The Ark In Space · @ClassicDrWho
16th Apr 2016 from TwitLonger
John Challis Q&A - The Seeds of Doom
Paul Stapleton (UK) and Valerie Taylor (USA)
Q. Do you remember the casting process for you to appear in Seeds of Doom, was it a shoe-in or did you have some competition? And after Seeds of Doom did it help with your subsequent career?
A. There was no casting process for me as I had worked with director Douglas Camfield before and he knew I could do the job. You will see the same actors time and time again in productions because they're in a particular Director's stable. People he knows he can work with and who will turn out a solid performance.
In the old days it was not unusual to go from one job to another without auditioning because Directors knew what you did and that was enough. Today it's much more difficult for me as Directors are so young that they only know my work from Only Fools and Horses, forgetting that I've done hundreds of straight parts before that and been at it for over fifty years!
I don't think Seeds Of Doom had any effect on my career except that Douglas used me again in Beau Geste and a TV film called Number On End. I wasn't really aware of its impact until I was doing a play in New York and came out of the stage door to be greeted by a crowd of autograph hunters, all Dr Who fans as the series had just come out on TV in the US.
Vladimir Mlecenkov (Slovakia) and Mark Varley (UK)
Q. What was it like acting with Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen?
A. Tom Baker was a real problem! We have a similar sense of humour and we made each other laugh. There was a great deal of banter between takes and he especially liked my impression of James Stewart which he kept asking me to do, so that we often found it difficult to keep straight faces once the cameras started rolling again.
Elisabeth was delightful and everybody loved her. She was a very good actress and a thoroughly nice person, so her untimely death was a cruel blow. Scorby always had a gun and the joke was that he never fired it, even though Liz was always asking me to put it down and grabbing the barrel to wrest it from my hand.
Andy Murray (UK)
Q. On paper Scorby could have been a straight-ahead brainless henchman. Was it a conscious decision to underplay the part, and make him edgier?
A. I don't think I had any master plan for Scorby but I realised early on that I shouldn't try to compete with the flamboyance of Tony Beckley! I read the script and came to a decision on how I wanted to play Scorby, discussed it with Douglas and just went for it. Nobody stopped me, so what you see is me doing my impression of a more intelligent henchman than my other Camfield heavy, Skeff Warren in The Sweeney!
David Ellis (USA)
Q. Tony Beckley was amazing in Seeds of Doom. What memories do you have of working with him?
A. I knew Tony Beckley from that classic movie Get Carter and was thrilled to be working with him. He and I got on like a house on fire and we laughed a lot. He was very camp with a great sense of humour, so you may gather by now that the making of Seeds of Doom was a very happy job!
Richard Donlan (UK)
Q. Can you tell us what it was like working with Douglas Camfield on The Seeds of Doom and beyond? I believe you worked with Douglas on several occasions?
A. Douglas Camfield? A legend in his own lifetime! The only Director to employ me more than once! Gawd bless him. He was a very organised person and went about things with military precision. He had to because time was money and he was always under pressure to get things done in a tight time frame. I remember on Beau Geste seeing him on his knees praying to God for a rain free afternoon in the sand dunes in Swanage. He had stunt riders for one day only and it was vital that the action be in the can by nightfall. As a Born Again Christian his prayers were answered!
David Ellis (UK)
Q. What do you remember about the location filming on the Athelhampton House estate? Was the weather favourable?
A. Athelhampton House is most famously the location for the film Sleuth and now many years after filming Seeds of Doom there I am married to a Dorset girl who has known the house all her life. I didn't appreciate the age and the history of the place when I was there but now that it is open to the public everyone can visit. It's a wonderful, ancient place and we filmed towards the end of the year when it was quite cool and windy. The lake I had to go into was full of slimy fallen leaves and bitterly cold. We didn't go into the house but used the outbuildings and sometimes we had to shelter from the rain in one of those beautiful summerhouses.
Ashley Evans (UK) and Terry Collins (USA)
Q. For Scorby's death scene, a plant comes to life and drowns you, what do you remember about filming that scene?
A. The drowning scene is forever etched in my memory as being one of the most uncomfortable scenes I've ever done! I wore a wet suit under my clothes but I'm not very fond of dark water and the bottom of the lake was squidgy with leaves and mud. The special effects boys were out of shot either side of me on the ends of ropes holding the killer weed and hoisted it up and over me. I heard 'Cut' and I thought ah, that's done then, but the camera had slipped down the bank and we had to go again. The costume man gave me a quick rub down and a change of clothes and I waded out there for the second time, shaking with cold and pretty miserable. Two takes to drown me but I was rewarded with a bottle of brandy for doing my own stunt!
OldSchoolWrap (UK)
Q. Are you, or have you ever been a vegetarian? :)
A. I'm too much of a carnivore to contemplate giving up meat completely. My wife could quite easily go without it and frequently puts me on a diet of fish and chicken, but it begins to become a bit bland and then I go down to the butcher in the village and get him to cut me a couple of fillet steaks. I like the idea of being a vegetarian because I don't like killing any animal, but I'm too set in my ways to change now. My friend Peter has gone completely vegan down to the leatherless shoes he wears and says he feels a hundred times better, but he's always been more controlled than me!
Sarah Thornton (UK)
Q. When was the last time you sat down and watched Seeds of Doom? Has your opinion of it changed over the years?
A. The BBC sent me a complimentary DVD when Seeds of Doom came out and I watched it out of curiosity. It's still a good story but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny in the technical effects department in today's terms. The special effects are a bit creaky but they're charming and don't detract from the action. I haven't watched it since but the DVD keeps on selling.
Celia Turner (Australia)
Q. Last year, as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, Doctor Who fans were asked to vote for their all-time favourite stories, Seeds of Doom made the top 20 out of 241 stories! Why do you think after all these years it is still so popular?
A. Everyone seems to love Seeds Of Doom and that must be part due to the wonderful Tom Baker. He's MY Doctor and therefore the best Doctor ever. It's a great story well told and not overwhelmed by technical wizardry. It's pure escapism and lots of fun and we don't have to think too hard!
Simon Meade (Poland)
Q. Which actor from Only Fools and Horses would have made a good Doctor? I always thought Roger Lloyd-Pack looked like he could be from another world :)
A. I think I have always wanted to play the Doctor, rather like Peter Capaldi whose life-long ambition has been realised! Lucky man! It's one of those parts, like King Lear that is the acme of theatrical roles, and I would have been a very eccentric Doctor. And a very tall Doctor! Roger Lloyd Pack would have been a much more cerebral and hippy kind of Doctor. Perhaps I could still play a villain!
Many thanks to John for his participation and great answers! :)