The Tenth Doctor's Entire Doctor Who Timeline Explained

David Tennant spent the majority of his time as actors who have played the Doctor. Although the Tenth Doctor witnessed much of his timeline in a traditionally linear way, there are exceptions. Plus, for viewers, it can be easy to lose track of where Ten has been and where he's headed next.

After making his entrance as the second actor to lead the show in Tennant went on to have some brilliant performances as the Doctor beyond the iteration he was initially brought on board to play. It's for this reason, and many more, that Ten's timeline is so thoroughly fascinating.

Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor Becomes David Tennant's Tenth In 2005

Ten briefly appears at the end of Eccleston's lone season

Christopher Eccleston brought Doctor Who back as the Ninth Doctor when the show was revived by Russell T. Davies in 2005. However, he quickly decided he wasn't going to stay beyond his lone season, and so David Tennant was brought in to replace him. After a brief cameo in Eccleston's regeneration scene at the end of Doctor Who season 1, Ten's first full episode was the 2005 Christmas special, "The Christmas Invasion."

Rose's relationship with the Tenth Doctor went on to become one of the defining aspects of Tennant's era, as it was different from the dynamic Rose shared with Nine.

Because of the quick turnaround between Doctors, Ten retained the same TARDIS interior, sonic screwdriver, and companion. So, Billie Piper's Rose Tyler served as the companion in both Nine and Ten's first seasons. Rose's relationship with the Tenth Doctor went on to become one of the defining aspects of Tennant's era, as it was different from the dynamic Rose shared with Nine. While Doctor Who has since confirmed Nine and Rose didn't have a romantic relationship, Piper's character and Tennant's fell deeply in love.

The Tenth Doctor Loses Rose At The End Of Doctor Who Season 2

Ten & Rose grow very close throughout season 2

The powerful bond between Rose and the Tenth Doctor makes it difficult to see how the two would ever part ways. Sadly, Doctor Who season 2's finale shifting excitingly to a parallel universe has something very upsetting in store to offset the thrill of watching Ten battle the Cybermen and the Daleks. The two-part epic ends with Doctor Who season 2, episode 13, "Doomsday," and Rose is pulled into another reality against her will, with the Doctor being left behind in the show's main universe.

Custom Doctor Who image of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor flanked by characters from

This David Tennant Doctor Who Episode Could Have Been A Classic, But The Villain Ruined It

David Tennant's era as the Tenth Doctor boasts some truly excellent episodes, but other installments fall victim to being overly ambitious.

Posts 2

What makes Rose's departure so emotional is that she chooses the Doctor over her own family, and is willing to stay with him despite the fact she'd never be able to see the other people she loved ever again. Plus, although Ten uses his Time Lord intellect to find a way to bid her farewell near the end of "Doomsday," the moment has taken on legendary status due to the fact he just runs out of time to tell her, "I love you."

Tennant's Doctor Meets Donna Noble For The First Time In 2006's "The Runaway Bride"

Doctor Who deceives viewers into thinking this team-up is a one-time thing

Catherine Tate as Donna Noble looking crestfallen in Doctor Who while David Tennant looks furious as the Tenth Doctor

Many of the Tenth Doctor specials went on to pair Tennant with a one-time companion if he was traveling solo at the time. In 2006, this trend hadn't emerged yet, so it was unclear just how long Catherine Tate's Donna Noble was going to stick around when she entered the fray in "The Runaway Bride." After materializing inside the TARDIS itself, the Doctor and Donna embark on a festive-themed adventure that outs her husband-to-be as a villain.

Doctor Who season 4, episode 11, "Turn Left," reveals Ten would have died in this story without Donna's presence, as proven by an alternate timeline.

Despite asking Donna to go with him at the end of the episode, Ten leaves without a new companion when she rejects his offer. At the time, it feels like a waste that two characters with such a great dynamic seem destined to never cross paths again. Thankfully, showrunner Russell T. Davies was planting one of his legendary narrative seeds by introducing Donna at this point.

Martha Jones Becomes The Tenth Doctor's Companion At The Start Of Doctor Who Season 3 (& Leaves At The End)

Martha falls for the Doctor, but he pretends not to notice

Doctor Who season 1's premiere, "Smith and Jones," is also Freema Agyeman's debut as Martha Jones (although Agyeman had also played a separate character at the end of season 2). Because Martha is a trainee doctor and Tennant's character is an alien, it only makes sense that their first meeting takes place in a hospital that's been relocated to the moon. Still reeling from the loss of Rose, Ten either doesn't notice Martha's obvious signs of affection for him, or he just pretends not to - but it's probably the former.

Martha is the only Tennant-era companion to leave the Doctor on her own , as the others are lost or forced away.

Martha travels with the Doctor for the entirety of Doctor Who season 3, but she makes the decision to leave after stepping up and stopping the Master (John Simm) from subjugating the Earth. She also gives another not-so-subtle explanation for her departure, and it comes down to the fact that Ten doesn't feel the same way about Martha as she does about him. Martha is the only Tennant-era companion to leave the Doctor on her own , as the others are lost or forced away - Kylie Minogue's Astrid Peth in the special that followed Martha's departure, "Voyager of the Damned."

The Tenth Doctor Reunites With Donna Noble For Doctor Who Season 4

It's more than luck that helps Donna find the Doctor again

Doctor Who season 4 recalls Tate to the cast to reprise the role of Donna Noble. The first episode reveals she regrets not going with the Doctor when she was offered to in "The Runaway Bride." Despite the effort Donna puts in to find him, Ten suspects there is much more to the fact they were able to cross paths again given the scope of the universe. The pair build a close friendship throughout their travels, and it eventually becomes clear that the Doctor's suspicions were correct about their reunion, as he realizes how important Donna is.

IMDb's 10 Highest-Rated David Tennant Doctor Who Episodes
Season	Episode	Title	IMDb Rating
3	10	"Blink"	9.8/10
4	9	"Forest of the Dead"	9.4/10
4	8	"Silence in the Library"	9.3/10
N/A	Special	"The Day of the Doctor"	9.3/10
2	4	"The Girl in the Fireplace"	9.2/10
2	13	"Doomsday"	9.2/10
3	9	"The Family of Blood"	9.2/10
4	13	"Journey's End"	9.2/10
4	10	"Midnight"	9.1/10
4	12	"The Stolen Earth"	9.0/10

The Tenth Doctor also learns that he's going to die in Doctor Who season 4, episode 3, "Planet of the Ood." After freeing the Ood from slavery, Ood Sigma tells Ten his song is "ending soon." This seems cryptic, but the Doctor seems to know it means his time in his current form is almost over. What he doesn't know until much later is whether he will die forever, or simply regenerate. However, Ten later declares in one of his final episodes that he thinks regeneration is "like dying," as he'll be a new person afterward.

A lot Happens To The Tenth Doctor In 2007's "The Stolen Earth" Two-Parter

Doctor Who season 4's two-part finale is an emotional rollercoaster for Ten

As is quite often the case in Doctor Who season finales, Tennant's last full run as the Doctor ends in dramatic style. "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" act as a massive crossover event with the show's two active spinoffs at the time, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and Torchwood. Among all the action, Ten doesn't just manage to save the day, but he also manages to stop himself from regenerating mid-cycle, which eventually leads to the creation of the Meta-Crisis Doctor. The physically-identical version of the Tenth Doctor has just one heart and is part human, thanks to Donna's DNA.

Little is known of the Meta-Crisis Doctor's fate after this story, but he is technically a separate branch of the Tenth Doctor's timeline, as he shared all the same memories at the time of his creation.

Every main Tennant-era companion also returns for the two-parter, including John Barrowman's Captain Jack Harkness, and even Rose. Donna's part in bringing the Meta-Crisis Doctor into the world also means she inherits Time Lord DNA, but it's ultimately incompatible with her human blueprint and Ten is forced to wipe her memory to stop her from burning up and dying. Just before Ten does this to Donna and returns her to her family, they both drop Rose off in her new native universe, leaving behind the Meta-Crisis Doctor, so Rose can finally spend her life with him.

4 Tenth Doctor Specials Take Place Between "The Stolen Earth" & Tennant's Two-Part Farewell

2013's "The Day of the Doctor" also fits into this category

Despite not regenerating at the end of Doctor Who season 4, it was still announced that Tennant would be leaving the show. As such, Ten was given a farewell tour that started in 2008 and consisted of a series of four, hour-long specials. This quadrilogy of episodes finished off with a two-parter named "The End of Time." Before that, Ten embarked on one more festive ride in "The Next Doctor," then teamed up with Michelle Ryan's Lady Christina da Souza, and went on to face what he had become without a steady companion in "The Waters of Mars."

Even after Tennant's departure, the Tenth Doctor's canon continued to be fleshed out, as he returned in 2013's 50th-anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor."

Even after Tennant's departure, the Tenth Doctor's canon continued to be fleshed out, as he returned in 2013's 50th-anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor." The multi-Doctor story saw Ten forces with Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor and John Hurt's War Doctor - but he would go on to nothing about the encounter when he left the episode at the end. However, one scene in the special shows Ten shortly after marrying Queen Elizabeth I (Joanna Page).

Billie Piper as Bad Wolf in Doctor Who with David Tennant's Tenth Doctor

Doctor Who Still Hasn't Explained The 50th Anniversary Special's Biggest Mystery

"The Day of the Doctor" was the perfect way to celebrate Doctor Who's 50-year history, but the special episode has since gained a possible plot hole.

Posts 28

The scene pays off a comment from Tennant's character in "The End of Time - Part One," and before that, a scene at the end of Doctor Who season 3, episode 2, "The Shakespeare Code," where the queen can be seen in her later years, and is furious at the Tenth Doctor for fleeing so soon after their wedding. Obviously, Ten had no memory of this at the time, which is a prime example of how complex his timeline could be.

What's unclear is exactly when among these installments "The Day of the Doctor" fits.

So, even though "The Day of the Doctor" wasn't written until five years after Ten's farewell specials, it actually takes place during this period in his life. What's unclear is exactly when among these installments "The Day of the Doctor" fits. It could really be at any point during this era, but what's most likely is that it's at some point after "The Next Doctor," but no later than the immediate aftermath of Ten's worrying "Time Lord Victorious" moment in "The Waters of Mars."

The Tenth Doctor Regenerates After Saving The Day In "The End Of Time"

Tennant hands the keys to the franchise to Matt Smith

After seemingly content that his time is almost up, Ten stops meandering and returns to speak to Ood Sigma and confront his ultimate fate. "The End of Time" takes up two hour-long specials, with the first reuniting Ten with John Simm's Master for the first time since Doctor Who season 3's finale. Ten fails to stop the resurrected villain from the unconventional scheme of turning almost every human on Earth into copies of the Master.

Although Ten manages to save the Earth as he does so often, he is ultimately felled when he sacrifices himself to save Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) from death by radiation.

The first episode catches the attention of the Doctor's people, as the Time Lords make a shock return to the saga after so long away. Although Ten manages to save the Earth as he does so often, he is ultimately felled when he sacrifices himself to save Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) from death by radiation. The Doctor's Time Lord physiology allows him to absorb the radiation and delay the imminent need to regenerate just long enough for him to visit all his companions beforehand. He even manages to speak with a past version of Rose, who understandably doesn't recognize him.

Because of Ten's visit to Rose in "The End of Time," his version of the Doctor is the first Piper's character interacts with.

Despite having so much time to come to with the fact he'll regenerate, Ten is still visibly grief-stricken when his moment comes. This hadn't been common with previous versions of the Doctor, so it makes his regeneration incredibly emotional. His final teary-eyed words before erupting into an explosion of Time Lord energy are "I don't wanna go," which reflect both the sentiment of the character and the actor playing him.

Tennant's Doctor Returns As Fourteen Ahead Of The Doctor Who 60th-Anniversary Specials

Ten returns after the Doctor spends centuries in other forms

After Matt Smith led the show for three seasons and five specials, Peter Capaldi was cast as the Twelfth Doctor, and Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth followed him. Thirteen's regeneration scene came with a surprising twist, as it was revealed David Tennant would also play the Fourteenth Doctor. Despite some small tweaks, Fourteen was identical to Ten in the way he looked and behaved. In many ways, Tennant's return for the trilogy of specials for Doctor Who's 60th anniversary was a direct sequel to the actor's original era. Of course, it also kept all canon intact from the years in between.

A 2023 Children in Need charity short revealed Fourteen visited a moment in time where the Daleks were being designed, before heading to Earth for "The Star Beast."

Fourteen unconsciously seeks out Donna, as he has been missing his best friend far more than even he realized. Also, although he manages to last three more adventures, his fiery companion eventually works out that Fourteen chose Ten's face so he could finally find her and have the rest he so deserves. Thankfully, the surprise introduction of bi-generation allows Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor to be an independent character, so Fourteen is free to move in with the Nobles. Therefore, the Doctor Who universe isn't left without an active Doctor to swoop in and save the universe when required.

Source: IMDb