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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: April 18, 1971
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: If one were looking for a fast track towards earning the devotion of geeks and genre fans the world over, you could do worse than signing on to the Harry Potter franchise, the Marvel universe, and Doctor Who. And while he didn’t do so in that exact order, that’s basically what David Tennant did. It’s not like he was the breakout star of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire or anything, but his performance as the slithery Barty Crouch Jr. gave him an entry point into the world of geek fandom, and that would end up serving him well when, in 2005, he was announced as the Tenth Doctor in the long-running, much-beloved sci-fi/fantasy series Doctor Who.
And it’s not like Tennant was merely the next in a long line of Doctors. Tennant was the focal point of a hugely well-received reboot of the series. Technically, Doctor Who was revived in early 2005 with English actor Christopher Eccleston (currently playing Matt on The Leftovers) as the Ninth Doctor, but he only lasted one series. So really, it was Tennant, who stepped in next and stayed in the role for five years before being replaced by Matt Smith (currently of The Crown), who reaped the windfall of fan devotion and became beloved.
After Doctor Who, Tennant made a series of canny career choices, chief among them being the role of detective Alec Hardy on the British crime series Broadchurch. but perhaps his best post-Doctor role has been as the sinster, charismatic villain Kilgrave in Netflix’s Marvel series Jessica Jones. Playing a manipulative, mind-controlling, yet decidedly human monster gave Tennant no end of scenes to steal in one of the better performances of a villain in the recent history of Marvel productions.
So happy birthday, David Tennant. You may have the eternal devotion of some of the most rabid and loyal fans on Earth, but … well, now you’ve got us too.
