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The Comedian Who Wanted to Be Taken Seriously

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50th anniversary special
23 November 2013
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Radio Times anniversary specials
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  • Publication: Radio Times
  • Date: 2013-11-23
  • Author: Mark Braxton, Patrick Mulkern
  • Page: 34
  • Language: English

Must-see moment

THE GREEN DEATH (1973)

1970s Who producer Barry Letts was clever at packaging messages and here took "think green" to the extreme. A chemical company is pumping waste into a Welsh coalmine. The Doctor and Jo get trapped underground between a pool of deadly green slime and a collapsed tunnel. From the rubble emerge three giant maggots.


BRINGING HORROR HOME

Jon Pertwee favoured Earthbound adventures, in which one might be surprised to find a Yeti sitting on your loo...

The nearly men - from Cumberbatch to Hugh Grant

Many big names have come close to playing the leading man. Pertwee wasn't the first choice to play the third Doctor, that was Ron Moody - Fagin in Oliver! (right) - but he turned down the part.

Back in 1963, Welsh actor Hugh David was considered for the part of the first Doctor, but at 38 he was deemed to be too young! Geoffrey Bayldon turned down the offer, too, though he went on to become another children's hero: Catweazle.

Others approached over the years include Richard Griffiths (for both the fifth and eighth Doctor), while Hugh Grant was "highly flattered" to have been considered for the ninth Doctor. Benedict Cumberbatch (left) said he was offered the 11th Doctor role but he "didn't really like the whole package I didn't want to be doing school lunchboxes."

And Idris Elba, commenting on rumours that he was in the running to replace Matt Smith (before Peter Capaldi was announced), said, "I'd look silly in a bow tie."


Who & me

Jonathan Ross, TV chat show host

The stories I used to love best - and still do - were the ones that happened on Earth, more or less in contemporary times. Even though it was clearly for budgetary reasons, it was kind of brilliant to see the Doctor and the monsters fighting it out in Acton High Street. As a young boy, I remember seeing the Cybermen walk down some steps outside St Paul's Cathedral and it being absolutely terrifying. The way they marched, and the way they moved, ever so slowly: wave after wave of them coming. From Behind the Sofa, see p25


Who knew?

In 1978, five years after she'd played companion Jo Grant, Katy Manning posed nude with a Dalek for the magazine Girl Illustrated. "I'd never have done those shots if I thought I was sexy," she told RT in 2012. "I did it for a laugh. It was a lot of fun and was my idea."


Gallifrey named

It wasn't until ten years into the series that fans first learnt the name of the Doctor's home world, on 14 July 1973 in the children's comic TV Action. Gallifrey was first mentioned on TV in The Time Warrior (22 December 1973).

Set in stone

Bok, a stone gargoyle who sprang to life and vaporised his victims in the 1971 Pertwee classic The Daemons, foreshadowed the Weeping Angels by 36 years.


JON PERTWEE

Years 1970-1974 Episodes 128 (also in The Five Doctors 1983)

Who was he? Born in Chelsea, 1919. Pertwee's naval background and vocal range primed him for a long stint in radio comedy The Navy Lark. Post-Doctor Who, he had a hit with Worzel Gummidge. Doctor profile A dandified adventurer with a penchant for cloaks and ruffled shirts, this incarnation oozed gravitas and charisma. The Time Lords exiled him to Earth, where he became scientific adviser to Unit (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce).

Key companion Jo Grant (Katy Manning), an intrepid but bungling youth assigned as the Doctor's assistant at Unit. She became his first long-running female companion.

Ultimate alien The Master arrived in 1971, played by Roger Delgado, who told RT that the sinister Time Lord would be "more than a Moriarty" to Pertwee's Holmesian Doctor.

Died In 1996, aged 76

I AM the Doctor

FOR DECADES, JON Pertwee had been a man of many voices in radio comedies, even movies such as Carry On Screaming, so it came as a surprise when he started as the Doctor in 1970, telling RT: "I'm choosing to play the character straight." In his debut, Spearheadfrom Space, there are glimpses of comedic schtick - gurning, waddling, and singing in the shower - but from his second story onwards, Pertwee's Doctor exuded a deadly earnestness. When he said, "We're facing the greatest danger the world has ever known," everyone believed him.

Pertwee saw the Doctor as "a folk hero... an exciting, gutsy part - one of the most sought-after leading man's roles in television". This was his opportunity to show his range and be taken seriously as an actor. He loved the fact that his Time Lord was Earthbound, telling RT: "There's nothing more alarming than finding a Yeti or some such creature sitting on your loo in Tooting Bec:"

But he insisted on fun in rehearsals. "We do laugh uproariously and behave very badly at times. But the atmosphere on Doctor Who is always fun. And we always get the work done just the same."

At heart, Pert, as he was affectionately known, remained the showman. To the end of his life, he'd attend conventions bursting out of the police box, booming: "I. AM. THE DOCTOR!" - then regale the crowd with hilarious anecdotes, easily upstaging his successors.

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.: Mulkern, Mark Braxton, Patrick (2013-11-23). The Comedian Who Wanted to Be Taken Seriously. Radio Times p. 34.
  • MLA 7th ed.: Mulkern, Mark Braxton, Patrick. "The Comedian Who Wanted to Be Taken Seriously." Radio Times [add city] 2013-11-23, 34. Print.
  • Chicago 15th ed.: Mulkern, Mark Braxton, Patrick. "The Comedian Who Wanted to Be Taken Seriously." Radio Times, edition, sec., 2013-11-23
  • Turabian: Mulkern, Mark Braxton, Patrick. "The Comedian Who Wanted to Be Taken Seriously." Radio Times, 2013-11-23, section, 34 edition.
  • Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=The Comedian Who Wanted to Be Taken Seriously | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_Comedian_Who_Wanted_to_Be_Taken_Seriously | work=Radio Times | pages=34 | date=2013-11-23 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 December 2024 }}</ref>
  • Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=The Comedian Who Wanted to Be Taken Seriously | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_Comedian_Who_Wanted_to_Be_Taken_Seriously | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 December 2024}}</ref>


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