David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor traveled to various planets and eras throughout his run on Doctor Who, and the writers of an entirely different show gave another of Tennant’s characters a very similar moment that seemed to have been lifted from his time as the famous Time Lord more than a decade earlier. As is the case with every actor to play the Doctor, Tennant’s iteration had a complex and interwoven timeline that didn’t flow linearly when experienced from the outside. Tennant plays another character whose life spans generations, and that trait was used to pay tribute to the Tenth Doctor.
The Tenth Doctor’s timeline quite often intersects with the lives of real historical figures in Doctor Who, which can often result in some very creative writing choices. Ten alone managed to meet William Shakespeare (Dean Lennox Kelly), Madame de Pompadour (Sophia Myles), Agatha Christie (Fenella Woolgar), and many others. Doctor Who often makes sure the historical figures in question part ways with the Time Lord having been influenced by him in some way, and another show borrowed that concept with one specific figure, while also having a David Tennant character doing the influencing.
Doctor Who’s Tenth Doctor & Good Omens’ Crowley Both Influenced William Shakespeare
“The Shakespeare Code” & “Hard Times” had almost-identical moments for David Tennant
Doctor Who season 3, episode 2, “The Shakespeare Code” saw Ten and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) meet the Bard himself. During the episode, the Doctor drops several coy comments and words that Shakespeare goes on to use in his legendary work. So, in Doctor Who canon, Ten is at least partially responsible for some of Shakespeare’s masterpieces – even though he doesn’t always intend that to be the case. The 2007 episode clearly struck a chord with Amazon’s Good Omens, as Tennant’s role as Crowley had him repeating this clever storytelling trick.
Lord Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) also has an influence on the work of William Shakespeare (Samuel Blenkin) in Netflix’s The Sandman, which is based on source material from the same writer as Good Omens – Neil Gaiman.
Good Omens season 1, episode 3, “Hard Times,” opens up with a chronicle of Crowley and Aziraphale’s (Michael Sheen) friendship through the centuries, including the angel and demon also encountering William Shakespeare in the 2019 installment. Just as Ten uttered something to Shakespeare that ultimately made its way into the Bard’s work, Crowley also became an uncredited collaborator to Reece Shearsmith’s version of the historical figure. The scenes themselves are already very similar, but having the same actor play both characters enhances the connection even more.
David Tennant’s Doctor & Crowley Are Similar In Other Ways Too
The Time Lord & the fallen angel share many similar traits
Despite sharing very few relevant real-world connections, the Tenth Doctor and Crowley boast a surprising number of similarities. For example, neither of them is human, and they both wear glasses for reasons other than improving their eyesight. Furthermore, Ten and Crowley both work better as part of a duo, although they are also effective when operating alone. They both also have incredibly long lifespans and have witnessed a great deal of human history, but the dividing factor here is that Crowley witnesses everything in order in Good Omens, whereas Tennant’s Doctor Who character has a more “timey-wimey” arc.
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Doctor Who
- Release Date
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2005 – 2021
- Directors
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Graeme Harper, Euros Lyn, Douglas Mackinnon, Jamie Magnus Stone, Charles Palmer, Rachel Talalay, Joe Ahearne, James Strong, Jamie Childs, Saul Metzstein, Toby Haynes, Wayne Che Yip, Nick Hurran, Richard Clark, James Hawes, Daniel Nettheim, Colin Teague, Keith Boak, Azhur Saleem, Adam Smith, Andrew Gunn, Nida Manzoor, Lawrence Gough, Paul Murphy
- Writers
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Steven Moffat, Russell T. Davies
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Jodie Whittaker
The Doctor
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