During production of the Patrick Troughton story The Mind Robber Fraser Hines fell ill with German Measles, and was unable to work. With only a short time to complete rehearsal and recording of the story, the Production Team hired young Scottish actor Hamish Wilson to play the part of Jamie McCrimmon in Hines' absence. After hasty rewrites the "face change" was explained as another of the surreal puzzles the Doctor and his companions experienced in the Land of Fiction, and Wilson threw himself into the part with gusto...

Hamish Wilson was born in Glasgow, and brought up in Cambuslang. He started acting at 14 on the stage of the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, at a time when the leading actor was Ian Richardson and the ingenue was Annette Crosbie. In 1958 he did his first TV work - the lead in The Boy from the Gorbals, produced by Associated Rediffusion. He appeared in Greyfriars Bobby for Disney, played Para in Para Handy and the Player Queen in Hamlet at the Citizens. His fee for The Boy from the Gorbals was all spent on a tape recorder! Already fascinated by sound, Hamish was editing and playing with tapes in his spare time. He also did a lot of Radio work as an Actor. Hamish started to direct actors initially as a fight director - having done a lot of fencing work and adoring it. Since then he has directed Theatre, and worked as a Radio Producer.

A graduate himself of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Hamish is currently teaching Radio Drama to the final year and postgraduate acting students.

He has recently directed a piece for the Edinburgh Festival, which toured to Holland. He read for Radio Scotland's "First Editions" series and "Berliners" produced by Ian Docherty. He is also working as an actor and hopes to do more Radio production work this year.

I talked to Hamish about his brief, but memorable appearance in Doctor Who...

TR: What got you into acting?

HW: School! I played Mistress Quickly in Henry V at school. In an all boys school if you were small - you got the women's roles. I was reviewed in The Glasgow Herald - which got me onto the Junior course at the RSAMD [Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama] and into the Citizens. I decided I wanted to be an actor at the age of 12 or 13.

TR: How did you get involved in Doctor Who?

HW: My photo was in Spotlight!... Well, Fraser got German Measles, and had to stay away from "Industrial Premises" I got a phone call - I was working in London as a Postboy, but said "yes" I was available - and went down to the rehearsal room the following day. I think they biked or taxied the script to me. I met Pat and Wendy and the rest of the cast. They very kindly concentrated on my scenes. We blocked them, then did them and did them and did them... I had visits from wardrobe and wigs to make sure the costumes and so on fit me. The hair at the front in the programme is my own, at the back it's not!
The next day we were in the studio all day, rehearsing and then recording.

TR: Was it awkward fitting in with Patrick Troughton and Wendy Padbury?

HW: No, not at all. Pat was enormously professional and a very good Actor. Both he and Wendy Padbury were very supportive and helpful. Because I was coming in in the middle, the Director and Pat and Wendy gave me background information - pointing to lines and saying "that means this" - so in that sense it could have been a lot less comfortable.

TR: How did you approach the role?

HW: At a hell of a high speed! What you had to do really is: learn the lines; get on set; find the mark and do what you're supposed to do.

TR: Were you familiar with the program?

HW: I knew the program, yes. I was a fan of Patrick Troughtons work for a long time - long before he became the Doctor. It was something of a thrill for me to meet him, let alone work with him. I always enjoyed Doctor Who - I watched William Hartnell. The Daleks were wonderful. When I was twelve a dearly beloved Aunty bought me a subscription to the Boots lending library on Sauchiehall Street. I read the Science Fiction shelf dry! I was a great fan of the Treens and the Mekon [from Dan Dare in the Eagle comic. BL]

It's more accurate to call Doctor Who an Adventure story. Patrick Troughton brought a wonderful eccentricity to the character. I remember this figure sitting playing the recorder. [When the Doctor changed] I was delighted. It showed the Science Fiction - the Doctor could alter, but the essential elements remained - the TARDIS and so on. Pat Troughton played the Doctor like a kind of Beat poet - he had a Beatnik strangeness. His Doctor was a technician too. He would produce tools from his pocket and invent what was needed.

I never met or worked with Patrick again, much to my regret. I was very saddened when he died, too soon.

TR: Would you like to play the Doctor?

HW: Love to! Of course I would! Any actor would give his eye teeth... but what a shoe cupboard to fill! Tom Baker I thought was stunning, and Peter Davison was excellent.

TR: Now some questions from our forum's members ... Did Patrick Troughton play any practical jokes on you?

HW: No. I believe he knew the thing to do was get the show made. It was an emergency situation...

TR: Is it true that for many episodes of Doctor Who your stand in was Fraser Hines?

HW: (Just laughs - a lot)

TR: Two of the guys asked: "Can you lend me a fiver"

HW: No. But if they'd care to lend me one...

TR: Do you drink Irn Bru?

HW: No. I have done, but not regularly. I prefer the other "wine" of the country...

TR: If they remade Mind Robber would you be up for a return performance?

HW: As long as they brought Patrick back!