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Peter Davison
Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor. He is best known for playing the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (1981–1984) and Tristan Farnon in the BBC comedy drama series All Creatures Great and Small (1978–1980; 1988–1990).
Davison's other starring roles included the sitcoms Holding the Fort (1980–1982) and Sink or Swim (1980–1982), Dr. Stephen Daker in A Very Peculiar Practice (1986–1988), and Albert Campion in Campion (1989–1990). He also played David Braithwaite in At Home with the Braithwaites (2000–2003), "Dangerous" Davies in The Last Detective (2003–2007) and Henry Sharpe in Law & Order: UK (2011–2014).
Davison was born Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett in Balham, London, on 13 April 1951. His father, Claude Moffett, was from British Guiana (now Guyana); he worked as a radio engineer and later opened a grocer's shop. His English mother, Sheila Moffett (née Hallett), 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.
Davison's family moved to Streatham, and then to Woking in 1961. He attended Winston Churchill School where he acted in plays and became part of the school's orchestra. Davison joined an amateur theatre company called the Byfleet Players, and aged 17 played the lead in a production of Antigone, for which he was nominated for a drama festival Best Actor award. Davison's poor GCE results "drove" him into the acting profession. Prior to applying for drama school, he worked as a mortuary attendant at Brookwood Hospital and a dry cleaner press operator.
He studied at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama from 1969 to 1972. Davison's first television appearance was as an audience member of The Dave Clark Five's 1970 performance on Top of the Pops (Dave Clark was Davison's classmate). Davison played guitar and piano and briefly considered a career as a recording artist; he stated in 2025 that he has "loads of unreleased" self-produced demos.
After graduating, he joined the Nottingham Playhouse as an actor and assistant stage manager. He gained his Equity card while working at Nottingham and chose the stage name Peter Davison to avoid confusion with the actor and director Peter Moffatt. In 1973, Davison joined the Lyceum Young Theatre Group at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, where he appeared in productions of Hamlet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Davison played Lysander in a rock musical production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, alongside Sandra Dickinson as Hermia; they married in 1978.
Davison appeared alongside Dickinson in his television acting debut as alien cowboy Elmer in "A Man from Emily", a 1975 episode of the ITV children's science fiction series The Tomorrow People. Davison "felt at home" working in television and left his theatre career to pursue work in the medium. Due to difficulty finding work, he subsequently spent 18 months working in a tax office in Twickenham. His acting break came with a major role in the ITV romantic period serial Love for Lydia (1977).
Davison, who "was taking [himself] quite seriously as a songwriter", wrote and recorded the theme music for the television series Mixed Blessings and Button Moon. EMI were impressed by Davison's demo tape and offered him a songwriting contract, which he declined—"it was a bad deal and the money was rubbish".
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Peter Davison
Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor. He is best known for playing the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (1981–1984) and Tristan Farnon in the BBC comedy drama series All Creatures Great and Small (1978–1980; 1988–1990).
Davison's other starring roles included the sitcoms Holding the Fort (1980–1982) and Sink or Swim (1980–1982), Dr. Stephen Daker in A Very Peculiar Practice (1986–1988), and Albert Campion in Campion (1989–1990). He also played David Braithwaite in At Home with the Braithwaites (2000–2003), "Dangerous" Davies in The Last Detective (2003–2007) and Henry Sharpe in Law & Order: UK (2011–2014).
Davison was born Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett in Balham, London, on 13 April 1951. His father, Claude Moffett, was from British Guiana (now Guyana); he worked as a radio engineer and later opened a grocer's shop. His English mother, Sheila Moffett (née Hallett), 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.
Davison's family moved to Streatham, and then to Woking in 1961. He attended Winston Churchill School where he acted in plays and became part of the school's orchestra. Davison joined an amateur theatre company called the Byfleet Players, and aged 17 played the lead in a production of Antigone, for which he was nominated for a drama festival Best Actor award. Davison's poor GCE results "drove" him into the acting profession. Prior to applying for drama school, he worked as a mortuary attendant at Brookwood Hospital and a dry cleaner press operator.
He studied at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama from 1969 to 1972. Davison's first television appearance was as an audience member of The Dave Clark Five's 1970 performance on Top of the Pops (Dave Clark was Davison's classmate). Davison played guitar and piano and briefly considered a career as a recording artist; he stated in 2025 that he has "loads of unreleased" self-produced demos.
After graduating, he joined the Nottingham Playhouse as an actor and assistant stage manager. He gained his Equity card while working at Nottingham and chose the stage name Peter Davison to avoid confusion with the actor and director Peter Moffatt. In 1973, Davison joined the Lyceum Young Theatre Group at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, where he appeared in productions of Hamlet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Davison played Lysander in a rock musical production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, alongside Sandra Dickinson as Hermia; they married in 1978.
Davison appeared alongside Dickinson in his television acting debut as alien cowboy Elmer in "A Man from Emily", a 1975 episode of the ITV children's science fiction series The Tomorrow People. Davison "felt at home" working in television and left his theatre career to pursue work in the medium. Due to difficulty finding work, he subsequently spent 18 months working in a tax office in Twickenham. His acting break came with a major role in the ITV romantic period serial Love for Lydia (1977).
Davison, who "was taking [himself] quite seriously as a songwriter", wrote and recorded the theme music for the television series Mixed Blessings and Button Moon. EMI were impressed by Davison's demo tape and offered him a songwriting contract, which he declined—"it was a bad deal and the money was rubbish".