'I thought to myself, my days as K9 will be numbered...' John Leeson thought robot dog would get axed from Doctor Who
Doctor Who legend John Leeson can't believe that K9 is still popular with fans 48 years after the robot dog made its debut in 1977 story The Invisible Enemy.
John Leeson didn't think K9 would survive on Doctor Who because the robot dog was so difficult to operate.
The 82-year-old actor first voiced the robot companion in 1977 story The Invisible Enemy opposite Fourth Doctor Tom Baker and Louise Jameson as Leela and he has been voicing K9 ever since.
John can scarcely believe that 48 years later he is still associated with the character because the prop was a nightmare for operator Mat Irvine to control.
In an interview with BANG Showbiz, Leeson said: "It was not for me to actually operate K9. Mat Irvine was responsible for the operation, the physical operation of K9. I was simply there to provide the voice, and K9 himself was a sort of a power of his own when it came to moving around.
“I thought to myself, ‘Well, obviously, K9 is pretty difficult to deal with. So he may not last very long in the series,’ because studio time is very expensive, you know. So I thought to myself, ‘My days as K9 will be numbered.'
"That was in 1977.
“But the most extraordinary thing is that I was told under no circumstances would there be anything after the first episode has been shot and is in the can. So don't expect too much. And here I am in 2025 still attached to Doctor Who."
Leeson has just voiced K9 once again in Big Finish audio adventure Smith and Sullivan: Reunited.
The sci-fi legend - who was the original Bungle in children's TV series Rainbow - says it is the Doctor Who fans and their love for K9 that has kept the character alive.
He said: "I have been very lucky that the character went down so well with its audience.
"It's been quite incredible."
Leeson can still vividly remember the day his agent called him offering him the role of K9 and he only took the job because he had no other roles lined up at the time.
He recalled: "As an actor, my career has sort of been divided into two.
"Half of my career has been pretty much as a stage actor and the television half of my career arose pretty much by accident. The phone went one day and it was my agent saying, ‘John, I've just heard from the BBC, and they want to know if you'd be interested in playing not just one but two parts on BBC television?’ So I, of course, I screamed, ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ And the guy at the other end said, ‘Well, no, no, no, no. Hold on a bit. Hold on a bit. They're only voice parts, and besides which, they're only going to be used in one programme.’ So I thought, ‘Well, it’s worth doing at least.’ But my chap at the other end said, ‘There's nothing else going on, so you might as well take them up.’"
Smith and Sullivan: Reunited also features Sadie Miller playing Sarah Jane Smith - the Doctor Who role that her late mother Elisabeth Sladen made famous - Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan and Annette Badland as Aunt Lavinia.
It is available to download and purchase now at BigFinish.com.
