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…
Thirty-plus years on, you’re still playing the role of the Doctor for Big Finish Productions, with the company set to release its 200th monthly title in June. Other than the famous lunches, what is it that keeps you coming back to the role?
“The lunches are very good! *laughs* It’s fun to do it, it’s fun to see old friends. I think the fans appreciate the shows, the things we do, so that’s good enough in itself.
“It’s a nice way to keep your connection with the programme. I’ve never felt the need to distance myself from the programme because I was always able to move on. So, I was always fine about being connected to the programme.”
The audio tales have reunited you with all your onscreen companions in audio now, but are there any adversaries from your time on the show you fancy a rematch with?
“I love the Cybermen, I love whatever they come up with. The standard of writing on the Big Finish team is, generally speaking I think, really good and it all has to be cleared now by the Doctor Who office, so I’m very to go along with whatever they serve me. But yeah it’s nice to have a couple of old favourites every now and then.”
Finally, what do you think it is about Doctor Who that people seem to so adore?
“I think it’s just the whole science-fiction genre especially in the setup with the Doctor and the TARDIS, a time machine, you can have any story you want, you know in any time, in any period of history. You can tell any story you want really, really well and I think it’s just an exciting genre, an exciting idea that they’ve come up with.
“Obviously it helps that someone came up with regeneration so you can have different Doctors play the part because each Doctor is a new Doctor, it’s a new take on the programme and so it regenerates and rejuvenates it.”
The Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular starts on Saturday 23 May and tickets can be bought online here.