"So, why did you agree to be Doctor Who'?" "Because it was written by Russell T. Davies, primarily." "You weren't a fan, then'?" "Wasn't focused on wanting to be Doctor Who'?" "No, I wasn't a fan as a child." "No." "I was playing out when Doctor Who was on as a child." "It didn't..." "There were key moments that I would tune in for, and that would be a regeneration." "Because, as a child, I was fascinated by the concept of a character remaining the same but looking different." "I thought that was fascinating and secondary to that," "I wanted to see how they would do it technically." "And the other time I would tune in was the inside of the Dalek." "As a child, I thought that was mesmerizing." "This idea of this thing that had been so frightening and so threatening was actually pathetic." "I thought that, too..." "As a child, that was fascinating." "So you didn't see an awful lot of Doctor Who because there weren't many regenerations, were there'?" "No, but I seem to remember it being in the press that it was going to happen, you know?" "Like it'd be in the press that the Daleks..." "We're going to take the lid off a Dalek." "And I'm old enough to remember, not William Hartnell, but the great Patrick Troughton, and I have a strong visual memory of his face in a black-and-white episode." "And I do think Doctor Who looks great in color but I think it works in black and white as well." "Now, your Doctor Who, he's got a nice Northern accent and remarkably different from the others." "Did you go back at any point and go, "I'm going to keep that bit of Doctor Who..."" "No, no." "I..." "I feel the old series..." "I think what we've jettisoned is the sexism of the underwritten female role." "And also, you know, the defining characteristics of Doctor Who, to a certain extent, are heroism and intelligence." "And there seemed to be being an equation drawn with RP, received pronunciation, that that was the sole area, really." "And, you know, I felt that it was time to, along with the sexism, it was time for that to be kicked out, you know?" "And, of course, the key elements of Doctor Who is the monsters." "You're acting against monsters most of the time, are you'?" "And Daleks and all the villains'?" "Yeah, the key element is things like the Daleks, the Slitheen, the Gelth," "The Moxx of Balhoon, the Face of Boe." " Any Cybermen coming back'?" " We're not..." "No." "Cybermen..." "You'll have to wait for the Cybermen, but you get everything else." "And what you get, Russell has created a whole new array of villains." "Creatures of his own to add to the gallery of the last 40 years." "Some people, when they look back at the old episodes, they laugh at them and say, "The Dalek's been made with a sink plunger," and things like that." "You've got to compete against some big budget American science fiction." "I mean, kids are a lot more sophisticated these days, aren't they'?" "I think they are more sophisticated in terms of what they take in visually, but I think you can still touch them." "What a lot of the science fiction programs we're going up against don't have is that kind of central message of Doctor Who, which is "love life"." "Erm, you know, it's unashamedly emotional about..." "The Doctor's message seems to be, you have a short life, make sure it's a happy one and seize every moment." "And accept life in all its forms, which is a central message within." "You know, he doesn't react with horror when he sees a blue, three-headed monster." "He reacts with wonder and I think that's a very important message to send out to children." "And a lot of the series is a kind of..." "You can talk about Buffy, it's kind of postmodern irony and stuff, whereas this is..." "This retains that kind of innocence, the innocence of its message." "But also we've brought into line..." "As a child watching it, I was put off by some of the low production values." "I don't have a camp sensibility." "When the sets wobbled, it meant the world wasn't real." "I didn't believe in it so I went out playing." "Whereas I'd stay with Star Trek because their production values were high, as far as I could see, and the world was consistent." "But we, in our new series, we're in line with all that." "The production values are very high." "We had a good budget, and, most importantly, we have brilliant people working on it, at the crew level." "We've created." "There's no wobbly sets." "A bit of wobbly acting." "No wobbly sets." "Now, you have to be prepared, of course, as soon as you become the Doctor, you will, for the rest of your life, have a large number of fans who want to write letters to you." "I might have enemies." "I might have a large number of enemies." "Depends what they feel about me." "But you're prepared..." "Over the years, it's developed quite a..." "There's supposedly 8,000 committed fans out there who've stayed year after year after year." "Have you encountered any of them so far'?" "Yeah, I mean, I'm quite fortunate because I've been in the business, varying degrees of kind of exposure, over the last 18 years." "So I know a little what that's like." "When I was cast in the role, I immediately met a number of Whovians." "For want of, you know, should we call them Whovians'?" "And they had been unfailingly polite and gentle and encouraging to me and I'm very grateful for it." "They've been around the set." "They've watched us filming." "And I think they're passionate and grateful that the series has returned and I've enjoyed every encounter with them." "They're not interested in any of the details of your personal life." "What they want to know is what it's like being a Time Lord." "And I share..." "You know, I'm like that about reggae and soul music." "I have that gene, that kind of slightly obsessive thing." "So, it's been a pleasure and I genuinely hope that they're happy with what I and we have done." "Now, the whole point about the Doctor is he lasts for quite a long time." "I mean, you've done 13 episodes." "They're not going to be happy until you've done year after year, you know, become a Tom Baker figure." "Are you going to stay with Doctor Who for a longtime, do you think'?" "I can't answer that." "It's impossible." "All I can think about, at the moment..." "And I literally stopped filming on Saturday this first series." "I can't possibly be drawn on that." "You don't regenerate at the end, then'?" "If you think about it, thirteen 45-minute episodes in the old days is two series." "I've just done two series in eight months, really." "You could broadcast seven of these and six next year." "You've got two series." "45 minutes, not half hours." "I've done two series already." "Is it going to be scary'?" "I mean, it goes on at 7:00 on a Saturday." "It's obviously aimed at children." "Is it going to be an adult program, or is it going to be a kids program'?" "Hopefully, it's going to be a program that the family will watch together like all the best television." "I think..." "I would like 8 to 12-year-olds to take me into their heart." "I don't think I've got much of a chance with Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee fans." "And I respect that, that fidelity, really." "I respect that loyalty." "I have it myself to Sean Connery as James Bond." "But I'm hoping that 8 to 12-year-old children will..." "I'll be that first Doctor and they'll love me the way people love Baker." "Will they be watching you from behind the sofa'?" "They'll be watching me from behind the sofa, the futon, yeah." "I think..." "It's frightening because it's so well..." "Apart from the visual impact of the monsters and the brilliance of the creations, this is a very well written series and it's the psychology that's frightening." "Particularly, for instance, when the Doctor confronts the Daleks, there's a whole thing about is the Doctor actually as bad as the Daleks because he's prepared to exterminate them willy-nilly?" "So the psychology's very well drawn and the children will listen to that as well as look, you know'?" "If you make good television for children, the adults will come." "That's the way I think about it." "Now, in the 1980s, Doctor Who died a long, slow death into, kind of, ridicule and really wobbly sets." "I believe so." "I wasn't aware of it, but I believe so." "But, you know, even Doctor Who fans, they look on with horror of how it disappeared." "Why did it have to come back new?" "Why come back now when it's, you know, seemingly best fitted in the TV heaven'?" "I think perhaps the reason it died is because of the quality of writing." "All television programs, basically, are about the writing." "If the script isn't there, doesn't matter how good your director, actor or production is." "So obviously, there was problems with the script." "This came back... because one of our most brilliant writers wanted to address it, Russell T. Davies." "But it also came back because it is a fantastic idea." "Sydney Newman, I believe, had the original idea for the series, and he's obviously lifted from HG Wells' short story The Time Traveller." "It is a brilliant idea." "A character, a mysterious character, who can travel forwards and backwards in space and who is primarily concerned with prolonging the life of our world." "It's a beautifully simple idea, and I think that's why it's got legs." "And why did you want to be the Doctor'?" "Because Russell T. Davies wrote it and because it was an audience in an area of television that I hadn't worked in." "I've not had the privilege to act for children, really." "And because I'm constantly told that I'm not funny and I'm not charming and they were some of the demands in the role so I wanted to..." "I felt it was a big gamble." "There's two reasons to do it, Russell T. Davies and the gamble." "And I like a gamble." "I think it's important as an actor, in any sphere of life, to do the things that frighten you most." "Does this feel like a big event'?" "Do you feel like there's this kind of weight on your shoulders?" "Because it's been 15 years since it was on the TV screens and there's a buzz about it, isn't there'?" "Yeah, there is a buzz about it." "It doesn't feel like a burden, no." "It's been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to play the part and to work with that crew, who are shooting as we speak." "I've spent the last eight months, six days a week, 14 hours a day, with a group of people." "I'm not talking about all the show-offs you're going to see at this launch or me." "I'm just the tip of an iceberg." "I'm talking about the people, the cameramen, the prop-men, who made this program." "And it's been a privilege." "It's not a burden." "It was a joy to play him, really." "Now, they're all going to be coming tonight to have their first look at the first..." "What sort of'?" "It's painful when people attack it." "I'll be honest with you." "There's been a couple of early reviews and they've attacked it, and it's painful." "You accept it." "You take it on the chin." "But when you've worked as hard as we have, with so much love, you hope you'll get some of it back." "I did just want to say that it is painful." "I won't pretend that it isn't." " There are huge expectations..." " Huge." "It's their childhoods, isn't it, people are comparing it against'?" "Yeah." "And, as I say, I respect that loyalty to the old series." "The classic elements of this series are there." "The Daleks, the Tardis, the Doctor's persona, his aims, the central message of love life in all its forms are there." "But certain other things..." "The furniture's been moved around a bit." " No wobbly sets." " No wobbly sets." "And, you know, some of the old '70s stuff, the paternalistic know-all and the helpless sidekick, that's gone." "And one final question." "We hear the Daleks have solved the problem of conquering a planet with stairs." "That's true, and yeah." "So that's a problem that none of the rest of the..." "Never mind accents, none of the rest of the Doctors have had to face Daleks that can do that." " Can you tell us how they do it'?" " Oh, no." "That'd spoil it, wouldn't it'?" " I'm not in the spoiling business." " Fantastic."