Following an appearance on BBC’s The One Show, actor David Tennant has inadvertently helped to raise thousands for the UK LGBTQ+ charity the Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT) by wearing a badge of the Doctor Who Tardis in the trans Pride colours.

During an interview to promote three special 60th anniversary Doctor Who episodes, the beloved Scottish actor, best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the lead character, wore an enamel pin of the sci-fi series’s space machine. 

Originally created in the 1960s, the Tardis takes the form of an old square police phone box. Beneath the windows, the spacecraft has six panels on each of its sides. 

In January 2023, science communicator Dr Jamie Gallagher launched a series of pins designed in the shape of the Tardis, with each of the six panels painted in Pride colours, adding to his collection of over 70 queer science-based badge designs that he sells online, with a percentage of all sales going to support AKT.

The three Tardis designs included the full Pride rainbow, the bisexual Pride colours of dark blue, purple and dark pink, and the trans colours of light blue, white and light pink.

After David Tennant proudly sported the trans Tardis badge, first on the sketch show The Last Leg on Friday, November 17, and again on The One Show on Monday, November 20, fans anxiously searched out the pin for themselves, resulting in Gallagher donating over £18,000 to AKT.

This morning I sent £4,000 to @aktcharity because of this. That’s £18,129 in total. Thank you beautiful humans. That will make a huge difference to LGBTQ+ people living with homelessness this winter ❤️

(I am working to fulfil orders as quickly as I can. Have added Ace & NB too.) https://t.co/yDer4jUV1x

— Dr Jamie Gallagher (@JamieBGall) November 20, 2023

Since then, Gallagher has been forced to close his online shop to allow time to fulfil the backlog of orders, but he assures fans that more badges will be available from December 29, with new designs in the asexual and lesbian Pride colours.

Tennant appeared on The One Show alongside gay writer Russel T Davies, creator of It’s a Sin and the current writer of the Doctor Who show, confirming that he will make a much-anticipated return as the 14th reincarnation of the sci-fi hero.

In the new episodes, which will air across three weeks on BBC One from Saturday, November 25, Tennant will be joined by a host of LGBTQ+ icons, including Ncuti Gatwa, Yasmin Finney, Miriam Margoyles and Neil Patrick Harris, making this the most queer-friendly series in the franchise yet.