The star of Doctor Who tells Nick Griffiths how he balances playing the Time Lord with leading a normal life.

When do you start work each day?

Filming usually kicks off at 8am - assuming it's not a night shoot - which means you have to be here just after seven. I live about half an hour from the studios, so I usually get up around six.

Does that take a while to get used to?

It's funny, you get into that routine quite quickly. Also, because of the nature of filming, that routine keeps being messed up because you go to night shoots, when you have to quickly rewire your body clock and try to get used to sleeping all day and waking up at 5pm to go to work. You just have to be continually flexible.

What, then, is the hardest part of being the Doctor?

That's quite a hard question. This year's been harder generally because we've done more nights and more odd hours and slightly further afield locations, just because the scripts have been more ambitious. The show keeps pushing itself and Russell keeps pushing what's achievable.

You love your Shakespeare - what was the Globe like?

It was great. The curious part was, because we couldn't get in until after the show finished at nine, we would start filming at about 11pm and shoot through the night. But there are daytime scenes in the Globe as well, so as the sun came up we had to switch to the daytime scenes. Just as you were getting a bit weary around 6am, you had to switch to a whole other mode. The very nature of Doctor Who is that it's all quite high-energy. You can't allow yourself to droop.

How do you keep that energy up?

Oh, I don't know. Black coffee? That's the character, that's the job, and it's the nature of these kinds of scripts as well; that's what you thrive on. Often the Doctor's energy is what powers a scene, so you've got to match that. I don't find it difficult, particularly. The very energy that comes off the script is what inspires you.

How do you manage the day-to-day stuff like shopping and bills?

That's the stuff that I find problematic. It's the answer to your question about the hardest part of the job: keeping normal life going.

Presumably you get recognised - is it disconcerting?

You acclimatise, but it was a bit of a shock at first. Billie and I got chased through the traffic once in a car. You expect paparazzi to do that, but when it's normal people you start to think the world's gone a bit mad. But I've had very few bad experiences.

Do the days ever feel repetitive?

No: that's why nine months shoot by. I can't believe I'm nearly finished! We started on 1 July. It does seem a long time ago that Catherine Tate and I were doing the Christmas episode. I think, jings, this is such an extraordinary time and it's flying by, and in my dotage I'm going to look back and think, that was the blink of an eye!

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