David Tennant AI media incident — Sep 2026

In September 2026, a fan-made, unauthorized 50-minute Doctor Who episode titled 'The Curse of Kilmorag' was released on YouTube, featuring a synthetic recreation of actor David Tennant's likeness and voice. The project, created by Thomas Vittlowe under the banner of 'The Unmade Season,' utilized generative AI video models to produce the content, which also incorporated an unauthorized 3D fan render of the TARDIS interior.

What happened

The video gained significant traction, accumulating nearly 400,000 views on YouTube before its eventual removal. The production relied on generative AI to synthesize the likeness and voice of David Tennant for a 30-second segment. The incident gained further prominence when BBC Director General Matt Brittin, speaking at the Royal Television Society conference in London, praised an AI-generated 50-minute Doctor Who episode he had received, describing it as "pretty good." While Brittin did not explicitly name the video, his comments were widely linked to 'The Curse of Kilmorag.'

This public endorsement created immediate strategic and public relations challenges for the BBC. The timing was particularly sensitive, as the broadcaster had recently issued an Invitation to Tender for a new production team for the 2028/29 series. Critics, including creative unions and fans, argued that praising unauthorized AI-generated content undermines the value of professional writers, actors, and directors. The backlash was compounded by the BBC's history of negative fan reactions to AI usage, specifically a 2024 incident involving AI-generated marketing text that forced a corporate policy reversal. As the tender deadline approached, the incident highlighted the growing tension between the accessibility of generative AI tools and the protection of intellectual property and professional creative labor.