"I don't think he ever wanted to stop playing the Doctor"
Doctor Who star Alex Kingston has opened up about her first appearance on the BBC show, saying David Tennant had started to "disengage with the character" before his regeneration.
Kingston first played the iconic Doctor Who character River Song opposite Tennant in the season four episodes 'Silence in the Library' and 'Forest of the Dead'.
While her 2008 appearance was the first of many, it was the last full season in which Tennant would play the Tenth Doctor, though he appeared in a series of specials the following year.
Speaking to the Oxford Mail, Kingston was asked if she knew her role as River would span seven years. The actor said she didn't know, but could sense that Tennant was getting ready to leave.
"I didn't know, but I think that the announcement had either just happened or it was about to happen while we were filming," she said.
"People knew that was going to be David's last season, so there was just an element, it wasn't melancholy, but there was just an energy that I was aware that somehow something had shifted. I don't think he ever wanted to stop playing the Doctor, as he loved it so much.
"It wasn't that he didn't welcome me because he absolutely did, but I think it was him starting to already disengage with the character. I'm not even sure whether he knew he was doing that consciously or not, but there was just something there."
She added: "Whereas with Matt [Smith], he was about to start, and was looking for that support to help him step into David's very huge shoes, enormous feet!"
After her first appearance in the role, Kingston returned to star opposite Smith's Eleventh Doctor in several episodes across all three of his seasons.
She also reprised the role for the 2015 Christmas special 'The Husbands of River Song', opposite Peter Capaldi, in what would be her last on-screen appearance as River to date.
https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a71819098/doctor-who-alex-kingston-david-tennant-disengage/ 
Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 7:19 am