David Tennant's Around the World in 80 Days UK release date confirmed

Photo credit: BBC / Slim 80 Days
Photo credit: BBC / Slim 80 Days
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David Tennant's Phileas Fogg will debut on UK screens this Boxing Day, in a new adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days.

This sprawling adventure was teased just last month by the former Doctor Who star himself, telling Digital Spy in an exclusive interview that his character is haunted by a "sense that he's wasted himself".

Photo credit: BBC / Slim 80 Days
Photo credit: BBC / Slim 80 Days

Related: Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker reveals warning previous Doctor David Tennant gave her about role

"And it's very easy for him to keep going to that [Reform] Club every day and having the same high cholesterol meal until he has a heart attack and falls over, and nobody would care.

"I think he feels, although he comes from this place of privilege, life is not difficult for him, but neither is it challenging. He's just in a place where there is nothing to kick against, and he feels like he will not even be a footnote in history," the Scotsman explained.

In case you're unacquainted with the story, Phileas tables a £20,000 bet against the Reform Club snobs that he'll circumnavigate the planet in just 80 days.

Photo credit: BBC / Slim 80 Days
Photo credit: BBC / Slim 80 Days

Related: Doctor Who's David Tennant explains why it will be "very hard" to pick next Doctor

Searching for "something that makes him feel alive" and "striving for a bit of relevance", Tennant's moustachioed protagonist is really what you'd call an atypical globetrotter.

"He's quite scared of life and scared of challenge and everything feels difficult and alarming to him. It really does take this collision of moments in that first day that we meet him that allows him to take a deep breath and jump.

"And there are many points later where he would willingly give up, but it is the story of someone who goes on a journey to find himself. He has a hope that perhaps there's something more to him, there's a human being worth discovering," he added.

Around the World in 80 Days premieres this Boxing Day on BBC One.

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