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David Tennant Enthuses About Reuniting with The Impossible Planet Co-Star on Rivals

Tenth Doctor actor, David Tennant, says it was “heaven” to work with his The Impossible Planet co-star, Claire Rushbrook, again on the Disney+ series, Rivals.

In the show, based on the Jilly Cooper novel, Tennant plays Lord Tony Baddingham, while Rushbrook is his on-screen wife, Lady Monica Baddingham. David says:

“She’s just glorious, and she’s also one of the loveliest, funniest people with the dirtiest sense of humour. I think possibly my favourite days on set were the Mr and Mrs Baddingham days… “And to have that husband and wife relationship; when she embodied Monica, there was no doubt of exactly who that woman was!”

Rushbrook, of course, took on the role of the lovely Ida Scott in The Impossible Planet/ The Satan Pit, one of the absolute highlights of Doctor Who Series 2, largely owing to its examination of religion and its playing on basic (but still considerable) fears. The Tenth Doctor spent a lot of time chatting to Ida, so it’s nice to know that Tennant and Rushbrook get on so well in real life too.

Claire has also played Tula Chenka, sister of Eighth Doctor companion Liv (Nicola Walker), in numerous Big Finish releases, but most prominently in the series called The Robots, which follows on from the events of The Robots of Death, taking place on Kaldor.

Rivals is available now on Disney+. And you can rewatch The Impossible Planet/ The Satan Pit on BBC iPlayer, alongside all the Tenth Doctor era (not to mention all the Doctors’ eras).

Philip Bates

Editor and co-founder of the Doctor Who Companion. When he’s not watching television, reading books ‘n’ Marvel comics, listening to The Killers, and obsessing over script ideas, Philip Bates pretends to be a freelance writer. He enjoys collecting everything. Writer of The Black Archive: The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang, The Silver Archive: The Stone Tape, and 100 Objects of Doctor Who.

David Tennant Enthuses About Reuniting with The Impossible Planet Co-Star on Rivals

by Philip Bates time to read: 1 min
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