[Slasherama: Doctor Who media launch]

IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

Slasherama webmaster Jason Arnopp attended the BBC's media premiere of Doctor Who, on March 8, 2005. Here are his pathetic babblings...

[Arnopp meets a Dalek, and lives. Photo courtesy of Nick Setchfield]

You walk into the hotel through the front half of a TARDIS. Once inside, you see one of the gold Daleks from the new Episode 6. Upstairs, there are two more Daleks… only operational. They light up and everything. One of them swivels around and barks your name, sending chills up places where you never even knew chills could happen. Welsh popstress Charlotte Church walks past, prompting the Dalek to turn its attention to her. "Charlotte Church!" it grates. "You cannot escape us!" Like a true Doctor Who companion, she screams and runs away.
    You are a journalist, desperately attempting not to look like the over-excited fanboy which you so obviously are. After all, you are here, at the BBC's Doctor Who media launch at Cardiff Bay's St David's Hotel, to prepare for writing about the show for various magazines. Yet behind your professional façade lurk the whoops and cartwheels of a five-year-old suffering an orange juice OD.
    Russell T Davies is among the crowd, being interviewed by some radio station or other. Doctor Who's invaluable old guard, Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts, are here, hoping to pass on the baton in all good conscience. Many of the new Who's writers are present, including The League Of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss, who is beaming with the delight of the show's return. He's also full of admiration for the production team's strong work ethic. "The wrap party's on Saturday," he laughs in the bar. "They still haven't finished! Russell told me, 'We've found the show that will kill us'. A lot of lessons have been learnt along the way, but it's been a beast." I also meet Paul Cornell, who has written Episode Eight of the new series - a very, very nice man indeed.
    Also in attendance are such non-Who characters like Little Britain's Matt Lucas and the housewife's favourite Robson Green. According to Davies, both of them are really only here because they're filming in Cardiff. Or maybe they secretly love the show and told him they "just happened to be in the area".
    Tonight's screening of the new show's first episode, Rose, was originally scheduled for 7.30pm, but ends up being shown at something more like 8.30pm. A couple of hundred press types, media figures, cast, crew and assorted lucky folk enter the large screening room. There's one screen at the front, which doesn't look nearly as sharp as the plasma screens positioned halfway back, on either side of the room. I thankfully end up next to one of these, along with author Rebecca Levene and Steve O' Brien and Nick Setchfield from SFX. BBC exec Lorraine Heggessy makes an introductory speech about her long fight to [Christopher Eccleston, mid-press conference: 'God, that camera's going to make me look like a zombie. Ah well, it's probably only for a website...']

[Christopher Eccleston, mid-press conference: 'God, that camera's going to make me look like a zombie. Ah well, it's probably only for a website...']

bring the show back (turns out it'll be one of the last things she does for the BBC, as she's about to leave), but in reality all you want to do is watch the new Doctor Who. Eventually, it starts and those aforementioned chills make a determined comeback. Read my review of Rose here. Afterwards, we're shown an astounding montage of clips from the rest of the episodes. Turn away if you're spoiler-phobic, but they include: a Dalek in chains, a Dalek screaming "Elevate!" as it negotiates a flight of stairs, an impressive spaceship smashing through Big Ben before crashlanding in the Thames, the Doctor telling one flatulent alien, "Would you mind not farting while I'm saving the universe?", Richard Wilson introducing the Doctor to a posse of undead, gas-masked hospital patients, airborne carnivorous creatures called Reapers and Simon Pegg as a sinister albino character, who seems to know that the Doctor is a Time Lord. It all looks fantastic.
    As the adrenaline still pumps through your system, the press conference kicks off with Davies and producer Julie Gardner fielding questions from the room. They initially echo Gatiss' earlier testimony to their ludicrous work-load. "No-one makes a show like this in Britain," says Davies. "If we were in LA, we'd have used 27 crews."
    There's a classic moment when a Daily Star reporter pipes up with a typically well-considered, sensitive question: "The new Doctor Who is very camp - camper than it's ever been. Was this something you particularly wanted to do with it?"
    Without missing a beat, and smiling throughout, Davies replies: "No, I think you're very rude, I think you know I'm gay and you've read that into it. Fuck off." He adds a 'V' sign, just in case the Star hack doesn't quite get the message. The room explodes in uproarious mirth, as the reporter dutifully writes Davies' quote on a notepad.
    On the subject of how frightening the new series will be, Davies offers, "It's all about balance. We want to be as scary as we can, while also being responsible about it. We want to scare kids, without leaving them in terror." He also expresses mock exasperation about how the series has suddenly become cool again. "I've been a closet fan for years, consumed by shame, then you suddenly turn around and fucking everyone loves it!"
    When pressed on his favourite moment from the new series, his answer is nicely predictable. "I do love the Dalek story," he says. "Because I'm 41 and a fan, I'm genetically predisposed to love it." Leaving us with the prediction that he'll stay with Doctor Who for "about three or four years", Davies and Gardner vacate the stage, making way for the new Doctor himself, Christopher Eccleston.
[A launch attendee exits the TARDIS, gasping at how small it is on the outside]

[A launch attendee exits the TARDIS, gasping at how small it is on the outside]

    Despite his 'serious actor' reputation, it's obvious from the start that Eccleston has a sense of humour: it's just that he hasn't had a chance to play many amusing characters. While he states that he derived some of the Doctor's character from Davies' personality, you can occasionally see flashes of the new Doctor's likeably straight-forward goofiness in him. He's also a very good speaker and a strong ambassador for the show, rather than just a puppet who's in it for the cash. It's clear that he cares about the new series. "We shouldn't be judged on the first episode alone," he says at one point. "There's a real variety of tone in the series. We've got a lot of surprises for you."
    He notes, however, that he "wasn't a big fan as a kid. The Doctor was a bit too authoritarian for my tastes. I recently watched Talons Of Weng-Chiang with two bottles of wine, though, and really enjoyed it."
    On the subject of whether he's prepared for the adulation and added fame which comes along with being the Doctor, he admits, "It could be a poisoned chalice. You're the motor for every scene - you have to deliver it all with charisma and wit. But it's a fantastic series and I'm proud to be a part of it."
    On the Doctor's new down-to-earth costume: "I wanted to convince you he was an alien with the performance alone. If I had a flamboyant costume as well, you'd need a circus tent to contain me!"
    Christopher Eccleston is clearly a good man. To prove it, he is practically the last man out of the hotel bar, at around three in the morning. Having seemingly sunk a few vats of wine, sitting with the new series' friendly composer Murray Gold and assorted friends, Eccleston has clearly had a good time.
    As I get up to leave, I shake his hand and tell him, "Splendid work, Sir." The eyes are glazed, and the Doctor is not entirely in the house behind them, but on some level, you'd hope the information sank in.

[Read 'Rose' review]   [Back To Top]   [Features Menu]   [Home]

© Copyright Slasherama 2002-present