Life According To… Former Doctor Who Sylvester McCoy

The former Doctor Who from Dunoon talks about his new Christmas movie, Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and being a vampire’s butler.

How has 2020 been for you?

I’m lucky to have a wee house in France and went over in March for two weeks, which turned into four months when lockdown happened. My life is so hectic, travelling all the world, meeting folk and doing things, that I was apprehensive at the start. It was interesting – it gave me time to think and I found I don’t dislike my own company, which surprised me. It made me think I could stop running around the world, but I don’t want to.

In January, you filmed Lost At Christmas, described as Scotland’s first festive movie. How was that experience?

It’s a feel-good film, but has an underlying sense of loss. I play one of the two old boys – one has lost his wife, the other is divorced. The two leads have also lost something, but it’s also about redemption and finding love. It’s a sweet film and I hope people get to see it. When we made it in January, we got the tail-end of a hurricane from America and I was almost blown off the road as I tried to get to work. Being from Dunoon, I’m used to storms.

Do you go all out at Christmas?

When I had my children, yes. But now I feel the Christian part of it has become lost, and we seem to look forward to the TV adverts more than anything. We’re in a multicultural, multireligious society, so we should go back to where it came from, to Pagan times, and turn on as many lights and burn as many fires as we can, and celebrate surviving the middle of winter.

What’s left for you to do?

Peter O’Toole said his drama teacher always told him to surprise people, to do something different. I’ve always tried to do that and have done a huge variety of roles – comedy, tragedy, operas, musicals, Shakespeare. The Doctor Who producer once looked at my CV and said I’d done everything in the business, from street theatre to grand opera, except ballet. I’m a bit old for that now, and because of all the comedy stunts I did my ankles are fused and I can no longer point.

How do you think Jodie Whittaker has done as Doctor Who?

She’s settled in well. I wasn’t 100% sure before, but after watching her for 10 minutes she was the Doctor, and she had my respect immediately.

Would Doctor Who be so big now had the BBC not cancelled it when you were in the role in 1989?

We were on the up when we were doing it. Years later it was pointed out that we changed it from a cartoon character to something more serious and with depth, which gave birth to the Christopher Eccleston version and his successors when it returned. Politics got rid of it, and it was put in a weird time slot up against Coronation Street. When they brought it back, more money was spent on it. A whole new generation of fans love it now and they want to discover the old episodes, the classic guys, so it’s kept us alive.

What’s next for you?

I’m due to go to Hungary in March to shoot a film for Rob Zombie, who’s asked me to be in his new movie. It’s a comedic Dracula film, and I’m playing Dracula’s butler.