The latest Dr. Who will be taking on more than just monsters from outer space. The new timelord is tuning up for a TV ratings battle, too.
BBC bosses are pinning their hopes of a revival in the programme's flagging support on the intergalactic gamble of casting a little known 43-year-old Scot as the seventh metamorphosis of Doctor Who.
But Sylvester McCoy, who was to inhabit the space vacated by sacked star Colin Baker, protested yesterday: "I'm not a Mr. Nobody."
He added: "I might not be all that well-known but that's going to change. People have been telling me for years that I'd be perfect to play Doctor Who and I'm going to prove them right."
The show sank to an all-time ratings low and if pint-sized Sylvester isn't a hit with viewers, he could have a short-lived trip.
Eccentric
Sylvester said: "My contract runs for three years. I'm a bit of an eccentric and that will help.
There are ruled be a lot more humour. I might even be the singing Doctor. Bonnie Langford, my assistant, and I could do song-and-dance routines."
The actor has just finished playing the Pied Piper in a musical at the National Theatre. He has had several TV parts and appeared in the children's shows Tiswas and Big Jim and the Figaro Club.
Early in his career he put ferrets down his trousers and nails up his nose in the Ken Campbell Road Show. But his first ambition was to be a priest. "I gave up when I discovered girls," he said.
Sylvester and his wife, Agnes have two sons, Sam, 11, and Joe, 15, and live in North London.
He is the first Scot to play Dr. Who. But he won't say if he'll wear a kilt ...
Caption: Time flies in the TARDIS: Sylvester and Bonnie
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