He has travelled through time, duped the Ministry of Magic and was voted the most popular actor on British television.

At the age of 45, Scottish actor David Tennant has cinched coveted roles that many of his contemporaries may not see in a lifetime.

We took a look at his journey to success.

Born: Bathgate

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Birthday: April 18, 1971

Parents: Dr Alexander “Sandy” McDonald and Helen McLeod (both deceased)

Education: Paisley Grammar (Renfrewshire), Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (at the time, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama)

Did you know?: He changed his surname to Tennant, taken from Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant, after reading the name in a copy of Smash Hits magazine.

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Much like David Prowse or Charley the cat, the springboard for Tennant’s career was an appearance in a 1987 public service announcement for Glasgow’s health board.

In an anti-smoking campaign, a 16-year-old Tennant plays a sneering bad-boy who tries to cajole a straight-laced young girl into taking her first puff after a game of football, unsuccessfully.

Unlike his rebellious character, Tennant confessed in an interview with the Huffington Post that he was not only terrible at football, but was also unable to light the cigarette for a crucial scene.

The foible meant Tennant annoyed the first director he had ever worked with – a crime only matched in enormity by his questionable hairstyle.

After graduating from the Royal Conservatoire, Tennant landed several roles on stage including various plays in the Dundee Repertory Theatre.

Six years after his anti-smoking gambit, he cast off his mullet for longer locks in Rab C Nesbitt, where he played a flirtatious barmaid named Davina.

His knack for comedy landed him his first Shakespearean role in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he was cast as the jester Touchstone, despite auditioning for the lead Orlando. While he would later fill the shoes of formidable roles like Hamlet and Richard II, Tennant thrived in Shakespeare’s comedies throughout his career from The Comedy of Errors (2000) to a memorable performance as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (2011).

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By 2005, Tennant had landed his dream job – and no, not Barty Crouch Junior in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Cast as the tenth beloved timelord, his first full-length episode of Doctor Who was a 60-minute special called The Christmas Invasion, which was broadcast on Christmas Day.

For many Tennant’s geeky and boyishly handsome Doctor surpasses Jon Pertwee, Sylvester McCoy and Tom Baker as the best incarnation in the series to date, his popularity earning him a chance to direct an episode of companion show Doctor Who Confidential, aired on BBC3, in 2007.

He held the role for five years, before returning for the 50th anniversary special in 2013, though Tennant originally remained fairly tight-lipped when it came to hanging up his sonic screwdriver.

Watch the moment STV’s Grant Lauchlan attempted to bribe him with tablet in exchange for information on a Doctor Who return in 2012.

Broadchurch: ITV drama premiered with seven million viewers. ITV

At the conclusion of his Doctor Who career, Tennant had become a pillar of British television, while earning a name for himself in Hollywood – for the right and wrong reasons.

In 2010 he appeared in the pilot of Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, as a high-flying Chicago litigator – with an incredibly dodgy accent. It didn’t make it to screen.

That same year he earned an RTS award nomination for his role in drama series Single Father. Turning his ambitions back to film, he appeared in the likes of How To Train Your Dragon and Fright Night in years that followed, while exploring his villainous side in Marvel’s TV series Jessica Jones, which aired in 2015. He also auditioned for the role of Hannibal Lecter on the Bryan Fuller drama, which eventually went to Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen.

Topping a catalogue of awards, Tennant picked up a Best Actor BAFTA for his work in The Escape Artist – but it was ITV’s Broadchurch that firmly brought the actor back into the fold of British drama. With Tennant as detective Alec Hardy, the programme premiered with seven million viewers and concluded its first season with praise heaped on by critics.

It was dubbed the most popular new drama since Downton Abbey.

It’s now 25 years since Tennant graduated from the Royal Conservatoire and the actor has picked up an honorary doctorate in drama.

In spite of his career spanning almost 30 years, he warned young thespians of the perils of the industry, saying: “If there’s anything else you think you can do, then do that.”