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Mark Gatiss interview 2007 - Radio Times, May 2007 |
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Mark Gatiss talks to Barry McIlheney about fulfilling a dream by appearing in Doctor Who.
"I'm a doctor!" exclaims Mark
Gatiss. "A Doctor of Letters
from Huddersfield University,
admittedly, but a doctor
nonetheless." Bizarrely, Gatiss isn't
making this up, having recently
received this prestigious award,
given to him and his fellow League
of Gentlemen cohorts for their
"outstanding contribution
to comedy".
Now, though, Gatiss is set to face
a very different kind of doctor, in the
form of David Tennant's timeless
Time Lord. Having already written
an episode for each of the first two
series (the Dickens-and-ghosts story
The Unquiet Dead, and the evil-50s-TV-set caper The Idiot's Lantern),
and with one in the pipeline for
the fourth series next year, the tall
multi-tasker is now set to become
only the third man ever to both
write and appear in the programme
with his guest role as a certain
Professor Lazarus.
"It's a dream come true," enthuses
Gatiss. "I've always been a massive
fan since I was a child, and to now
write for it and appear in it is just
incredible. I can't give too much
away, obviously, but let's just say
that I start off being 76 years old
and then I invent a machine that
makes me young again and… and
of course it all goes horribly wrong."
The butterflies must surely
have been flapping, then, when
it actually came time to make his
debut appearance.
"Well, it's funny because I've
known David [Tennant] for years
now - he's one of my oldest friends -
and I also know quite a lot of the
crew, so in some ways it was just like
any other shoot, you know: there's
your caravan, business as usual."
And yet… "And yet there were
a couple of moments when I just
became totally overwhelmed with
the whole thing. At one point I was
crouched inside my machine, and
every time the door opens all this
smoke billows out, and there's me
in my tuxedo and the smoke starts
rising over my head and I just sort
of burst out through the door and
it was like, 'Bloody hell! I'm in
Doctor Who! Yes!'"
**
Read our 2006 interview with Mark Gatiss - or take a look at our full Doctor Who guide.
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