mtemplar_fic | Some Speculation

From the Evening Standard:

THE filming of David Tennant's last episodes as Doctor Who is under threat because to the star's debilitating back injury.

Tennant, 37, is struggling to recuperate from major surgery on his back after he suffered a prolapsed disc last month.

The injury has already come as a major blow to thousands of his fans who are now unlikely to see him in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet at London's Novello Theatre.

There are now fears that the star will still be out of action when the shooting of four special episodes begins in Cardiff next month, threatening to delay the project.

They are to be his last episodes before he quits the BBC's popular show at the end of next year.

Producers are frantically drawing up contingency plans to adapt around Tennant's prolonged recovery period, which according to spinal experts could take to "up to three months".

Yesterday, Tennant emerged for the first time since the operation, gingerly walking outside his home in Crouch End, north London.

Nevertheless he has been deemed not fit enough to attend a preview screening of the latest Doctor Who special which airs on Christmas Day.

I've been wondering for a while now how on Earth he would manage not only returning to the grueling filming schedule that DW entails, much less Hamlet, before being at least 6 - 8 weeks post-op. Here's hoping that he does get some more time to recover. If there's no DW on Easter, I'm OK with that - rather than possibly jeopardize DT's future career by pushing him back to work.

Original source here (warning for speculation regarding possibilities for the Eleventh Doctor): http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23604110-details/First+Hamlet,+now+Tennant+back+surgery+puts+filming+of+last+BBC+series+under+threat/article.do

ETA: Per various sources, RTD is hopeful DT will be fit to start filming on the 19th of January.