Fans queue at box office for David Tennant's Hamlet

Dr Who fans and Shakespeare lovers camped overnight to be first to buy tickets to see David Tennant's Hamlet.

About 270 people were queuing around the block when tickets went on sale in the West End at 10am.

Some had camped overnight at the Novello Theatre which will stage the acclaimed production after it transfers from Stratford-upon-Avon.

The 37-year-old Doctor Who star and his fellow cast members, who include Star Trek's Patrick Stewart, will appear in a month of performances from 3 December-to 10 January. A spokeswoman for the Royal Shakespeare Company, which is responsible for the production, said: "It's so nice everyone wants to see Hamlet."

Tennant's take on the troubled Danish prince was one of the hottest tickets of the year - and he did not disappoint on his first night last month.

Nicholas de Jongh, in the Evening Standard, said: "He arrives as an authentic Hamlet for today in a spectacular-production by Gregory Doran." Paul Taylor in The Independent said Tennant excelled in most aspects of the role, but particularly when Hamlet becomes prankish. "A lanky live-wire with a wry twist to the mouth and mocking brows, he puts on a thrilling display of barbed levity and flippant sarcasm," he wrote.

One of the few not convinced by the casting was the theatre and opera director Jonathan Miller. He dismissed it as celebrity casting - prompting a chorus in Tennant's defence, stressing his strong credentials as a stage actor and his past work with the RSC.

Tickets were selling quickly today, but some seats are reserved for release on the day, in addition to returns.

Special £5 tickets are available for 16- to 25-year-olds.

Jude Law is also taking on the role of Hamlet. He will appear in a production being presented as part of the Donmar Warehouse's season in the West End at Wyndham's Theatre. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, it opens at the end of May next year and runs until August.