Co-Star Says Tennant May Leave Doctor Who

Catherine Tate, who will reprise her role as Donna Noble in all of Doctor Who's forthcoming season 4, has suggested that star David Tennant may be leaving the show with her at the end of the season, according to BBC News reports.

Tate, pressed by an interviewer, said that this was "possibly" Tennant's last season. The BBC declined to comment on the future of the Tenth Doctor, voted most popular Doctor in a 2006 BBC poll.

Even assuming that Tate's nebulous statement is accurate, lending heft to widespread rumors and expectations that Tennant would only do three seasons of the show, the exact departure time would be unclear. The BBC had previously announced that season 5 would be delayed a year, with three additional specials to fill the gap in 2009; the speculation at the time was this was to accommodate Tennant's stint at the National Theatre that year, which would be pointless if Tennant were to leave the show at the end of season 4. One might then deduce that Tennant will regenerate in one of the stopgap specials.

However, one must remember that all of this hinges on Catherine Tate having said the word "possibly."