Ahead of his hosting duties for the BAFTA Film Awards, David Tennant was interviewed in Radio Times magazine. He was inevitably asked about a possible reprisal of his Fourteenth Doctor role in Doctor Who.

Asked if his Fourteenth Doctor, after surviving a bi-generation with the Fifteenth Doctor, will make a return to Doctor Who, he relayed the Doctor’s recuperative status.

“The Doctor is happy. He is in a garden in Chiswick, being made mac and cheese by Bonnie Langford! The door is not open any more than it ever was, because Doctor Who of you want to bring someone back, there are endless ways of doing it. It’s very much the end of the story.”

If there are endless ways of bringing any Doctor back and if the door is not any more open than it ever was, one could argue it’s also not closed or locked any more than it ever was. This is not a resounding confirmation of a story’s end.

When asked if there is a Dalek invasion and the Fifteenth Doctor isn’t available, why his Doctor might not show up, he had this to say to RT:

“You could also say, ‘Why has Patrick Troughton not landed here?!’ It unpicks if you think about that too much. I’m retired! the 14th Doctor is retired!”

What are the chances the Doctor will come out of retirement if planet Earth should need a second Doctor? They are better than one might think from his answers.

On 18 April 2023, during preproduction of the two-part finale of the 2024 series of Doctor Who, David Tennant returned to Wolf Studios in Cardiff where Doctor Who is filmed, reportedly to record a sketch for BBC Children in Need directed by Jamie Donoughue, the finale block director.

It’s seems very convenient for David Tennant to be in Cardiff before the filming of a what is sure to be a spectacular Doctor Who series finale, especially since Bonnie Langford was due in Cardiff to reprise her role as companion Mel Bush for the finale block.

Whether the Fourteenth Doctor make an appearance in the 2024 Doctor Who series finale remains to be seen but Tennant’s presence in Cardiff makes it possible.

A new 8-episode Doctor Who series starring Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as his companion Ruby Sunday will debut in May 2024.

The EE BAFTA Film Awards, hosted by David Tennant, will be broadcast live 7 p.m. ET on Sunday 18 February on BBC One from London’s Royal Festival Hall.