Doctor Who brings thief down to earth
- Publication: Daily Express
- Date: 2001-08-09
- Author: Edward Black
- Page: 35
- Language: English
AS a former Dr Who, he is used to battling evil daleks and cybermen, so chasing down a mere human thief proved no problem for actor Peter Davison.
The ex-Time Lord sprang into action after a 15-year-old stole a video camera containing important footage from his car outside his London home.
The 50-year-old actor, who also starred in All Creatures Great and Small, jumped into the car and pursued the thief before cornering him in a dead-end road and placing him under citizen's arrest.
Davison was returning from hospital where he had just filmed his wife giving birth to their son when the thief struck in Belsize Park, north London.
He said: "I had just reached my front door on my way back from hospital when I turned around and saw that the back window of my car had been smashed. The thief ran into Belsize village so I got in my car and drove after him.
"He got trapped in a mews road. He said he had a knife and that he'd cut me if I came closer, but I thought that if he had a knife he wouldn't have told me.
"Besides, by this point he was grappling with me but I wasn't being cut so I presumed he was lying.
"Eventually I got him half on the ground and had to hold on to him for something like half an hour. It probably wasn't really half an hour but it seemed like it before the police arrived. He was a well built, strong lad, making an awful lot of noise and wriggling all over the place."
Davison admitted he was able to keep up with the assailant because he had recently been filming a long chase sequence
"Funnily enough, I've just finished filming a new detective series where I had to do really long chase scenes. I think that's why I was fitter than I would normally be."
Eyewitness Colin Lai, 28, an electrical engineer of Belsize Mews, said: "It was really noisy out there and this guy was struggling as Davison pinned him down.
"Everyone came out to see what was going on - it's not every day you see Dr Who wrestling in your street. I thought Davison looked fine considering he'd run so far, in fact the kid looked more knack-ered than him."
A police spokesman confirmed that a 15-year-old schoolboy had been arrested.
He said: "The victim was the actor Peter Davison, who had a camcorder stolen from his car and proceeded to chase the suspect nearly a mile to Belsize Mews, where he made a citizen's arrest.
"We arrived shortly afterwards and arrested the youth. He has since been charged and will appear before Thames Youth Court on August 22."
Davison, who has two other children, and his second wife Elizabeth have yet to choose a name for their new baby.
Caption: TIMELY ACTION: Actor Peter cornered the youth
Caption: NEW MUM: Elizabeth
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Black, Edward (2001-08-09). Doctor Who brings thief down to earth. Daily Express p. 35.
- MLA 7th ed.: Black, Edward. "Doctor Who brings thief down to earth." Daily Express [add city] 2001-08-09, 35. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Black, Edward. "Doctor Who brings thief down to earth." Daily Express, edition, sec., 2001-08-09
- Turabian: Black, Edward. "Doctor Who brings thief down to earth." Daily Express, 2001-08-09, section, 35 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Doctor Who brings thief down to earth | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_brings_thief_down_to_earth | work=Daily Express | pages=35 | date=2001-08-09 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=12 April 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Doctor Who brings thief down to earth | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_brings_thief_down_to_earth | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=12 April 2025}}</ref>
