home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
MAG.E 2
/
MAG.E 2.adf
/
50
/
50
Wrap
Text File
|
1977-12-31
|
3KB
|
45 lines
@7WHY DID TROUGHTON LEAVE THE SHOW?
=================================
@1
In fact Troughton wasn't particularly keen about
taking on the role in the first place. I think I remember him saying [about
playing the part of the Doctor] something along the lines of...
"Someone from the BBC phoned me up and asked me if I'd be interested in the
part of the Doctor. I replied that I most certainly would *not* be
interested in the role. I felt that if I took it on and it worked well I
would become stereotyped as an actor in children's television, and never be
able to work in serious productions again. If, however, I took it on and
`bombed' I never be able to work in serious productions again either! So at
first I was categorical that I didn't want to know about the idea but
various people from the BBC kept phoning me up and offering me more and
money so that eventually I began to think seriously about the part. The
producers told me that the new Doctor would sport a different image and
personality so I wondered if I could get away by playing him as a sort of
Ali-Baba/genie type of character - you know I could black-up my face, wear
a turban, and those huge circular earrings. If I could wear enough make-up
then perhaps nobody would recognise me as the actor playing the Doctor -
that way if I `flopped' in the character then I could get out of it without
anyone knowing it was me. Unfortunately, or should that be fortunately, the
BBC didn't like the idea and so I took on the job dressed as the `cosmic
hobo' that you all know today!"
In fact, although Troughton *was* clearly recognisable as himself, he tried
to play down his involvement with the part by not giving press-interviews
about the series until he was safely out of it. Alas that strategy didn't
work very well either and he *did* suffer the undesirable effects of
stereotyping e.g. a long period of little or no work!
The other thing to remember when considering the reasons why Troughton left
when he did (apart from the fact he said that he would only do the job for
three years) is that the show's ratings had been falling steadily during
his tenure. Why this should have been the case is open to endless
conjecture (speaking personally I thought the series improved under
Troughton, the BBC special effects were certainly more spectacular from 67
onwards - not quite Star Wars but definitely good by TV standards at the
time) but the fact is that the show was ailing and the BBC took a number of
drastic steps to give it a good shake-up by the time that Pertwee came
along to inherit the mantle of The Doctor.
@3Steve Williams