Arthur Darvill
Funny how time flies, 'they' say. Well, not if you're a time traveler in Britain's biggest – and longest-running – drama series, Doctor Who.
It was only a year ago that yours truly was sat with Arthur Darvill for his first magazine interview. He was dressed as a Roman soldier and I didn't bat an eyelid.
It seems like an age, but in some ways like only yesterday, yet here we are again in the same studio in Cardiff. This time he's wearing rubber boots.
"This isn't my costume, I've just been wading in water for the past two hours..."
He is, as ever, joking. The scenes that he's filming today are part of a suitably epic pirate adventure that also stars Lily Cole as a mysterious siren of the sea and Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville as an authentically beardy captain.
"I think what Doctor Who does brilliantly is it takes these extreme situations and extreme characters and aliens but actually makes you believe that they're real. And I think that's been done really well. The people we've got playing the pirates are amazing. They could just stand there and you go 'you're a pirate'. So I don't think it's going to be like Muppet Treasure Island. But I think you've got to play up to it slightly because it's pirates. Last week was a bit like a boyhood dream come true. I watched Hook twice last week and just entering into that world has been brilliant."
By all accounts, this sixth series – split in two with the second half airing in the autumn – is bigger and better than ever before. Familiar faces, famous foes, the "scariest monster in Who ever" (™ the entire cast) in the shape of The Silence – hell, they even filmed in America, a first for the programme, for the opening two episodes which air over the Easter weekend, adding to a somewhat cinematic feel.
"The stuff that we got shot there was just phenomenal," he says of their trip to Utah. "There was no way we could have mocked that up in Cardiff. The little bits that I've seen just look amazing. It's taken the scale of Doctor Who right up there."
Body-warmer-wearing Rory's come a long way since his debut alongside Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan's Amy Pond – he's died several times, been absorbed by a crack in time and space and existed for 2000 years as a living plastic version of himself.
Rory's now married – another first in Who history for a married couple to travel with the Doctor – and the internet is abound with rumours of fatherhood for Mr and Mrs Pond...
"This is one of those theories that's been getting bandied around isn't it? I'll tell you this, they are being very, very clever this year with information and there have been a few false endings been put on scripts and things like that..."
But online 'hilarity' about a gay agenda in Who aside (gawd bless ya Dame Russell T) I wonder if Arthur's noticed – professional's working on the show not included – the gayer side of Britain's favourite Time Lord.
"I suppose so," he considers. "I mean it's massive isn't it? There is a massive gay fan base."
We're everywhere, just like in Roald Dahl's The Witches.
"You are everywhere! What's going on?" he laughs. "I think that makes us cool, right though? Is that right?"
What, because gay people only like cool things?
"Yeah."
That's a backhanded compliment isn't it?
"Yeah..."
CHARMER. Noticed any of those male Doctor Who fans trying it on?
"Actually I haven't. I haven't had any female Doctor Who fans trying it on
either, I've managed to avoid
places and situations where that could possibly happen. I don't really get hit on anyway so I think getting hit on by fans would be one of the weirdest things in the world. I stay at home with my girlfriend and my cat."
They'd only want you for your body warmer.
He howls with laughter. "You can say that and quote it as me, that's brilliant."
I don't even need to speak to you. "You could just make up the whole interview and run it by me."
Now that Rory's a fully fl edged member of the TARDIS crew, and can forever be known offi cially by sometimes obsessive fans as a companion, I need to know if he can live up to the expectations of a near 50 year legacy. Can Rory run around a quarry in heels?
"He hasn't tried but he'd give it a bloody good go."
Doctor Who is on BBC One, Saturdays
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.: Scott, "Dr" Darren (June 2011). Arthur Darvill. Gay Times p. 66.
- MLA 7th ed.: Scott, "Dr" Darren. "Arthur Darvill." Gay Times [add city] June 2011, 66. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Scott, "Dr" Darren. "Arthur Darvill." Gay Times, edition, sec., June 2011
- Turabian: Scott, "Dr" Darren. "Arthur Darvill." Gay Times, June 2011, section, 66 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Arthur Darvill | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Arthur_Darvill | work=Gay Times | pages=66 | date=June 2011 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=30 March 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Arthur Darvill | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Arthur_Darvill | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=30 March 2025}}</ref>
