The Doctors Who's Who (11 page)

It is interesting how most of the Doctors were passionate about the underlying messages in the scripts and how their messages could be brought home to the younger viewers amidst all the action, monsters, and the ever-building mythology of the show. A basic theme of good transcending evil has always prevailed in
Doctor Who
, and the Doctor has been a very enigmatic character as a result. To a degree we can thank William Hartnell for laying down some ground rules here, and of course Sydney Newman and Verity Lambert for perpetuating this through the early years.

Returning to Pertwee, it is no surprise that his favourite story was ‘Frontier in Space’ and the Draconians (creatures from the same story) his favourite foe. This story started off with epic aspirations, being part of a 12-episode ‘Space War’ story that took the Daleks into the kind of mega-scale story they enjoy in the new series today. Alas, the epic didn’t really come off, but what fans reflect upon and enjoy today are two quality stories with a continuity thread from the end of one to the beginning of the other.

The first story said farewell to Roger Delgado’s Master,
though not intentionally. Shortly after filming, Delgado went to Turkey to do some filming for his first comedy film role, the never-released
Bell of Tibet
. Unfortunately, he was killed in a car accident, through no fault of his own. When Pertwee learned of his friend’s death, he was terribly upset and did all he could to try and get some compensation for Delgado’s wife, Kismet. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t do it. He was appalled by the accident and realised how much he had taken his life into his own hands by playing with so many cars, bikes and powerboats throughout his life.

The impact on the show was catastrophic as well, depriving the Doctor of what was planned to be a grand showdown with the Master, where it would be revealed what relationship they truly had with each other (the consensus of opinion being that they were brothers).

When Pertwee heard that Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks were leaving the show soon afterwards, he decided that it was perhaps time for him to leave too. The latest
Doctor Who
family had really been broken up (perhaps to start with by Katy Manning leaving, but the death of Delgado was significant). Head of Drama, Shaun Sutton, quickly stepped in to ask if Pertwee would reconsider, which he did. He agreed to do two further seasons of
Doctor Who
if the BBC would increase his salary. Pertwee was shocked when Sutton shook his hand and said, ‘Thanks for everything, sorry to see you go.’ There were no negotiations at all; Pertwee was out of a job. He felt hurt but was told there was no flexibility in the budget, so that was it.

Ever the professional, Pertwee shot the stories that would complete the current season with as much vigour as his earlier episodes. The next story after his resignation was ‘The Dinosaur Invasion’. This story introduced the Doctor’s space-age flying car ‘The Whomobile’, which he even drove
through Piccadilly Circus one fine day, to the horror of the Metropolitan Police.

During his last season as the Doctor, Pertwee received a touching letter from a mother of a little girl who was a big fan. The mother explained that her daughter was going through a tough time and was emotionally disturbed. Pertwee wrote to the child and sent her a signed photo. The change in the girl’s behaviour was amazing – she took the photo of Pertwee everywhere with her and it was comforting to her. Both mother and daughter kept in touch with Pertwee for many years to come and, when the little girl grew up and had two children of her own, Pertwee became their godfather.

Halfway through recording ‘Planet of the Spiders’, his last
Doctor Who
adventure, Pertwee filmed his regeneration scene. He lay still on the floor for what appeared to be an extremely long time, to be replaced by – transformed into – Tom Baker. Many of the cast and crew said that Pertwee was a different man afterwards. He didn’t join in with the jokes on set, but took himself away to read and reply to his fan mail instead. Ever the professional on screen, Pertwee knew that he was at the end of his tenure as the Doctor, and was doing nothing more than preparing himself to move on. He had no idea at the time that the part would never leave him – for all the best reasons – he really thought it was the end. Like his predecessors, he didn’t entirely want to go, but knew it was the right thing to do for his career.

When asked years later by Terry Wogan if he missed the Doctor, Pertwee said, ‘I miss
Doctor Who
from time to time, but I enjoy Worzel too.’

And, of course, Pertwee had another enormous success following
Doctor Who: Worzel Gummidge
. Based on the novels by Barbara Euphan Todd, Pertwee took a country accent
and a lot of make-up to become the eccentric scarecrow of Scatterbrook Farm and won the hearts of children all over again. Worzel Gummidge was always an acting highlight for Pertwee, indeed as a child he had loved the original stories of Worzel and the delights of the countryside and had also listened to the radio series after the war.

Worzel Gummidge
was produced by Southern Television for ITV and written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall. It costarred Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally and Geoffrey Bayldon (who had also been shortlisted for Doctor Who, but was better known for his role in the hit children’s TV show
Catweazle
).

The show lasted four series in its original format between 1979 and 1981, 30 episodes in total (season two cut slightly short by industrial action, as Pertwee was keen to point out during interviews).

There were many guest stars in the series, including Billy Connolly, Barbara Windsor, Bill Maynard, Joan Sims, Bernard Cribbins and Pertwee’s cousin, Bill Pertwee.

There was one Christmas Special entitled
A Cup O’ Tea and a Slice O’ Cake
, and Pertwee and Stubbs performed a musical version of the series in 1981 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Two new series were commissioned by Television New Zealand, but only Pertwee and Stubbs agreed to fly across to film the episodes (22 in total). Pertwee didn’t like the scripts very much but then again Keith Waterhouse wasn’t involved.

One interesting point about these last two series was the early credited contribution from Peter Jackson (
Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
) who worked on special effects, but of course this meant little at the time.

Like
Doctor Who, Worzel Gummidge
spawned TV tie-in paperbacks, Christmas annuals, toys, games, videos and even
records, and was an enormous success, but this time no one else was associated with the role: Worzel was Pertwee and Pertwee was Worzel, and it’s been that way ever since – some 30 years.

What made Worzel Gummidge so endearing? Pertwee had much to do with it. His ability to mix both extreme humour and pathos in one scene, and chaos and heart-warming love in another, reflected the personality of every child in the country. Children could identify with the character, mainly due to the brilliant scripts but also Pertwee’s love of the role. Indeed Pertwee took the role to heart so much that in one famous scene he even cried real tears on cue.

Pertwee continued
The Navy Lark
through his
Doctor Who
years, and from 1972 to 1978 (i.e. just before
Worzel Gummidge
started) he hosted
Whodunnit
? with Patrick Mower.
Whodunnit
? was a celebrity quiz show not unlike Cluedo, where the panel would see some visual clues and a piece of film and decide who killed whom and in what capacity. However, with the word ‘Who’ in the title, there was the natural tie-in to the longest-running SF show. Not only that, but Mower would solve every case, which slightly spoiled things.

Before
Worzel Gummidge
and towards the end of his
Doctor Who
days, Pertwee found it possible to appear in movies a little more. His role in
Against the Desert
(1973) is a bit obscure because it was never released. However, the year after he left
Doctor Who
, he had a role alongside Peter Ustinov, Bernard Bresslaw, Helen Hayes, Derek Nimmo, Joan Sims, Roy Kinnear and Derek Guyler in Disney’s movie,
One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing
.

The film was incredibly successful, and even a little madcap by today’s standards, but it is rarely seen. Pertwee played an eccentric colonel, but the plot itself is the most interesting and
way-out part of the film: Lord Southmere escapes from China with a microfilm of the formula for the mysterious ‘Lotus X’, and is captured by Chinese spies who have been instructed to retrieve the microfilm from him. Southmere manages to escape from his assailants and hides the microfilm in the bones of a large dinosaur at the National History Museum, but he is observed doing this and the spies decide to steal the dinosaur. A chase around the English countryside ensues with much comic effect.
One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing
is a wonderful children’s movie.

More films followed, including a remake of one of his favourites.
Ask a Policeman
had originally starred Will Hay, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. Pertwee would work with comic duo Cannon and Ball in a more sedate version called
The Boys in Blue
. Again, great character actors worked alongside him in the movie, including Jack Douglas, Eric Sykes and Roy Kinnear. Never a patch on the original, it endures today as a light family film.

Of course, Pertwee played in some of the greatest British comedy films, the
Carry On
movies. He appeared in
Cleo
(1964),
Screaming
(1966),
Cowboy
(1966) and
Columbus
(1992); however, he thought he was being offered a part in a serious movie with the last one and was slightly deflated when he found himself in yet another
Carry On
. Although he always seemed a little embarrassed about being in the
Carry On
films in interviews – my personal opinion – he took his cameo roles extremely well in all of them, playing alongside the likes of Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Harry H. Corbett, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Peter Butterworth and of course Bernard Bresslaw.

On 20 March 1994, Pertwee appeared on Noel Edmonds’ Saturday-night
House Party
. He was the latest recipient of a
‘Gotcha’ award. A Gotcha was a spoof award given to a celebrity by Noel after placing them in some embarrassing predicament without their knowing that they were being deliberately set up and secretly filmed. Pertwee’s set-up involved him taking part in a spoof radio show in which he was meant to pass comment about his favourite music. However, the wrong music was played, spoof callers – part of a live phone-in – inadvertently insulted him, and the studio started leaking water.

The endearing thing about Pertwee’s Gotcha was how amiable he was throughout. When Noel turned up at the very end, Pertwee was oblivious to the fact that he had been set up, and was very pleased to see him. The whole piece – slightly shy of 10 minutes in length – is a delightful insight into Jon Pertwee, the man.

Pertwee’s last TV appearance was on Cilla Black’s
Surprise, Surprise
, in which he appeared in costume as the Doctor to present a small boy with a life-sized Dalek. Again, he is the endearing elder statesman, who can still perform for his audience, especially starry-eyed youngsters.

Pertwee died aged 76 in his sleep of a heart attack. He was on holiday at Timber Lake, Connecticut, with his wife, taking a break from his one-man show,
Who is Jon Pertwee
? Following instructions in his will, he was cremated with an effigy of Worzel Gummidge attached to his coffin. The story goes that when the coffin was placed in the fire the effigy of Worzel fell off – but then, Worzel never liked fire!

Pertwee managed the first great transition for
Doctor Who
, taking the programme into colour TV, giving more insight into the Doctor’s own race of Time Lords and bringing in more adult content. For many people, he is the ‘definitive’ Doctor, embodying the lust for adventure and serious intent that was at
the very heart of the show and still prevalent today in the new series, as Tom Baker, who considered Pertwee a great friend, illustrates: ‘I was a great admirer of such a stylish actor. He was not only a great performer but he was so good to work with. He made everyone feel at home.’ (
Jon Pertwee: The Biography
by Bernard Bale, André Deutsch, 2000.)

Baker first met Pertwee during the regeneration scene in ‘Planet of the Spiders’. He mentioned that they met over the years at conventions and while doing voiceovers in various studios. Baker stated that Pertwee was a generation older than him and that probably explained why Pertwee found him a little peculiar; Baker would indeed tease him that he made more money than him through voiceovers, which apparently didn’t go down too well.

Jon Pertwee remained to his dying day one of the most popular Doctor Whos. His numerous parts in radio, TV and film are largely overlooked today, with the probable exception of TV’s Worzel Gummidge. He embraced
Doctor Who
, even after leaving the programme, loving conventions, responding to fan mail and thoroughly enjoying his comeback in ‘The Five Doctors’.

In November 1982, Pertwee summed up his interpretation of the Doctor against the backdrop of his whole career quite succinctly: ‘The impact it made on my career was immense. I saw the Doctor as an interplanetary crusader and it was this dashing Pied Piper image that appealed to me. I could spread my cloak, take the Earth under my wing and say, “It’s all right now, I’ll deal with this.”’

CHAPTER FIVE

TOM BAKER

‘I was working on a building site, broke, and with no prospect of work when I was offered the part of the Doctor. It was just the most extraordinary thing…’

Tom Baker