Mr. Tennant’s own selection of great Richards included Derek Jacobi’s, Fiona Shaw’s and, more recently, Ben Whishaw’s, in the BBC-PBS series of filmed adaptations called “The Hollow Crown.”
“Just before I was going to do it, someone gave me a copy, and I said, ‘I’ll watch this.’ I should never have done that. Because Ben Whishaw is an extraordinary actor. And he does it beautifully, in ways I could never even aspire to.”