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Craig Kelly - Joe.

Introductions
  Could you tell us who you are playing?

The character I’m playing is called Joe and he’s a young GP who when we see him is quite depressed really, but he’s totally in love with Alison. He’s not got that much confidence and he’s in a war zone being attacked by worm-like aliens so things aren’t going well for him.

He’s trying to keep it together for him and his baby Alison who he absolutely adores. I think he knows he’s fighting a losing battle. You know that thing where you know you love someone but you’ve got to set them free, it’s that kind of thing.

Fun stuff
  How have you found working on this project?

It’s been great. I mean, to get to be a part of a Doctor Who story is good in itself but to be a cartoon it’s wicked and it’s very free-flowing, it’s very quick, all having gossipy chats outside, so it’s one of those jobs that I would call fun.

Quintessential Englishman
  What's it been like working with Richard E Grant?

What do I think about him? I think he’s spot on, I think he’s got that timeless slightly eccentric quality. Even though he’s not from England, he’s like a quintessential Englishman. I think he’ll be brilliant.

Mad and likeable
  Why do you think the series encourages such fandom?

I think it’s because it fires the imagination and the characters are likeable and there’s something very English about them as well. I’m not sure if Doctor Who’s done well around the world but it’s got a peculiar eccentricity about it which I think we can all identify with as English folk.

As I say, every Doctor Who has been slightly mad but likeable and the whole idea that you can travel through time, even if you’re a non-believer, it’s still a nice possibility isn’t it? I think it brings out the child in us all.

Back to the future
  Where would you travel to if you had a TARDIS?

I was thinking about this and some of the obvious things would be the 50s and 60s because the 50s was a kind of new dawn, it was quite innocent and you’d come out of the Depression and the war. I think that’s when teenagers first started to have some kind of identity, and then the 60s, obviously the Beatles and winning the World Cup.

For me personally, I think it’s all a little rose-tinted. I’m really happy living right now and if I could time travel I would time travel to the future. I wouldn’t mind having my own little spaceship and taking it for an MOT, you know what I mean, moaning to the bird, "That’s costing me a fortune, that spaceship," you know what I mean? I think I’d prefer to go forward rather than backward.

Wobbly sets
  Do you think science fiction lends itself to animation?

I think animation is a fantastic way to tell a science fiction story, because I think we all love cartoons and what you can do with a cartoon these days is amazing. I mean the early Doctor Whos got away with murder, the sets were a bit wobbly but they somehow still managed to make you believe. When there’s smoke coming out of some dodgy dry mist, you kind of believed it.

Going back to why Doctor Who was popular, that was probably one of the reasons, because the special effects were so dodgy that you had to believe them in order to keep the faith. My final word would be if they get the special effects right in the cartoons, which I think they can do these days, I think that will be great. I think a Doctor Who cartoon will be great.

Cheeky chops
  How do you think your character should look?

Apparently, they’ve got to do it to my likeness so it will probably be some kind of likeable caricature of these cheeky chops. Just as long as they make me look, you know, not that bad.

I’m actually excited about it, that’s one of the real exciting parts of doing this job that they’ve got to do a likeness of me for a cartoon, it’s fantastic. I’ve had a cartoon caricature before when I did Queer As Folk and that was hilarious, that was brilliant, I think it was in the Sunday Times and they did me with this really kind of innocent open-like face which is what the character was like. I don’t know boys, do a good job, because I know where you live.

Waking the dead
  What's been the most unusual role of your career?

The most unusual one was the one I’ve just done, probably, where I played a psychotic split personality transsexual. It’s for Waking The Dead and it’s one of the best roles that I’ve ever done, I’ve not seen it yet but I certainly have never been so excited and nervous about a role. It was a massive challenge.

That is in a way the oddest thing to do because you know it’s not every day that you actually shave your legs, pluck your eyebrows, wear Chanel No 5, and genuinely try and portray a transsexual as not a freak of nature but as a dignified human being. I figured they're probably unhappier as the man and I made the man a little more dangerous and I made my character as the woman very elegant and dignified and happy.

These people do genuinely believe that they are born in the wrong sex, so once I made the decision to do it I absolutely threw myself into it. I’ve never been so focused on a role. I’m not sure if I pulled it off, we shall see, only time will tell. I had to sing at the beginning a little bit as well. I was in full Maria mode singing You Make Me Feel like a Natural Woman, so that was quite odd.

Mind of a fan
  Did you watch Doctor Who as a child?

A little bit but I wasn’t a massive fan. I did see it quite a bit when I was a kid – I never really got obsessed by it, by the series but I think I’ve said somewhere as a quote that I was more ashamed of being a Doctor Who fan than I was playing gay. Can I just say that I said a million quotes just because I had a million interviews. I’m not ashamed of either.

When I did Queer as Folk it was a nice little in-road into the psyche of an obsessive Doctor Who fan because the writer of Queer as Folk is a massive Doctor Who fan. It’s just fun isn’t it? It’s just fun but as a kid I didn’t watch it that much, I can remember the Daleks of course, ‘Exterminate! Exterminate!’ and I can remember very sinister men trying to do very sinister things to the Doctor. I can remember Tom Baker very very well though, with his big scarf.

Queer research
  Did you research fans for Queer as Folk?

Oh yes I talked to Russell [T Davies] in depth, he’s wrote a couple of books on Doctor Who which he duly lent me. I saw quite a few videos, you know, because I am not a method actor, but I like to do research.

It’s funny watching it again because you see it in a different light, especially if you’re watching it as to, ‘Why does my character love Doctor Who?’ I couldn’t tell you why, because I think it’s a very individual relationship any fan has with the show.