Doctor Who's Sylvester McCoy reveals "stipulation" he made when cast
McCoy also touched on the contemporary fan reaction to his era.
Doctor Who icon Sylvester McCoy has divulged that he made one big request when he accepted the role of the Seventh Doctor.
McCoy was speaking at a BFI screening of 1988 serial The Happiness Patrol to mark the release of Doctor Who: The Collection Season 25 on Blu-ray.
That story features a powerful scene in which the Doctor faces down a sniper, daring the nervous gunman to "take my life" before his opponent eventually crumbles.
Referencing this "lovely" sequence, McCoy revealed: "My stipulation when I got the role was that I didn't have a gun – I didn't do violence."
"I used this," he added, pointing to his head. "That's all acting... because there's nothing up there!"
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McCoy's era began as much lighter in tone – a contrast to previous seasons, which had been criticised in some quarters for their on-screen violence – but eventually grew much darker in its themes, with stories like The Happiness Patrol featuring political satire and a villainess Helen A (Sheila Hancock) intended as a caricature of then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
Set on a world where it's illegal to be unhappy, there's even a mention of Helen A banning demonstrations against her mandate. "That's now, isn't it?" said McCoy.
"In the '60s, when we watched Doctor Who, there were messages in there... It's always said things – all the way through its history, it says things, it reflects society very much as it is at the time.
"The Dalek one [1988's Remembrance of the Daleks], which was about race [...] and beautifully written by Ben Aaronovitch, there are wonderful scenes in that."
The later McCoy seasons in particular are now widely celebrated by fans, even if – as McCoy and his co-star Sophie Aldred remembered – a minority of the audience took against this era of the show on original broadcast.
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"There were very strong opinions, especially [about] The Happiness Patrol," recalled Aldred. "At the time, everyone went, 'What on Earth is this?' – and they hated [confectionery-themed android villain] the Kandyman."
"It wasn't the fans, there was a group – a small group of fans – who had a beef with [then-producer] John Nathan-Turner and they had a magazine and they had a loud voice," McCoy clarified. "They kind of dominated the response to what we were doing, but we just got our head down and carried on."
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Doctor Who: The Collection Season 25 will feature all 14 original episodes – including such celebrated stories as Remembrance of the Daleks and The Happiness Patrol – as well as extended special editions featuring new sequences and effects work.
Special features will also include The Making of Doctor Who (a vintage documentary from 1988), an extended interview with Ace star Sophie Aldred, and a documentary looking back at the life and career of the late Remembrance of the Daleks actor Dursley McLinden.
Doctor Who: The Collection Season 25 will be released on 28th October and is available to pre-order now.
Doctor Who will return at Christmas on BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Previous seasons are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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