Interview with Nicholas Briggs

Interview with Nicholas Briggs

It's fair to say Nicholas Briggs has had a life long association with Doctor Who. A fan who wrote and performed in his own stories, he went on to be heavily involved as the executive producer of Big Finish, who produce (rather excellent) monthly Doctor Who audios. He's also the voice of the Daleks and the Cybermen in the new series post 2005. And this weekend, he makes his TV debut as an Ice Warrior....

It's a very iconic role you have in Doctor Who - how did you get involved in it all?
The whole thing....?

You're a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the show....
That's the first part of the answer, yes. When I left drama school, my career didn't immediately take off - and if you don't get that immediate boost, you're in trouble really. So, that's what happened with me. I got involved with some Doctor Who fans doing Dr Who audio plays for fun, for nothing and I got cast as the Doctor. Then I started writing, got interested in sound design and stuff like that and that love stayed with me even after all that. It was Gary Russell, who ended up being producer of the Audio Visuals range, said to me "Wouldn't it be brilliant if we could do this and have a licence from the BBC?" To cut an extremely long story short, that actually happened. It's because of my work as the Daleks in the Big Finish plays that I got to be in  the TV series. Because Russell used to listen to the plays - he may even have been a subscriber I think (Subscribers do get more at BigFinish.com.....)

You are living the ultimate fan boy dream, really, aren't you working in something you always loved?
I was saying to the guys in the car earlier to Colin and Sylv, I feel a little bit like Guy from Galaxy Quest who's really just a fan of the series and who's just an extra and then he starts hanging out with the real people - that's what I feel like sitting in a panel in front of the press with three Doctor Whos, you know? Then there's just me, a fan giving his opinions and I think: "Should I be here?"

Do you have trouble reigning the fanboy in at times?
I suppose I get moments of it; but the thing is, because my role as executive producer is as well as trying to make it as creative as possible, there's a good deal of organisational stuff involved in it. I'm thinking of schedules, worrying about contracts etc etc - all that kind of grown up dull stuff, that dampens your fan gene getting too excited. But there are all sorts of moments where I go "Oooooh, this is good." I just have an instinct for what is good Doctor Who and I'm a great believer in following your instincts if you possibly can. If people like what you produce, then you're doing the right job. Rather than doing market research. Just follow your gut instincts - and if not, go and get another job!

The Daleks and Cybermen are evolving in the TV series - have you found that a challenge to try different things with them?
Russell T Davies encouraged me the night before the TV series filming to push the envelope as far as I could with them. He said that they knew I could do the classic Dalek voice, but give us something more. So they've been more expressive from the start. I was then involved in the formulation of the Cyberman voice and we've done a new one for the new series but I don't know how that's going to come out. The one piece of direction we received on one bit of paper was "The new Cyberman voice must be scary", which the sound director read out to me over the phone. So we went ok and into the studio we went and did six or seven versions of each of the lines. They don't speak much but I can't tell you how they will sound. That's been fun, though.

Are you still enjoying being involved in the convention circuit?
I'm no kind of martyr and all my life I've only pursued things I wanted to do and that has meant that I've been extremely poor for most of my life! Luckily I stuck with Doctor Who because it was the thing I loved and it's borne some fruits. If I didn't like it, I would have been gone. I wouldn't drag myself into work to direct a Dr Who play if I hated it. I wouldn't come to a convention if I hated the idea of it. As it goes on, I enjoy it more and more and I become more comfortable being in the fan public eye. It's wonderful actually, many actors dream of fame and want to be known by everyone and being in the position I am with Doctor Who I don't experience that much fame because people don't know my face. When I'm at a convention, people know my face but when I walk out, I get that anonymity. It's a wonderful escape. What would it be like if everyone knew me...it would be intolerable.

Do you not have the desire to stand on the street and shout "Exterminate"?
No! It's nice not to be recognised but the recognition within the contained area of the convention is wonderful because it's great to chat to people there. Because Doctor Who fans are only rotten to you on the internet!

Is it like going on tour with these guys? They have great camaraderie...

This is the first time I've done this - I know Colin and Sylv have great camaraderie - and Paul and Sylv know each other, but Colin's not worked with Paul before but they're all getting on beautifully. I've never done before a series of conventions all within a couple of weeks and we're all getting on fine, I think. They're a real laugh to be with.

How do you get into the mindset of the Daleks and Cybermen?
As I've said before, acting is acting is acting and even if you're playing a nasty little blob inside a pepperpot, you have to think about its motivation, what it feels, what it wants to do - you get into the zone and find the rage and anger. That's what makes dictators and fascists - so, you pretend you are that and suspend your disbelief. There's obviously some facility that puts a lock on that or otherwise, as you say I'd just start rampaging around the set or in the street! That's how I do it, with acting!

The show hits 50 years this year - as a young fan, did you ever imagine it would get to that?
No, I remember buying the making of Doctor Who in 1971 or 1972 - a book with Jon Pertwee and a Sea Devil on the front. I remember them going on about how Dr Who was 8 years old and that just seemed like a massive amount of time! Then it was 10 years, 20 years.....I suppose it's inevitable if Doctor Who goes away in a couple of years (and I see no reason why it should) it's going to be one of those things like James Bond and Sherlock Holmes which always comes back and gets reinvented. The concept has got legs... It's an Odyssey story, an Odyssey with a man with insatiable curiosity whose Achilles Heel is to intervene in other people's affairs, with that set up, that could just go on forever.

Big Finish covers so many stories, with so many ranges, how do you keep the surprises coming?
It's quite difficult to find people who can write really well. There's no shortage of people who want to do it, there's a huge shortage of people who can do it well. It's difficult - and do it the way I want, David wants or Alan Barnes. I'm humbled by some of the amazing abilities of our writers like Matt Fitton, John Dorney, Eddie Robson - you know, people who can do great stuff.

Can you tell us if you have any involvement in the 50th on the TV side?
Well, I'm not aware of any involvement for me...yeah, you're looking at me as if to say "You're spinning me a yarn there" - Look into my eyes - that is the truth. I only know what you know from the internet and papers. The only thing I know about the 50th is Light at the End, the Big Finish release that I wrote and directed.

Just talking of Light At the End, can you give us some teases?
It involves the first eight Doctors and the Master. I resisted doing it for a long time because I thought to do a multi Doctor thing was just the obvious thing, but I think I've found a way of doing it which is not the obvious way. I can't spoil it - stuff happens. I try to do lots of different styles of Doctor Who story in it; you've got out and out adventure; you've got mystery and kind of sinister stuff, you've got space stuff and you've got Time Lord stuff. There are lots of different styles of Doctor Who in it - I put into it my love of Doctor Who and every aspect I love. The obvious thing to do is a multi Doctor story and for the TV, maybe that wasn't what they wanted to do. We ended up doing this because we didn't think it would be possible because we didn't think that Tom Baker would do that - and then Tom Baker asked if we were going to do it. "Can I do something with the other guys" he said and we thought, let's see if they want to do it, and they were all up for it when we asked them. David Richardson and John Dorney came up with a really loose outline of the kind of thing it could be and I suddenly said "Ah yes, I can do something with that."

Light At The End will be out in November and you can pre-order this release here.

Big Finish has a whole range of audios for sale - from the wonderful Jago and Litefoot, Blakes 7, Dorian Grey to Sherlock Holmes - and of course, Doctor Who.
Check out their website at Bigfinish.com and remember, Subscribers Get More....

The Lords of Time Convention takes place in Auckland on Saturday April 13th.