The Fifth Element
Peter Davison discusses his return as the fifth Doctor for Children in Need’s Time Crash
Mike Hogan
This article was published in RT in November 2007 and is part of our digital Doctor Who anniversary bookazine — click here to download it for free.
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The idea of coming back to play the Doctor was mentioned to me casually a few months ago: would I be interested? And I said, ‘Yes!’ I didn’t really have to think about it, partly because it gives me such credibility with my children. They’re huge fans of the new show. Before it came back, they were huge fans of the old Doctor Who videos they saw of me — but they very quickly changed their allegiance to the new Doctor!
“We’ve always gone for the assumption that the Doctors don’t get on,” Time Crash writer Steven Moffat told RT. “That doesn’t quite happen here. David’s Doctor tries to convince Peter’s: ‘No, I really am you!’ David’s Doctor is thrilled to see his old self again, and Peter’s Doctor is grumpier than people somehow remember him, so we get a little grumping around from him.” Mike Hogan
I didn’t realise then what form my role would take, just that there would be some kind of Children in Need appearance; a little scene. But it turned out to be a brilliant little scene.
You do obviously get a sense of coming home, but it was very much the new series. There are similar things: the Tardis door’s there, and the inside layout certainly pays deference to the original set, though it’s a vastly more complex and superior affair. The one we had was literally wheeled in every week.
But things broke off in the same way they did when I had the Tardis, because you’re rushing around twiddling switches, pulling levers — anything you can grab hold of. Those lights beneath the Tardis console look fantastic, but they melt the glue, so bits drop off more easily.
There was a moment at first when I walked on, and felt that my costume was a little out of place in the surroundings. I suppose mine is eminently recognisable, whereas David Tennant’s is just a suit. I did warn him, however, that he might be making a mistake by buttoning it up. I could still get into the coat; I just couldn’t do it up!
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David and I very much got on and did the scene. I only found out afterwards that he was a fan of my Doctor, because he sent me a very nice text saying that he was at first a bit tongue-tied. I wasn’t aware of that at all!
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