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Blue Box Boy- Matthew Waterhouse's autobiography
JCR
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Been reading this. Tis completely bonkers. I'm honestly surprised season 18 is as reasonably good as it is given how mental Tom Baker was at the time. It says the director of Warriors Gate was afraid to disagree with him to his face, and had to send him notes signed by JNT after Tom refused to say the line 'Back in five minutes.' He wanted to say ninods instead of minutes. He says there was tension so treacle thick it was inpenetrable.
The book is awesome.
The book is awesome.
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I met MW at a signing, a week ago: I was actualyl a bit nervous. He's the first DW actor of "my" era that I have met. I've met Tom Baker and loads of others, but never met anyone from "my" time (Davison/Fielding/Sutton/Strickson all elude me). Actually, MW was very shy, so it was a very weird experience. Neither of us really embraced the moment. Still he signed some stuff (including the book) and posed for a photo.
It always amazes me that MW gets so much hatred from "fans". Okay, his performance isn't brilliant, but it's not that bad. I'd argue that Sarah Sutton's perforamnce is a similar standard.
Lalla Ward and Tom Baker were barely speaking in season 18; Tom's HUGE ego; Lalla's rather grand and aloof attitude ... there's the famous story about TB and LW not speaking during the studio stuff for State of Decay. Tom shouting across the studio floor. State of Decay was the first story that MW made. It's no wonder he didn't quite fit in! Aged 18 (or thereabouts), and with relatively little TV experience, he was hardly made to feel welcome. Yes, he may have had the arrogance of teenagers, but I don't feel that's any reason for there to be such hatred of him as an individual.
I've just got up to his first meeting with LW, in the book, and don't know what else he is going to say, so I am very keen to find out.
I hope that next month's interview in DWM will give him the chance to put his own side of the stoy. It's almost as if he has been airbrushed from DW! Big Finish don't employ him. DWM barely mention him, and it's often a sneery joke when they do. Peter Davison is very rude about him on the DVD commentaries. Meanwhile, Sarah Sutton's iffy performance is totally overlooked.
The book's great so far, if a little overwritten. It also shows that he really was living the dream. A mega DW fan given a role in the series. Unique.
Looking forward to reading this! However, I must defend Big Finish here - they have offered him a return as Adric on a number of occasions and he has made it clear he has no interest in revisiting the character.
Funny you should say that. I've always thought Sutton was a bit of a plank and I know a woman who can't bear to watch her and thinks Sutton was the worst assistant in Classic Who.
Well she was awful, and certainly on a par with Waterhouse when it came to completely wooden acting, if not worse!
Nyssa's character is equally "not very interesting", and she has many worse lines which are given worse delivery by Sarah Sutton.
In hindsight it was a mistake to get her back after "Keeper of Traken", no matter how many fanboys are taken with her.
G
Book says he couldn't muster the enthusiasm to do Big Finish, despite being friends with Gary Russell (who was Big Finish's exc. producer until RTD offered him the script editor job on the actual series.)
Bad boy!
Was he talking about bad acting or am I remembering something else?
Just had to say that the bit in bold really made me laugh - you make it sound like they've made a pact to avoid you!:D
I do think it's a real shame that MW hasn't done any Big Finish because they've worked wonders with other rather unpopular companions like Mel (and indeed, Nyssa - Sarah Sutton is a far better audio actor than i'd have ever thought possible based on her performances on the tv show. Of course, it probably helps that she actually gets some pretty good characterisation when she's the only companion and doesn't just have to stand around gawping or technobabble!)
I remember the interview - he accused her of bad acting - playing it like a pantomime was the sentiment, I believe.
Lalla Ward doesn't have many nice things to say about him as a person either.
Personally, I have found his DVD commentaries quite mixed. The best example is for Keeper of Traken, where he starts off quite intense and asking writer Johnny Byrne some really good questions. Then when Anthony Ainley shwos up, MW seems to take the mickey out of his acting style ('beard acting??'), and the resorts to read out the names on the credits. To me, he comes across as someone who is not easily embarrassed!
Too cocky for his own good.
I heard or read something ages ago, that said MW had given some actor 'advice' on acting style!
Surely if you are the latest regular on a programme, you gracefully allow your elders to 'hold court'. You don't berate them for their acting style - that is the job of the director and producer.
Does the book make clear, by any chance, whether that was the CoE school in Haywards Heath or the RC school in Burgess Hill?
Just wondered!
I think it was the late, great Richard Todd, in Kinda!
nyingy
The book sounds fun, so thank you very much for the description
nyingy
Don't think there ever was any question. He's more gay than Christmas.
He was quite a cutie back then!
I'm getting through the book very quickly. now I have got used to his slightly overwritten writing style, it's great fun.
One of the things that is always said about MW is that he gave Richard Todd (star of Dambusters, acted alongside Marlene Dietrich in Hitchcock's Stagefright) acting advice. This may just be apocryphal, or it may be true. Maybe he'll mention it in the book.
I am sure we all did things we regret when we were 18. I know I certainly did. I blush with humiliation at some of the things I once said and did. But those things haven't been printed in fan magazines, and gone on to form other people's image of me. I think a lot of the criticism MW gets is based on things he is supposed to have said or done offscreen, and I don't think that should have any impact on the character of Adric.
We were all a bit cocky when we were teenagers. Imagine going from "zero" to "hero" overnight: it's bound to have an impact. The papers are full of teenage pop stars, footie stars and soap stars getting wazzed off their heads and falling out of clubs. MW was different from that, if the gossip is true.
He seems to be going to some lengths to not give away his home town or his school. He lived somewhere in Sussex (in Ian Hislop's home town, if that's any use), and had a train journey to school.
Good point. Maybe David Tennant's fandom makes MW less unique now? I don't know to what extent DT was a fan. MW had the series permeating every aspect of his life, and the books details all of this in great detail.
I also never thought it was in question! MW is gay, and the book mentions it a few times.
No, I don't think it was; and yes, he was. (and still is:o)