Next weekend the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular – a live performance of music from the show – begins touring the UK.
CultBox caught up with actor Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor), who’ll be hosting the concerts, for a chat…
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, your 50th Anniversary film, was incredibly well received. How tough was it to pull it together, managing all those guest appearances?
“It was tough, it was exciting, I don’t think I’ve ever worked quite so hard because just finding people’s availability was difficult and then we didn’t have very long to edit it. We had a few battles in the editing because they wanted to cut great chunks out of it and because I was told it was my baby, as it were, I didn’t do that.
“I think that the battle was they wanted it to be for the average joe public to watch and enjoy and I wanted it to be for the fans who would miss the fact that the older Doctors were not in it. So I wanted to keep everything that I put in it, we edited tiny bits out but not much really. I couldn’t have done it without the cooperation of everyone who gave their time.
“When the programme came out I think a lot of them didn’t know what the heck they were doing! What the heck they were getting into! I think in that respect they’re all very glad they were involved in it. *laughs* That moment I think when they thought, ‘what is it? What is this?’”
Are you still working on a sequel?
“I’m not actively working on a sequel. If I came up with a good enough idea, I’d love to do it, but it has to be an idea that is as good or if not better than the one I did before. Otherwise it’s just going to be a second best thing and I don’t want to do that.
“So if I have a moment of inspiration, that’s great and if I don’t I think The Five(ish) Doctors stands on its own. But, who knows? I haven’t closed the door on it, certainly. I’d also have to figure out a way to get all those other people involved without paying them anything – I think that might be the most difficult thing.”
Would you, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy ever be tempted to develop the concept into a W1A-style full series?
“It’s interesting that because, yeah, it would have to be a take on that. At one point they tried to make us put a W1A type audio track on it and I didn’t think it worked like that because that’s not what it is.
“It was a story that was happening in a moment, it’s not a sort of ‘here are these people at the BBC,’ so we rejected that idea based on that it wasn’t right to go down that route. But the idea of taking the mick out of the BBC always appeals, love the BBC though I do. But it would be a different format to W1A if I came up with something.”
The film took you behind the camera. Did you enjoy the experience of directing?
“Yes. Amazingly, I enjoyed it enormously. At one point I remember I looked over at Colin and Sylvester who were sitting on chairs drinking cups of tea and I thought that’s how I’ve spent most of my life as an actor.
“Most of your time as an actor is spent wasting time. Having cups of tea, reading newspapers and when you’re directing something it’s just full-on all the time. You have the cameraman saying, ‘here look at this shot, how about this shot?’ The location man going, ‘we could do this scene here.’ It’s just very inspiring and gives you great energy.”
You have enjoyed some high profile West End roles of late, in Gypsy, Legally Blonde and Spamalot. Is there a particular part you would like to play on the stage?
“No, I’ve got past the age at which I could play Hamlet or I’m too young for King Lear, I don’t think I even want to give my world for King Lear. I love the part, for example I was just talking to someone yesterday, the part I’m doing at the moment in Gypsy – I think it’s a fantastic musical and I love those kind of parts, I love doing those shows.
“I’m not instinctively a musical theatre person, but I can hold a tune and I guess that the way directors see now about me is musicals, they like actors who can sing a bit rather than singers who can act a bit. So that suits me fine.”
Continued…