British actor David Tennant, who takes over the role of Doctor Who in the British SF show's second season, told SCI FI Wire that the opportunity fulfills a childhood fantasy. At 34, Tennant is one of the youngest actors to take over the role of The Doctor in the series, which has been a staple on TV in Great Britian since 1963 and was revived last year after a 16-year hiatus.

"It's very exciting and fantastically daunting that you come to L.A. and everyone here knows about it as well, because there's a lot of attention," Tennant said at BBC America's fall press preview in Beverly Hills, Calif. "It's very scary right now, because I haven't started."

Tennant is the 10th actor to take over the role, following in the footsteps of Sylvester McCoy, Tom Baker, William Hartnell, Paul McGann and, most recently, Christopher Eccleston.

Eccleston wasn't very familiar with the Doctor Who craze when he took the role last year. But Tennant said that he was a big fan. "I grew up watching it, as everyone you know, as everyone in Britain did," he said. Tennant's real-life girlfriend, Sarah Parish, interjected: "He knew about it? He was obsessed!"

Tennant smirked and added: "I was a bit of a fan. So, yeah, I was very, very aware of it." Tennant is reportedly taking a pay cut because of budget-slashing on the show.

Tennant's involvement with another British TV show, Casanova, led him to Doctor Who. "I was working with Russell T. Davies, who is the main writer and kind of creative head of [Who]," Tennant said. "I did a show that he'd written, called Casanova, at the end of last year, so I knew him through that. And, I guess, unbeknownst to me, that was my audition. So it just came up after that, I guess, when they knew that Chris Eccleston was moving on. They just came to me and asked me to do it."

On the big screen, Tennant will soon be seen in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, playing Barty Crouch Jr.