DOCTOR WHO INDULGED
MY PASSION FOR
CLOWNING
by Patrick
Troughton
It now seems so long ago that I played the part of the Doctor that there is really very little I can add to what has already been written. And, of course, I've played so many different parts in the last forty years.
How did I feel about taking on the role? To begin with, I thought it
would last about six weeks after Billy Hartnell had finished. My children and I had been fans of the programme and I loved the way he had played the Doctor. But I knew I couldn't possibly do it like that.
At one point in my discussions with the producer, he was going to
become an old-fashioned wind-jammer captain - imagine the problems that would have caused in space! I even suggested he might be blacked up and turned into something out of Arabian Nights!
However, my contribution lasted three years as it turned out - and
that was a show every Saturday each year, except for August. They only do a few each year now. So it was very hard work.
Nevertheless, it was the happiest time of my professional life- except
perhaps for one play which I've just done with Gwen Watford on BBS TV.
Doctor Who gave me a chance to indulge my passion for dressing up
and being able to have some sly fun as well as a bit of clowning.
It also gave me great pleasure coming into contact with children, for if
I had not been an actor I would quite like to have been a teacher. Children keep one young.
I believed totally in the possibilities implied in the series. I never
thought of it as fantasy. Far from it - it's all happening. I think space will be conquered through the mind rather than the clumsy medium of space travel.
I have been asked what impact the part of the Doctor had on my career
and I can honestly say none. For, luckily, I got out in time before I was too type-cast. And when I'm asked if I have any anecdotes of those years, I'm afraid to say that there are none that could be printed!
Why has the programme proved such a continuing success? I think
the simple answer to that is because new children keep on being born!
Patrick Trougton
October 1982
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