Former Doctor Who Peter Davison reveals how his only daughter fell in love with David Tennant

When Peter Davison first referred to David Tennant, otherwise known as Doctor Who, as his 24-year-old daughter Georgia Moffett’s boyfriend, she denied it.

‘Georgia barked at me: “No he isn’t!” But then I noticed that she had started referring to him as exactly that and bemoaning the fact that “her boyfriend was away” when David had to go off filming.’

Peter, married to actress Elizabeth Morton, his second wife, by whom he has two sons, Louis, nine, and Joel, seven, admits that the fact his daughter has a Doctor Who for a dad — and for a boyfriend — is unusual.

Doctor, doctor: Peter Davison and David Tennant have both played Dr Who



‘It can be odd when David comes round for Sunday lunch and we all sit at the table — me, an ex-Doctor Who, with my wife, and David, another Doctor Who, with my daughter.

‘We were recently invited round for dinner by producer Steven Moffat — who is going to be head writer and executive producer on the show when Matt Smith takes over from David in 2010 — and among those present there were me, my wife, David, Georgia, my two sons and, of course, Steven himself.

‘Halfway through the meal, Joel said: “Dad, should I hang a sign on the front door saying ‘Knock if you want an autograph’?” And he was right — there would have been Doctor Who fans queuing round the block if they’d known we were there.

‘But it’s great because David is a genuinely nice guy — and also a very fine Doctor Who. I think he’s benefited from the advances in technology there have been since my time in the early Eighties, when the sets used to wobble about.

‘But he has done a fantastic job, and it’s sad that he has decided to move on.’

Peter racked up 70 episodes as the legendary Time Lord, between 1981 and 1984.

‘I’m flattered that David considers me to have been his Doctor, the one he watched when he was growing up.’

Tennant, 37, who has always kept his private life under wraps, met Georgia while working on the show — she played his character’s daughter, Jenny, in an episode shown last year. Then, as Peter, 57, says, ‘things moved on between them’.

‘I’m delighted Georgia has found happiness because she hasn’t always had an easy life,’ he adds, referring to the fact that his marriage to her mother — U.S. actress Sandra Dickinson — ended acrimoniously in 1994 after 16 years; and that Georgia gave birth to her son Ty — now six — aged 17 and still at school.

‘I admire Georgia enormously for the way she’s dealt with what life has thrown at her. I know I am biased, but I believe she is a very fine actress who may well have drawn on difficult experiences to develop her talent.

‘So watch this space. When she makes it big in Hollywood she has promised me a job as her pool boy! She is also — aside from her work — a good mother and a determined, courageous person.’

Much the same can be said of Peter’s character in the ITV1 drama Unforgiven, which was shot in Yorkshire. It stars former Coronation Street actress Suranne Jones in the lead role of ex-convict Ruth Slater.

Peter plays a lawyer determined to help Ruth, a woman in her 30s recently released from prison for the murder of two policemen.

Who's a lucky girl! Georgina Moffett is the daughter Peter and Sandra Dickinson



‘My character, John Ingrams, believes Ruth should be given a second chance, and wants to help rehabilitate her back into society.

‘And I absolutely support his intentions. I don’t think you should cast aside a person’s life on the basis of one incident, however serious that incident may have been. I admire Ingrams for sticking up for her — for having the determination to stand up for what he believes in.’

Peter has also been prepared to stand up and be counted. Although initially reluctant to tell this story — he finally does so only to illustrate his affinity with his character — he recalls the time he took on the police rather than see an injustice go unreported.

Emerging from a restaurant in Windsor, Berkshire, with his wife, Peter could hardly believe what he was witnessing: a car containing four police officers deliberately running down a member of the public in the middle of a pedestrian precinct.

Then, when the injured man vented his anger at being assaulted by banging on the bonnet of the police car, the four officers got out, pinned him to the bonnet and arrested him for being drunk and disorderly.

‘When I asked the officers what they were doing, one of them said: “Stay out of this, it’s none of your business”,’ remembers Peter.

‘I was so shocked by what I had seen that I couldn’t just leave it at that. So I found out the police station they took this guy to, contacted his solicitor and agreed to appear in court to give my version of events.

‘What happened then was even more shocking: I heard all four police officers lie through their teeth in court, claiming that the man had been violent towards them first.

‘When I was asked if I had taken my eye off what was happening, I admitted that I had looked away, just for a moment.

‘That was enough doubt to allow the policemen to get off scot-free. It was sickening and disillusioning.

‘I’m aware there are two sides to any story and the guy in question may have been inebriated for an appreciable part of the evening. I also know that most police officers are decent, law-abiding souls who do a good job. But this was wholly wrong.

‘It all happened a few years ago, but I still feel aggrieved. I find that kind of behaviour — by people we are supposed to trust 100 per cent — totally unforgivable.’

Dr Woo: David and actress Georgina began dating when she played his daughter



Peter has also been prepared to take the law into his own hands in the interests of justice.

Seven years ago, he raced after a thief in North-West London who had stolen a video camera from his car, containing pictures of his infant son, Joel, born just 24 hours earlier.

Peter cornered him in a cul-de-sac, pinned him to the ground and then, with help from customers of a nearby pub who rang the police, sat on the man until he was arrested.

‘People have said to me that I must have been awfully brave to have chased after this guy and apprehended him. But that wasn’t the thought running through my head when the incident was taking place.

‘I was just thinking: “That guy’s run off with a video of my newborn son — I want it back.”

‘I’m not sure I’d do the same thing now because you hear about cases in which victims who have fought back end up being killed or seriously injured — but I hope I would.’

He is certainly no shrinking violet when it comes to expressing his views. On the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand scandal — which led to Brand’s dismissal from the BBC and Ross’s suspension — he comments: ‘I thought Ross’s suspension, in particular, was utterly ludicrous. Why punish all the people who enjoy tuning into his programmes?’

Ross will return to TV tonight and radio tomorrow, while Peter — once the final episode of Unforgiven has been broadcast on Monday — will disappear from our screens, possibly for some time.

His career is going through one of its occasional fallow periods. He suffered a similar downturn in the early Nineties, after hitting TV heights with Doctor Who, All Creatures Great And Small and A Very Peculiar Practice.

An appearance in the Lenny Henry drama Hope And Glory in 1999 got him back on track — the then head of drama at ITV, Nick Elliott, was so impressed by Peter’s performance that he asked writers to find parts for him.



He subsequently appeared in At Home With The Braithwaites, Distant Shores and The Last Detective.

Time Lord: The fifth Doctor Peter Davison with Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson



But all those series have finished, while two TV sitcoms starring Peter, Fear, Stress And Anger and The Complete Guide To Parenting, were short-lived.

But he still likes to pick and choose his parts. ‘I’ve turned down the chance to appear in a number of dramas over the past year that are not quite soaps, but getting that way,’ he says, wriggling a little in his chair when it’s suggested he is referring to Casualty and Holby City.

Might he have to tighten his belt if he doesn’t start landing regular work in the not-too-distant future?

‘I’m hoping I can hold out for that really exciting part rather than having to do something I simply couldn’t bear for six months or a year.

‘I’m off to Australia in March for some Doctor Who conventions. And I get residual payments from old shows such as Doctor Who when they’re sold to a far-flung part of the world.

‘If David Tennant’s successor, Matt Smith, wants to hand over the Doctor Who reins to an actor pushing 60 in a few years’ time, I’ll be ready and waiting. . .’