{"id":21571,"date":"2022-09-07T10:00:02","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T08:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1701117"},"modified":"2022-09-07T10:26:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T08:26:10","slug":"janet-fielding-looks-back-on-40-years-of-tegan-and-the-fifth-doctor","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/janet-fielding-looks-back-on-40-years-of-tegan-and-the-fifth-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"Janet Fielding looks back on 40 years of Tegan and the Fifth Doctor"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Morgan Jeffery\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 07 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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This year marks four decades since one of Doctor Who<\/a>\u2018s most memorable pairings \u2013 Tegan (Janet Fielding) and the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) \u2013 debuted, with Big Finish putting out a special release, titled Forty 2,<\/a>\u00a0to celebrate the landmark.<\/p>\n

Starring Davison and Fielding alongside Mark Strickson (Turlough) and Jon Culshaw (playing both Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Kamelion), this anniversary audio drama will see the Fifth Doctor and Tegan pitted against old foes the Autons.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 40 years since Fielding first worked with Davison, having made her first appearance in Doctor Who a year earlier in Tom Baker\u2019s final outing, 1981\u2019s Logopolis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom was quite an intimidating figure, quite frankly!\u201d she tells RadioTimes.com<\/a>, chuckling. \u201cI mean, I just sort of ended up keeping my head down and, you know, doing my work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was, I think, a very emotional time for Tom, because he\u2019d been doing the role for so long and was so associated with it. It must have been not an easy time for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Peter Davison (The Fifth Doctor), Mark Strickson (Turlough) and Janet Fielding (Tegan) in Doctor Who.<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Baker\u2019s successor was a then 29-year-old Davison, best known at the time for his role as boyish vet Tristan Farnon in BBC One drama All Creatures Great and Small<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the only person probably in the British Isles who had not seen All Creatures Great and Small,\u201d Fielding recalls. \u201cI\u2019d been out on tour and doing a lot of theatre, I was doing other things \u2013 but\u00a0Peter was much more approachable as a person than Tom was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fielding and Davison\u2019s early working relationship led to a long \u2013 and playfully combative \u2013 friendship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spend so much time taking the mickey out of each other, and being rude to each other. Genuinely, it\u2019s like family \u2013 he\u2019s always trying to score points off me\u2026 and regrettably he often succeeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid [Richardson], who produces the Doctor Who stories [at Big Finish] will tell you that he\u2019s had guest artists come in and say, \u2018Oh, Janet and Peter, they don\u2019t seem to really get on, do they?\u2019 and he says, \u2018No, no, they\u2019re like this all the time \u2013 when they\u2019re polite to each other, that\u2019s<\/em> when you have to worry!\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Doctor Who: Forty 2 is out now from Big Finish.<\/span><\/figcaption> Big Finish<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The pair\u2019s off-screen dynamic was mirrored on-screen by the Fifth Doctor and Tegan\u2019s own good-natured bickering.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn [Nathan-Turner, Doctor Who producer] had said I was \u2018there for the dads\u2019 \u2013 but luckily, Tegan was cranky. I liked the idea that if I was there \u2018for the dads\u2019, I was going to be cranky about it,\u201d Fielding continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always described Tegan to people as Lucy in space \u2013 you know, Lucy and Charlie Brown in Peanuts. That was my take on her, because I\u2019d always wanted to play Lucy and I never got to play her, so Tegan was the next best thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tegan remained at the Fifth Doctor\u2019s side on his adventures across time and space until 1984\u2019s Resurrection of the Daleks<\/a>, which saw her bid the TARDIS and her Time Lord friend a tearful farewell.<\/p>\n

The character remains one of Doctor Who\u2019s most popular companions, with Fielding reprising the role first at Big Finish in 2006 and soon on television, with Tegan set to appear in the show\u2019s centenary special<\/a> this October.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople sort of warmed to her \u2013 they just like it because I think she\u2019s quite funny at times,\u201d says Fielding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left acting [in the 1990s] and for a while I was an agent, and I can remember talking to one of my young clients who was so thrilled to meet Tegan. It suddenly truly hit me what a privileged place it is to be, to be part of somebody\u2019s childhood\u2026\u00a0 you\u2019ve formed part of their cultural heritage and that is a hugely privileged place to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve helped create a character \u2013 because it\u2019s not just me, it\u2019s the writers as well, and the directors and everybody \u2013 but I\u2019ve helped create a character that is really held fondly by people and that\u2019s just a privilege. What a lucky thing, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

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