Have Tardis, will travel
- Publication: Liverpool Echo
- Date: 1988-10-12
- Author: Syd Gillingham
- Page: 7
- Language: English
WHEN Dr Who takes his Tardis to America he is guaranteed the time of his life.
For Sylvester McCoy, who plays television's most famous time-traveller, is feted and fussed over wherever he goes.
He has recently returned from a trip to San Jose, California, and has visted the States twice before this year, and five or six times last year. On each occasion in one American city or another they have done him proud.
Next month, would you believe, they're taking him cruising from Miami to Mexico and back.
Dr Who fan fever in the States is running at an all-time high — previous series are shown time and again on television and conventions held, attended not only by the current doctor but also by others who have played him down the years.
We Brits have been a little more restrained about Dr Who since William Hartnell as the first Doctor took him into orbit in the early 1960s — in fact, the new 14-week series just launched on BBC1 is the Silver Jubilee Season.
"In San Jose," said Sylvester, "they screen a half-hour of Dr Who every weekday night with a bumper version at the weekend — and this goes on all the year round. While I was there watched Colin Baker playing the doctor and next month they are running my first season."
This is Sylvester's second series as the Doctor and he is contracted to make a third next year — which seems well and truly to dispose of the rumour some time ago from on high at the Beeb that Dr Who should be given the old heave-ho.
So what was the 45-year old, Dunoon-born Sylvester McCoy, the seventh Dr Who, doing when this marathon sci-fi series was beginning its run a quarter of a century or so ago?
Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith, as he was then, was probably working in insurance in the City — a job he believes he landed because staff at the Youth Employment Centre he went to on arrival in London duly noted his double-barrelled name.
Stuntman
He was 27 before he became an actor, and that was after working in the box office at the Roundhouse Theatre in North London. He jokes about how he started as star turn, stuntman and resident loony of a touring road show, but in the theatre and on TV he has been seen in some very weighty productions.
"I first saw Dr Who when the late Patrick Troughton was the Doctor," recalls Sylvester. "And I soon became hooked on it. But my work as an actor meant that I was seldom at home to watch it. "It's a lovely part and I was delighted to get it — although playing the Doctor is a big. responsibility. The exciting thing about it is that you can bring quite a lot of yourself to the role."
Home for Sylvester and his wife Agnes, who is a nurse. and two sons Sam, 12, and Joe, 10, is in northwest London.
Are Sam and Joe suitably impressed by their dad being Dr Who?
"They are quite pleased about it," said Sylvester. "But not really as impressed as their friends at school are. You see. we don't go on about it much at home."
Does he as an actor worry about forever being known as Dr Who?
"I don't think so. All the other actors who have played him have not really suffered in their careers."
Caption: Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor.
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.: Gillingham, Syd (1988-10-12). Have Tardis, will travel. Liverpool Echo p. 7.
- MLA 7th ed.: Gillingham, Syd. "Have Tardis, will travel." Liverpool Echo [add city] 1988-10-12, 7. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Gillingham, Syd. "Have Tardis, will travel." Liverpool Echo, edition, sec., 1988-10-12
- Turabian: Gillingham, Syd. "Have Tardis, will travel." Liverpool Echo, 1988-10-12, section, 7 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Have Tardis, will travel | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Have_Tardis,_will_travel | work=Liverpool Echo | pages=7 | date=1988-10-12 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=28 March 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Have Tardis, will travel | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Have_Tardis,_will_travel | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=28 March 2025}}</ref>
