David Tennant’s Obscure Short Films: 1996’s 'Quality Control'

...one of the rarest of all of his short films!

I’m back for a short(er) little David Tennant in Obscure Performances post today. Let’s have a teeny-tiny chat about another rarity of David’s, shall we? - a short film he did in 1996 called Quality Control. And when I say this is a rarity, believe me….it’s a rarity.

I’ve at least been able to confirm David acted in this short film, for he mentions it as a film credit in two places: the 1996 programme for The Herbal Bed, and the 1997 programme for Hurly Burly - as evidenced by this cast listing of his from my Hurly Burly programme:

Quality Control has very little to no presence on the Internet, and there are only a few mentions of its existence. The first one I’ve been able to track which attributed the short to David was from a “David Tennant Fact Of The Day” post from May 2012.

The second mention is from the British Film Institute (BFI). If you study this notation, you’ll notice another interesting detail: unlike many other works, the BFI does NOT hold any film or video materials relating to Quality Control. So they don’t have a copy!

The BFI describes the film as a “comedy in which a job centre trainee finds himself totally inept in his new position of quality controller at a skateboard factory.” But I hoped I might find a few other clues from another contemporary source: newspapers. So that’s where I went!

All of the descriptions said Quality Control was a 20-minute short comedy - but I also learned it was the trainee’s first day on the job, too. One can also assume (and I certainly do) David plays the role of the trainee. Here are some various listings I found:

What’s very interesting, though, is something the BFI doesn’t list: Quality Control was also re-broadcast two years later in 1998! The ‘Fact of The Day’ I mentioned earlier clued me into that detail, and that tidbit was invaluable in my search for mentions of the short. Why? Because this one’s a real tough one to search. David’s never mentioned in any printed synopsis, and seriously…just try to do a search using only the words, “Quality Control.” It’s an utter nightmare!

But knowing what I knew, I was able to add to the information the 'Fact Of The Day’ had provided. Quality Control originally aired at 1:55p on 10 Jun 1996 on Channel Four. In 1998, Channel Four aired it two more times: on 8 Feb 1998 at 3:30p, and at 1:30p on 26 Oct 1998. It was also repeated regionally on S4C at 1:30p on 6 Nov 1998.

Its repetition in 1998 has intrigued me. The BFI listing for the short says it doesn’t have a copy in its archives, but unless it’s been subsequently erased, a copy of that short might still exist. Somewhere. I’d love to find it, as it’s one of the few things David did during that time I haven’t seen. So we have no screenshots. But we know he did it. And who knows if Channel Four still has it in their archive.

But you know, maybe someone’s got it recorded somewhere on an old Betamax tape.