Peter Davison says he would do more of The Fiveish Doctors — but only if inspiration strikes him.
Image: Counse
I got to interview Peter Davison last week as part of an article I’m writing. One of those opportunities I was highly unlikely to pass up, all things considered.
Being an unapologetic Doctor Who fan, I also managed to sneak in a few extra questions, including settling the issue around The Fiveish Doctors Reboot sequel, or lack thereof.
The article I’m writing is for the January issue of Virgin Australia’s inflight magazine, Voyeur, so keep an eye out (and fly with them) then if you want to read that story.
It relates to the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular which tours Australia in early 2015.
To be specific, the tour dates are:
24th January 2015 Adelaide Entertainment Centre
31st January 2015 Perth Arena
7th February 2015 Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney
But I had some time and plenty of questions prepared, and Peter was kind enough to answer them.
There was strong speculation that a sequel to The Fiveish Doctors would happen, based on an interview with Paul McGann.
Peter’s comment on all this?
“Paul McGann was slightly misquoted, I have to say. Because I saw the announcement online saying that Paul McGann said there would be another one, and when I listened to the interview they were referring to, he didn’t say anything of the sort!
He did say he really enjoyed it, but if there were something else he’d be very happy to be involved with it.
It was the most fantastic year, doing that, but I’m very aware that I have to come up with something that’s not second best. That’s my problem. If I woke up tomorrow morning and thought “AH! YES!” then I’d sit down and write it immediately.
But I don’t want to just churn something out that’s not as good, or nowhere near as good. That’s the problem I have. But I’m always on the lookout. I haven’t closed the door on it — I’m just waiting for my particular moment of inspiration to strike me.”
Other issues raised included reaching for Australia’s interior (“I’ve only got as far as Wagga Wagga on a book tour”), how he gets around Australia while not working (on public transport, as it happens) and the Australian edits to The Caves Of Androzani, which Peter’s apparently never watched, although the news of it surprised him.
“Why did they do that? It seems to me to be like slicing pages out of a book without telling anyone about it.
I had no idea that they’d done that. I’m surprised in a way that it happened with that particular story.
Earlier, I’d done the Dalek story, where the body count was enormous. I remember them being slightly worried about that, because I think it had a higher body count than Terminator, so the producer told me.
I guess.. was it the firing squad? Is that what they were editing? The “new version” is available, I hope? I presume they just did that themselves? Dear oh dear. Hopefully we’re a bit more grown up now.”