Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About David Tennant

10. One Of His First TV Roles Was Playing A Transsexual

Nowadays David Tennant is such an almighty presence on our TV screens that it's hard to imagine a time where he wasn't popping up all over the show (quite literally). Needless to say, there really was such a time and those worthless years have come to be known as 'The Dark Ages'. At the start of his career, David was doing the smart thing and taking pretty much any role he could get his hands on and some of them are arguably more memorable than others. In 1988, for example, he appeared in the children's anthology series Dramarama which was followed by his fleeting bit part, as an unnamed Hiker, in the BBC Scotland rural drama series Strathblair before he was seen as a generic policeman in the comedy Bunch of Five. It wasn't until 1993 that he started to get noticed and it was no doubt partially down to the fact that his guest role in the BBC sitcom Rab C. Nesbitt required him to strut his stuff as a pre-op transexual barmaid called Davina (above). Even back then he was proving that he's nothing if not versatile. A string of guest roles in other mainstream shows, including Takin' Over the Asylum, The Tales of Para Handy and The Bill (but then again, who hasn't been in The Bill?), hotly followed suit and the only way was up for this "wee skinny bloke from Bathgate" (his words, not ours!). But where did it actually all begin for David? Well, it's funny you should ask...