Peter Davison
Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett, known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous as Tristan Farnon in the 1978 BBC television adaptation of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small stories. He starred as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, at the time the youngest actor to play the role.
Davison's other starring roles included the sitcoms Holding the Fort and Sink or Swim, Dr. Stephen Daker in A Very Peculiar Practice, and Albert Campion in Campion. He also played David Braithwaite in At Home with the Braithwaites, "Dangerous" Davies in The Last Detective, and Henry Sharpe in Law & Order: UK.
Early life and education
Davison was born Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett in Streatham, London, on 13 April 1951. His father, Claude Moffett, was from British Guiana ; he worked as a radio engineer and later opened a grocer's shop. His English mother, Sheila Moffett, worked in intelligence during World War II before becoming a housewife. On his mixed-race background, Davison noted: "Not a lot of people know about that because I look so damned English". Davison had three sisters: Shirley, Pamela and Barbara.While in Streatham, he attended Granton Primary School. The family then moved to Knaphill in Surrey. During this time, Davison was a member of an amateur theatre company called the Byfleet Players.
Davison attended at Winston Churchill School, St John's, Woking, Surrey. Out of the five GCE
Davison studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama until 1972. His first job was as an actor and assistant stage manager at the Nottingham Playhouse. He chose the stage name Peter Davison to avoid confusion with the actor and director Peter Moffatt, with whom Davison later worked. He only uses "Davison" professionally.
Career
Early career (1975–1978)
Davison's first television work was a 1975 episode of the children's science fiction television programme The Tomorrow People, alongside American actress Sandra Dickinson, whom he married on 26 December 1978. Davison portrayed an alien named Elmer, who arrives on Earth along with his sister and his mother, known as "the Mama". "I kind of understood how things worked. I understood where the cameras were, and when the light came on, that was your cue to speak," Davison said in 2025. "I just felt at home."In the mid-1970s, during a lull in his acting career, Davison spent 18 months working in a tax office in Twickenham. In 1976, Davison was offered a prominent role in the 13-part TV series Love for Lydia opposite Jeremy Irons; the series was broadcast on ITV the following year. Davison went to his local secondhand bookshop and found a first edition of the 1952 novel by H. E. Bates. One of the producers of the television adaptation was Bates's son, Richard, whom Davison gave the book to.
Davison has also appeared in several British sitcoms, including Holding the Fort and Sink or Swim, as well as appearing in dramatic roles.
''All Creatures Great and Small'' (1978–1990)
In 1978, Davison's performance as the youthfully mischievous Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small made him a household name. He was initially to appear in five episodes, but Robert Hardy, who played his screen brother, Siegfried, enjoyed their interplay so much that he asked for Davison to be given more screen time. Davison was absent for 24 episodes in the second run of the series, including the majority of series five and six, due to other acting commitments.''Doctor Who'' (1981–1984 and later revivals)
In 1980, Davison signed a contract to play the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who for three years, succeeding Tom Baker and, at age 29, was at the time the youngest actor to have played the lead role, a record he retained for nearly thirty years until Matt Smith took the role in 2009 at age 26. Attracting such a high-profile actor as Davison was as much of a coup for the programme as getting the role was for him, but he did not renew his contract because he feared being typecast. Patrick Troughton recommended to Davison that he leave the role after three years, and Davison followed his advice. The Fifth Doctor encountered many of the Doctor's best-known adversaries, including the Cybermen in Earthshock and the Daleks and Davros in Resurrection of the Daleks. In the 1983 serial Arc of Infinity, in addition to portraying the Fifth Doctor, Davison portrayed the human form of Omega, sharing the role with Ian Collier.Since 1999, Davison has reprised his role as the Fifth Doctor in numerous Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish Productions; he also reprised the role of Omega in an audio drama of the same name, again sharing the role with Collier. He returned to the TV series in "Time Crash", a special episode written by Steven Moffat for Children in Need; in the episode the Fifth Doctor met the Tenth Doctor, played by Davison's future son-in-law David Tennant.Davison has been critical of some aspects of Doctor Whos original run, and has expressed great admiration for the 21st century revival. In 2008, he spoke unfavourably of some of the writing for the series during his tenure, saying some of the scripts had been "suspect" and "knocked off" by authors who had not been science fiction fans, which he contrasted with the revived series and Big Finish audio productions. In 2013, he also praised the frisson between the Doctor and companions in the revived series, and argued that the previous series had struggled to "write a good companion's part" because "they never once thought it was a good idea to put any frisson or sexual tension – even in its most innocent form – between the Doctor and companion". Davison said the series had failed to write a good companion's part until Rose, when the series came back. Interviewed in 2013, Davison stated that The Caves of Androzani, The Visitation and Earthshock were his favourite serials from his time on the series, and that Time-Flight was the biggest disappointment because of a lack of budget.
In 2013 he wrote and directed The Five Doctors Reboot, a comedy short film commemorating Doctor Who
In 2013, Davison said he had a "slight problem" with a female Doctor, which he compared to having "a female James Bond". In July 2017, Davison reacted positively to the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, but said he was sad about "the loss of a role model for boys". Davison closed his Twitter account following the backlash to his comments, saying the "toxicity" from the series’ viewers on both sides of the dispute had been "sobering".
In 2022, Davison returned to portray the Doctor on television again in "The Power of the Doctor". He reprised the role again in Tales of the TARDIS.
1984–present
After Davison left Doctor Who in 1984, he took a role in Anna of the Five Towns, a period drama. In 1985, he appeared in an All Creatures Great and Small Christmas special, and a feature-length episode of the American show Magnum, P.I., set in the UK. Davison played Dr Stephen Daker, the central character in A Very Peculiar Practice. Written by Andrew Davies, it concerns a university's health centre; Daker is the centre's only effective physician. The black comedy-drama ran for two series and had a sequel with A Very Polish Practice in 1992, a television film mainly set in a post-communist Polish hospital. In 1986 he appeared as Lance Fortescue in an episode of the BBC's Miss Marple.Davison reprised his role as Tristan Farnon in four more series of All Creatures Great and Small between 1988 and 1990, although he was absent from 24 episodes of the final three to play the lead in Campion, a series based on the period whodunnits of Margery Allingham. He appeared in the sitcoms Fiddlers Three for ITV in 1991, and Ain't Misbehavin'
In 1994, Davison provided the voice of Mole in The Wind in the Willows animated special Mole's Christmas. He also appeared as a doctor in Heartbeat episode "A Bird in the Hand", and played Squire Gordon in the 1994 film of Black Beauty. Davison presented Heavenly Bodies, a six-part series about astronomy. Davison guest starred in the sixth episode of the crime drama Jonathan Creek in 1998 as the son-in-law of a horror writer who was shot dead on Halloween. The following year he played the outgoing head teacher in the television series Hope and Glory, and appeared in Parting Shots, the last film to be directed by Michael Winner.
In 2000, Davison returned to another major role as David Braithwaite in At Home with the Braithwaites. During convention appearances in 2013, Davison cited this as his favourite among the roles he has played. Also in 2000, he appeared in the recurring role of Inspector Christmas in several episodes of Diana Rigg's Mrs Bradley Mysteries. The first episode, Death at the Opera, saw Davison appear with his future son-in-law, David Tennant. Davison starred as Dangerous Davies in the television series The Last Detective and as Dr Bill Shore in Distant Shores, both for ITV. In 2006, he appeared as Professor George Huntley in The Complete Guide to Parenting, and appeared as himself in the TV series Hardware. Davison starred as Martin Chadwick, one half of an overworked couple coping with two irresponsible daughters and his senile mother at home, in the BBC Two comedy Fear, Stress and Anger. The show also starred his daughter Georgia Tennant. Later in 2007, he played Hubert Curtain in an episode of ITV's Agatha Christie's Marple.
In 2009, Davison appeared in Unforgiven, an ITV1 drama starring Suranne Jones. Davison played John Ingrams, a lawyer who helps Jones' character, Ruth Slater, find her sister after her release from prison. In July 2009, he appeared in an episode of Midsomer Murders, and made a guest appearance as a teacher in the sitcom Miranda. In 2009, Davison had a small role as a bank manager in Micro Men, a drama about the rise of the British home computer market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 2009, he played Denis Thatcher in The Queen, a docudrama on Channel 4.
In 2010, Davison was announced as joining the regular cast of the UK version of Law and Order as Henry Sharpe, the Director of the London Crown Prosecution Service. Davison appeared from the beginning of the series' fifth season, alongside fellow Doctor Who actress Freema Agyeman. He appeared in an episode of the police comedy-drama New Tricks, and in 2013 he played divorcee Michael in the comedy series Pat and Cabbage, as well as appearing in an episode of the ITV detective series Lewis.
Davison had been lined up to appear in writer/director Daisy Aitkens' first feature-length film You, Me and Him. However, due to a scheduling clash, Davison was forced to pull out of the film. The film stars his son-in-law David Tennant, and is co-produced by Davison's daughter, Georgia. In 2017, Davison appeared in an episode of the third series of Grantchester, playing a cricket-loving solicitor.
Davison appeared with Christopher Timothy in the three-part series Great British Car Journeys for More4. In the first series the pair travelled in a Morgan 4/4 on three trips from London to Land's End, from Loch Ness to The Isle of Skye and from Cardiff to Snowdonia. The series was recommissioned by Channel 4 for a second series on More4. He narrated the tenth season of Channel 5's documentary series, The Yorkshire Vet, which follows a number of veterinarians working in Weatherby, Kirkbymoorside and Huddersfield.