In Conversation with Eddie

It’s Outpost Skaro’s First Birthday. Yay us. So who better to be subjected to The Mind Probe than Skaro’s oldest son, and creator of the supreme beings IN THE UNIVEEEEERSE!!!!


By the time Big Finish got their teeth into him, again, Davros had evolved. Still prone to the odd Dalekesque rant, he had become more Machiavellian in purpose and intent, and had time to realise his own goals and fears. Davros is truly one of the – if not the only – character in Doctor Who history to have motives, reasons, a back story and an evolution. His latest appearance in The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End – shows Davros for the first time as an old man, one who allies himself to the bonkers Dalek Caan to give him purpose. But even as his Daleks again show no gratitude to him for creating them for a second time, he jumps on their plans and claims them for his own. But again, even in the fires of a Time War, the Daleks final instinct, just as they had done in Destiny, Resurrection and Revelation, was to return to their creator.

What waits for Davros is uncertain. Last seen refusing the Doctor’s offer of help in a rapidly disintegrating Crucible it looked like the end, but, with Davros, that is something you can never take for granted.

A few actors have taken the role – the incomparable Michael Wisher started the ball rolling with a never-before-seen performance of chilling and horrifying intensity, and this was followed by David Gooderson in Destiny of the Daleks and of course more recently by Julian Bleach in the new series… but it’s been since the 80s that Davros has evolved the most, becoming, it seemed the Emperor of the Daleks not once but twice, and in Big Finish where his relationship with the Doctor grew to levels which Davros himself describes as the only friendship he ever had. And in these adventures the he was portrayed by an actor who has fully encompassed the role, made it his own and knows more about the character than anyone else. He truly is the epitome of the character and the standard by which all others should be set. There is no one more fitting to help celebrate Outpost Skaro’s first birthday as the creator of the Daleks himself, Davros, and the man who breathed life into what was left of his ravaged Kaled body and turned him from a character on the page to a living, thinking and evolving person.

In this interview, conducted over some time, I chatted to him, not just about his life and experiences as Davros, but about Davros himself, his thought processes, his motivation and his reasoning. It is an insight not just to a veteran actor, 80s Who and Big Finish, but to the most enduring character in Doctor Who’s history

Welcome, home, Terry Molloy…

What made you want to become an actor?

My first career choice was to be a vet, but when I discovered at school that I was totally lacking any ability for science subjects I had to think again. I studied Music and Drama at Liverpool in the mid 60s, but spent most of my time playing sax with a soul band in clubs like The Cavern. It was the era of Northern Soul, just post ‘Beatles’ – a very vibrant time, and I was tempted to turn pro and become a session musician but as I am a lazy swine I thought that might be too much like hard work, whereas I found acting easier, I enjoyed it a lot more, and discovered that as a ‘career choice’ it came with more “days off”!!

In fact, my mother had been on the stage from the age of 12, working in Variety during the 20s, 30s and 40s as a juvenile and later as a soubrette with most of the famous names of the day in British Variety and Music Hall - so I suppose performing was in my genes.

How did your early career go?

Like most actors at that time and probably even more so nowadays it was brief periods of ‘work’ followed by long periods of ‘resting’ by which I mean signing on the dole, cleaning flats, grabbing any temp work going etc etc etc! I started out in 1968 by joining a children’s theatre company – Theatre Centre – touring all over the UK and performing in schools. In 1969, I found acting work in repertory theatre at the Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent and then moved to Birmingham to join the Midlands Arts Centre and the Birmingham Rep… from there I began my career in radio.

You joined the Archers in 1973… how did that happen?


By 1971/2 I had done a few Radio Plays for Antony Cornish, the head of Radio Drama at BBC Pebble Mill in Birmingham and he suggested me to Tony Shryane – the editor of The Archers – who was looking for an actor to come into the programme and play a new character, ‘Mike Tucker’, the herd manager at Brookfield Farm. I did an audition and was offered the part for what, I was told, was to be just 5 weeks… 37 years later and “Moike” is still here – now the curmudgeonly Ambridge milkman!

How has it changed over the years? And how has your character developed?

The Archers started out in 1951 as a drama based farming information programme and over the years has morphed into a highly successful radio soap that is coming close to it’s 60th birthday, with over 5 million listeners. But for me, I think the Archers has always been a little pool of sanity in an otherwise insane world and the reason it has survived so long has been not only due to the hard work of the production team and their advisors in always accurately reflecting the reality of living in a rural community, but their foresight in meticulously nurturing younger generations in the story lines to carry the programme forward. All this driven by the superbly drawn characters portrayed with real truth and conviction of the 60 strong team of actors on the programme.

‘Mike Tucker’ started out as the herd manager of Brookfield Farm and after 36 years of trials and tribulations is beginning to find his equilibrium. But he rarely opens his mouth except to change feet and, as an honest son of the soil, suffers fools with no gladness whatsoever! Also, like Davros, he now only has one eye!

It has a following as enthusiastic as Dr Who’ doesn’t it? Which are you known for more?

I am know equally well in both camps for both characters, the joy of which is that as in neither do you get to see my face I am able to move freely and anonymously about the world without any of those dreaded “Oi! Didn’t you used to be....?” moments!

How did you end up with the part of Davros in Resurrection?

Thanks to the director Matthew Robinson, whom I had previously been working with on another TV series “Radio Phoenix”, about a commercial radio station, where I had been playing a sort of ‘Smashy & Nicey’ DJ character. When Matthew first asked me to play Davros, I had little idea of who the character was. Yes, I knew of the Daleks as I had watched Doctor Who in the early Hartnell and Troughton days, but after that ‘I got a life’ as an old girlfriend once rather archly put it! Matthew sat me down an showed me ‘Genesis’ and then said, “Do you think you could re-create that character?”. For some strange reason I found myself saying, “Yes”!

How did you approach the part? Did you watch Michael Wisher and David Gooderson?

To bring Davros back in ‘Resurrection’ it was most important to have Michael Wisher’s creation of the character as a reference and starting point. It was never the intention to do a carbon copy of Michael’s performance – that would have been mere caricature – and the truth of the character lost in the process. My aim was to re-create the essence of Davros to the best of my ability retaining those essential elements of the original conception and then building on that as the script demanded.

My research was based on viewing the tapes of ‘Genesis’ and ‘Destiny’, then working out how Michael Wisher and David Gooderson had produced the ‘voice’ of Davros, as I felt this held one of the keys to the character along with the degree of disability that was displayed by the restriction of the character’s movement – a lot of which was informed and driven by the physical restrictions of the mask and the chariot. The actual intention, direction and drive of Davros as a character leapt off the page at me from Eric Saward’s ‘excellent’ script (forgive the Davrosism there!).

You (thankfully!) got a new mask for your portrayal. How important are the prosthetics in getting into character?

When I took on the role, the decision was made to create a new mask using my head as a template, so a head cast was made and from that Stan Mitchell modeled the new face of Davros. Because the foam latex used was quite firm and unforgiving, the result was that I needed to speak with an over exaggerated movement of the face and jaw in order to produce any sort of external movement in the mask. This then informed and partly dictated the delivery of the speeches and was instrumental in how Davros' voice was eventually formed. And in my view about 90% of the character is contained in that voice!

You brought, I think, a pomposity to Davros – do you see him as a snob?

Not a snob, but with that certainty of status and an inherited haughtiness that can be the mark of certain patrician families… and definitely within Davros’ family. You’ll have to listen to the Big Finish mini-series “I, Davros” to see that was just a starting point for our story of Davros’ journey from boy to ‘monster’. His obsession with science and lack of ability to socialise with those he considers of lesser intellect than himself, point to a darker root within.

Do you have sympathy for him? IS he an evil genius, or just one whose life run away from him?

Now that’s a philosophical can of worms...! Let me chuck a few questions back! What do you consider to be the definition of genuine evil – and who can, or on what basis should it be defined? Do you believe that ‘evil’ is the result of nature or nurture or a combination of the two – is a newborn baby evil at birth or does it assimilate ‘evil’ ways as he/she grows? Take ‘Revelation’ as an example. Davros solves the problem of hunger and starvation throughout the galaxy saving billions of lives in the process – Is this an heroic act worthy of universal acclaim and praise, or a deeply evil and shameful act because he used the bodies of people who were already dead to create the protein to feed the starving of the universe? You decide... and that decision must and will be informed by the particular moral or ethical standpoint you hold. I don’t posit a preference either way, except to say that I find it more interesting to play a character that has shades of both light and dark in their persona, the grading of those shades is then how the character is ultimately perceived.

He once described the Doctor as “the closest thing he has to a friend” How true is this do you think?

Absolutely true! I think both the Doctor and Davros have come to realise that as well as being on a totally equal intellectual footing, they are also both ultimately… alone! Those are strong bonds that tie them together and which, under different circumstances, could have led to friendship.

In Resurrection he is brought back from cryogenic freezing… was he aware during that time? Did the process affect him?

I can’t remember where it was that Davros describes the feeling of mentally going back over his entire life in the minutest painful detail and that long painful mental process filling just one second of his imprisonment before starting all over again like a loop continuing into infinity… you tell me if it affected him?

How did you want to evolve the character during Revelation? There is a marked sense of humour, which comes across perhaps for the first time…

Indeed, there was a desire and intention to begin to move slightly away from the ‘Intergalactic Reich’ of ‘Genesis’ and begin to explore other facets of a character that otherwise could have become just a two dimensional caricature ‘monster’ – hence the injection of a black humour to some of his lines.

By now of course Davros is setting up his own “escape routes” where as before it seemed down mainly to luck… do you think he really always expects the Doctor to appear and scupper his plans?

His escape routes are contractual! Terry Nation insisted that Davros (although possibly appearing to be doomed or even destroyed) always had an escape pod, route, or whatever at his disposal. Like any good chess player Davros would have thought through all possible scenarios before facing his greatest opponent.

How was it being just “a head” for most of ‘Revelation of the Daleks’… uncomfortable?

About as uncomfortable as you can imagine, being sealed in a hot foam latex mask and then bolted into a revolving Perspex cylinder with your legs tied up under the swivel chair you are sitting on to facilitate your spinning round and not ‘kneecapping’ yourself on the steel uprights of the set!

And then of course you actually DO become a head! Or do you? I know that BF audios suggest this is the case (after the bomb goes off in Davao’s chair), but later Who episodes (Journey’s End) shows a Davros very much the man he was…

What did you think of the story Remembrance of the Daleks… it sidelines Davros quite a bit.

Remembrance was slated for production at a time when I was contracted to and working on a TV drama series for Central called “Tales of Sherwood Forest” (In fact NOTHING to do with Robin Hood - it was set in a Nottingham wine bar!!) so I almost was not in Remembrance but for the good offices of both Producers who sat down and worked out a schedule that would fit both of their needs ending with me basically dashing into Television Centre record on one day between location filming days in Nottingham. I don’t know about sidelined.. I was certainly breathless!

Terra Firma suggests that Davros has an identity crisis, the irony of wanting to be the leader and creator but realizing he can only do that by becoming a Dalek… the Emperor… how do you think he got out of that one (and obviously when the Emperor is seen next in A Parting of the Ways he isn’t Davros…)

A great story, and such a delight to play that degeneration into complete schizophrenia. Obviously he doesn’t become either a Dalek or The Emperor it is all in his head as part of the mind games he and the Doctor almost relish playing with each other!

You’ve worked with Doctors Davison, Baker, McCoy and McGann… each with a different persona, which Davros seems to relish in “getting to know”. Do you as an actor change how Davros is to accommodate the actor opposite, or do you think Davros does?


Er….. No, and… er…. No!

Would it be fair to suggest he has an affinity for Colin’s Doctor…? They almost get on…

No more or less than any other Doctor… it’s just that you have heard and seen Davros more with Colin’s Doctor than with any of the others. It is true that Colin and I have a lot of fun working together and that might give an extra frisson to some of the things we have recorded, but I think you have to look at this question in the light of the answer I gave to an earlier question about the Doctor and Davros' “friendship” - the answer lies there.


I presume you’ve watched Davros’s return in The Stolen Earth… where you disappointed not to be able to resurrect someone who’s been part of your life for such a long time?

I didn’t watch the episode when it went out as I was about 600 miles from the North Pole in Svalbard at the time, and I didn’t actually see the episode until a few months ago by chance while watching TV in a hotel I was staying at. I think I can certainly say that I was deeply disappointed not to be offered the chance of bringing the character into the new series – but ultimately, that decision was not in my hands.

What did you think of that whippersnapper Bleach?

Probably along the same lines as Michael Wisher thought about me when I took over the role from him!

Do you like the new series in general? Choice of Doctors etc?

Overall I think they have done a splendid job in linking the past (or Classic Series as it is now called) with the New Series. My favourite episodes over the four series have been ‘Dalek’, ‘The Empty Child’ & ‘The Doctor Dances’, ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’, ‘Blink’ and ‘Silence in the Library’ – they have all contained that dark quality and depth of narrative texture in the writing that is so vital to a really good Doctor Who story. The Doctors have been superb, especially David Tennant, though I do think it is time for an older Doctor once more, and as for ‘The Master’? Derek Jacobi was the chillingly obvious choice! Why the change?

Anyway, enough of that Who stuff… tell me about the Archers Cruise?

Funnily enough it was an Archers cruise that found me climbing a glacier in Svalbard when ‘Stolen Earth’ was first broadcast!

Back in 1991, I came up with the idea of setting up an Archers fan club – Archers Addicts - in order to provide a conduit for those listeners to the programme who wished to get more of an insight into the cast and the programme, over and above just listening to it on the radio. So, we started to produce a newsletter and some simple merchandise and set up opportunities (like mini conventions I suppose) for cast and fans to meet and share their common interest. Over the years this grew and developed until in 2001 we produced an event at the NIA in Birmingham for 4,500 fans who met and talked with 42 members of the cast, played boules with them, joined in country dances, cookery demonstrations, drank pints of Shires, watched a mock up studio recording and then in the evening were entertained with a full theatrical show – a sort of “Archers, This Is Your Life” presented by the late Nick Clarke from BBC Radio 4’s ‘The World at One’. From this we moved to linking up with various companies, like The Orient Express, until we now work exclusively with Fred Olsen Cruise Lines by taking part in two Arts themed cruises a year where 3 or 4 actors and an audio manager involve the passengers in how the programme is made from scripting to sound FX, the life of an actor and finally to getting them participate in the production of a specially written (not for broadcast) episode of The Archers. Great fun all round! Over the years I have been as far East as Istanbul, as far West as the Caribbean and as far North as… well, the North Pole!

And the Scarifyers, with some bloke called Nicholas Courtney – how did that come about, and what do you think of it?


I was simply sent the script by Simon Bernard who asked if I would be interested in playing the role of Professor Edward Dunning (elderly ghost story writer) opposite Nick Courtney as Detective Superintendant Lionheart (octogenarian ex-copper). I read and loved the ‘tongue in cheek’ writing style (set in the 1930s, a sort of mix of ‘Dick Barton Special Agent’ and ‘The X Files’) and blatant comedy of the first script and immediately said yes!

At the time of writing this there have now been five installments as we have just released episode four - ‘The Curse of the Black Comet’ - with Brian Blessed guesting as the totally inept explorer and tomb raider ‘Sir Basil Champion’. And with episode five – The Secret Weapon of Doom – just recorded, with Leslie Phillips and Nigel Havers as guest stars, I think the Scarifyers is going from strength to strength. Nick and I had never worked together before this, but it is a partnership I truly enjoy as our two old characters resonate so beautifully together in their own idiosyncratic ways.

And what’s coming up in the future?

A lot of what has come up in the past… The Archers rolls on remorselessly, I am happy to say, and I am looking to do more Theatre projects as well as trying to move house, as well as developing an audio script idea with a good friend of mine and also seriously considering writing my autobiography!

Would you don the mask and hand again?

If you look closely at my forehead you will see there tattooed in letters of fire – ‘Never Again!’


Considering this is Outpost SKARO, we have a special affinity for you and all things Kaled/Thal-ish. We’ve already spoken to Nicholas Briggs; do you have a message for all Skarosians out there?

“Tar lubeck Ka’Leed – uth ricta Dal’ek”

If you don’t know what it means, listen to “I, Davros” and all will be made clear, but if you can’t wait… a rough translation from the ancient ‘Dal’ prophetic script (the original language of Skaro) would be…


Think on that…..!!!!


Great thanks to Terry for taking time to join in our Birthday Celebrations.