Guest Author - Pam Lawrence

The second series of the acclaimed revival of Dr Who began in the US on September 29th on the Sci Fi Channel, and viewers in Canada are in for a Thanksgiving treat if they tune in to the CBC tomorrow night. (October 9th) for the opener, New Earth.

There will be those who miss the intensity of the fabulous Christopher Eccleston, but the tenth Time Lord is something else. So, as fans gather in their millions, I figured I'd ask the question- just who is this guy David Tennant ?

If you've seen the ads, you'll know this fella is seriously cute. In fact, he wins the title 'sexiest' Doctor, hands down, in a role where well...sex appeal had never really entered into it. Tom Baker ? John Pertwee ??? ahem. I thought I'd better find out more.

Turns out David Tennant, 35, wanted to be an actor when he was a wee lad, and was a big Dr Who fan from an early age. He even, it is rumoured, had a Tom Baker doll when he was a boy. He was born in Bathgate, Scotland, in 1971, the son of a Presbyterian minister named McDonald. David later changed his name, inspired by Neil Tennant of the 80s band Pet Shop Boys.

The young actor had screen roles before he left school, and headed off to train at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Like a majority of Brit actors, he gained a great deal of valuable experience treading the boards, beginning with the radical Scottish Theatre Group, 7:84. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at the age of 25, and his comedic performance as Touchstone in As You like It was praised as one of the most remarkable of recent years.

He also took the lead in Romeo and Juliet, and in 2000 received a nomination for the Ian Charleson award for best classical actor under 30. But, he looks familiar, you say. Well, he should. With his striking looks, he stood out in guest roles in a mixed bag of shows from Foyle's War to People Like Us. It was in 2004 that TV audiences had to sit up and take notice of an actor the theatre already respected, as he appeared in the role of DI Carlisle in Blackpool. The award winning BBC musical drama was such a success it aired as far afield as Australia.

The wonderful thing about an actor like Tennant is he has never been typecast, as he played the slimy Reverend Gibson in Andrew Davies's adaptation of Trollope's He Knew He Was Right, and then the psychotic Brendan Block in Secret Smile for ITV. His portrayal of the evil stalking boyfriend won him a nomination for telly moment of the year.

It was his 2005 starring role in the comic period drama Casanova for BBC Three that secured him a new legion of fans, as he brought a cheekiness and wit to the show which won a record number of viewers for the channel.

Ironically international audiences may know him best for his role as Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Hard to believe it's him; a man recently named in Stage magazine as one of the top ten most influential actors in the UK today, as well as being ranked # 20 in a poll for New Woman magazine on the top 100 men.

And now, as the most dashing, hip, Time Lord yet, he has come full circle, in a role he seemed destined to play, commenting in a radio interview on fulfilling a childhood dream: "who wouldn't want to be the Doctor? I've even got my own TARDIS !"