Classic ‘Doctor Who’ star Anneke Wills stopped watching Jodie Whittaker in the role because she thinks the show has moved on from her time.
Anneke, 77, played companion Polly opposite both First Doctor William Hartnell and Second Doctor Patrick Troughton from 1966 to 1967 and is a favourite assistant amongst fans of the BBC sci-fi series.
The actress tuned in last year to see Jodie, 36, make her debut as the Thirteenth Doctor and first ever female Time Lord and although she thought it was great to see a woman take control of the TARDIS she turned off after a few episodes because she can’t relate to the modern series.
Speaking at a screening for a new animated version of ‘The Macra Terror’ – a ‘Doctor Who’ story from 1967 which was wiped by the BBC and lost from the archives which Anneke starred in – she said: "I have to be honest … I think Jodie is lovely … but I watched most of the first one and then I let go, because it’s not my ‘Doctor Who’.
"It’s new ‘Doctor Who’ for the new world and I’m not part of it, really, anymore – except if they ask me to be in it!"
Anneke’s co-star in ‘The Macra Terror’ Frazer Hines – who played fellow TARDIS companion Jamie McCrimmon – was also part of the Q&A and admitted he had reservations about whether ‘Doctor Who’ would work with a woman playing the part but he admits once he saw Jodie wield her sonic screwdriver he loved her in the role.
Frazer said: "I was worried that it was going to be a woman Doctor. But then when I saw it, I loved the way she kept her accent. It didn’t become terribly PC."
Anneke along with her co-star Michael Craze – who portrayed Ben Jackson – was part of the show when Hartnell’s First Doctor regenerated to Troughton’s Time Lord and she believes that the programme wouldn’t be on air today if it wasn’t for Patrick’s performance.
She said: "If it hadn’t been Patrick who took over the role of the Doctor then we wouldn’t be sitting here today, it was because of the nature of the man, because he was so sweet and incredibly humble. If he had come in to take over the role in a more sort of Jon Pertwee way we wouldn’t have accepted it. It was because of the way that he was that the British audience could say, ‘Yes, we’ll have a completely different Doctor.’ We should always be grateful to Patrick, he’s up there and he wants us to know."
And Frazer added: "Peter Capaldi, Peter Davison, Colin Baker all said if it hadn’t been for Patrick you would never have heard about David Tennant or Matt Smith because it would have finished. The BBC would’ve said, ‘It doesn’t work, take it off. No more ‘Doctor Who’.’
‘The Macra Terror’ sees the Doctor and his companions Polly, Ben and Jamie arrive on a human colony in the far future. Although the colony appears to be a giant holiday camp for rest and relaxation it has actually been infiltrated by a race of giant parasitic crab-like creatures called the Macra who have brainwashed the people to serve them and create a special gas they need.
None of the aired four episodes of the 1967 serial are in existence but a complete audio recording of all four parts did still exist along with still photographs and clips of the story which have been used to create the animated adventure over 50 years later.
‘Doctor Who: The Macra Terror’ will be out on DVD and Blu-ray from March 25.
Classic Doctor Who companion Anneke Wills says show is for a ‘new world’ now
