FESTIVE TV PICK WHO COULD REFUSE?
David Bradley is known for playing bad guys, but when he got the opportunity to star as one of the nation’s favourite heroes, Doctor Who, in this year’s Christmas special, he jumped at it. He tells why was a logical fit for.
He previously portrayed William Hartnell, the first man to play Doctor Who, in one-off BBC drama An Adventure In Space And Time, which told how the iconic science fiction series was first created in 1963.
Written by Mark Gatiss (who also stars in this year’s Christmas special as a First World War captain), it also depicted Hartnell’s personal life and what he was like as an actor. Transforming into the First There was one moment where me and Peter just looked at each other in the middle of this scene and it was like, who was going to well up first. Doctor, when it has already been played by someone else, sounds tricky at times.
“Sometimes I rehearse a scene and I’m thinking, ‘That didn’t feel like Hartnell, it felt like me’,” David confides.
But the acting veteran mastered methods of bringing the character to life – including watching old episodes on his iPad while on set to try to capture his physicality.
“He slightly looks one side down his nose at people,” David says. “And his voice was always clipped and precise.”
He continues earnestly: “You feel you have to get it right as near as possible – without being too over-fussy, otherwise you find yourself in a bit of a straitjacket.”
David acknowledges there’s a slightly different pressure that comes with starring in the Doctor Who Christmas special.
“Playing William Hartnell, the responsibility for getting it right was more to his family and the people who knew him, because I wanted to do justice to who I considered to be one of the great British screen character actors of that time,” he elaborates.
“Whereas this, I feel a responsibility of getting it right for the fans.”
From the sounds of it though, the millions of viewers set to tune in won’t be disappointed.
The episode promises plenty of action scenes – jumping out of a Tardis, and aliens throwing bombs are just two stunts the veteran actor loved filming. It’s also very Christmassy, he insists: expect lots of snow.
“There’s a kind of It’s A Wonderful Life feel to it,” says David.
And when it comes to the script, there’s “comic energy” between his character and the Twelfth Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi, who come from different worlds.
Stranded in an Arctic snowscape, we will see both Doctors refuse to face regeneration.
“They wanted me and Peter to have fun, and the relationship and banter between them, that’s what I loved about it,” says David.
“Not hanging about or indulging, but just ‘bang bang’ dialogue where you’re bouncing and sparking off each other – that’s when it works best for me.”
“I felt a bit intimidated at first,” admits David. “I thought, ‘They’ve all been together for so long, they’re the Doctor Who family’.
“But Peter sat next to me for the read-through, we just started bantering straight away. He made me feel so welcome.”
Of course, there’s an elephant in the room when talking about Peter.
Even though we don’t know how the Doctor will regenerate, or how the episode will end, we do know this is his last adventure in the Tardis.
David lets on there was one particularly emotional scene to film together – though he’s tight-lipped about exactly what it details.
“There was one moment where me and Peter just looked at each other in the middle of this scene and it was like, who was going to well up first?” he reveals.
Writer Steven Moffat is also leaving after the Christmas episode, and will be replaced by Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall.
Meanwhile, Jodie Whittaker – who David starred with in Broadchurch, and whose praises he can’t sing enough – is the latest star to join the list of Doctor Who actors.
A list that David can now also firmly claim he has a – very worthy – place on.
“While I was just playing Hartnell, I couldn’t say I’d played Doctor Who,” he says. “But now I can. And there’s a figurine coming up to prove it!”