An episode with
David Tennant plays Walt in television show Camping. He talks to Michele Manelis.
Did you go camping as a kid?
I have been camping in my life once, proper camping. We used to go in a caravan, but a caravan in a tragic 70s British sense, not caravans like in the United States. We had these ones where it was an oval with wheels behind the car, with my mum, dad and the three of us kids stacked in like sardines. We had every fire hazard under the sun.
Where did you go?
We went to campsites around Scotland and usually had a holiday in the drizzle mostly. And there would be one toilet shared by the entire campsite and you would have to go and queue.
Did you enjoy it?
I suppose it was pretty grim. I was very small at the time, so I don't remember it being particularly arduous but it was certainly a budget holiday. In terms of putting up a tent and having a groundsheet, I'd done that once when I went to the Glastonbury Music Festival in 2005. It rained more than it had ever rained for that music festival the whole time.
That sounds like quite the experience.
Once you give in to it and go, “I am going feral for a few days,” I found there was a curious liberation, which I clearly did enjoy, but I haven't chased it down since. So I can't pretend. I am probably not as enthusiastic a camper as Walt.
Do you see yourself in Walt?
It was certainly unlike parts I get asked to play. I could see a lot of myself in it. I've spent a lot of my time trying to be much cooler than I actually am, playing parts that are alpha and high status, villains or people who have the answers to a lot of questions. But it's not how I feel inside at all, so maybe there was a certain freedom in being that slightly insecure man-boy.
What are you binge-watching right now?
I particularly love when you find a new drama that really hooks you. There's a peculiar joy in that you find very rarely elsewhere. We just had the show Bodyguard, which we have all been hooked on. Killing Eve we have been enjoying.
In your family, who takes control of the remote?
It's quite a collective thing but arbitrary rules will spring up, like “you watch that on your own so we aren't watching that together”. Or shows that you try to wait for each other. I mean obviously before I let the kids go to bed, it's entirely down to them and we have no say. And they are much more clever and quicker at working Netflix or the Sky box than we are. So we just have to surrender our control.
What's it like being the only Brit among Americans in the show?
Fun. It puts you on your mettle obviously, but it helps to be surrounded. In fact if you are doing an accent, it helps to be surrounded by lots of people who talk like that normally.
Do you have any memorable birthday stories like Walt?
I have never gone on a trip for my birthday. And I would never go on a camping trip on my birthday. I suppose perhaps there is something in the Scottish Presbyterian in me that doesn't like to make too much of a fuss about such trivialities as a birthday.
Are you still friends with your mates from school?
I have some friends from school. I don't see them as much as I would like, I don't live in Scotland anymore.
Would you go on vacation with them?
I think I would. I have quite a large family so we go on vacation, but we can't sort ourselves out, so that would be hard to coordinate with somebody else. But it's a nice idea. My next big one will be my 50th, so maybe I should plan some sort of odyssey. My wife has said we should do a Las Vegas trip.
What acting advice have you given your son?
If you set out to be an actor it's because you believe you are going to be okay and that you are going to succeed. And so he should, he's incredibly talented, it turns out. Because that is the fear as well, what if we see him in something and he is rubbish, will we be able to tell him? So, it's a great relief that he has quite a lot of ability. So far he seems incredibly calm and very well programmed about what's coming. We will just have to hope that it carries on that way for him.
You have four kids, are you a handson father?
I hope so, yes. I try to be as much as possible. I think that's part of the joy of having kids, you want to be as big a part of their life as you can. And one of the difficulties of this job is that you often have to go away and that is always a balance. As the kids grow older, they need you in different ways and you can never quite predict how that is going to work out.
It must be difficult with so many kids to go on vacation?
There's six of us all together and it's a bit like moving an army around the world. I seem to spend most of my life on hold to British Airways when we are going anywhere.
Would you take your family on a camping trip?
I think it would be carnage. My wife and I would both hate it and the kids would probably hate it too but it would be an experiment to see which kid would get on. I don't know if that would go well.