Step into the mysterious and clever world of the Seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy. Known for his playful yet enigmatic style, McCoy brought a mix of whimsy and darkness to the role, steering Doctor Who into more complex and thought-provoking stories during the late 1980s. This video explores his unique era, featuring memorable companions, mind-bending plots, and iconic villains like the Master and the Cybermen. Discover how Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor balanced humor with a deeper, sometimes darker edge—making his time in the TARDIS unforgettable.
Join us as we unravel the legacy of the Seventh Doctor!
Join us as we unravel the legacy of the Seventh Doctor!
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00:00looking back on all the other doctors a great deal had been told about them and therefore you
00:20know we wanted like an onion peel off an outer skin and create another mystery underneath in
00:271987 the seventh doctor generated onto our screens a more mysterious and driven doctor played by
00:35actor sylvester mccoy the seventh doctor was a showman happy to clown around but beneath the
00:41sometimes comical layer the seventh doctor rapidly revealed the darker and more sinister side the
00:48seventh doctor was a really interesting time for the the character because he started off as the
00:53doctor that you thought you knew and that over the course of the series layers and layers and
00:59mysteries and hints were added to the character that you wouldn't you know you were beginning to
01:02think of the doctor was not just a time lord anymore there were depths and shadows to this character
01:09that you'd never realized were there and i think that that was a really interesting journey to go
01:12on and quite exciting as a viewer he didn't start off fully formed he came out of the uh the womb the
01:20tardis a kind of more comedic character no i think not lacks my natural humidity
01:32doesn't look right without a horse i need something more dignified time lordish
01:37a little portentious perhaps mel pretentious is the word sylvester's doctor was the most wonderful
01:50mixture of this comedic character that sylvester liked so much the sort of the little gags the
01:57sight gags that he would occasionally bring in old hat not frilled he had a knitted waistcoat with um
02:14with the question mark and i and the question mark became very much a synonymous thing with sylvester
02:19he it was almost about his inquiring mind yes yes yes very elegant ah thank goodness in this regeneration
02:35i've regained my impeccable sense of hot couture sylvester mccoy first started as the doctor it was
02:41very much a kind of vaudeville turn in the first story time in the ryanie there's lots of kind of
02:45falling over and tricks who are you you where's mel where's the doctor what have you done with her
02:51stay away from me what have you done with the doctor now we'll get to the truth what have you
02:56done with him you fruit he's here sylvester was a clown um very physical had always been very physical
03:05he's a physical actor and always and brought that physicality to his doctor as well he started as this
03:11sort of a another doctor who had comedic elements of clowning which sylvester's obviously so good at
03:18he would always find places where he could do a little something with his hat or where he could get
03:23his spoons out any opportunity to get his spoons out but whilst he was capable of clowning around
03:44the mysterious seventh doctor had some very useful tricks hidden up his sleeve
03:49sylvester mccoy put a lot more of the who in doctor who that as a kid i remember watching
03:54and thinking oh so you can do real magic
04:04i had to learn lots of tricks now my early part of my career i had been very physical and did a lot
04:10of clowning and stuff like that i had done some magic so that was quite fun to marry all that together
04:18and then we got a magician to come in and teach me the other ones so good fun really
04:33there was a real quirkiness to him and a real charm and a magic about him i mean you know there's this
04:39whole thing of was he merlin you know so was he he was like a sort of wizard feel the chill in your bones
04:48as the seventh doctor's time on board the tardis progressed so did his character over the course
05:00of time the little clown revealed himself to be a more complex and poignant doctor
05:07as the seventh doctor's time went on the storytelling got a little bit more adult i think there was a kind
05:12of a sadness and levels of emotion that were creeping into the stories as i slowly developed i uh i i
05:20wanted to realize that there was so much more to this character instead of going for the obvious that
05:26he's he's little and he's funny he goes from mysterious and quiet and wise and actually terribly
05:32sad it's a terrible sadness avert him don't you ever feel like weeping helena of course not doctor it's
05:39unnecessary and those that persisted had to be punished why for the good of the majority all
05:47clones need to be sad and a clone and a clone being funny is just annoying a clone being sad underneath it
05:55all the cloning is the story of everybody you got the sense that he was a little clown but that was
06:00the mask he was wearing and underneath it there was this very old brain uh which belonged to someone
06:05who's alien well the doctor my age was 950 years old or somewhere around about that i thought about um
06:11the tragedy of the doctor's life in the sense that 900 odd years losing so many people and seeing so much
06:21horror would have a deep effect happiness is nothing unless it exists side by side with sadness
06:28two sides one coin sylvester was very keen on sort of portraying the the loneliness of this man who's
06:40outlived so many people that he's known and loved and he was particularly effective when he was had that
06:47kind of melancholy edge to him my seminal moment as a doctor who assistant was when i got to beat up a dalek
06:59i think that's probably going on my tombstone i beat up a dalek with a baseball bat
07:06having previously traveled with the sixth doctor mel was not adverse to danger so when the seventh
07:12doctor took over the tardis this fiercely loyal companion got on with having adventures while the
07:18doctor adjusted to his new persona no matter what challenge stood in her way mel took it all in her stride
07:24bonnie brilliant bonnie langford but what was great about having bonnie there was that i was a new
07:32boy and she was an old friend we'd worked together and so it was great to have a friend on the on the
07:38set so she kind of helped me a lot that way as melanie i was also this person who kept him on the
07:46straight and narrow but there was a great uh gentleness that we had as well there was a lovely
07:51teamwork we enjoyed and we tried to develop that there is a rather spectacular swimming pool on the
07:57planet gryophis i understand oh we could try there i just want a snag what's that it's for the exclusive
08:03use of the gold marys who are they a rather nasty breed of flesh-eating octopi personally i'd rather
08:09stay here and explore it was a different dynamic between the seventh doctor and mel and the sixth
08:14doctor mel i think mel and the seventh doctor rubbed along better together they they felt like they
08:19were they were on the same page still now we're here i suppose i might as well see what the pool's
08:24like that's the spirit mel this can be fascinating are you coming yes but one thing doctor if anything
08:30goes wrong and we get separated we'll meet at the pool all right oh very well we've only just arrived
08:35there's no need to start worrying yet as the seventh doctor moved into a new era a different type of
08:42companion was required a teenager of the 1980s ace came equipped with a feisty attitude a baseball bat
08:50and designed her own explosive nitro nine but underneath it all she had a troubled past her journey
08:57through the doctor who stories was partly about her finding herself and becoming more mature
09:08ace where do you think you're going perivale ah yes but by which route the direct route with glitz of the
09:15scenic route when sophie arrived then there was absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind that she was
09:22my companion ace is a tomboy she's very feisty she comes from uh the outskirts of london a council
09:33estate in perivale well do you fancy a quick trip around the 12 galaxies and then back to perivale in
09:39time for tea ace she was rebellious um she had an unhappy background she represented a lot of the
09:47you know the audience that we were talking to really but there are three rules one i'm in charge
09:53whatever you say professor two i'm not the professor i'm the doctor whatever you want and the third
10:00well i'll think up the third by the time we get back to perivale
10:03this was kind of an introduction of a more streetwise kid traditionally as as traditional
10:10as it was now uh in the older days the uh the girls were for screaming but not not with uh the
10:15doctor and ace she provides the muscle she has nitro nine in her backpack she blows stuff up she
10:19doesn't scream and she clobbers people
10:39she loved explosions and uh dynamite and nitro nine things which really kids shouldn't be playing with
10:46and she was great she had these canisters of nitro nine and she used to run around with them in her
10:53backpack which again was probably not a great idea she could stand around two feet she could handle
10:57trouble and that was a great foil for a doctor who was more about kind of thinking his way out of
11:04trouble the doctor not wanted to um dirty his hands with violence um would call upon ace to um you know
11:12that nitro nine that you're not carrying i think now is the time to use it and get us out of this
11:19trouble
11:23i don't suppose you've completely ignored my instructions and secretly prepared any
11:29natural life what if i had naturally you can do anything so insanely dangerous as to carry it
11:36around with you would you of course not i'm a good girl and do what i'm told excellent
11:42blow up that vehicle the doctor is always pacifist never carries a gun but you know in a dire emergency
11:50obviously uh is quite glad that he's got a companion who is a complete anarchist and
11:56will make explosives and do his dirty work for him
12:10if something went wrong she wouldn't just scream out for the doctor she'd pick something up and hit
12:26hit the problem very hard i mean she famously beat up a dalek with a baseball bat my seminal moment as a
12:34doctor who assistant probably of my whole career as ace was when i got to beat up a dalek with a baseball bat
12:48sighted
13:06nobody else has ever done that and i hope they never do because i think that's probably going on my
13:13tombstone i beat up a dalek with a baseball bat there'd never been a villain like the rani a
13:19glamorous renegade time lady she was a brilliant scientist a typical day's work involved kidnapping
13:25einstein growing a super brain and blowing up a planet the rani was a great character renegade female
13:32time lord which was you know it's always good when the doctor comes up against his own own race or
13:38somebody who has an equivalent intelligence and experience to him because the stakes are as high
13:44as they can be there'd never been a villain like the rani a glamorous renegade time lady she was a
13:51brilliant scientist a typical day's work involved kidnapping einstein growing a super brain and blowing
13:57up a planet the seventh doctor used science to save the universe the rani just wanted to rule it
14:04the doctor versus the rani it's good scientist who's compassionate and caring and tries to use
14:11science to further the cause of uh of all life kind and bad scientist who just wants to pursue the cause
14:17of science irrespective of its consequences for all life kind she's actually simply a very ruthless and
14:23amoral scientist she's not generally speaking concocting evil plans she just doesn't mind if her plan
14:30happens to involve the collateral damage of an entire species being wiped out the doctor became
14:35a victim of the rani's most outrageous plan of all needing a fellow gallifreyan to help her build her
14:41fiendish time manipulator she sought out the doctor and crashed his tardis causing him to regenerate
14:48in his bewildered state the seventh doctor agreed to help her thinking that she was his companion mel
14:54for the rani was a master of disguise
15:11i'm sorry but you seem to be losing control i think the rani's view of the seventh doctor is that he's
15:17useful for a limited time she has no real regard for anybody other than herself and will use anyone
15:24as a tool to get what she wants
15:32you know i can't help feeling sorry for the rani mel getting caught in her own devious trap she's got
15:38nobody to blame but herself i suppose so but what was she doing prowling around on the kasha well i'd
15:44have thought the reason was obvious is it she must be on the brink of a major discovery the rani clearly
15:50displays a contempt for the dog she thinks she's a bit stupid i think she just wants what she wants
15:55and and she will use anybody to get what she wants if the rani was after our experiment we must be
16:00playing with fire forget the run she's finished destroyed she who don't underestimate her she's a
16:06brilliant but sterile mind there's not one spark of decency in her i'm overwhelmed the doctor has
16:14battled with the daleks throughout space and time but when the seventh doctor came face to face with
16:20a new breed of daleks and their creator davros the encounter would prove to be highly explosive
16:29ah the darling daleks well actually i didn't actually feel as if i was a true doctor until i'd stood up
16:34against the dalek and it was um it was a yeah it was great great to do that the daleks is something
16:41which i'd grown up fearing as a child and when i found out that i was going to have a story in
16:49fact my very first story as the sole assistant with the daleks that was a big thrill in remembrance of
16:58the daleks they really set their mind on having big battles and i think they just went to town on all
17:02the explosions really and i know the effects guys you know i think things weren't quite strict in those
17:07days about how much umph you could put into your explosions there was this great battle going on
17:14and the pyrotechnic boys from the bbc made the you know got bombs and flash everything
17:37that's it doctor ace you said 10 seconds nobody's perfect professor every doctor has to face the
17:55daleks because you you will get the measure of each doctor by the way he faces his classic enemy
18:01and each chooses to deal with them in their own way and i think this was the first episode where we
18:06really felt the kind of darker doctor for the seventh doctor we saw that he'd been you know he'd
18:12already got plans in motion to defeat the daleks the explosive conclusion to the plan saw the doctor
18:18in a showdown with dalek creator davros in an exchange that would display the seventh doctor's
18:24approach to defeating evil doctor number seven used humor intelligence and cunning to outwit his most
18:31deadly opponent i will transform scaro's son into a source of unimaginable power and with that power
18:43at my disposal the daleks shall sweep away gully flay and it's infant and quorum of time lords
18:54there's a good tradition in doctor who of the doctor being cross with the bad guys but uh
19:02mocking them and not merely lecturing them and it's rather good when the doctor finally gets to speak
19:07to davros in remembrance of the daleks where he just mocks davros's ranting the daleks shall become
19:16lords of time we shall become all powerful crush the lesser races conquer the galaxy unimaginable power
19:27unlimited rice pudding etc etc the writers came up with those glorious things of you know changing
19:34you know taking on davros you know the most horrific leader you know hitler-like but rotting
19:43stalinist with you know kind of uh leprosy all that kind of thing that even that ugliness and
19:50yet at the same time undercutting it with that kind of humor being powerful is nothing actually you
19:56know uh what people should really have which is what the doctor's got is the respect and love of other
20:03people sylvester really ran with the idea you can be as funny as you like with the doctor and you
20:12can be as silly and you can fall over and play the spoons but you really must in those moments where
20:17it's required to be able to turn to ice because underneath all the different versions of that man
20:22is that is that is a scary creature
20:24he was more than a time lord and that you didn't actually really know him after all
20:32and i think actually that that legacy has informed the modern doctors
20:36i think the idea of the the epic nature of that character has definitely moved
20:40into the into the writing you know under russell t davidson and steve moffat
20:45i think that the seventh dog to set the trajectory for the modern doctor
20:48what a privilege to have been given you know chance to be part of this extraordinary story
21:00i'm christopher hardwick and i'm here to talk to you about a serious issue affecting people you may
21:04already know and love these people don't live in fear of the daleks they know nothing of the pandorica
21:10they couldn't tell you whether oud was singular or plural it's both but it's not too late by tweeting your
21:17new to who stories with the hashtag new to who we can bring our companions to the doctor and get
21:22them the help they desperately deserve because in this life there are no regenerations