Sylvester McCoy interview: Doctor Who, Tiswas, fire, The Minister Of Chance & The Hobbit

Not that that stopped McCoy in his tracks.

And, starting with that, he spared us some time for a chat…

Lets start withThe Minister Of Chance.

Its a lovely project, and I love the ethos behind it.

An audio drama thats very fan-funded, and very close to the fans.

Was that a major part of the appeal for you?

I thought it was a wonderful adventure, breaking new ground.

Its getting rid of lots of middle men, and it gets you closer to the fans.

They can fund it, by listening to it.

That seems to me wonderful, not just for drama, but for other things.

Its a great experiment, and I hope it works!

That always happens, really.

Its not as expensive.

If this works, just think what you could do with it!

What I loved about that was the risk.

Because you really can tell the stories you want to tell, just without the checking process?

It was never quite as good, the second series, although he was massively adventurous.

And they were trying to make me stretch.

And my brain was breaking apart, my cells were coming out of my ears!

And all I could do to spread was talk slowly, while they put the fire out!

It was great fun.

Oh yes, we just carried on!

We had to, it was live!

Spread, or do something else.

Keep it going, until we catch up!

I love projects that spring up when nobodys looking.

WithThe Minister Of Chance, you then face the flip side, though.

Its a double edged sword.

Yeah, and thats what this is all about now.

But also the Internet is such a fascinating means of communication.

it’s possible for you to get to millions of people now instantly.

If you’re able to find a route into that, I think that makes it feasible.

Not really, no!

I use it to receive scripts, and send e-mails.

But I prefer pigeon!

Theyre much more friendly, and it’s possible for you to talk to them as well!

How did it come to you, and could you record it all together?

Well, I did record with Paul McGann and Paul Darrow, so we could do those scenes together.

The other actors, I only just met at the launch.

And I found out what they looked like!

That, again, was a great adventure.

We were trying out drama on the Internet for the first time, really.

We didnt have a lot of money, so we did it as an audio.

But someone drew some pictures, and put them on the screen.

It was like a comic.

And that, having worked with Dan on that, I admired what he did.

His soundscapes are just astonishing.

And we listened to it for an hour, and couldnt make head nor tail of it.

All over the place.

We said we suppose this is avant garde, really breaking new ground.

And we hoped that after ten minutes or so, it would make some sense.

And I suddenly noticed that there was a button that said Random, and it played any old thing.

And Id pressed that!

Eventually we discovered there was another button that put it out in the right order!

It shows how advanced I am!

How much more have you got to do onThe Minister Of Chance?

Have you recorded all the episodes youre going to do on it for the time being?

Yes, I have.

Youre heading off to New Zealand to shootThe Hobbit, of course.

But couldnt you record your part inThe Minister Of Chanceremotely from there?

I would imagine you could do.

Down in New Zealand, theyve got all that technology at WETA!

Well, it was extraordinary.

So there was no one there to look at it and say my God, we cant do that!

And we got up in the morning, still a bit drunk, and went and did the show.

The excitement of it was so astonishing.

The very first time I did the show, I felt fear, I couldnt believe what was happening.

But then gradually I grew to love it.

And when things went wrong, it was at its best.

It really was alive, so alive doing it.

It was chaos, and it would never be allowed.

Youre heading off next to New Zealand to doThe Hobbit, then!

This must be the biggest adventure of all now?

I think it is, yeah.

I think its a big one.

Ive had quite a lot of wonderful adventures in my life, and this one, Im so excited.

Is it pinch yourself time?

And, of course, Ian Holm got it.

This one, Im told by the producers and writers, is a better part.

Is that the worst thing, knowing just how close you came?

Is it tougher to deal with than thinking youd come nowhere near?

I was rather flattered.

If Ian couldnt have done those weeks, I would have got it.

It would have been great.

In acting quite a lot of the time youre not the first choice.

Usually, youre second or third.

And it can turn out to be the best thing that ever happened.

You get used to that.

When did you first hear, then, that you were close to landing a part inThe Hobbit?

Because the rumour mill had been going for a while.

So they got me a car, and drove over for tea.

I thought it was more auditioning, because Id screentested for it.

But when I got there, they said would you play the part?

He was keen that I play the part.

I didnt know this, but I got it from the screentest.

It wasnt until I went to see them for tea that I knew.

They were asking my permission to be in it!

Do they make good tea, too?

The tea and biscuits were great!

Do you fear it might be doomed?

Yeah, but every actor is always prepared for the worst when it comes to work.

But this makes me even happier!

Doctor Whoquestions, then!

The frustration they have with it.

Its a long time back, but the one where Ace arrived…

Dragonfire?

In that, she was at the end of an episode, hanging off a cliff edge.

That all made sense while we did it.

But because of time, it got lost.

Editing time was the big bugbear forGhost Light.

It made sense there while we did it, too, but when it came out, it didnt.

So all that was a big, big problem.

Its interesting, though, that you say its the actual editing that was as much of the problem.

It feels like a look what we can do while nobodys looking thing again.

We just got on with it, really.

And we were turning the corner.

Thats what made it very exciting, and the thought of a fourth season.

My arm had been twisted to do the fourth season.

I was only going to do three, because thats what Patrick Troughton said and Peter Davison had said.

I think we could have really taken off.

But sadly, we were not allowed to do that.

I agree with you.

Rona Munro, shes one of our top class playwrights now.

I was very excited by the fact that it was a female writer writing for us.

There werent too many of them around in TV at the time.

Yes [laughs].

And also, the monster in that was particularly wonderful.

I thought it was the best we had.

That face, it was so alive.

To make him much more mysterious.

And also, perhaps make him more dangerous and uncertain.

You didnt really know where you were with him.

The endgame, Im not sure we got to think about that really.

Have you read his autobiography?

I have, yes.

Youre back doingDoctor Whonow, of course.

Particularly the relationship with Sophie.

And now youre finally finishing Downtime!

Yeah, Ive done the voice work for that.

Its going to be made into a cartoon.

Thatll be fun, thatll be interesting.

Finally, can we chat theatre?

That was an Alan Bleasdale play!

Which presumably was an anti-reaction to doingDoctor Whoat that point anyway?

Yeah, it was.

That was the idea, really.

And its in theatre where imagination tends to be paramount.

Are you finding that?

That your background is strengthening what you could do?

I think so, yes.

You couldnt get that on television nowadays.

Well,The Hobbitis principally the highlight.

This play is going to be on at the Riverside.

Ive been looking forward to that.

Things are happening, really!

And Im going to a Doctor Who convention in Barcelona!

Its lovely to realise that theyve just been waiting since they were five to give you a job!

I suspect, then, youve got generations waiting to employ you right now!

I certainly hope so [laughs]!