Neil Gaiman and the Cybermen return to “Doctor Who”; Warwick Davis guest-stars
Warwick Davis will be making a foray into a new camp of sci-fi fandom in 2013 when he appears on fifty-year-old juggernaut Doctor Who. In an episode for the second half of this season, Davis will appear in an episode written by fifty-one year-old juggernaut Neil Gaiman, returning to the series after his Hugo-winning episode, The Doctor’s Wife. The BBC has not released the title, but revealed yesterday the episode will feature the Cybermen. Also starring in the episode will be Jason Watkins (Being Human) and Tamzin Outhwaite (EastEnders).
Davis casts a long shadow over science fiction and fantasy. Starting with his role as Wicket W. Warrick in Return of the Jedi, he’s enjoyed a long and varied career in many franchises. He played the title character in George Lucas and Ron Howard’s Willow, and was similarly titular in the horror franchise Leprechaun. He played Marvin the Paranoid Android in the recent Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy film, appeared in the Harry Potter films as Professor Flitwick, and will be appearing in Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant-Killer.
Davis’ most recent triumph is the Ricky Gervais comedy Life’s Too Short, which recently completed a run on HBO. In it he played an exaggerated version of himself, separated from his wife and straining under a massive tax bill, all while he produces and films a documentary about himself which chronicles these travails. Davis shows remarkable comedic timing and ability to do physical comedy in the series, playing the perfect balance of a hateful, selfish interpretation of himself who you still feel sorry for when horrible things happen to him.
Keeping with the whimsical self-deprecating tone of the series, he’s released an iPhone app, PocketWarwick, which turns him into a 21st century Tamagotchi. You are responsible for keeping him clean and fit as progressively more lucrative acting jobs are sent by his agent, as you attempt to bring you little thespian up from Z-lister to the A-list.
It’s rather safe to say that an appearance on the longest running science-fiction show his history will go a long way towards that goal. At this rate, he’ll have that tax-bill sorted in no time…