Saturday, October 03, 2009

Doctor Who star gives up hope of reunion

Paul McGann, the former Doctor Who star, says he has given up hope of taking part in a rumoured reunion of actors who have played the Time Lord.
He said he had no expectations of ever returning to the role and claimed he has had no contact with the BBC since he left the set of a one-off TV movie in 1996 in which he made his only appearance.
There have been reports that the past Who actors were being rounded up for a Children In need special, but McGann doubted he would ever return to the role.
The actor, who has never watched David Tennant as the Doctor, said: ''It's highly unlikely, because since I walked off that set in 1996, no one's ever called me, I've never met these people, I've never been down to Cardiff and met what's his face, Russell T Davies (who masterminded Doctor Who's revival).
''So no, maybe haven't they got my number. There's always rumours, it's nice to stoke the fire. I'm always hearing them.''
McGann also revealed he was sick of fans coming up and quoting famous lines to him from cult comedy Withnail And I in which he starred.
The movie starred Richard E. Grant as Withnail and McGann as ''I'', two out-of-work actors who embark on a chaotic holiday to the Lake District, and is famed for its sharp dialogue.
More than 20 years after the film's release, McGann said he did not mind talking about the film, but he had grown tired of hearing about ''thumbs going weird'', ''the finest wines available to humanity'' and ''going on holiday by mistake''.
''Withnail gets a little bit tiresome when people start playing the scenes out,'' he said.
''Grant was saying everyone remembers the lines, people are always coming up and quoting whole scenes, and saying: 'What about that bit where you...'''
McGann is starring in a new ITV drama, Collision, about a group of people who have never met, but whose lives change forever after they are all involved in a major road accident.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

McGann has been doing (exceedingly listenable) audios with Big Finish for several years and has been in a few which overlapped with other surviving Doctors.
Some of these Big Finish audios, both the original ones and some new ones have been broadcast on BBC7 radio at least, so I would have thought someone from the BBC probably called him at some point... ...or perhaps Big Finish handled all that?
Now Russel T ("whatsisface") Davies has moved on we can perhaps live in hope that Steven Moffat will take a renewed interest in McGann. One supposes that McGann was considered "too expensive" previously, being a film star and all...
...kind of puts a dampner on my hopes that any "forthcoming Doctor Who film" (if ever) might delve into the lost history of McGann in the Time War...