WITH roles in everything from hard-hitting drama Broadchurch to sci-fi animation gen:LOCK, it can seem Scottish actor David Tennant is never far from our screens.

Now the star, who has headlined stage and screen productions since he was 16, has been recognised for his dedication to his craft by being named Britain’s hardest working actor.

In a study of 100 top television and film stars, the Bathgate-born actor and his Broadchurch co-star Olivia Colman were named the most prolific male and female British screen performers in 2019.

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This year the former Doctor Who gripped Netflix viewers in tense drama Criminal, released in September, and is set to star in Channel 4 series Deadwater Fell, which has no release date yet but is expected before the end of the year.

The four-part series follows two families in the aftermath of the horrific murder of a seemingly happy family, sending shockwaves through a small Scottish community.

He also stars in Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s series, Good Omens, released in May, playing fast-living demon Crowley who teams up with Michael Sheen’s angel Aziraphale to delay the coming of the Antichrist and the impending apocalypse.

The pair were celebrated for their on-screen chemistry yet Netflix was petitioned by more than 20,000 Christians in America calling for the show’s cancellation – even though the series was made by Amazon Prime.

A second series of touching family comedy drama There She Goes has been commissioned. Series one was broadcast in 2018 and centred on the real-life experiences of writer Shaun Pye, whose daughter was born with an extremely rare and currently undiagnosed chromosomal disorder.

The show, starring Tennant and Jessica Hynes, follows the day-to-day life of Rosie (Miley Locke), who has a severe learning disability.

Originally screened on BBC4, the five- part series returns to a new home on BBC2, due to its popularity.

But the 48-year-old son of a Church of Scotland minister is perhaps best known for his stint as the Tardis-dwelling time-travelling Doctor Who from 2005 to 2010.

He once said of the role: “To certain people, you’ll always be the Doctor, which is a wonderful, humbling thing but it does mean accepting an adjustment to your life.”

The Herald arts critic and columnist Alison Rowat said she was not surprised Tennant had been recognised. She said: “You do see him everywhere, from stage to big and small screen.

“He’s a very versatile actor, he can do everything from Doctor Who to Shakespeare, which is always going to be in demand.

“The thing about having a profile is once you’ve got it, that’s when you get more work.

“There’s a coterie of Scots actors who’ve all come up together like Tennant and James McAvoy and Martin Compston – they’ve all got this work ethic, which means they’re always in demand.

“People know they’ll do a good job so they get hired. It’s as simple as that.”

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Born David McDonald, Tennant told his parents of his acting ambitions when he was just three, inspired by the sci-fi sensation he would later star in.

He studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before a series of stage roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The study of top TV and film stars, led by statistician Geoff Ellis, was conducted for BritBox, a new streaming service that presents content from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

One hundred British actors who have either won or been nominated for a Bafta or National Television Award in the last decade were analysed on factors such as versatility in acting genres and number of appearances.

Tennant topped the list for hardest working, followed by Martin Clunes, Sir David Jason, Colman and Dame Julie Walters.

Like her former co-star, Colman hasn’t been slacking and is currently starring in Netflix’s Royal saga The Crown as Queen Elizabeth II.

In February, Colman won an Oscar for her role as Queen Anne in period drama The Favourite.

Rounding off the top 10 hardworking actors are Sir Derek Jacobi, Dame Judi Dench, James Nesbitt, Steve Coogan and Sean Bean.

Bean was identified as the actor most likely to have an on-screen death, closely followed by Luther and The Wire star Idris Elba.

He was also ranked as having the most star power, followed by Only Fools And Horses legend Sir David Jason. Clunes and Dame Helen Mirren, meanwhile, were declared the most versatile actors.

Reemah Sakaan, group director for ITV subscription video on-demand, said: “This list highlights a small selection of the top talent in the UK and we’re excited that our fans can enjoy many of the actors’ much-loved classics and more recent work on the service.”