Doctor Who doesn’t seem like it would have much in common with Outlander, but you’d be surprised by a new casting announcement.
Outlander author Diana Gabaldon has told the story of the inspiration for her protagonist, Jamie Fraser, at just about every media event that she has been to over the past year. It all started with her watching reruns of Doctor Who.
Gabaldon was hunting for a fun setting for her first novel. One night she was watching a rerun of Doctor Who during the reign of the second Doctor. She noticed the Doctor’s companion, Jamie McCrimmon, an 18th century Scot who wore a kilt, and inspiration struck. She set her novel in Scotland in the 18th century, and she named her protagonist Jamie Fraser (Jamie from the character and Frazer from the actor who played him.)
Here’s what the TARDIS Wiki had to say about Jamie, “Jamie travelled in the TARDIS for most of the Doctor’s second incarnation. His journeys through time and space began not long after the Doctor’s first regeneration (TV: The Tenth Planet) and continued until the Time Lords sentenced the Doctor to exile on Earth. Jamie was returned to 18th century Scotland by the Time Lords, with the memory of all but his first adventure with the Doctor erased.”
Yesterday on her Facebook page, Diana Gabldon made the following announcement with the photo below:
“This is ‘Diana with her Two Jamies,’ as Frazer titled this shot. Frazer Hines played the character of Jamie MacCrimmon in a far-distant ‘Dr. Who’ episode, and was the immediate inspiration (or at least his kilt was…no, really; Frazer had summat to do with it, too) for my choosing 18th century Scotland as the setting for my practice novel. Which turned out to be OUTLANDER, and here we all are…
Things have come full circle now, though; Frazer is playing a part in Episode 15 of ‘Outlander’ (he’s Sir Fletcher Gordon, governor of Wentworth Prison). I got to watch a bit of the filming the next day (Tuesday) and saw part of his scene(s). He’s still great!”
Outlander airs on Starz at 9:00 ET/PT on Saturday.