Bradley has time of his life on Doctor Who

DOCTOR WHO: TWICE UPON A TIME

CHRISTMAS DAY, BBC One, 5.30pm avid Bradley has made a career out of playing baddies but this Christmas will see him star as the first incarnation of one of the favourite heroes, Doctor Who. One person is particularly excited to see Bradley on TV this Christmas – his three-year-old granddaughter, who will be watching him on screen for the first time.

“My son got her on camera and she said, ‘My Grandad is Doctor Who!’”, says Bradley with immense pride.

The 75-year-old actor has a soothingly gentle, quiet voice when talking off-screen, but becomes adorably animated when discussing how “great” it is to be the Time Lord for your grandkids.

The image of a doting family man doesn’t exactly match up with some of Bradley’s most famous on-screen characters.

For years, the role he was most recognised on the street for was Argus Filch, the villainous caretaker from the Harry Potter films.

More recently it tends to be Game Of Thrones fans “warily” approaching him about playing the loathsome Walder Frey. “People will say, ‘Ooh, I hate you, you’re horrible!’ “he exclaims.

Bradley was also a baddie when he last starred in an episode of Doctor Who, which was alongside Matt Smith in 2012.

But in this year’s Christmas special, Twice Upon A Time, he plays a heroic character for a change – the First Doctor, no less.

It’s a role the Yorkshire-born star 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 prolific 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 Doctor, when it has already been played by someone else, sounds like it can be tricky at times.

“Sometimes I rehearse a scene and I’m thinking, ‘That didn’t feel like Hartnell, it felt like me’,” Bradley 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,” Bradley 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.”

Bradley 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 sound 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 which has been captured, and aliens throwing bombs are just two stunts Bradley 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 Bradley.

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 Bradley.

“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.”

It seems this electric on-screen partnership between Bradley and Capaldi started as soon as Bradley turned up for his first day in the rehearsal room.

“I felt a bit intimidated at first,” admits Bradley. “I thought, ‘They’ve all Pictured, from left, are Mark Gatiss, as The Captain, Peter Capaldi, as Doctor Who, and David Bradley, as The First Doctor.