You would think after years in the acting profession I would have learned to box clever with the press. But I haven’t. I was at a media event recently and asked what I thought about the arrival of Peter Capaldi in the Tardis.

I think it is a brilliant choice and said so, adding mischievously that it was great to have a “grown-up playing the Doctor again after all those kids”.

I should have been sharp enough to wind forward mentally and see how that could be reported later.

I am now reading that “Colin Baker is at it again: calling Matt Smith and David Tennant ‘kids’ in the role of the beloved Time Lord… ‘kids’? Sheesh!”Oh dear.

There is a huge difference between deliberately faux outrage about the youth of David and Matt expressed in a filmed interview to entertain the fans and the bald presentation in print months later by someone looking for controversy where it really wasn’t.

The net result is, of course, that one refuses to do any interviews for fear of a subsequent mangling out of context by those who seek confrontation where there is none.

I have total control of my words in this column so am taking the opportunity to confirm what I have said a thousand times – that all the Doctors who have graced our screens since the show’s triumphal return have been superb and excitingly different to each other.

That is the joy of Doctor Who, of course. The lead character can be seen in an almost infinite number of ways as long as his core values remain the same.

Will the same people who printed my alleged criticism publish this forthright denial? I doubt it. Such is the nature of the sensationalist journalist/blogger who selectively edits for spurious headlines.

Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton used to attack each other with water pistols at conventions. Sylvester McCoy and I constantly snipe at each other playfully at fan gatherings to entertain the troops, but I see him frequently and we are comfortable about that.

David and Matt I see much less often and I would hate them to think I held them in other than the highest esteem (if they care about what I think – and why should they?).

No wonder footballers are drilled to be evasive with the press and talk in clichés about it being “about the team”.