In The Power of the Doctor, we sadly said goodbye to Thirteen (Jodie Whittaker) and say a surprise hello to the Fourteenth Doctor. It turns out that his first words—“I know these teeth”—was a line added not by showrunner Russell T. Davies but the new/old Doctor himself.
Buy the Book
The Keeper’s Six
In Doctor Who Magazine (via iO9), Davies shared that the new Doctor, played by David Tennant added the line about the teeth. “It wasn’t exactly the longest day at the keyboard,” Davies said. “They’re obvious first lines. But David added the bit about teeth. That’s his line. So it’s written by the two of us.”
The line is a callback to Tennant’s first regeneration scene and his introduction as the Tenth Doctor. After the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) turns into the Tenth, the new Doctor immediately begins with: “New teeth. That’s weird. So where was I?”
It’s a cute callback! And Davies, for one, enjoyed how the lines mirrored each other. “That’s rather nice, isn’t it?” he said. “I like that. I was really chuffed.”
We’ll see Tennant’s next Doctor along with his former companion, Donna (Catherine Tate), back together in a series of three 60th anniversary specials in November 2023. During those specials, we’ll also be introduced to the new Doctor, played by Sex Education‘s Ncuti Gatwa.
