David Tennant responds to 'interesting observation' about his sideburns

BAFTAs host David Tennant has responded to an online theory about his sideburns.

During a pre-award interview with This Morning, host Alison Hammond asked the Doctor Who star about his sideburns.

"What’s your sideburn policy? They appear to be sized in direct proportion to your characters’ confidence," she teased.

David replied, "That’s a fascinating observation, which I don’t think has any truth behind it, but it’s making me wonder."

Fans continued to speculate that his sideburns were in direct correlation to the character he was playing.

"Fright Night’s Peter Vincent – long and bushy, confident vampire killer. The Doctor in Doctor Who – long and pointy, charismatic and charming. Broadchurch’s DI Alec Hardy – beard, no sideburns, introverted and suspicious," theorised one fan online.

David laughed about the speculation, saying, "I don’t think you’re going to write a doctoral thesis based on that evidence. It’s very thin evidence, at most. I grew sideburns for Doctor Who because, back then, I was worried I was a bit young for it and I thought they slightly aged me. Which, of course, I then had to recreate recently when I’m almost certainly too old for it."

He added, "I guess increasingly I am unshaven, in which case you don’t really have to worry about sideburns because they’re part of something else. Whatever length my sideburns are on the night of the BAFTAs has no reflection on how I’m treating the BAFTAs."