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Early Theatre Deep Dive: David Tennant in The Ghost Of Benjy O'Neil, Pt. 3 (1989)

…David Tennant sang his heart out in a gritty Glasgow musical—and yes, there's footage!

Back in 1989, David Tennant was a teenage ghost with tuberculosis in a lost community play about poverty, social work, and a ghost named Benjy.

The Ghost of Benjy O’Neil was a time-traveling, heart-wrenching and fiercely political musical about poverty, resilience, and the Scottish care system, set in a Glasgow poorhouse and a modern-day care centre. Staged in a Glasgow community hall, it starred a sick-but-still-determined David Tennant, long before the world knew his name. 

He died in the poorhouse. He came back as a ghost. And then he sang about hope.

--

In my third post about this incredible play, I focus on opening night and how the cast bounced back from the brink of disaster. In its next three shows, the cast nailed it. They got a standing ovation and packed-out shows for the next three performances.

And on top of all that, their last performance on Monday, 4 December 1989, was filmed on VHS.

Like so many other projects of David's, this obscure performance seemed lost to time.

But the VHS survived. The recording sat in private hands for years. The cast scattered. The footage faded.

Most Tennant fans had no idea it even existed!

I didn’t… until 2017.

Now, 35 years later, I’ve tracked it all down: the footage, the songs, the story. With exclusive audio and video footage, song lyrics, behind-the-scenes drama, and a plot that hits harder than ever. Follow along with me as I pull it all back into the light. 

Curtains up. It’s showtime—let me show you everything!

–

If you've enjoyed reading this, you ought to come check out the bigger, better version - A Tennantcy To Act on Substack! You can read (by clicking on "Let me preview it first!") or subscribe for free to get notified when I post my deep dives into the obscure (and not-so obscure) facets of David's work and career. And don't forget to explore my archive of posts. You'll be surprised what you find there!

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Next time at 'A Tennantcy To Act"....

💀 Before David Tennant was The Doctor, he was just a teenager trying to survive a stage disaster.

The play? The Ghost of Benjy O’Neil (1989).

The dress rehearsal? A total flop.

David? Sick, stressed—and still about to help lead a sold-out show.

The cast didn’t know local government officials were in the audience.

They were terrified. Then something incredible happened.

In my next post in my series on The Ghost of Benjy O'Neil 📼 🎬 I’ve got exclusive footage - clips, stories, and screenshots - from the 1989 VHS of the performance!

Come see one of David Tennant’s earliest roles—and the wild comeback no one expected.

Don't miss it....it's coming soon!

Subscribe for free below (and make sure you read my first two posts in the series, too):

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quietly asking if it would ever be a good idea to have a tenmartha fic event... would anyone be interested in such a thing? 👀

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considering '42', martha saying to donna 'the doctor is like fire' and 'if you stand too close people get burned' is crazy

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Ok I know I'm gonna get a lot of hate for this but I just rewatched season 3 of Modern who and I honestly still don't understand how people say the Doctor lead Martha on. Like Martha is an amazing character and yes her having an unrequited crush on the Doctor is painful. However, people want to make it the Doctor's fault she fell for him. It's not?? Martha was no more a victim than any of the other companions. All of them fall for the Doctor's charms in one-way or another. It's not like the Doctor rubbed it in her face that she had feelings for him or purposely flirted with her to get her to do things. Or again, no more than anyone else. The Doctor flirts with EVERYONE! They are a charmer and ALWAYS has been. He was also very clear about how he was just coming out of a relationship with someone but needed someone to travel with. He made it very clear on multiple occasions he wasn't interested in her that way and only wanted someone to travel with. Only wanted a friend. But still it was somehow his fault that Martha kept following him around with puppy dog eyes wanting the relationship to be something more. She was friend-zoned plain and simple. Once she finally realized that their relationship wasn't going to go anything past Doctor and Companion she got out. WHICH IS AMAZING!!! She weighed everything in her head, weighed out all the wonders he offered but finally excepted that's all she was getting and to her it wasn't worth it. Not the risk on her family, not the risk on her life. She realized she deserved better. That following around someone who had told her he wasn't interested in her that way hoping he'd change his mind was wasting her life. Just like her friend had. It's not the Doctor's fault and it's not Martha's fault. Both wanted different things out of their relationship, so it came to an end.

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just two beautiful people 🫠 have a good day

[x]

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Wrote a tenmartha oneshot about jealous Ten

It’s number 400 in the tenmartha tag which is exciting 😍

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Old tenmartha edit I made.

Really want to start editing them again,I stopped because of the hate comments but I had so many ideas.

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it drives me crazy how they pair david tennant with everyone except freema agyeman like the chemistry was right there!!! i hateeee seeing chemistry go to waste

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#tenmartha: why don't we rely on chemistry? real

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Posted a little tenmartha fic inspired by this

https://archiveofourown.org/works/67485621

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to say that the doctor wasnt into martha is crazy like he trapped her with him in an endless cycle of pain and torment and ruined her life and used her as a barrier from killing himself that is objectively how he flirts

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My plan for Sunday now is to write something like this or include it in the next chapter of my tenmartha fic😭 need it

Ten is constantly lavishing little bits of praise onto Martha in the novels/comics/etc — “full marks, Martha Jones” and “go to the top of the class” and “gold star for you”, and so on — good god, somebody please hook a girl up with a tenmartha praise kink fic 😩 maybe they got bored in 1969, idfk

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Thank you 🩷

Omg yes. I think I’ll make a collage and have that quote be on it,I love that one so much. I‘ll just make a poster and maybe ask him to draw a heart again as well. 😭

need to sit down with david tennant and ask him what exactly his directing orders were in dw s3.... like sir what was going on with the heart eyes and all? be serious

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just finished peacemaker. so insane. so so insane. ten and martha spend the first third of the book flirting until they have to go on a chase through the Wild West to stop these murderous weapons. yeah. the weapons themselves. ten absorbs this weapon-entity into his flesh & mind to save Martha from the gunshot wound she casually suffers from in the last 40 or so pages. Martha proceeds to prince-charming-kiss ten back to life. um and there’s also plot stuff. and amazing side characters and such. and

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Ten is constantly lavishing little bits of praise onto Martha in the novels/comics/etc — “full marks, Martha Jones” and “go to the top of the class” and “gold star for you”, and so on — good god, somebody please hook a girl up with a tenmartha praise kink fic 😩 maybe they got bored in 1969, idfk