David Tennant gave a few vague hints about his work on the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials while at Fan Expo Boston on Sunday, 14 August.

I attended the panel and was thankful to be able to see him in person after he was unable to attend his scheduled appearance at the same convention the previous day. His Doctor Who 60th anniversary co-star Catherine Tate was scheduled to join him on the panel but regretfully and apologetically cancelled due to work commitments.

Tennant was cheerful and animated as he spoke of his many projects and got up from his chair several times, notably to lead the crowd to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to a young fan and to crouch down to demonstrate how he had to look up at his (more famous at the time) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire co-stars who were all provided tall director’s chairs printed with their names on the seat backs.

When asked about showrunner Russell T Davies‘ overarching plan for the Doctor Who, Tennant had this to say.

“The things that on in Russell T Davies’ mind! If only we could all have a ferret around in there, it would be very exciting.”

“I know that he’s now in charge of Doctor Who again. I know that’s very exciting. I know that I’m not allowed to say much about that.”

He then spoke of his work filming Doctor Who 60th anniversary content earlier this year.

“What I think is interesting about the fact that Catherine Tate and me may have been filming, you see, because we are slightingly unfortunate (or fortunate) in that we were filming some scenes that were in the public so it had to be admitted that we were in it. So most of what’s been filmed with other people has all been inside. So, there is lots more coming than people think, which is very exciting. And as far as I know, no-one has quite figured out yet what Catherine and I are doing there. I think there is a lot of theory, a lot of speculation, but I’m very excited for people to see the tiny little cog we are in Russell’s great machine.”

Who these “other people” are remains to be seen but he did possibly drop a slight hint about the Doctor he portrays for the 60th anniversary, rumoured to be a different incarnation from the tenth Doctor he has previously played.

When asked by a fan if he was upset that his tenth Doctor didn’t speak with his own Scottish accent while Peter Capaldi’s twelfth Doctor did, he wasn’t phased.

“It never occurred to me and it’s only now looking back that you go, “Oh, Yeah!” And Peter was, yes, very Scottish, Jodie was very northern, as was Chris, and uh – yeah – I’m going to give stuff away when I was going to move on.”

So it’s possible Tennant’s 60th anniversary version of the Doctor sounds a lot like him rather than the tenth Doctor. It’s also possible he was alluding to Ncuti Gatwa’s unique accent.

Doctor Who will return in October of 2022 with its BBC centenary special written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone.

Russell T Davies has written and is producing Doctor Who 60th anniversary content, thought to be three specials, to air in 2023 and will continue to produce series beyond.