It could almost be one of the television show pitches suggested by a desperate Alan Partridge: ‘Lunch with K9’ – the Doctor’s high-tech hound instructs D-list celebrities on how to complete a variety of culinary challenges. But in fact, I have the more pleasurable experience of being served a splendid repast by K9’s alter ego, John Ducker, better known by his stage name of Leeson.
Sitting in the garden of his family home in Ealing, we take a conversational journey through John’s half-century career on stage and screen – tapping into memories not just of his time in Doctor Who, but also appearances on the likes of soap opera Crossroads, children’s series Rainbow and Blue Peter, and a wide range of popular primetime quiz shows.
“When I was thinking of a title for an autobiography – which is a very grand thing to do – I was thinking that a suitable one might be Watching the Wake. In other words, when you’re standing at the back of a ship, and there’s all this flurry going on, and [pointing at the ship’s wake] you say, ‘I was there, I was there, I was there, and I’m now moving on, backwards’…