John Simm to Doctor Who fans: 'Leave me alone!'

John Simm has admitted that he is fed up with the attention he gets from Doctor Who fans.

The Life On Mars star played the Master in five episodes of the BBC One sci-fi show.

He told the Radio Times: "I do get a lot of Doctor Who. God almighty, I'll be so happy when that's gone from my life. They're lovely, I'm sure, but I won't miss it."

He added: "It's great to be into something, but for goodness' sake, really? I'm not the Master, I'm not that evil Time Lord who rules the galaxy, I'm just in Tesco with my kids. Leave me alone!"

The father-of-two said that he hated attending award ceremonies - and not because he may have been snubbed by judges.

He said: "I've always found that whole thing really weird. You're not that bothered about it, because acting's not a competition. It's all subjective.

"But when you do get nominated, of course you've got a competitive streak and you want to win it and you get really p***ed off when you don't. It's just a horrible thing to have to go through, so I prefer to have nothing to do with them."

He added: "I really hated it when I went (in 2011). I can't bear those red carpet things. And then you've got a camera in your face so the world gets to watch your expression as you lose."

John quipped of Mad Dogs losing to Channel 4's Any Human Heart at the TV Baftas in 2011: "I got a lot of s*** because I didn't hide anything and didn't pretend. You're supposed to clap, aren't you? I don't even watch the Oscars. I'm not a***d.

He joked: "The wonderful Jim Broadbent beat me as Lord Longford, then Dominic West as Fred West. You have to play a real person to win. So I'm going to look up some murderers and see if I look like anybody!"

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.