Time's over for veteran

DR WHO: Bernard Cribbins and David Tennant.

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Bernard Cribbins plays a central role in the final Doctor Who episode starring David Tennant, writes James Croot.

Veteran British actor Bernard Cribbins never thought he'd be the centre of so much public attention again.

A star in the classic Carry On film series and the narrator of The Wombles and Jackanory television series, the 81-year-old was a regular fixture on the stage, television and cinema screens in the 1960s and 70s but has only been seen sporadically since then. That is until he began playing Wilfred Mott in Doctor Who in 2007, a role which culminated in him being a central figure in the two- part The End of Time specials that screened in Britain over Christmas and concludes on Prime on Sunday.

"I'm actually sitting in my office now doing the fan mail for Wilfred," says Cribbins down the phone last week. "It's taken me two full days so far. I've had letters from grandmas, kids, all sorts of people. They ask for photographs and say how much they've enjoyed the last two episodes."

Cribbins was only supposed to make a cameo appearance in a 2007 Christmas Special (the one with Kylie Minogue) as a newsagent, but a sad accident saw him asked back for more. "The actor playing Catherine Tate's (Donna) father died and they wanted to put another male presence in the household. Rather than recast another actor, director Phil Collinson said 'what about that silly old Chris Cribbins? We'll have him back as grandad'."

Whovians will tell you this wasn't Cribbins' first brush with the Doctor. As well as playing a companion in the 1966 movie Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 AD, he was also in the running to play the Doctor when John Pertwee left the series in 1974.

"Like about 300 other actors, I interviewed for the fourth Doctor. I went in and sat down with the producer, Barry Letts. He asked me 'What can you do'? I said I was a very good swimmer and I was a paratrooper so I can fight. And he said 'Oh no, he doesn't fight, he never fights'. I didn't get the job, but what was one of the first things you see Tom Baker do? He knocks someone out!"

Cribbins admits he wasn't an avid watcher of the show in the early years, mainly because it screened at the same time he was performing a matinee. "I remember bits of Jon and Tom's Doctor - he was my favourite until David [Tennant]) . . . now it's a toss-up between the two . . . as it is for a lot of people."

As for the enduring appeal of the show, Cribbins believes science- fiction has always gone down well with children. "And Doctor Who has something weird and a bit spooky - so many kids hid behind the sofa when the Daleks were on.

"Certainly the standard of production has improved enormously as well. The last four years have boasted remarkably good scripts and fantastic production values. The advent of film techniques for television shows like Doctor Who makes it much easier and much more comfortable and precise for actors. I used to do live drama on TV and it was a joke - if you didn't hit your mark then the cameraman would be filming your left earhole."

He says the last days of filming The End of Time were, contrary to popular belief, not particularly emotional. "We knew it was going to come to an end but we just got on with it. They work a very tough schedule - 12-hour days, six days a week sometimes - so there wasn't time to get too introspective about it. Plus, I didn't actually get the last four pages of the last script, so I actually didn't know how things were going to finish."

Time did offer Cribbins a chance to once again be inside the Tardis though. "I said to David, 'I haven't been in one of these things since 1966', and he said, 'I wasn't even born then'!"

Cribbins says he knows nothing about the next series, but lives in hope that he might get another call.

"It would be lovely if they invited me back to have a word with the new guy. I don't know quite what the storyline would be but I'm sure they could come up with some strange, kooky type of thing."

In the meantime, Cribbins is busy keeping warm during the current harsh English winter and waiting for the fishing season to begin. He says he always remembers the good trout fishing in the Tongariro he experienced on his sole visit to New Zealand in 1973. "I caught some nice fish there. If someone could get me a job out in New Zealand I would come out as soon as I can, just to get back on that river."

Doctor Who: The End of Time (Part 2): Sunday, 7.30pm, Prime.

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