Who's batty?

FORMER Dr Who Tom Baker is happy to be "riotously batty" in the new series of BBC1's Monarch Of The Glen and not ashamed to admit it. He says that Donald MacDonald, the former racing driver and persistent law breaker he plays, is not unlike him. "He's very eccentric, which I adore, as I have been known to have a few odd eccentricities of my own," he says.

"When you get to my age it's a shame not to take advantage of the fact that you can be riotously batty and get away with it.

"Donald is a wonderful part for me and I greatly enjoy playing him because it's not very often in a TV programme these days that an old bat gets to do anything interesting."

The arrival at Glenbogle of MacDonald, Hector's estranged brother, is certainly eye-catching - in a classic sports car under police escort, handcuffed, on the back of a tow truck. He's back on the Scottish estate after 40 years away and doesn't want to be there.

He's being placed under the supervision of a nephew he never knew he had, back at his isolated childhood home that didn't figure in his retirement plans. "In many ways Donald actually reminds me of me," admits Baker.

"So when I was offered this role I thought that was very beguiling. I was intrigued. Donald is an old man of exactly my age who has been away for a long time and comes back to his rather privileged background, but under a cloud. Like all old men, his great years are past and you're not absolutely certain of what he's actually been up to."

It appears that a scandal involving Molly (Susan Hampshire) was the cause of his self-imposed exile. The contradictions between the pair's version of events makes for "very funny moments", he says.

MacDonald is both irrational and demanding, although he does have other redeeming features, which Baker says is useful for an actor. "He can be kind but, of course, in television no one wants to play someone who is very kind because, while kindness makes great neighbours, it makes terrible television," he says.

"The best part is that he doesn't want to be back at all. He hates it there with a passion and has to be naughty in order to amuse himself. He's just a big kid at heart."

Monarch Of The Glen marks his first major drama role since the BBC's Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer four years ago.

Not that he's ever stopped working or becoming something of an iconic figure, thanks to his role as narrator on the BBC's comedy Little Britain and Jon Culshaw's Time Lord impersonation in Dead Ringers. He's also worked constantly as a voice-over artist.

He lives with his wife in France when not in Scotland filming Monarch Of The Glen, where he's enjoying himself following in the footsteps of his good friend Richard Briers, one of the original cast members.

"How could I not enjoy it?" asks Baker. "The cast and crew here are wonderful. As the new boy they've been very tactful and kind to me. I've had great fun being the old-timer comedy turn.

"Over the months I've got to know the actors quite well, especially Susan. But it's impossible not to love Susan - she's so wonderful and generous and extremely funny.

"I'm told she's very funny in this series as well. I don't know for sure as I never read other people's bits in the script, I always feel as though it's like reading other people's mail. It's tempting, but frowned upon, so I resist it."

The locals in Laggan, where the series is filmed, have made him feel very welcome and they always end up chatting away. "When you're living up there in splendid isolation with all that tumultuous weather, there's a lot to talk about," he says.

"The Highlanders are notoriously hospitable and they love tall stories, Scottish history is full of them, so I'm in my element up there.

"The drivers on the set are both excellent talkers, and it often thrills me that they like my stories and I like theirs. There is plenty of competition between us as to who can love the sound of their own voice the most."

And, before you ask, viewers will get to see Baker in a kilt. "I have marvellous legs," he declares. "Absolutely marvellous legs. I'm very fond of my legs, they've been very good to me - they've never let me down you know. I thought of naming them, but thought that might be a bit silly.

"Not everyone can look good in a kilt though. I saw a gentleman the other day in Pitlochry and he was as thin as a pencil and very tall and he had a kilt on. But he didn't look good in it.

"Honestly, he looked very strange. He actually looked rather like my Auntie Molly."

* Monarch Of The Glen returns to BBC1 on Sunday at 8pm

Published: 16/09/2004