Yahoo News Doctor Who almost cast a different companion before Donna Noble returned
Doctor Who star David Tennant has revealed just how close the show came to casting a different companion before Catherine Tate returned as Donna Noble.
Donna was at the centre of the 2006 Christmas special 'The Runaway Bride'. Tate would later reprise her role for the 2008 series, but Russell T Davies revealed in the book The Writer's Tale that he had "an actress in mind" for a planned companion named Penny.
Tate is the latest guest on David Tennant Does a Podcast With..., and during her appearance, Tennant shared that the show was ready to make the actress an offer because they didn't expect Tate to say yes to a return.
"You did this one episode and then you came back as a regular, which none of us were expecting [you] to say yes to," Tennant told Tate.
"There was another actress lined up. I mean, she doesn’t know this. The thing was, 'Julie Gardner, the executive producer, she’s going to have lunch with Cathy. She’s going to ask her if she’ll come back for a whole series. Obviously she won’t, so on Monday, we’re sending out the offer to play this character'.
"There was a character breakdown and everything. It was such a formality that they were going to."
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Tate recalled meeting with Gardner, and said that she was shocked at the time to be invited back.
"My jaw genuinely dropped open, because at no point was I expecting her to say that," she said. "I just was not expecting it, and I thought it would be a really good thing to do."
Doctor Who airs on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US.
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