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Why Doctor Who will regenerate Catherine Tate’s career
One of our finest comic actresses deserves better than The Nan Movie or Hard Cell. Will a trip in the Tardis erase our memories of both?

Why Doctor Who will regenerate Catherine Tate’s career

Another Sunday, another surprise Doctor Who announcement. After last weekend’s unveiling of Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa as the latest star of Doctor Who came shock news that the beloved Tardis double act of David Tennant and Catherine Tate will be back next year. 

Returning showrunner Russell T Davies hasn’t officially started work yet but within a week, he’s injected more excitement and mystery into the BBC sci-fi franchise than current incumbent Chris Chibnall managed in five years. 

The popular pair – who played the Tenth Doctor and companion Donna Noble during the Noughties – have reunited to shoot scenes due to air in 2023 as part of the show’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Their comeback has been warmly welcomed by Whovians. It’s good news for Tate’s flatlining career, too. Does she look bovvered? Yes, she does actually. 

Tate is one of our finest comic actresses and, by rights, should be a far bigger star than she is. Yet she’s never quite delivered on the promise of her Noughties pomp. Back then, The Catherine Tate Show was nominated for Baftas and Emmys. “Bovvered”, the refrain of her bolshy teen character Lauren Cooper, became so ubiquitous that it was named Word Of The Year in 2006 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary.

Yet since then, Tate has steadily slipped from the public view, becoming the forgotten woman of TV comedy. She chose to concentrate on straight acting roles, voice work and stage plays – always acclaimed but relatively under the radar. One-offs and occasional cameos aside, her biggest TV role was across the Pond as ex-pat Essex girl Nellie Bertram in the US version of The Office.

Catherine Tate as Doctor Who's Runaway Bride, DonnaCredit: BBC

Last month came another Tate turkey: Netflix mockumentary series Hard Cell, set in a women’s prison with Tate playing multiple roles. Again, it arrived with little fanfare. Again, it was widely panned. It’s all been a bit of a comedown for a woman once hailed by Russell T Davies as “one of Britain’s greatest talents”.

The Doctor Who gossip mill has been rife with rumours about a potential return for the two Ts. Both actors have dodged questions in recent weeks. Neither ever quite cut their ties with the wider “Whoniverse”. Tennant returned to star alongside Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor (and the late John Hurt’s War Doctor) in 2013’s 50th anniversary special. He’s also continued to play the Doctor in Big Finish audio adventures and computer games.

Tate’s gobby secretary with a heart of gold returned for audio dramas alongside Tennant. However, while her co-star’s screen career has remained buoyant – he’s clocked up successes such as Des, Staged, Broadchurch, Good Omens, Marvel’s Jessica Jones and Around the World in 80 Days – Tate’s has unfortunately fallen into a trough. 

Catherine Tate in 2008Credit: Andrew Crowley

No wonder she’s agreed to reprise her Doctor Who role. She needs Donna back in her life. Her chemistry with Tennant always crackled. The Donna character blossomed from comic relief into the Doctor’s “best friend”, a cult heroine who defeated the Daleks and saved the world. "For one brief, shining moment,” said the Doctor, "she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe.” It’s a sentence that could apply to Tate too. A return to the Tardis could kickstart her second coming. 

Might it be seen as a backwards step? First the BBC brought back the former showrunner, now they’re turning to an old Doctor and ex-companion. I’d argue that it’s a canny, commercially shrewd move. If the show is struggling, as it has been in recent years, why not wheel out the big guns? 

Tennant is an award-winning TV favourite with an established fanbase. Despite her recent travails, Tate remains a household name. The beauty of having a shape-shifting time traveller as your protagonist is that there are no rules. You can take advantage by resetting and rewinding. 

Catherine Tate in The Nan MovieCredit: Bernard Walsh

The Tennant-Tate pairing presided over perhaps the peak era of “Nu Who” – critically acclaimed, successful in the ratings (it was watched by twice as many viewers as today) and still fondly remembered by fans. If Doctor Who can sign them up and ensure it makes narrative sense, their return is a no-brainer. They parted ways in 2008 when the Doctor was forced to wipe Donna’s memory to save her life. Timey-wimey trickery will presumably now bring them back together.  

As Russell T Davies says: “It looks impossible . First, we announce a new Doctor, and then an old Doctor, along with the wonderful Donna. What on earth is happening? Maybe this is a missing story. Or a parallel world. Or a dream, or a trick, or a flashback. The only thing I can confirm is that it’s going to be spectacular, as two of our greatest stars reunite for the battle of a lifetime.” 

Considering her recent output, being hailed as “one of our greatest stars” must be music to Tate’s ears. After a bumpy few years, she badly needs a hit. A triumphant return alongside her close friend and regular collaborator Tennant should deliver one.

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It’s unclear what this all means for Ncuti Gatwa but perhaps significantly, the 29-year-old Scottish-Rwandan actor was announced as "the new Doctor" – not the 14th Doctor, as hawk-eyed Whovians have spent the past week pointing out. Tennant and Tate could appear alongside him in a multiple Doctor storyline – always an anniversary favourite.  Alternatively, Donna and the Doc could star in their own episode, broadcast before Gatwa takes the Tardis keys.

Or is it the other way around? Could Gatwa merely be a stopgap Time Lord, paving the way for Tennant and Tate’s full-time return? It’s anyone’s guess what Davies has in mind. The possibilities and permutations are endless. That’s thrilling in its unpredictability. It’s all got us talking about Doctor Who again, which in itself is an improvement on the current moribund state of Gallifreyan affairs.

The fact that Catherine Tate is returning to the franchise isn’t just a win for her. It’s a win for the show as well. While he’s at it, perhaps the Doctor can whip out his sonic screwdriver and wipe our collective memories of The Nan Movie.