David Tennant Teases High-Concept Doctor Who Return: "Need Quite A Budget To Do This On The Telly”

Published Aug 29, 2026, 4:30 PM EDT Adam has been writing in the entertainment news space for over a decade. Beginning his career of covering film and TV at CinemaBlend, he has also appeared on The Flash Podcast and done several radio spots. David Tennant has returned to Doctor Who, and his latest story for the franchise would take a sizable budget to pull off on TV. After leading Doctor Who as the Tenth Doctor from late 2005 to the beginning of 2010, Tennant reprised that incarnation of the adventuring Time Lord for the 50th anniversary special, then returned as the Fourteenth Doctor for the three 60th anniversary specials. Along with those appearances, Tennant has also participated in many Doctor Who Big Finish audio productions. The actor has a new batch of these Tenth Doctor-focused projects coming out, and he teased how massive in scale the opening story is, even by Doctor Who standards. In an interview with Doctor Who Magazine (via Radio Times), Tennant discussed how he’s co-starring in the opening three episodes of Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures vol. 4 with The Sarah Jane Adventures’ Anjli Mohindra, who’s reprising Rani Chandra. He described the first episode, titled “The Hidden,” as “quite high-concept” and “a clever bit of writing,” adding: A script like this needs a broad, shifting fantastical canvas - you'd need quite a budget to do this on the telly. As it starts, it feels a bit like an old-school Doctor and UNIT story where the Doctor is going to meet some Earth scientist who's doing something he positively disagrees with, but actually in the end that initial human with a plan becomes… The quote cuts off there, so Doctor Who fans will have to wait until next year to fill in the rest of Tennant’s statement. The Tenth Doctor and Rani previously crossed paths in The Sarah Jane Adventures season 3 episode “The Wedding of Sarah Jane.” Rani later met Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor in the season 4 episode “Death of The Doctor,” which also saw the return of Third Doctor companion Jo Grant. Mohindra also appeared in the Doctor Who season 12 episode as Queen Skithra, who clashed with Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor. MovieStillsDB “The Hidden” begins with Rani running into the Tenth Doctor at the start of her journalism career. Just like Sarah Jane did with the Third and Fourth Doctors, Rani joins him in the TARDIS as his companion. Mohindra and Tennant star in the first three episodes of Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures vol. 4 together, where their characters will, as described in the official synopsis, “investigate cryptids in modern-day Cumbria, discover a crisis at the coronation of Elizabeth I, and crash the set of a 1970s sci-fi show.” Previously, Catherine Tate reprised Tenth Doctor companion Donna Noble in The Tenth Doctor Adventures Vol.1 and 3, while Billie Piper came back as predecessor Rose Tyler in Vol. 2. Additionally, Alex Kingston reprised River Song, whom the Tenth Doctor met for the first time in season 4’s “Silence in the Library,” in the 2020 trilogy The Tenth Doctor and River Song. Then, 2022’s Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions featured the return of older Doctor Who companions Leela (Louise Jameson), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton), and Ace (Sophie Aldred) as special guest stars. Big Finish kicks off Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures vol. 4 with “The Hidden” in August 2027, with the 11 remaining episodes releasing every other month. There’s no release date set yet for Doctor Who season 16 following the cancelation of the 2026 Christmas special, and the exits of showrunner Russell T. Davies and the Bad Wolf production company. Release Date 2024 - 2025-00-00 Network BBC One Directors Alex Pillai, Peter Hoar, Ben Chessell, Julie Anne Robinson, Jamie Donoughue, Amanda Brotchie, Dylan Holmes Williams Cast Millie Gibson Ruby Sunday Writers Steven Moffat, Pete McTighe, Kate Herron, Inua Ellams, Juno Dawson Franchise(s) Doctor Who / Whoniverse Creator(s) Donald Wilson, Sydney Newman