Covent Garden’s Duchess Theatre was stuffed to the rafters with Who fans, most of them rubbing shoulders with your common-or-garden Radio 4 listener (“Oh, I’ve never seen the show,” one lady told SFX in the queue, ”I just wanted to watch how they record things for the radio!”). From the moment Tate flapped onto the stage with a cheeky, “TARDIS? Am I bovvered?” it was clear the Who fans would have the upper hand all evening, although the conversation also took in everything from Tennant’s love of Space Dust (why were sweets better in the ’70s?) to his hatred of astrology (seriously, never tell Tennant that Libra is rising or he’ll stuff the comment somewhere the stars don’t shine).
Dressed in a snazzy suit with a killer pair of clumpy brown boots, Tennant was happy to admit to his Christmas co-star that “Mark Gatiss nudged me out of the closet” – with his Doctor Who love, we hasten to add – and that finding another fan of current chart faves The Proclaimers means you can “sit in a corner and fanboy all over each other.” Now there’s an image. “When I was wee I watched the telly,” Tennant declared in one of his more serious moments. “It captivated me. Shows like Doctor Who…” Cue cheering.
Chain Reaction will air later in the year as part of a series in which one guest gets interviewed, before taking on interviewing duties themselves the week after (“tag-teaming”, as the Beeb’s publicity blurb put it, much to the guests’ amusement). Until then, try to imagine what on Earth would make Catherine Tate announce that all Doctor Who fans smell of Marmite...
Jayne Nelson
Don't forget you can read about the new series of Doctor Who in the latest issue of SFX , on sale now!
