Weve got a fair bit to get through, so without further ado….
I got a sense you thoroughly enjoyed writing this book, once you were over some initial research-y hurdles.
Would that be fair?
Yeah, thats fair.
It was kind of a journey, really.
Everything fragments as you get older, and things come out, just not in the order they happened.
I did have fun writing it.
Whats interesting in the book is that you talk about why it was cancelled after two series.
That the stories were difficult to adapt into episodes, and the show ended as a consequence of that.
I think they would.
They were quite faithful to the books.
They loved the books, but they were very complicated.
It might have been better if theyd revamped them, made them a little more straightforward for television.
Agatha Christie was not a patch on Margery Allingham, but her stories are much simpler to adapt!
ITV would break the formula by schedulingInspector Morsein two hour instalments rather than one just a few years later.
I wonder if thats the format that would, ultimately, have suitedCampionmore?
I think it would have been, yes.
When Big Finish want to doCampionepisodes, do let us know.
Ive already suggested it to them [laughs].
I think itd be rather good.
Itd be just tricky finding a Brian Glover replacement.
A fantastic, slightly bizarre, Yorkshire Cockney.
I love through the book that characters such as Brian Glover make cameo appearances.
Youve an anecdote about him turning up the morning after a heavy night…
I was with you last night [Laughs].
He was fantastic, such a character.
And that Freddy was seemingly in your student house when it was raided by the police!
He was certainly in the house!
Thats why I was a bit vague about it.
We all lived in this house, and nothing was found on Fred.
A couple of them ended up having a court case though, I think.
But it was entirely innocent!
I know nothing came of it all.
You were all framed.
Ill write that down.
Im happy to be of that vintage, so Im bringing it up.
What I didnt appreciate was that it started life as a very different song, calledDancing In The Dark.
How different were the lyrics?
Was there an edgy version of theButton Moontheme tune?
[Laughs] They were entirely different!
Once I transferred the original idea to theButton Moontheme, I never finishedDancing In The Dark.
I would have felt very weird singing different lyrics to theme tune toButton Moon!
But I dont think its unusual.
At that time I was taking myself quite seriously as a songwriter.
Its a very practical approach to it.
Was there ever a temptation to do more TV theme music?
Were you ever tempted to go all Dennis Waterman on us?
When you mention Dennis Waterman, thats what made me not do it!
Hes a bit too synonymous with can I write the theme tune to this.
Ill do the show if I can write the theme tune.
I did do the theme tune toMixed Blessings, but I wasnt in it.
But nobody did, and I wasnt prepared to put myself in the same frame as Dennis Waterman.
Not that he doesnt write fine and lovely songs!
I just think its a step too far!
There was a huge temptation, yes.
Maybe I should pursue that, if acting gave me up.
That was the proviso, really.
But acting didnt really give me up.
Directors who used to directDoctor Whowere good, they were very competent.
But I always seemed to know more about the storyline, for example, than the directors ever did.
But I was tempted.The FiveIsh Doctors Reboot, it was such a brilliant time.
It was almost like I was putting everything I hadnt quite got around to into that short time.
I remember when it appeared.
It was brilliant, and it pretty much exploded our website.
Ah, thank you!
I remember reading the night of the 50th… we went back after the terrible after show thing… [Laughs] And we went back and read all these things coming through on websites about us.
Theres also a tone of underpinning cultural change throughout the book.
That the BBC was a very different ship.
With the likes ofAll Creatures, did it rely on that rehearsal time?
I think it was very useful.
But we had it because mainly, the studio time was very limited.
It was very useful, yeah, that period.
All those shows that were studio based were very definitely studio based.
And the end result was just as good, if not better.
I dont know then how much you miss the old way.
It was just a different system.
If you look at it, its much better nowadays.
Studio shows likeDoctor WhoorAll Creatureswere compromised all along.
[Laughs] Maybe, again, it was something that crossed my mind when I did certain shows.
But in the end, I dont quite know why I didnt.
Maybe Im just not very brave!
Is directing something youve definitely ruled out now?
I was quite organised for me!
I thought deep down, I thought that somebody might offer me a job.
I have to say that nobody has!
Ive never had to turn down any directing jobs, because nobodys offered me any!
It may be that I was a bit too stubborn.
I was quite stubborn overThe FiveIsh Doctors Reboot, and I think Id remain stubborn!
Ill still put it in bold if you want?
That should get you some directing work.
Would you mind doing that?
It was of your grandfather in World War I.
But here youve found what to all intents is a small, but very human story.
Really, most of that came from when I went to visit my Uncle John.
I slipped a sound recorder under the sofa, and we talked for around three hours.
These were the stories that came out, and he was very definite about that.
And youre right: its the strangest idea that that was the way war was fought.
There was no guarantee he wouldnt be shot.
It was just a little truce.
It is an extraordinary thought that thats what happened.
Youve written the book yourself too, theres no sign of a ghost writer.
Every word Ive written.
Im proud of that.
But you also face a decision when faced with a story like that.
How do you present it?
How do you tell that story?
Were you conscious tonally of how to present certain facets of this book?
I wasnt a writer, Im not a writer.
I didnt have any idea what I was doing.
I know it sounds terrible.
I wrote it as it sort of came out.
But they didnt say that, which was good.
Thats what I mean!
I just sat down and wrote it.
Doctor Who, then.
Im curious if theres a bit of you that also regrets not having quite as much influence then?
Youve talked about your stubbornness when you direct now.
Even with my stubbornness as a director, Im not confrontational.
I think I can get my way, if its possible, by a process of wheedling.
I felt very much that way with John.
We had arguments, John and I.
We disagreed about several things as time went on.
But we were always good friends.
It was never refusing to do things, or anything like that.
I just remember feeling that it wasnt right that Sarah was leaving the show.
Her role was underdeveloped too, and she was a good actress.
It was a problem for all the companions too: nobody had really figured out how to write companions.
In Janets case [Tegan], just not wanting to be there.
Maybe I should have been a bit more demanding.
But Im so obsessed with being part of a happy ship, I hate getting into confrontations.
Im not very good at it.
Im much better at the wheedling process.
How was that for you, then, and how have you found things with Tom Baker since?
I dont want to exaggerate.
Tom and I have never got on badly.
Hes always been perfectly polite and rather charming when Ive met him.
Its just Im a bit baffled by it, more than anything else.
But if I see Sylvester somewhere, or Colin, we get on.
Tom seems to just not want to have much to do with us.
Hes not caustic about us.
I once did an advert with him.
The idea was that it was bigger on the inside.
Jon didnt like Tom.
I get that impression.
I dont know what Tom thought about Jon, he didnt really talk about him.
But there was certainly a frission between them, a tension there.
You knew you were leaving, and Graeme Harper came in to direct for the first time.
But how strong was the thought in your head?
That on the last story, you found a new way to do the role.
Had circumstances been different, would you have reversed your decision to leave at that point?
I was very tempted.
I was tempted all the way to do a fourth season.
By that time, it was irreversible.
But at the same time, I didnt leave because I didnt likeDoctor Who.
And I was still there doingDoctor Who.
It was more a practical career decision, rather than something born out of not wanted to do it.
Maybe I would have done another year, but I know that I might have regretted it.
I didnt ask [laughs] [laughs a bit more].
I didnt want to touch it!
Ive never been fond of moustaches.
But were not talking moustaches.
Were talking Tom Sellecks moustache.
[Hes still laughing] Thats true, thats true.
Ive heard he is behind them, yes!
[laughs] Ive heard that on several occasions hes rung up and said IM AVAILABLE!
That there was a sequence where Nicola Bryant was to be rescued from the sea.
Tell me: was it really that surreal?
Im not sure Ive entirely captured just how surreal it was.
They didnt know what we were doing.
These naked men would be the dematerialisation shot!
We had to have people both sides to hold back the naked Germans from crossing the TARDIS!
It was a weird day.
John Nathan Turner had no idea, he said, that it was a nudist beach…!
Were nearly out of time, so two quick things.
Youre still involved with the Downs Syndrome Association, I understand?
I am, yes.
Is that all of them!
Funnily enough, I met Jason Statham many years ago when he was going out with Kelly Brook.
My son, in fact, sat on Jason Stathams lap as a baby.
Okay, you win.
Peter Davison, thank you very much.
- Is There Life Outside the Box?
An Actor Despairs is out now, available in hardback and digitally, published by John Blake.
