show’s 60th anniversary, and he’ll be paired back up with Catherine Tate’s Donna Noble. Russell T. Davies, who’s back to show running Doctor Who for the 60th anniversary and Gatwa’s first season, has now shared why he decided to bring Donna and a Tennant-played Doctor back together.
Russell T. Davies originally launched the Doctor Who revival in 2005, which first starred Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, then he oversaw all of Tennant’s era until they both departed in 2010. The Doctor/Donna pairing was primarily spotlighted in Season 4, and while speaking with EW, the showrunner explained that his reasoning for reuniting these two stems from both plot-related reasons and simply wanting to see Tennant and Tate play off each other again after more than a decade:
I realized that there was third act to be written, and it was so much fun writing it. On a really simple level, it's working with two of the best actors in the world. I love them. I love them as friends. I love their presence. I'm really interested to push the Doctor and Donna into things they've never done before.
Catherine Tate debuted as Donna Noble in Doctor Who’s 2006 Christmas special “Doomsday,” where she was a bride mysteriously teleported from her wedding into The Doctor’s TARDIS. By the end of the special, Donna declined to travel with The Doctor, but she ended up regretting this decision in the years to follow. Fortunately, they crossed paths again in the Season 4 premiere, “Partners in Crime,” and by the end of that episode, Donna didn’t hesitate to become his companion, with the two of them sharing a strong platonic relationship, a sharp contrast from the romantic feelings previous companions Rose Tyler and Martha Jones had for the Tenth Doctor.
Unfortunately, the events of Season 4’s finale resulted in Donna’s memories of The Doctor being erased, as if she ever remembered him, her mind would “burn up.” As such, although Tate reprised Donna for the two-parter “The End of Time,” which bid farewell to the Tenth Doctor and ended with him regenerating into Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor, the characters never directly crossed paths. But with the 60th anniversary, evidently something’s changed, as Donna will come into contact with the Fourteenth Doctor and eventually recover her memories of Ten without her mind being shattered.
Why and how has that happened? That’s hard to say for now, but it paves the way for Russell T. Davies to tell this “third act,” seemingly implying that this will definitely be the last time we see them together. Fingers crossed this reunion doesn’t end on a tragic note like Season 4 did for these two. But David Tennant and Catherine Tate aren’t the only familiar faces who are back.
The cast of Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary episodes, titled “The Star Beast,” “Wild Blue Yonder” and “The Giggle,” includes Jacqueline King’s Sylvia Noble (Donna’s mother), Karl Collins’ Shaun Temple (Donna’s husband) and the late Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott (Donna’s grandfather). The newcomers include Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble (Donna and Shaun’s daughter), Ruth Madly as Shirley Anne Bingham and Neil Patrick Harris as a mysterious character Russell T. Davies has described as “the greatest enemy the Doctor has ever faced.” And, of course, the specials will lead to the Fourteenth Doctor regenerating into Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor.
Doctor Who fans living outside of the United Kingdom and Ireland will need a Disney+ subscription to watch the 60th anniversary specials and future episodes. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more coverage on this timey-wimey show, and consult our 2023 TV schedule for details on other programming arriving later in the year.
