Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a>, McGann recalls his own childhood memories of William Hartnell\u2019s First Doctor as he grew up in Liverpool. \u201cIn those days, you\u2019d watch things with your family before going to bed. I can always remember going into school the next day, and kids talking about it, acting scenes out from last night\u2019s episode, talking about Bill Hartnell.\u201d Hartnell\u2019s Doctor was a far cry from the emotional romantics of the Russell T Davies era or even the more playful incarnations like Tom Baker\u2019s or Sylvester McCoy\u2019s \u2013 there was an ancient stoicism about him, something that felt like an inheritance from the Victorian era. \u201cAt that time, we still had people from the Victorian era around \u2013 my own grandparents were Victorian. He was emblematic, a serious person that you could look up to, and he had a family!\u201d McGann explains.<\/span><\/p>\n McGann\u2019s perception of the Doctor through Hartnell made things all the more confusing when he was invited to audition for the eighth incarnation. \u201cWhen they got in touch and it was sent through, I remember saying to my agent, \u2018Why are they asking us?\u2019 I thought Rowan Atkinson was going to get it.\u201d While Fox, Universal and the BBC all sought larger-than-life actors, it was producer Philip Segal who could envision McGann as the Doctor, and whose passion encouraged him. \u201cPhilip was the reason that I did it, Philip had sought me out, it\u2019s Philip that kind of wore me down and persuaded me to do it, sold it to me with his unique enthusiasm and love for the show.\u201d As he and Segal began to construct a picture of the Eighth Doctor, McGann drew on some unlikely inspirations to provide the depth to the character he thought it needed. \u201cI said to Philip, there\u2019s a kind of melancholy there\u2019s this agelessness, like Louis in Anne Rice\u2019s Interview with the Vampire, which I had just read.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n McGann\u2019s singular outing as The Doctor in the 1996 TV Movie debuted to mixed reception, which led to an anxiousness on potentially participating in fan conventions like Gallifrey One in the years to come. \u201cThe misgivings I had about doing conventions were pretty general honestly, just like any shy performer \u2013 I think Chris [Eccleston] was the same. For years, like me, Chris had resisted. He said the same things as I used to say, \u2018Why would I want to do that?\u2019 \u2013 I caught up with him during the lunch break on his first day [of a convention], and I asked him, \u2018How is it, how do you feel?\u2019 and he just beamed. He said, \u2018I love it. What was I scared for?\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In new documentary <\/span>Doctor Who Am I<\/a>, <\/span>Paul serves a kind of Whovian Yoda for writer Matthew Jacobs \u2013 a guiding light for how Matthew should involve himself in conventions like Gallifrey One. As the pair meet to discuss Matthew\u2019s plans for the film, it\u2019s clear that McGann sees the same anxieties in Jacobs that he once had, making for a touching moment of connection between the pair. McGann goes on to mention that he still attends conventions in moderation, but that\u2019s only to keep that enjoyment of them alive. \u201cThe reason why I keep coming back and doing them and what got us over our misgivings was realising that it\u2019s a laugh. It\u2019s work for sure, but it\u2019s a collaborative thing \u2013 getting together to talk about the same things!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n After the TV Movie failed to garner a full series order over at FOX, for McGann it seemed that the show was finished for good: \u201cI remember thinking Doctor Who is now finished and I\u2019m probably partly responsible for it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He jokes that once Russell T Davies revived the series, he waited by the phone for a possible call to action \u2013 but none came. \u201cIt\u2019s funny to tell now, but at the time, I really was like \u2018It\u2019s me and Peter Cushing. We\u2019re in the naughty room. No one\u2019s going to mention our names when they talk about Doctor Who.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n However, just as Davies revived the series, he also definitively solved the TV Movie\u2019s question of canon: the Eighth Doctor was just as important as all others, and the TV Movie is part of it all. \u201cI just remember thinking, \u2018Oh, I love you, Russell!\u2019\u201d Upon reflection, McGann believes that perhaps the near-decade rest was essential to its very resurrection. \u201cI think maybe that break needed to happen, in order for the right custodians to find it, and bring it back to its former glory with their passion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Many will remember McGann\u2019s surprise return as part of the 50<\/span>th<\/span> Anniversary celebrations, but the manner in which it all came together was surprisingly last-minute. \u201cWe were away, and I got a call from [Steven] Moffat who said, \u2018Look, in principle, if I wrote this, would you come back?\u2019 so we had a quick conversation. I said, \u2018Well, can I see a script?\u2019 and he said, \u2018Well, I haven\u2019t written it.\u2019 I said, \u2018Well, when are we talking?\u2019 and he said \u2018Next week.\u2019 But this is how showbiz works. Even with some of the biggest actors, it just comes down to, \u2018Are you around next week?\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In a way, McGann\u2019s return completes a cyclical narrative \u2013 just as his TV Movie allowed for Sylvester McCoy to receive a proper goodbye, so Night of the Doctor granted McGann a true send-off of his own \u2013 and a new look for the Eighth Doctor. \u201cIf I never get to play the Doctor on screen again, then it was good to get back into the costume, not wear the wig, say some different lines and look a little older and hopefully sound a little wiser \u2013 it was good to do it again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, that is <\/span>an<\/span><\/i> end to the Eighth Doctor, but McGann agrees that no Doctor reaches \u2018The End\u2019 \u2013 having recently returned to the TV series for a cameo in centenary special The Power of the Doctor<\/a>, he\u2019s also \u201cabout to do some Big Finish stories loosely based but connected to that short [The Night of the Doctor] \u2013 it\u2019s one of the beautiful things about Doctor Who\u2019s mythology, nothing is ever wasted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n McGann radiates a positivity when discussing any aspect of the show\u2019s history and legacy, whether it be his interactions with fans or his own relationship to the show \u2013 when we briefly discuss my nighttime excursion to watch the 60<\/span>th<\/span> anniversary filming, it\u2019s clear he\u2019s as excited for the specials as I am. It\u2019s undeniable that to Paul McGann, Doctor Who extends far beyond the TV Movie \u2013 he\u2019s clearly proud to be a part of the community, and to have contributed to a fundamental British institution like Doctor Who.\u201d\u201cI suppose through my own individual journey, I\u2019ve become a fan of it in my own way. I admire Doctor Who hugely. What it\u2019s managed to do and to keep doing. I was part of that propitious thing \u2013 and I\u2019m seriously glad that I was.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/DW1996McGann28-bfa5108.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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