David Tennant has an impressive CV of theatre appearances including Romeo in Romeo And Juliet for the RSC. Originally from West Lothian, he now claims to be a fully paid-up Londoner thanks to his Tube knowledge, and describes himself as a geeky Doctor Who fan. He currently stars as Jeff, a goofy, wisecracking security guard in the West End play Lobby Hero. How much are you and Jeff alike?I'd like to think wisecracking, but I've no idea. It's difficult to describe your own personality. I'd say tall, skinny and Scottish. That's the basic design of me and pretty accurate actually. I'm not painting a pretty picture am I? Shall I lie? I'm devastatingly handsome - honest.

A policeman in the play is having an affair. Have you ever had to cover for a mate or been covered for?
I couldn't possibly comment on that - I'd be arrested. I don't think I've ever covered for anyone, not even at school. Not consciously anyway. No-one ever asked me to; I don't…

I made my professional debut with the 7:84 Scottish theatre company in a touring production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. The 7:84 was formed by John McGrath in the 1970s and is still going strong. It takes two or three shows a year on one-night-stand tours around the Highlands and Islands, stopping longer in the larger towns.
Anyway, I went for the audition just after graduating from the Royal Scottish Academy aged about 20 - a single-minded youngster, I had started there at the tender age of 17 - and landed the part of Giri the hitman: my first professional part.

I think there can have been only about six of us in the production - I suspect for monetary reasons rather than artistic ones. Arturo Ui was one of those Brecht plays with thousands of characters; inevitably, we shared them all out, with the help of a few wigs and fake noses. It was great fun; we were all young and up for it. Three of us had been at drama school together, and I was terrifically excited. I was fresh out…

The actor David Tennant was born in 1971 in Bathgate, Scotland. He attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, did his first season at the RSC in 1996, and has just started his second.
Comic performer and writer Arabella Weir was born in San Francisco in 1957 and grew up in London. After college she did a variety of acting jobs and later was asked to write for "The Fast Show". In 1997 she published her first novel, "Does My Bum Look Big In This?"

}}David Tennant: It was autumn 1993, I was working in Scotland and I got a lead part in a TV series called Taking Over the Asylum. Arabella came up to Glasgow to do a week on it.

This was long before The Fast Show so she wasn't the star-studded celebrity she is now. I'd only heard her name as somebody who was coming to join the company.

I was terribly green, and to me she seemed so laid back and au fait with the whole thing of being on a film set. She has a very forceful personality and for a wee skinny…