Dean Lennox Kelly, best known as Kev in C4's Shameless, guests as William Shakespeare in the second episode of Doctor Who. Here, the actor talks gags, goblets and 16th century garb... How did you land the role of Shakespeare in the new series of Doctor Who? "I had to go for a top secret meeting - it was like going to the Ministry Of Defence or something. I just thought how wonderful, what a role to get - I'm the last person you'd expect to play Shakespeare." So, what's Dean Lennox Kelly's Shakespeare like? "He's a bit camp, a bit saucy, a bit theatrical, a bit Liam Gallagher. You know it's Doctor Who and it's such a romp. It's lots of gags, lots of Shakespearian references. Obviously, the Doctor knows all my plays and he keeps quoting Shakespeare and I say 'I like that, I might use that'." The Doctor and Martha use their knowledge of the future to play a few tricks on the Bard, don't they? "[The Doctor's] assistant says to me at one point 'What about when you wrote the play about the witches?' And I'm like 'Witches? What play?' And The Doctor says 'No, he hasn't written that yet.' There's lot of that - just gags!" Would you say this episode was more of a comedy or a tragedy? "There's a couple of moments where I'm being a bit saucy with the assistant. I've got a bit of a crush on the assistant, and I'm being a little bit saucy with The Doctor. You know, in those times they didn't care, did they? I'm sure Shakespeare was a bit fruity - a few too many goblets of wine after a hit show! All the fellas were playing women - I wouldn't be surprised." Tell us a bit about these witch-like creatures that are invading England? "They are trying to take over the world - or London at that time. They use Shakespeare. They infiltrate his mind, they put a spell on him, to speak their words. And I'm to speak these words in the Globe and that will destroy everything and give them global power - something like that!" What will happen if The Doctor doesn't come to the rescue? "If the Doctor doesn't intervene, Shakespeare won't get to write some of his best work." Is there much Shakespearian dialogue used in this episode? "No, there's just a little bit where, because of the witchcraft that's going on, my lyrical genius wards off evil spirits. Even that little bit was quite unnerving actually because I'm useless at Shakespeare. I did a bit of Shakespeare at drama school, but it's not my thing." So, did any of the Doctor Who cast help you avoid getting tongue-tied? "Actually, there was one little bit where I was saying a particular word wrong and Mr Tennant stepped in and helped me." Is it true that the episode was filmed partly in the Globe theatre? "We had three night shoots there. All the cord scenes were done in the Globe. It was amazing - in the dead of the night, quite eerie. It's a stunning place and to have it all to yourself and to be playing William Shakespeare, it was quite overwhelming. Only then did it really dawn on my that I was William Shakespeare and this was on the spot where it all happened. It was overwhelming." And how did it feel to be done up in period costume? "I got on there in all the garb - me pantaloons, my chest hair pouring out of my ruffly shirt, and I was there with the Doctor, on the spot being Shakespeare. It was quite a moment." Soounds like you enjoyed the experience, then? "It was a really lovely experience actually. It was a lovely job." Click below for a taste of Dean as Shakespeare...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu-mQIMKVhY
