Doctor Who: Will David Tennant return?

Doctor Who fans were delighted when David Tennant made a triumphant return to the BBC series for its 60th anniversary, reprising his role as the 14th incarnation of The Doctor.

Viewers expected the final episode of the anniversary specials to end with Tennant regenerating into Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor, marking the actor passing the baton onto his successor, but something different happened — there was a bigeneration, which meant there were two Doctors at the same time.

Read more: Everything you need to know about Doctor Who's Christmas special The Church on Ruby Road

Tennant's Doctor remained on Earth with Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and his family, whilst Gatwa stepped into his Tardis to begin his own adventures across time and space. But it begged the question: if Tennant's Time Lord is still around does that mean fans will see him again one day?

Will David Tennant return to Doctor Who?

With Tennant's Doctor still around there is every possibility of the actor reprising his role in future episodes, and his first regeneration as the Tenth Doctor didn't stop him from doing so before so why would it not be possible now? Narratively speaking, the door has been left open for Tennant to return because of the bigeneration twist.

Tennant himself has reflected on the possibility of coming back, again, in a conversation with SFX in which he said: "I think it would be disingenuous to imagine that I might never be asked again because history would indicate that it was always a possibility. So, I’m not going to say never because I don’t think anyone would believe me.

"That doesn’t mean I know that I ever will. But I suppose until I can’t run down a corridor it’s always a possibility. But I promise to have no plans."

What Russell T Davies has said about David Tennant returning to Doctor Who

Following the release of The Giggle, Davies spoke of the possibility in the companion show Doctor Who Unleashed in which he said that Tennant "is parked" for now.

Read more: Russell T Davies opens up about transgender representation in Doctor Who

"For once, we’ve got a happy Doctor who is no longer saving the universe, but is parked with Donna for a happy life, while the Doctor – which is always the next Doctor, and that’s always true of Doctor Who, the Doctor is the next Doctor – is out amongst the stars," he said.

At a press event promoting The Church on Ruby Road, the forthcoming Christmas special starring Gatwa and Millie Gibson, Davies reiterated that the show will be focusing on their story now, and so viewers shouldn't expect Tennant to return anytime soon.

When asked about the possibility of the actor coming back one day, Davies joked: "I'm sorry it's the age of Ncuti now, so it's David who?"

The showrunner then added: "No plans, genuinely, yet because it's a busy TARDIS. These two are going to just sail across the universe and capture your hearts. So it's time to look at these two."

Read more: Doctor Who: The 60 best stories

That being said, Davies also spoke in the Doctor Who podcast of how the bigeneration twist in The Giggle meant that every incarnation of the Time Lord returned in their own timeline: "I think all of the Doctors came back to life with their individual TARDISes, the gift of the Toymaker, and they're all out there travelling round in what I'm calling a Doctor verse.

"Sylvester McCoy woke up in a drawer, in a morgue, in San Francisco… and Jon Pertwee woke up on the floor of the laboratory."

Doctor Who returns with a Christmas special which airs on Christmas Day at 5.55pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.