David Tennant defends Good Omens after show was hit with furious blasphemy claims

‘People are very keen to be offended,’ said actor

David Tennant has defended Good Omens, which is returning for its second season this week, after the first series of the show was hit with allegations of blasphemy.

The BBC Studios and Amazon Prime Video adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s fantasy novel returns on Friday (28 July), with Tennant, 52, playing a demon opposite an angel played by Michael Sheen, 54.

Season one, which aired in 2019 and saw the pair team up to prevent the antichrist from bringing about the apocalypse, prompted a petition – signed by 20,000 Christians – calling for it to be banned over concerns it promoted satanism.

“People are very keen to be offended,” Tennant told Radio Times in a new interview. “They’re often looking for something to glom on to without possibly really examining what they think they’re complaining about.”

He said that those who suggested that the show glamourised the devil had not really understood the series. “It’s not an irreligious show at all,” he said. “It’s actually very respectful of the structure of that sort of religious belief. The idea that it promotes satanism [is nonsense]. None of the characters from Hell are to be aspired to at all. They’re a dreadful bunch of non-entities.”

The 2019 petition, set up by US group Return to Order, had claimed that the show makes satanism appear “acceptable” and “mocks God’s wisdom”.

Fans have had to wait four years for the second season of Good Omens, partly because the show wasn’t renewed until 2021 and partly because the new episodes go beyond the source material.

This November, Tennant will also return to Doctor Who for three 60th anniversary specials written by Russell T Davies.

In May, BBC trailers for the anniversary specials, called “The Star Beast”, “Wild Blue Yonder” and “The Giggle”, arrived.

The clips gave fans a glimpse of Catherine Tate’s return as Tennant’s sidekick Donna Noble.

They also teased plenty of action, and some dancing, with Tennant’s Doctor doing a jig and Neil Patrick Harris’s character wearing a top hat.

David Tennant in ‘Good Omens’ (Amazon)

Tennant recently told Radio Times he wanted to play the character again before he got “too old”.

“The specifics of coming back to Doctor Who took a bit of wrangling,” he told the outlet, adding: “But we were always receptive to the notion. Initially, it was a casual conversation going, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to do a one-off?’

“Then Russell was back running the show and suddenly it could be something bigger. But there’s really no pressure. It’s a victory lap, in a way – you get to enjoy something that had meant so much to you, one last shot before you get too old to do it again.”