You can see why this was the most expensive Doctor
series, with the money spent on the on deck Canary Islands location filming
being put upfront onscreen. These location bits always seem to be subsidiary to
the farcical operation of the main plot, which again involves dashing about
from set to set inside the ship. And very good sets they are, too - and more of
them than found in most sitcoms!
This week, Doctor Waring has been brawling and feuding with the ship's purser, exclaiming, "I'll murder you" in public earshot - words which then rebound on him when the purser goes missing. Something that strikes me is how, although you think of Robin Nedwell as being a gangling and amiable performer, he's surprisingly convincing at being tough and menacing.
And then I remember something that I hadn't thought about for decades. Did I see him act onstage? Yes, he had a season at the RSC - 1996, so maybe even his last job before he died a couple of years later (of a heart attack in a doctors' surgery, ironically enough). The thing that sticks in the mind is a starry production of Ben Jonson's Jacobean city comedy The Devil Is An Ass. The two leads were John Nettles as Merecraft the confidence trickster and David Troughton as Fitzdottrel the foolish gentleman. Digs out old programme... but also Sheila Steafal as Lady Tailbush, a young Damian Lewis as the young gallant Wittipol and - Robin Nedwell as Gilthead the goldsmith!
This week, Doctor Waring has been brawling and feuding with the ship's purser, exclaiming, "I'll murder you" in public earshot - words which then rebound on him when the purser goes missing. Something that strikes me is how, although you think of Robin Nedwell as being a gangling and amiable performer, he's surprisingly convincing at being tough and menacing.
And then I remember something that I hadn't thought about for decades. Did I see him act onstage? Yes, he had a season at the RSC - 1996, so maybe even his last job before he died a couple of years later (of a heart attack in a doctors' surgery, ironically enough). The thing that sticks in the mind is a starry production of Ben Jonson's Jacobean city comedy The Devil Is An Ass. The two leads were John Nettles as Merecraft the confidence trickster and David Troughton as Fitzdottrel the foolish gentleman. Digs out old programme... but also Sheila Steafal as Lady Tailbush, a young Damian Lewis as the young gallant Wittipol and - Robin Nedwell as Gilthead the goldsmith!
Read the script, and I can just see and hear him - "We live by finding fools out to be trusted" - a bit thicker and greyer and playing a father, but still using those same comic skills to good effect. That was one of those really good ensembles, when you can sense that the actors are happy to be there, sharing the process with the audience. Its a happy thought that his last performances were in the company of his peers, doing good work and being recognised for doing it.
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