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Bernard Cribbins has been a part of my life since I was a kid. He probably had more influence over me than my parents when I was growing up and hearing his voice or catching an old movie of his makes me break out into a grin. I’ve never been able to work out exactly why this is, but it turns out Bernard knows. He’s a smart guy. But I’ll get to that.
He recently received a BAFTA Special Award in recognition for his work in children’s entertainment. You can see clips from this strand of his career and interviews from the night here.
“I’m 80 years old now, it’s just a question of how much longer I can carry on and how much longer people will want my services. But they still seem to,” he chuckles, “so that’s alright.”
As a follow up to the BAFTA awards ceremony a more public event was organised at the BFI last weekend and I was lucky enough to be invited along. It was great to see so many young children there and of course Bernard’s recent turn as Wilfred Mott in Doctor Who has introduced him to a new generation of fans. The Q&A was followed by a screening of the 1966 movie, Dalek’s Invasion Earth 2150 in which Cribbins plays another TARDIS companion, police constable Tom Campbell. But of course the main reason for most people to be there was to hear him speak of a career that started when he was just 14 years old.
We were treated to an 8 minute video that showed a fraction of the roles he’s played over the years before he walked on stage saying, “My God, I was busy…”
He’s still a wonderful speaker and was happy to tease his interviewer and concentrate on the audience. It was one of those rare events where the crowd got to ask the majority of the questions and each one lead to a funny or moving anecdote. A young girl a few rows ahead of me asked him in a very serious voice how he had felt upon discovering that he was responsible for the Doctor’s death in the recent Christmas special. Brilliant.
He answered my own question as to why it seems he, rather than so many other actors of his generation of whom I’m also a fan, had such an impact on me as a kid. He recalled being in the back of a cab on his way to the BBC and chatting to the driver when the long running children’s show, Jackanory, came up in conversation. Bernard actually holds the record for reading more stories on the show than anyone else, a staggering 111 appearances. In a very matter of fact way, as if it was not a big deal at all, the man revealed to Bernard that it was watching him read to him on the television that made him decide to learn to read.
Incredible stuff storytelling.
Bernard went on to praise the simplicity of the concept: a couple of cameras, a good story, simple but beautiful illustrations and the reader. What this meant to him – and this was the revelation for me – is that he was reaching out to each child individually in much the same way that would happen when a parent read to their child before bed. No unnecessary bells and whistles, no special effects. One story. One reader and one listener. Life changing stuff. And from the smiles in the audience of kids and adults alike he’s still connecting.
I didn’t like much of the new Doctor Who. Parts of it were utterly brilliant, but for the most part I thought it was dreadful and at worst actually treated the audience with contempt. All the worst parts of the new run seemed to have been brought front and centre for David Tennant’s swan song, but in the middle of this unholy mess was Bernard Cribbins. Inspired casting – although as it turns out his continued role was more chance than intentional – and two scenes stand out. One is when the old man finds himself in orbit and points out far below where he fought in the war (an actual anecdote of Bernard’s that was woven into the script) and then later when Wilfred knocks four times to bring the Doctor’s attention to his latest predicament*.
The emotional charge that Cribbins brought to those scenes comes from not just a lifetime of acting, but also taking the parts seriously. It’s something you can see throughout his career and he’s been in some truly bizarre roles, but he tackles each one as seriously as Shakespeare. Known as a comic actor he’s actually got one of the most varied bodies of work I’ve seen and I’m slowly but surely tracking the roles down.
I’ve seen a lot of Bernard Cribbins, but thanks to BAFTA I think my favourite moment of his now is watching him leave the stage and join his family to watch a movie he hadn’t seen himself in decades.
Time travel, right there in front of me. Pretty damn perfect I think.
*Of course, a moment later the scene goes to hell when Tenant’s Doctor cowardly complains about his fate. Tenant’s done some wonderful things with lackluster scripts, but its this fatal misunderstanding of the character by the new writers that made me wish the damn franchise had been left well alone. But I digress.
The merits (or lack thereof) of the new Doctor Who were, I believe, the last conversation we actually had face to face.
Which made it strange when this popped up in my feed, because I was sat here at work, looking out over the harbor in Sydney, sort of talking to people about the end of Who – or more precisely Bernard Cribbins and how no one here knows who he is. Very strange, because as I rattle off a list of the things he has been in people here certainly know his work, just not the man himself connecting the pieces. Hardly surprising given the only TV station worth a damn when I was a kid was the ABC, which certainly felt like it was just a subsidiary o the BBC when I was younger.
I always wonder what (or even how) it is that given the same body of work, people like this can go somewhat unnoticed over here. A also wonder if there is anything in reverse (famous Australian entertains of any kind – something I was about to disparagingly self mock, before remember you’re something of a fan of some of our output here) or, as I somewhat suspect, there is something about the British that allows a personality like this to be culturally identified.
Anyway – very green eyed you got to see this. Which is what I was actually driven to comment and say.
I quite agree with you about Bernard Cribbins. I disagree about _Doctor Who_, but that’s just a matter of opinion.
But I think you are mistaken in your footnote. Certainly, The Doctor complains; but I don’t think it’s cowardly. It’s a moment of weakness that is startling — even shocking, because it’s so unlike the character — but he recovers himself, and carries on as he has to.
I think it’s just that he sees what must happen, and it’s just a pre-echo of his final words: “I don’t want to go.”
He’s not human, but he’s showing humanity (Gallifreyanity, perhaps?)
I’d be interested to know where you think it “treated the audience with contempt”.
Three cheers for Bernard and three cheers to you for a wonderful tribute.
I think something like the content of this post every time I see him.
Wonderful, wonderfully warm man, vulnerable and very very human. For me, as well as Jackanory, The Railway Children and The Wombles stand out in particular, but that’s probably because I wanted to be a bit posh.
Good to see you writing more here, Mike
A lovely tribute to Mr Cribbins – a legend indeed. I thought tennant’s final line was wonderful – “I don’t want to go!!!” – i was crying my eyes out.
I don’t wish to speak out of turn, but I feel I must answer Martin McCallion’s closing question, as though I don’t agree with your good self (@sizemore) with regards to a lot of Nu-Who, I do echo the sentiment that Russell T Davies treated the audience with contempt on occasion.
Forsaking the final, self-indulgent 20 mins of ‘The End of Time’, I think that ‘Love and Monsters’, ‘Last of the Timelords” and ‘Partners in Crime’ rival Colin Baker’s ‘Timelash’ and Tom Baker’s ‘The Invisible Enemy’ for the worst of Who we’ve ever seen.
Most the Doctor’s have had bad stories throughout its nigh-on 50 years – William Hartnell’s ‘The Web Planet’, Troughton’s ‘The Mind Robber’, Davison’s ‘Warriors of the Deep’, and anything with Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford, highlighting low production values and poor pacing (let’s not mention Paul McGann’s one foray) – but none have treated the audience with contempt to the extent that the first five I mentioned did. (Notice Jon Pertwee gets away scott-free. Although Tom Baker is my favourite Doctor, I think Pertwee has the complete body of work, not a bad story among them)
I digress. ‘Love and Monsters’ has to rank as one of the worst pieces of television ever to be broadcast (that’s the one where Peter-fucking-Kay thought he was the bigger name than Who). The sheer inanity of it all was embarrassing. ‘Last of the Timelords’, as in the case of both ‘Doomsday’ and ‘The End of Time’ thought that hitting the reset switch at the end was okay and would leave the viewer joyfully swollen by what had gone before – the return of a horrendously over-acting Master in the first case, Daleks v Cybermen the second, Timelords here today, gone tomorrow, the third – and not of a mind to ask the simplest of questions, such as “hold on, one fucking minute… You virtually destroy mankind, then bring them back, just like that.”
“Partners in Crime”, with the Adipose? Do me a favour. Doctor Who may still be classed as a kids TV series, but walking fat? How much more condescending can one get?
As I say, these rival the nadir of the classic series – the terminally dull, with the oh-so-convenient-yet-unexplained escape clause of ‘Timelash, and the giant prawn, ‘Fantastic Voyage’ rip-off of a borefest that even Tom Baker can’t save, ‘The Invisible Enemy’.
Nu-Who has been brilliant at times, but yes, it has also treated the audience with contempt, almost as though the spectre of Michael Grade was hanging over RTD’s laptop – as it did in the Colin Baker/Sylvester McCoy transition period…
But hey Mike, I don’t wish to tread on your toes here. I should maybe let you have your blog back.
As there’s little beyond Doctor Who, Spag Westerns, music and my fam I get passionate about, just thought I might throw my own hat into the ring