Sylvester McCoy appeared on Breakfast this morning to discuss his forthcoming role in King Lear, a new play starring him as The Fool to Sir Ian McKellen's Lear, and performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It opens in Newcastle in April, after previews at the end of March in Stratford; it will then tour around the world, including Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and America.He said he got the role from being at a party with play director Trevor Nunn, who asked him what he'd been doing! However, he also said that he felt a little type-cast, as people have been telling him he's been playing the fool all his career!Of course, it would be impossible for the Breakfast team not to mention Doctor Who - this was the first topic of conversation! Introduced by a clip from Silver Nemesis, McCoy talked about the fun time he had in the role. When asked about his views on today's Doctor Who, he replied: "I think it's terrific, I'm so pleased - it's great to see children get their own generation of Doctor, and the enjoyment they get from it." And then on comparison with 'the humour and fun' from his own era: "That's rather flattering really, even some of our stories, they've kind of used those. But all their writers and the producers they grew up I suppose during my Doctor, so that influences in them when they create new Doctors."He is also very impressed with the renewal of the Doctor's oldest adversary: "It does also amaze me that Daleks still terrify people. I was somewhere and a Dalek suddenly appeared, and this child was shaking with fear - I've never seen that kind of real fear and I suddenly thought I've got do something so I said, 'Listen, don't worry, I am the Doctor, I will save you!' I've not been in the role for 15 years but that was all right, the child calmed down and I said, 'It's all right, that Dalek isn't going to touch you.'"Keep an eye out for more details of King Lear from the RSC's website.
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