Doctor Who and The Hobbit star Sylvester McCoy guests at Portsmouth Comic Con 2024: 'The fans are completely crazy, but I've fallen in love with them'

Sylvester McCoy was the seventh Doctor – he travelled in the Tardis from 1987 to 1989 when the show was cancelled by the BBC. He handed the reins to Paul McGann, who is also coming to Portsmouth, and who starred in the 1996 film version, which despite a poor reception at the time has gone on to earn a significant place in fans’ affections.

With conventions and fandom an important part of shows like Dr Who, Sylvester has been an honoured guest at such events now for years.

“I'm looking forward to it,” he tells The News. “I've played Portsmouth in the theatre many times, in the ’80s and ’90s and I've always loved it. My father was a submariner – his submarine was sunk off Africa a couple of months before I was born. It's a sad story, but I never knew him so I didn't know what to miss, and I had other male role models like uncles in my life.

“But that's another thing I like to think about when I go there, I like to think of my father wandering around and getting drunk, having a good time before he went off to war,” he chuckles.

Sylvester’s first comic con was in America, and as he recalls: “I’ve been doing them now for about 30-odd years.

“The first one, I was offered the job on a Monday and I was flown to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to do this convention. I had no idea what a convention was, but I was greeted by a very tall Georgian dressed up as (fourth Dr Who) Tom Baker, in a heatwave. I just thought, these people are completely crazy, and they are, but I've fallen in love with them.

“I enjoy immensely being with the fans – I have kind of a routine now. I realised early on that a lot of the times you get asked a lot of the same questions, and my friends who're comedians do the same routines - so I thought, in a way I’d do a bit of standup comedy!”

That said, some questions do throw him a curve-ball.

“I was in Minneapolis, I think I was still Dr Who at the time, and I was asked: ‘Now that you're so universally famous, are you worried about being shot?’ That was one that made me go: "ooh!" So I hid behind a couch and put my hat on my stick. No one shot at it, so I stood up again and asked for the next question… Only in America.

“What's ironic is that the Dr Who film that I did, the first time Dr Who sets foot on American soil,” with filming in Canada standing in for San Francisco, “he comes out of the Tardis and is welcomed by being shot.”

It’s being shot in this one-off film that triggers his regeneration into the eighth Doctor, Paul McGann. It had been hoped that the film would relaunch the show, but it was not to be. It took another nine years for the series to be revived, with Christopher Eccleston assuming the mantle as the ninth Doctor.

And Sylvester’s looking forward to catching up with his old friend in Portsmouth.

“I've not seen him in a while, but I knew him before he became Dr Who, we've been friends for many years.

“I knew the McGann brothers (Stephen and Joe have also had successful acting careers) – one of my friends was great friends with them so we used to go watch them when they were doing their concerts and stuff and we'd hang out, we all became friends.”

​Although it only occupied three years of a busy career for Sylvester, he’s always been happy to retain his association with the world’s longest-running sci-fi show.

”When they cancelled it – well, they put it in hiatus, it was always supposed to come back, but it took nine years – the fans would not allow it to die.

“When we finished it on TV, they started making kind of pirated films and videos, and then audio stuff. And out of the audio grew the very successful Big Finish audio plays – they do lots of Dr Who. I've worked with some of the actors from the TV show who came back to do those as well, so Dr Who never finished for me.”

Big Finish has produced hundreds of episodes of Dr Who audio dramas, often featuring original actors from the TV show.

“And then recently I was in (13th Doctor) Jodie Whittaker's last episode and we did this thing called Tales of The Tardis, which is on iPlayer. I'm delighted to be associated with it.”

​He also has fond memories of facing the Doctor’s most famous foes, the Daleks – and 1988’s Remembrance of The Daleks ranks among his favourite episodes.

“I felt I wasn't a real Doctor until I'd taken on the Daleks, and it turns out that's one I'm very proud of. Ben Aaronovitch, who wrote it, is a wonderful writer. At the time there were race riots in Britain and America, there was a wonderful scene in it, with Joseph Marcell who went on to be the butler in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air – he was in the cafe and I was pondering a terrible decision, but at the same time he gave me a cup of tea with sugarcubes. He dropped the sugar into it and the Doctor mused on the ripples it made, and in terms of slavery and racism. I was proud of that, because it was about something – it wasn't in your face, it was just there for those who wanted to find it.”

The Hobbit

​Dr Who isn’t the only big name fantasy production Sylvester’s been involved in – he also played the wizard, Radagast The Brown in The Hobbit trilogy of films.

He had actually been close to playing Bilbo in the Lord of The Rings trilogy.

"Over a year they whittled us down, they kept telling my agent don't let him accept any other work for these dates without getting in touch with us! I was one of the final two, and the amazing Ian Holm got it.

“I was obviously sad not to get it, but to be in the company of Ian Holm, I was flattered.”

“So Peter (Jackson, the original trilogy and eventual Hobbit trilogy’s director) knew who I was – but I had to do a screen test, because Guillermo Del Toro was supposed to be directing, but it got held up for a year with strikes and illness and various things so he had to leave. They showed my screenplant to Guillermo and he said 'si' so I got the part.”

The role of Radagast was expanded for the films from JRR Tolkein’s written version, which gave Sylvester room to play with the character.

"It was terrific, because they put me in the costume and said 'on you go' and I improvised this bit and that bit. My opening scene where I'm in the forest examining the flora and the fauna, that was all improvised.

I was delighted to have that scene all to myself - with a stuffed hedgehog. Although the wizards of Wētā Workshop (the New Zealand-based) special effects company got hold of that and they turned it into an upstaging little... so nobody was watching me in the end, they were watching this poor wee hedgehog instead!”

Sylvester and Paul are at Portsmouth Comic Con on both days of the weekend – May 11 and 12.

What else is there at Comic Con?

Portsmouth Comic Con is the biggest family-friendly Comic Con on the south coast.

It returns with immersive experiences from Harry Potter, Jurassic Park and Star Wars, along with stars of film, media and TV, an international line-up of some the greatest writers and illustrators in the industry, alongside cosplay parades, interactive fun, panellists and much more.

​Go to portsmouth-comiccon.com.