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David Tennant 'could stay as Doctor Who until 2011'

12/10/2008

David Tennant may extend his Doctor Who contract until 2011, according to tabloid reports.

The Scottish actor was thought to likely to step away from the Tardis after filming specials next year, but the News of the World claims the 37-year-old is considering a new contract.

"The BBC is determined to make sure David doesn't go without a fight," an inside source was quoted as saying. "He is an integral part of the series."

Tennant is currently playing the lead role in the Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) production of Hamlet, meaning that the fifth series of Doctor Who will not be seen until 2010, with two specials in 2009.

He recently earned rave reviews for his comedic turn in a new production of Love's Labour's Lost.

Though the length of Tennant's tenure as the Time Lord is not yet known, Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies has suggested that rising British actor Russell Tovey would be a suitable replacement.

Tovey, 26, made his breakthrough as Rudge in Alan Bennett's The History Boys, starring in the West End, Broadway and screen versions of the popular play, and also appeared in the Doctor Who Christmas special.

And email exchanges between Davies and journalist Benjamin Cook revealed the former's belief in Tovey's talent.

An email penned in June 2007 - serialised in the Times newspaper in September this year - reveals that Tovey joining the Christmas special cast as Midshipman Frame was Davies' "favourite casting of the lot".

"He's going to be huge, that man," he added.

"He's amazing. I think I'd make him the eleventh Doctor."