David Tennant’s wife Georgia was told she wasn’t ‘convincing’ to play David’s on-screen wife

They have been married for nearly a decade and are kept busy by their five children.

And David and Georgia Tennant have rarely been seen on screen together since tying the knot, only recently co-starring in hit lockdown comedy Staged.

But Georgia, 36, candidly revealed that she has been desperate to work with her partner, 49, for years, but said ‘nobody seemed to want’ her to work with David. 

The Bill star told Radio Times that she was told by a casting director that she wasn’t a ‘convincing partner’ for David – despite the fact that they are married with five kids.

She quipped that every other ‘actor who could possible play the part’ would have to be eliminated before she was allowed to play his wife.

She told the publication: ‘Nobody seemed to want to let me do it.

‘For one part I was told by a casting director that I wasn’t a convincing partner for him…

‘I was like, “But we’re married. With quite a few kids!” So, basically, every actor who could possibly play the part would have to be eliminated in order for me to be allowed to play his wife…’

The couple met back in 2008 when Georgia made an appearance in an episode of Doctor Who, The Doctor’s Daughter, during David’s stint on the sci-fi show.

But only now have the pair managed to play husband and wife on screen in BBC comedy Staged, as the much-anticipated second series premiers on Monday. 

Georgia has previously taken on a minor role in David’s film You, Me and Him, but has been repeatedly batted away to play his wife – until the Covid-19 lockdown.

So with nobody else able to enter their home and compete for the part during the first national lockdown, Georgia was finally able to star alongside her husband. 

Speaking about Georgia finally playing his wife, the Des star quipped: ‘And anyway, imagine having to tell my wife that she was being played by someone else.’ 

Georgia also joked that she will now ‘only work’ with David, before revealing that they already have another his-and-hers venture in the pipelines.

She added: ‘We enjoy it, and I feel like Staged has proved it’s possible. I’d like to go back to that casting director and say, ‘See? I can play his wife!’ 

David, who is next starring as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days, also explained that he never would have predicted he would agree to take part in Staged, as him and his wife are famously very private.

He continued: ‘I don’t think this is something we would have imagined we’d have done. 

‘But then suddenly in March, Around the World in 80 Days is closed down and I’m airlifted out of South Africa and nothing’s happening, all bets are off. 

‘And then, well, the only thing we can do has to be from our house. And this idea presented itself.’ 

The comedy’s first series saw David and Michael Sheen play fictional versions of themselves, trying to rehearse for a West End production after being furloughed during lockdown.

In the show, David and Michael Sheen are persuaded by their director to continue rehearsing for Six Characters in Search of an Author over Zoom instead.

The upcoming series will see the regular cast yet again joined in their ‘virtual hell’ by a whole host of unexpected stars. 

David is returning alongside his real-life wife Georgia, whereas Michael will be joined once again by his partner Anna Lundberg.

But speaking about their real-life experiences during lockdown, David and Georgia admitted that they both struggled with homeschooling their five children.

The pair share four children – Olive, nine, Wilfred, seven, and Doris, five, and Birdie, eight months. David also adopted Georgia’s 18-year-old son Ty when they married.

The married couple candidly revealed that the chaos of lockdown brought out the ‘worst’ in them as parents.

Georgia admitted: ‘It was the worst. It brought out the worst in us as parents.’

Before adding: ‘There was one point in something like week two, where I went, “I’m sorry. I just have to…” and I climbed out the window and sat on our roof. 

‘It was the only place I could go where I knew that no one would think to look for me, because why would Mummy be sat on the roof?’

David and Georgia also said they thought they both contracted coronavirus early in the pandemic, making matters even more stressful.

Speaking about filming Staged during the pandemic, Georgia also admitted that they would frantically film in ’20 minute’ gaps between childcare.

The couple, who are very private about their family life, said filming Staged was ideal as they did not need to let a camera crew in their homes amid Covid-19 regulations.

Georgia said: ‘The whole thing with Staged was, “We need to make this easy as possible”. And if we can make those characters really easy to get into, because we’ve only got 20 minutes to film a scene between childcare, then let’s tweak it so we’re not having to sit there going, “What would my motivation be?” Because at that time our motivation was really just to stay awake.’

While David added: ‘It’s not like we’re letting a crew in, it’s just us with our laptops and our mobile phones filming each other.’

The second series of Staged will premiere on BBC One on January 4 at 9.45pm, and will see the stars navigating their new ‘normal’ amid the coronavirus crisis.

While Michael and David are forced to deal with their American agent Tom, played by Parks and Recreation’s Ben Schwartz, as they try to continue working from home.

Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times, out now