David Tennant’s hopes of US TV stardom dashed

Can the Doctor emulate Hugh Laurie and help save troubled NBC? That was the question The First Post posed in November when it was announced that the Doctor Who actor David Tennant was to take the lead in a new US legal comedy. The answer, sadly, appears to be No.

After making a one-hour pilot for Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, in which Tennant plays a Chicago attorney crippled by anxiety, NBC executives have decided to put plans for the proposed series on hold. They will readdress it in the autumn.

The sets for the show, in which American actors Jerry O'Connell and Jeffrey Tambor were to star alongside Tennant, have been taken down and put into storage.

The decision will have come as a blow to the 38-year-old actor who made it clear in a recent interview that he had high hopes of starting a new TV career in the States. "It seems British actors are more and more in vogue there - look at Hugh Laurie," he said. "He's just about as big a star as you get in the States and he's made it in a role he would never have been given here."

Tennant recently stepped down as Doctor Who after four years in the role, to be replaced by Matt Smith. The final episode with Tennant as the Time Lord was watched on New Year's Day by an audience of more than 10 million.

Any hopes that Rex Is Not Your Lawyer might be one of the shows to fill NBC's 10 pm slot, famously vacated by Jay Leno, have been dashed. ·