Jacob Anderson made his name in the biggest TV show in the world \u2014 but it pales in comparison with his new gig.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoctor Who<\/a> has probably more of a significance to me than Game of Thrones,\u201d the 31-year-old actor says now, two years after his time ended on the HBO series (where he played troubled soldier Grey Worm).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think most actors have got one thing where they\u2019re like, \u2018If I could do\u00a0anything, then it\u2019s that.\u2019 Doctor Who was always my thing. It\u2019s massive. It\u2019s my equivalent of the James Bond call.\u201d<\/p>

Anderson\u2019s enthusiasm might surprise anyone who knows him for his big-budget TV work or his music career (where he releases soul and\u00a0hip-hop as Raleigh Ritchie), but he\u2019s actually a dyed-in-the-wool Who fan, who got hooked on\u00a0old Jon Pertwee and Sylvester McCoy episodes that he found on VHS as a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid, one of my babysitters had a load of VHSes,\u201d he explains. \u201cOne of them was a video of The Happiness Patrol, the [1988] Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred serial \u2013 Sheila Hancock is in it as well. And Kandy Man! The most terrifying Doctor Who monster, arguably.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it was of a different time,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I actually rewatched The Happiness Patrol recently, and I still love it. It\u2019s still great. It gives me all those fizzy feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hooked on the Whoniverse, Anderson tried to make it into the revived series for years, including a failed audition in 2009 that left him \u201cpretty devastated\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe this is really bad form to say, but I auditioned for a part in the Matt Smith series, before he started. Not for the Doctor, obviously,\u201d he laughs \u2013 later, he reveals he\u2019d gone for Arthur Darvill\u2019s part of Rory. \u201cI had auditioned for it, and not got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me a little while to watch that series, because\u00a0I was still hurting a bit about not being in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Anderson\u2019s Who story wasn\u2019t over. Years later he\u2019s finally succeeded in landing a role, thanks partly to appearing in the first series of Chris Chibnall\u2019s Broadchurch, where he also acted alongside Jodie Whittaker (who played the mother of his character\u2019s girlfriend).<\/p>\n