By Owen Quinn author
Have you seen how people throw a wake for themselves just to see who would turn up and what they would say about the deceased? Well, I thought, why wait for a celebrity you admire to die before writing how much they have impacted you through their movies or television roles.
Paul McGann was almost the George Lazenby of Doctor Who as he would only play the Doctor once in the failed American version. He was the first Doctor I’d met in ages so when it was announced he would be appearing at a convention in Belfast; I was there.
We were wearing similar coats and had a great photo together. At that stage, he had been doing the Big Finish audios and had a vast catalogue of stories behind him.
I was immediately struck by his dry wit and openness. We were the first fans of the day and I knew he had come from a con the day before to do the Belfast one.
First impressions are important and I could see why he was so popular with the fans. He had an Irish dry wit about him and zest for those around him. He was playful in his teasing and good natured with people.
His panel reflected all of that and more.
As part of the McGann brothers acting legacy, Paul was well established before he ever became Doctor Who. He had clear ideas about the character which he never got to implement with the movie. But he did change the look of the Doctor from Bohemian to tough guy leather jacket but Christopher Eccleston beat him to it.
But we were not done with the eighth Doctor yet because as apart of the 50th anniversary we got the Night of the Doctor, a short episode where we get to see the Doctor regenerate into the War Doctor. It was quality viewing from start to finish and we saw a Doctor far removed from the new born movie version.
Then in the Power of the Doctor, Jodie Whittaker’s final story, he returned alongside Doctors 1,5,6 and 7 to stop her incarnation from being lost in a forced regeneration. He was the only one not to wear the robes of a Time Lord and was a more sarcastic than the others. This was a Doctor that did his own thing more so than the others and a joy to behold it was. He was arrogant but his disdain for the trappings of Tim Lord society fitted well with his aversion to the Time War and refusal to be part of it.
Having met him again in Dublin, he is so good with fans, something a lot of other celebrities could learn a thing or two about.
Being the Doctor on screen is more than being on television. It requires the actors to maintain that niceness off screen. The Doctor is the one person children are not afraid to run to because they know the Doctor will always look out for them.
And if any of them epitomise this then it is Paul McGann. What an awesome person to meet and so glad I have done so multiple times.