My obsession with the actors who have played the Doctor continues… I’ve been reading the Eighth (Paul McGann) discussing the Tenth (Tennant) and Eleventh (Smith):

David Tennant is such a brilliant technician.  Again, I say that with due respect, he’s a wonderful classical actor, but technically he’s dead on.  You could get it in one with him, he’s like that.  But I’m not sure Matt could always do it first time.  It might be sixth time, but it’s extraordinary, you know?  He’s one of them.  So with Matt you might have to wait for it, but it’s worth waiting for.

I’ve mentioned before how Tennant is a real fan.  McGann is the opposite:

…there’s people out there with degree level knowledge…I couldn’t even get an O level in it, let alone a degree in it!

It was only when he recorded An Earthly Child with Carol Ann Ford (who played the Doctor’s granddaughter in the very first episode in 1963) that he realised the Doctor had a family.  So McGann’s detached, actorly perspective is interesting.

I thought David Tennant was fantastic.  A real shot in the arm, just what the thing needed, somebody that [was] consummately brilliant but also somebody that really believed in it, that was also a real fan.

There’s something appealing about Tennant’s fanboy enthusiasm, but McGann and Smith are both excellent so I wonder how much the lead actor’s connection the the show and its history really matters?