PAUL MCGANN

'Paul McGann' (born November 14, 1959 in Liverpool) is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial ''The Monocled Mutineer'', in which he played the lead role. He is also known for his role in ''Withnail and I'', and for portraying the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 ''Doctor Who'' television movie and subsequent tie-in media.

Contents

Biography

Childhood

Personal life

Career

Early appearances

''The Monocled Mutineer''

Film career

''Doctor Who'' (television movie)

After ''Doctor Who''

Audio books and voice work

Filmography

Television

References

External links

Biography

Childhood

Paul McGann was born in Liverpool, England in 1959. He was born into a rather large Roman Catholic family, who encouraged him and his siblings, and a young age, to develop their talents and gifts. McGann's talents were further refined when he attended grammar school in Liverpool. Being so impressed by his dramatic abilities, one of McGann's teachers advised him to enter the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and to pursue a career as an actor. Acting on his teacher's advice, McGann did enroll in the Royal Academy and after he left the institute, he formed a successful acting career spanning over two decades.
Paul McGann is the third of six children born in the McGann family. His mother, Claire McGann, had two twin boys, Joseph and John, who were born in 1957, but John died shortly after birth. Paul McGann has three younger siblings: Mark (born in 1961), Stephen (born in 1963) and Claire McGann (born in 1965). All three of his brothers are also actors and the four of them starred together (as four brothers) in the 1995 television TV serial ''The Hanging Gale'' about the Irish Famine. They also formed the pop quartet The McGanns, releasing the single "Everything But The Boy". McGann's sister, Claire, is a programme finance manager for TV channel Five.

Personal life

McGann is known for keeping his romantic and personal life out of the media. However, he has not always been successful in his privacy attempts. In 1992, McGann married Annie Milner, with whom he has two sons, Joe McGann (born in 1989) and Jake McGann (born in 1991).
In 1994, McGann met Catherine Zeta-Jones while filming the miniseries ''Catherine the Great''. Zeta-Jones became a friend of McGann and his family. When paparazzi took a photograph of McGann and Zeta-Jones on a London street, the two became the subject of gossip in the British tabloids, much to the distress of McGann and Milner. McGann and Zeta-Jones have both stated that they have never been romantically linked, except in the imaginations of tabloid reporters. ^[1]
In 2006, McGann and his wife separated, and he began a relationship with the actress Susannah Harker.^[2]

Career

Early appearances

''The Monocled Mutineer''

McGann's first major role was the infamous British deserter and criminal Percy Toplis in the 1986 BBC serial ''The Monocled Mutineer''. The film was based on the 1978 book of the same name, which was written by William Alison and John Fairley.
Although McGann received praises for his dramatic performance, the drama was never re-broadcast on the BBC. This is because the BBC came under fire from the Conservative Government due to the sensitivity of the subject matter of the Étaples Mutiny at "The Bull Ring", a harsh British Army training ground in Etaples, France. The events that transpired at the Bull Ring remain debated, and documents concerning the occurrences there will remain sealed until 2017. They claimed that the film was inaccurate and displayed a "Left-wing bias". Toplis was a mysterious figure and the film, as well as the book, depicted him as an active participant of the Etaples Mutiny, before he was tracked down and killed some years after the end of World War I. As a result, a minor political crisis in Britain was launched which prompted the BBC to remove all planned repeat screenings of the film. Despite the banning controversy, ''The Monocled Mutineer'' was released by the BBC on video in the early 1990s, and on DVD in 2007.

Film career

Following on from that part of Percy Toplis, McGann sought to a less controversial and more comedic role for his next project. In 1987, he was cast as the eponymous "I" in Bruce Robinson's cult film comedy, ''Withnail and I''. He also starred as Anton Skrebensky in Ken Russell's 1989 adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's ''The Rainbow''. McGann's other early film appearances include ''The Monk'', ''Dealers'', ''Tree of Hands'' and the epic war film ''Empire of the Sun''.
Since 1989, McGann has concentrated primarily on television work, including ''Nice Town'' and ''Nature Boy'' for the BBC, and ''The One That Got Away'' and the second series of ''Hornblower'' for ITV. However, he has had small roles in a number of high-profile American films like ''The Three Musketeers'' and ''Alien³''. His role in ''Alien³'' was originally larger, but much of it was edited out of the final print. The cut footage can be seen in the extended version of the film.

''Doctor Who'' (television movie)

On January 10, 1996, it was announced that Paul McGann would play the eighth incarnation of the Doctor in the ''Doctor Who'' television movie. The television movie also starred Eric Roberts, Daphne Ashbrook, and the outgoing Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy who agreed to film a regeneration scene. McGann's brother, Mark McGann, also auditioned for the title role.
The ''Doctor Who'' television movie was a joint venture between the BBC, Universal Studios and the Fox Broadcasting Network. McGann had signed a contract to appear as the Eighth Doctor in a new Doctor Who series, if Fox or Universal exercised their option. Thus, the television movie was supposed to be a "back door pilot" in that, if it obtained respectable ratings, the new series would continue to be produced. The movie aired on May 14, 1996 in the US and on May 27, 1996 in the UK. Although it earned 9.08 million viewers and was very successful in the UK, ratings were very low in the United States. As a consequence, Fox did not exercise its option to pick up the series and Universal could not find another network who was interested in airing a new ''Doctor Who'' series. Thus no new series was produced until 2005, after all the contractual rights had returned to the BBC, and the movie became McGann's only televised appearance as the Eighth Doctor.
Although McGann played the Doctor on television only once, he gave permission for his likeness to be used on the covers of the BBC's Eighth Doctor novels and he has reprised the role of the Eighth Doctor in an extensive series of audio plays by Big Finish Productions.
For nine years, McGann was treated as the "current" Doctor by the majority of fandom until Christopher Eccleston assumed the role in 2005. In terms of being the "current" actor playing the Doctor, McGann (1996-2005) is tied with Sylvester McCoy (1987-1996) as being the longest serving current Doctor, with nine years each, although the show was not in production for much of this time. Although they were both the current Doctor for the same number of years, McGann actually surpasses McCoy's record, albeit by only 40 days. McGann's single appearance as the Doctor in the television movie makes him the actor with the shortest "screen time" in that role.
McGann's co-star in ''Withnail'', actor Richard E. Grant, also played the Doctor in the 2003 animated webcast ''Scream of the Shalka''. As this new Doctor was originally intended to be the canonical Ninth Doctor, at the time it was wryly observed by fans that "'and I' regenerated into 'Withnail'."
Rumours abound that Paul McGann will retake the role of the eighth Doctor in a new series of television films, alongside the current television series.^[3]. McGann has denied these rumours on the grounds of not having being asked back to play the part but if he were to be asked would be interested as long as he "didn't have to wear a wig".^[4]
It has also been rumoured that the Eighth Doctor's involvement with the Time War against the Daleks, the destruction of Gallifrey and the subsequent regeneration into the Ninth Doctor will be told in the 2008 series of ''Doctor Who''.

After ''Doctor Who''

In the years following his appearance as the Doctor, Paul McGann continued to diversify his acting portfolio with the television and movie roles he accepted. In 1997, appeared as a concerned father in the film '' and, later that same year, as Rob in ''Downtime'' and in 1998, he appear as Capt. Greville in ''The Dance of Shiva''.
In the 2000s McGann's film appearances began to increase with the of films like ''My Kingdom'' (2001), ''Listening'' (2003) and ''Gypo'' (2005). Perhaps his most iconic role, since Doctor Who, came in 2002, when McGann appeared in the film adaptation of the third story from Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, ''Queen of the Damned''. McGann played the part of David Talbot, a member of the secret organization The Talamasca, which researches and investigates the supernatural. Talbot has appeared in many of Rice's novels and has become a central character over the years. The film also starred Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau and pop star Aaliyah, in her final role before her death. McGann has also been in demand for voice-over work in Britain in recent years, particularly on television documentaries and commercials.
As of June 2006, McGann's most recent film is ''Poppies'' which is due for release in the autumn.
Paul also appears as the mysterious underworld figure Mr Johnson in the independent feature ''Naked in London'', due for release in early 2007.

Audio books and voice work

McGann is also known for audio book narration having read several Pat Barker and Bernard Cornwell novels. McGann was intended to play lead character, Richard Sharpe, in the Television dramatisation of Cornwell's novels, however due to an injury early in filming the role was passed to Sean Bean instead.
McGann continues to play the Eighth Doctor on audio. McGann's first Big Finish audio play appearance was in 2001 in the story ''Storm Warning'' which featured ''Blake's 7'' leading man, Gareth Thomas. McGann's main companions in the audio plays are Charley Pollard (played by India Fisher) and C'rizz (played by Conrad Westmaas). It was through the Big Finish audio plays that McGann's Doctor finally got a chance to face many of the classic ''Doctor Who'' villains like the Daleks (''The Time of the Daleks'') and the Cybermen (''Sword of Orion'').
Five Eighth Doctor dramas were broadcast in BBC 7's ''The 7th Dimension'' slot between August 2005 and January 2006. They were in release order, starting with ''Storm Warning'', although ''Minuet in Hell'' was judged unsuitable for the timeslot, and skipped. Two more Eighth Doctor audios, ''Shada'' and ''The Chimes of Midnight'' were broadcast in December 2005 and January 2006; all six of these stories were rebroadcast on BBC7 beginning in July 2006. As of January 2007, a series of all-new plays starring McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Sheridan Smith as companion Lucie Miller is being broadcast on BBC7.
His voice also featured in the 1997 video game ''Ceremony of Innocence'' together with those of Isabella Rossellini and Ben Kingsley.
After hearing him sing in ''The Monocled Mutineer,'' composer Bernard J. Taylor invited McGann to create the role of Benedict in the concept studio recording of ''Much Ado'', a musical based on of Shakespeare's ''Much Ado About Nothing''. The recording also included top West End singers Claire Moore and Peter Karrie.

Filmography

'Year'	'Title'	'Role'	'Other notes'
2007	''Naked in London''	Mr Johnson
2006	''Poppies''	Tony
2005	''Gypo''	Paul
2003	''Listening''
2002	''Queen of the Damned''	David Talbot
2001	''My Kingdom''	Dean
1998	''The Dance of Shiva''	Capt. Greville
1997	''Downtime''	Rob
1997	''	Arthur Wright
1993	''The Three Musketeers''	Girard/Jussac
1992	''Alien³''	Golic
1991	''Afraid of the Dark''	Tony Dalton
1990	''Paper Mask''	Matthew Harris
1990	''The Monk''	Father Lorenzo Rojas
1989	''Dealers''	Daniel Pascoe
1989	''The Rainbow''	Anton Skrebensky
1989	''Tree of Hands''	Barry
1989	''Empire of the Sun''	Lt. Price
1987	''Withnail & I''	Marwood / "... and I"

Television

'Year'	'Title'	'Role'	'Other notes'
2006	''Tripping Over''	Jeremy
2006	''If I Had You''	Philip Andrews
2005	''Marple: Sleeping Murder''	Dickie Erskine
2005	''Kidnapped''	Colonel MacNab
2004	''Lie With Me''	Gerry Henson
2001 - 2003	''Hornblower''	Lieutenant Bush
2002	''The Biographer''	Andrew Morton
2002	''Blood Strangers''	DC David Ingram
2001	''Sweet Revenge''	Patrick Vine
2001	''Hotel!''	Ben Carter
2000	''Fish''	Jonathan Vishnevski
2000	''Nature Boy''	Steve Witton
1999	''Forgotten''	Ben Turner
1998	''Our Mutual Friend''	Eugene Wrayburn
1996	''Doctor Who''	The Doctor (8th Doctor)
1995	''The One That Got Away''	Chris Ryan
1995	''The Merchant of Venice''	Bassanio
1995	''The Hanging Gale''	Liam Phelan
1995	''Catherine the Great''	Potemkin
1992	''Nice Town''	Joe Thompson
1990	''Drowning in the Shallow End''	Colin
1986	''The Monocled Mutineer''	Percy Toplis

References

1. "The Trouble with the Tabloids", ''The Guardian'' Media supplement, October 1997. Archived at Paul McGann Estrogen Brigade.
2. Beyond the TARDIS – McGann and Harker, , Dominic, May, Doctor Who Magazine,
3. "New 'Doctor Who' movie in the works?", ''SyFy Portal'' May 14th, 2007 [1] and at Outpost Gallifrey.
4. http://www.gallifreyone.com/news.php#newsitemEEllulkpZESqVjvpGA

External links

★ The McGann Brothers official website

★

★ The McGann Library fan forum

★ On Borrowed Time - Paul McGann article at Kasterborous.com

★ Talking Shop: Paul McGann interview at the BBC News website