The day before my recent trip to Melbourne Armageddon, I stumbled across an impromptu opportunity, I was told i could talk to “somebody who had been on Doctor Who” but i had to make my way into the city within 10 minutes if i wanted the interview.

I frantically ran around the house looking for something to record the interview on and was relieved to find my iPod Touch was charged and had a Voice Recording App built in, i grabbed the iPod, jumped on my motorbike and sped into the city. I arrived at the Hotel and walked into the lobby in a daze i was ushered into a sitting room just out of the publics view and was sat down next to not 1 but 4 of Science Fictions greatest Vetrans, Sylvester McCoy (the seventh Doctor Who), Louise Jameson (Leela from the fourth Doctor Who), Morgan Sheppard (Star Trek, Mad Men and Doctor Who) and Mark Sheppard, who is not only Morgan’s son but has had starring roles in Battlestar Gallactica, Firefly, Supernatural and of course, Doctor Who. Everyone is very polite as i take a seat and Sylvester Asks me “So, what did you want to talk about?”Fidgeting, having no idea what i was going to say and being extremely unprofessional i reached into my pocket and pull out my iPod, unlock it, fire up the App, slam it onto the table infront of myself and the best i could come up with was… 

So are you all fans of the new generation of Doctor Who?

Mark: Well, I’m in it!

Well, yes of course! What did you think of the Neil Gaiman episode, ‘The Doctor’s Wife’?

Mark: Loved it. In fact, my kids reviewed it and sent it to him. They thought it was wonderful. My six year old and 12 year old also reviewed several of his books, they totally got it. It’s wonderful how they got it because we were talking about this yesterday weren’t we (gestures to Sylvester). The physical embodiment of the Tardis is just an extraordinary concept for Neil to put into [the episode]. Certainly making her feminine was a beautiful choice.

I noticed he was tweeting a lot about it leading up to the episode about how he felt almost unworthy to be the one to insert this lore into the Doctor Who universe and to be the person who got to decide what the Tardis had been actually thinking this entire time…

Mark: Well, that’s why we reviewed it for him. It’s such a sacred thing to him. He loved the show. He knows every lyric, quote, chapter and verse of every incarnation of Doctor Who. He’s just a real big fan. Gaiman didn’t write ‘Who’ not knowing ‘Who’. Gaiman took two years to write it. He didn’t spend 20 minutes writing it, he didn’t just bang it away. You can tell the difference between the people who love it.

Louise: The fans own it now. I mean, my very first autograph as Leela was to a guy called Gary Russell. He knocked on my dressing room door and was very nervous. Now the guy writes for Doctor Who for a living.

(The conversation moves into how each of them were introduced to the Doctor Who universe)

Mark: They picked me for a very different reason to what they would have picked anyone else. I mean, I always wanted to be ‘Doctor Who’ there’s no question I wanted to be on it…

(Sylvester interjects) You always wanted to be a ‘Whoer’?

Mark: A ‘Whovian’?

Sylvester: Who invented the word ‘Whovian’? I doesn’t mean anything. It sounds American. I don’t know where it came from. I think they should be called ‘Whoers’ (everybody laughs) or ‘Hoovers’ is another good one.

Mark: I think ‘Whoers’ is going to get you into trouble with the BBC, Sylvester.

Louise: I like ‘Whoers’.

Sylvester: I’m an old ‘Whoer’.

Morgan: We’re not, we’re classically trained.

Sylveter: Well, I haven’t been trained in it. Mark why were you not on it when I was the Doctor?

Mark: Well I wasn’t old enough was I? I would of if I could!Russell taking it in one direction and having the bravery to put Chris Eccleston in it was genius to kick it off, David being what David is which is just fabulous, actually not my favourite Era but I think was absolutely essential to changing Doctor Who into what it is and Matt Smith is just something extraordinary (everybody nods) We were just saying the other day it’s incredible that somebody so young is playing somebody so old.”

Sylvester, as someone who’s played the role of the Doctor before what did you think about the choice of Matt Smith for the part?

Sylvester: Well, when I heard they were going to give it to a 12 year old I thought “he’s too young!”, but he turned out amazing. He’s got this face. It’s an alien face. It comes from another planet and it’s so expressive.

Louise: That entrance he made as the Doctor when he’s looking at his hair, and you’re just thinking ohhhh yeah, you’ve done it!

All four of you have worked on the Doctor Who franchise before, it’s amazing to see how much you all still care for and support it, you can see how much it’s apart of your lives now.

Mark: “the fun of it is, I think it’s the love and the passion of which it’s done by and the audience can always tell when it’s void of love or cynical, but it’s not, weather there’s money there, it’s a bad time for a show or whatever you can tell when it’s got heart in it and I think Doctor Who now is something so special because people are able to express how much they love it while their making it and it’s a fabulous thing.”

After about half an hour of discussing “The Who” our discussion was cut short as they were swept off  for another media event to which I, unfortunately, was not invited. 

I left the hotel feeling slightly frazzled, Mark Sheppard as lovely as he was really is as intimidating as the characters he plays and i couldn’t help but feel that he had figured me out as soon as i had opened my mouth, i think it’s the gravely voice.

i chose to flee…