David Tennant at This Morning show with Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary talking about Good Omens Season 2, 11.07.2023 :) ❤
DO: And David joins us now. I mean, this looks like a great show.
David: Oh, yeah.
DO: So, I mean, It's pure Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, isn't it?
David: It is, yeah.
DO: The whole thing. So tell us, so if people haven't seen the first series and they want to go back, set the whole scene.
David: So I'm Hell's representative on Earth, Michael Sheen is Heaven's representative on Earth, put there to do the biding of our respective Head Offices. But we found out that if we became mates and sort of helped each other out, it kind of cut out the workload, cancelled each other out. So we're best mates. But in Series One we end up having to avert the apocalypse, which we managed to do, but as a result of that, we get cut off. So we're now living on Earth as independent individuals.
AH: So do you still need each other, then?
David: We still need each other. We've only got each other now because we don't have Heaven and Hell anymore.
DO: Because you both love earth so much, you both like.
David: Oh, we much prefer living on Earth because Heaven's a bit stuffy and Hell's awful.
DO: So you conspire to thwart the Armageddon. Exactly.
David: We thwart the Armageddon. That's fine. But Series Two begins when the angel Gabriel, Jon Hamm, who you just saw there, shows up at Aziraphale, Michael Sheen's bookshop, naked with no memory, holding a cardboard box. So suddenly we're locked into the politics of Heaven and Hell again. We don't know what's going on. We've got a mystery to solve. Why is the angel Gabriel here? The angel Gabriel tried to kill us both at the end of the last series, so we've got to...
DO: But now he's kind of got amnesia and...
David: Yes. So he becomes like our weird child, in this sort of weird sort of eternal marriage that Michael and I are locked in.
DO: So many shows now use a book as their base and then they do really well and you can see the company and the writers go, better come up some new ideas, I suppose. So the book's obviously Terry Pratchett and then Neil Gaiman, correct?
David: That's right. They wrote that together years and years and years ago. Much beloved. And that's what the first series was. But Neil and Terry had always talked about possibilities of this sequel that they never got around to making. Terry's no longer with us. But when the possibility came up, Neil thought, well, listen, I've got some ideas. Let's spin it forward. Let's see if we can tell the story we were always going to tell. So we get to come back.
AH: Should we have a little sneak look at the new series? Let's have a look. So good. Did you ever think it was going to be this successful? Did you even know that you were going to go into a second series
David: Oh, no, not at all. No. There was only one novel, so we just thought we were coming together to do that. And I didn't realise how beloved this book was. I first read a script. But it means a lot to a lot of people.
AH: And the look of you is so striking. Did you have any input into that? A bit, yeah, we sort of all found it together, myself and makeup and costume and Neil Gaiman, who ran the show. So, yeah, we kind of arrived... in the book he's a bit more - because obviously the book was sort of early ninetues, so he was a bit more sharp-suited and a bit more Wolf of Wall Street. So we've kind of had to find the kind of modern equivalent of that.
DO: Is he... obviously you're playing a demon. Has he got any humanity in him or is he purely self-centered?
David: Well, he's not a very good demon. He's good at sort of the snarl and the swagger and pretending that he's terribly cynical, but actually his problem is that he's a bit too... there’s a bit too much heart, really.
DO: He's alright
David: Yeah, yeah.
DO: Must be wonderful playing a baddie.
David: Oh, it's great fun, but he's not a baddie, is not really a baddie.
DO: Yeah, yeah.
David: And just like Aziraphale angel is not always as goody goody as he likes it, so they meet very beautifully in the middle.
DO: You and Michael Sheen. I mean, you've worked together a fair bit, don't you. I loved Staged. That was such fun.
David: Yeah!
AH: Have you ever not worked together?
David: Now we only work together.
AH: All the time.
David: Yeah. I mean, He's not sitting on this sofa, but he is backstage. We can't be apart.
DO: He's speaking in his ear right now.
David: Exactly, yeah.
AH: But you are... you have got a genuine friendship. You're growing old together gracefully.
David: We're growing old together?!
AH: You look good for it, I'm not going to lie. What's the secret, babe?
David: A lot of makeup. It's very thick.
AH: We've got to talk about the fact that you are returning to Doctor Who.
David: Ah, yes.
AH: I can't believe this. And can you tell us anything at all?
David: I mean, beyond that I'm doing it? I think...
AH: No.
David: Really. Because that's the fun of it, isn't it? Hopefully tt was a bit of a surprise when I showed up. When Jodie Whittaker regenerated into me.
AH: We were shocked.
David: It was a bit of a surprise, so we wanted to sort of keep some shocks, but Catherine Tate's back, so it's a bit like 15 years never happened, to be honest.
DO: Know about it for a while. Like... did Russell T get in touch and say...
David: Yeah, it sort of gradually kind of evolved as an idea and we thought maybe they'd let us do a one off for old time's sake. And then suddenly it became a bit more than that and we were back for a bit of a run.
AH: So how many episodes did you get to do?
David: We did three.
AH: Wow. That's incredible. What's it like to be back? Did he just slot straight back in?
David: I mean, sort of. It felt weirdly familiar. Yeah. And you think, 'Oh, will I still able to run as fast? Can I still kind of...?' But it was like we'd never been away. It was joyous. Yeah.
DO: And could we talk about your son? Because is your son in Good Omens with you?
David: Ty's in... has a part in Episode Two of Good Omens.
AH: Is he?
DO: And I loved him in House of the Dragon.
David: I know. He's very good. He's very good.
DO: What a relief.
David: There he is. I know, what a relief. Exactly. No, I mean...
AH: Imagine if he was bad.
David: Imagine if he was rubbish. How would we tell him? Sit down, listen...I know it's sort of the family business, but maybe joinery? So... no, he's really good. And he's annoyingly good looking. You know, he's just got it all. So it's lovely and great to get to work together. Brilliant.