Tennant's name was
put forward as a candidate for the role of the
Ninth Doctor
in 2004, although the role went to
Christopher Eccleston.
With Eccleston's announcement on 31 March 2005 that he would
not be returning for a second series, the BBC confirmed
Tennant as his replacement in a press release on 16 April
2005. He made his first, brief appearance as the
Tenth Doctor
in the episode "The
Parting of the Ways" (2005)
at the end of the regeneration scene, and also appeared in a
special
7-minute mini-episode
shown as part of the 2005
Children in Need
appeal, broadcast on 18 November 2005. He began filming the
new series of Doctor Who in late July 2005. His first
full-length outing as the
Doctor
was a 60-minute special, "The
Christmas Invasion", first
broadcast on Christmas Day 2005.