He was once a power-crazed alien who wanted to control the universe. But while actor Terry Molloy is no longer Davros - the terrifying leader of the Daleks in Doctor Who - he still enjoys settling a chill on to audiences.
As Doctor Egon Hartz in the stage version of The Lady Vanishes, the Norfolk-based actor is about to add Vacheron Constantin Watch another sinister character to his CV. It's just that this time, the effect might not be quite so dramatic.
"I've ruined quite a few childhoods," Terry said with a laugh. "Some time ago, I met someone who was quite a hard man, at a Dr Who convention, but he quaked in his shoes at being face to face with Davros.
"I think for a lot of people who grew up watching the programme it was their first foray into being scared - but with the Doctor alongside them to help them out."
His character in The Lady Vanishes - which follows a group of travellers on a cross-European train trip - is one which skirts the edges of evil.
Dr Hartz, an Austrian brain-surgeon, is one of the characters who takes charge when Miss Froy, a governess, suddenly vanishes during the trip. As with Alfred Hitchcock's original film - and the lamentable 1970s remake - the production is set against the backdrop of a looming war.
"It's a light comedy," Terry said, "but that does not make Hartz a comic villain - he is a villain, he is no good.
"He has a political agenda, so is making assumptions about what should happen. He feels that his way is the right way to go."
Hitchock's 1938 film sees Nazis infiltrate the train. And for Terry, The Lady Vanishes echoes a very particular type of British character - in the way they cope with the threat of evil.
"I love the Hitchcock film, I've seen it so many times," he said. "It encapsulates a time in Britain which has now vanished. It's that stiff upper lip approach of not showing any emotion that brings a lot of comedy in. There are two characters who spend the whole time talking about cricket, Philip Stein Watch Replica they are more interested in what the Test Match score is - everything else pales into insignificance."
It all seems a long way from the sci-fi set of 70s Doctor Who, in which Terry - playing the immobile Davros - trundled around in a motorised chair powered by 12 volt batteries.
"It was uncomfortable to be in," he said. "It wobbled a lot, so you had to dig down with your toes. You just coped with that, and, in a sense, it informed the way you played the character.
"I had to wear a foam latex mask which allowed little movement, so with that and the chair, the character was created through the voice."
But despite the differences, Terry sees parallels between Davros and Hartz.
"Nobody is born evil," he said. "There is not an evil gene that makes someone like that. There was one Dr Who story, The Revelation Of The Daleks, where Davros addresses the problem of famine in the universe using dead bodies to create food. For Davros, that's logical - he's got that way of looking at things - and with Dr Hartz, he has his own agenda."
But beyond that, there's the sheer exhilaration of being the baddie.
"Evil characters have more texture to them, there's more to explore," said Terry. "They are more fun to play."
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