Culturess’ Official Ranking of Doctors in Doctor Who
By Ani Bundel
Image via BBC
2. Tenth Doctor: David Tennant
There was no way Tennant wasn’t in the top two of this list, and anyone who tries to tell you different is selling something. The one and only regeneration of The Doctor to ever best Tom Baker in a “Most Popular” poll, Tennant’s fine Shakespearean performance skills mixed perfectly with Davies’ idea of the dashing, romantic, unobtainable figure Davies was looking for. It made Tennant the household star he is today.
Tennant was lucky, as all of our top three Doctors are, in his companion pairing. Rose is one of the top five companions of all time. It doesn’t matter if you shipped them or not. Their chemistry was undeniable. It says a lot about Tennant’s performance that he could work as well with Rose as he could with Donna Noble. But the real test came after Donna, during the Doctor Who “gap year” where Tennant did a series of companionless specials. The Doctor is an easier character to play with a companion. It gives the actor (and hopefully one day, the actress) a straight man to play the wacky off of. That Tennant’s performance was able to hold without that person to bounce off of says so much about his abilities, and proves that his performance was one of the greats.