David Tennant’s transformation into the poisoned Russian Alexander Litvinenko was so good that he even fooled himself.The 51-year-old from Bathgate will be seen in a drama about the Russian defector who was poisoned with polonium-210 and claimed President Vladimir Putin was behind it.Before his death in November 2006 a photo was released of him on his deathbed which is instantly recognisable.For new four-part series Litvinenko, David recreated the hospital bed photo of Litvinenko, bald and attached to electro-cardiogram sensors.David said: “One of the first things we did was recreate the image of him in the hospital bed which went all around the world“That involved a lot of very skilled people helping to recreate that image.

The make-up and the prosthetics and the costume team staring at photographs to figure out, ‘What is that hospital gown and where is it arranged?’“It took several hours.“When we got that image and I saw it on a laptop screen, for a second you couldn’t quite tell if you were looking at the original or what we had just done.”Doctor Who star David has become something of a chameleon of late.

He looked uncannily like serial killer Dennis Nilsen in 2020 series Des.Litvinenko is now streaming on new service ITVX.The ex-Russian Federal Security Services and KGB officer’s death triggered one of the most complex and dangerous investigations in the history of the Metropolitan Police.The drama will follow the New Scotland Yard officers Clive Timmons, played by Mark Bonnar, and Brent Hyatt, played by Neil Maskell, who worked to prove who was responsible for the death of Litvinenko, tracking down the two Russians who’d poisoned him with a highly toxic radioactive substance.Litvinenko’s wife Marina, played by

David Tennant 'wasn't sure if image was him or Alexander Litvinenko'

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