"Rabelaisian bowel movement"

TV Doctor Who Magazine journalist Benjamin Cook has a new website and he's uploaded some his best interviews and articles. Amongst the highlights are the notoriously abrasive Clive Swift interview (“I’m an actor. As soon as you switched that thing on, I’m performing. I think you’ll find that proper journalists know shorthand.”) and this suitably bonkers encounter with Tom Baker:

“The thing about being a Christian is, you’re never alone, because God is everywhere, so you have no privacy. Insane Christians, like the Roman Catholics, believe in angels as well. They walk in a special way – I won’t do it now, it might embarrass you – because they’re dying to go to the lavatory. They’re plucking up the courage, because not only is God in there, but also they’ve got a f***ing angel on their shoulder. It’s difficult to have a spontaneous, Rabelaisian bowel movement with God and an angel watching.”

Just before Doctor Who returned to television, the first official Ninth Doctor (not anymore) was an online animated incarnation with Richard E Grant (still watchable at the BBC website). Ben was there too for the recording:

Richard E Grant arrives. Jim introduces us. “Doctor Who Magazine?” Richard exclaims, as though such a thing is impossible. “A magazine? About Doctor Who?” That’ll be the one. “The show I know nothing about? I have never seen it. I know nothing about it.”

"In case you were under the impression that Richard E Grant is the new Doctor Who, rest assured, he isn’t. Not according to his agent. “He won’t even be wearing the scarf,” she insisted when we spoke on the phone. He just happens to be providing the voice, that’s all. Apparently, Richard doesn’t want to be associated too closely with the role."

It's all worth exploring and a reminder that if you watch Doctor Who, you really should be reading the official magazine.