Did he jump or was he pushed? The Second Doc’s most faithful companion is ready to return…
This interview originally appeared in DWM 404, published in January 2009.
Hello, Frazer. Where have you taken this phone call?
“I’m in a paper shop. Listen, can I call you back? [Ten minutes pass] Hello, sorry about that. There was a huge queue.”
And how many checkout assistants?
“There were two, but one of them was serving; the other was stacking the ice cream fridge. I thought, no one’s buying ice cream in the middle of December!”
You should have made a scene, Frazer. Really kicked off.
“The problem is, when you’re a recognised face, you can’t get angry in public.”
Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?
“One that I’ve kept, which is quite good, is not biting my nails.”
How did you stop? Are you wearing gloves?
“No, I was drinking a glass of wine, and I looked and I thought, eurgh, that hand, my right hand, looks awful. If I’m dating a lovely lady – because I’m divorced now, so I’m single – she’ll see these horrible, bitten nails and think, oh my God, that’s the hand that strokes my neck or brushes the hair away from my eyes! So I stopped.”
Nice one. Let’s talk about The Mind Robber, which is discussed in-depth elsewhere in this issue [see pages 48-56]. Does it seem like over 40 years ago?
“No, because I have total recall. I remember Emrys Jones, the Mind Robber himself, was very serious for the first couple of days of rehearsals. But once he realised that Patrick [Troughton] and I, and Wendy [Padbury, who played Zoe], were fun people, he started to fool around. He realised, ‘Yes, this is a fun show. I can cross my eyes and pick my nose.’ And we loved the double entendres. One of Emrys’ lines was, ‘Ahh, Doctor, I have your old dossiers on the table.’ We found that hilarious.”
Why do you think The Mind Robber is still so popular?
“Because I’m not in one of the episodes? [Laughs] I got chicken pox and had to leave for a week. It was out of my hands. My nephew had chicken pox, and there’s nothing you can do, is there? Thank God we were doing a surrealist story. The writers were quick to rewrite the episode so that the Doctor puts Jamie’s face back together – my favourite part – and gets his face wrong. Had it been a normal story, Jamie would have been locked in a cupboard for an episode.”
Instead, for Episode 2, Hamish Wilson took over as Jamie…
“He had a different sort of Scottish accent. My Jamie had quite a refined Scottish television accent; Hamish’s was a bit thicker. The director and producer didn’t seem too worried.”
You were on telly most weeks, you were young, good-looking and loaded, living in London as the 60s were in full swing. You must have been on top of the world?
“Oh, definitely. People say, ‘If you remember the 60s, you weren’t there’ – well, that’s nonsense. There was Hatchets nightclub I used to go to every Friday or Saturday after studio, there was Scotch of St James and all these discothèques springing up, and girls in miniskirts and blonde hair – and being in a popular TV show, I got plenty of attention. I played football for the Showbiz Eleven, alongside a lot of famous names. As I ran onto the pitch at – I think it was Portman Road, in Ipswich – a packed crowd was singing, ‘We love you Jamie, oh yes we do! We love you Jamie…’ It was euphoric.”
Amazing. But nothing lasts forever.
“We wanted it to. Patrick and I were so in tune, telepathically. We’d still be in Doctor Who now if certain people hadn’t said, ‘You shouldn’t be doing children’s TV. You should be doing better things.’ We didn’t want to leave. We were pushed. Not by the hierarchy at the BBC, but by Patrick’s wife and my agent.”
You were 24 years old, and the best job of your career was behind you already.
“Yeah, you’re quite right. Three of the happiest years of my life. I just hope I get a call from the new Doctor Who producers, inviting me back. If Sarah Jane can do it, why can’t Jamie? He could meet the Doctor in the Highlands. Their eyes could meet, and flashback, and it turns out Jamie’s mind wasn’t erased after all. They’ve got a young male Doctor now, and a young female assistant, so they need somebody like me for the grannies and the housewives.”
Could you still get away with a kilt, though? Honestly?
“Oh yes! I’ve got no potbelly, and the legs still look good.”
Frazer Hines was talking to Benjamin Cook. Frazer has his own record label. (Yes, really!) Learn more at www.reddiscrecords.com
