
Few actors get to define two beloved British TV institutions, but Peter Davison did it twice — Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small, then the Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who. Now 74, he’s still taking on new work, including a Fifth Doctor audio adventure due in September 2026.
Born: 13 April 1951 (age 74) · Known for: Playing the Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who · Other famous role: Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small · Children: 3, including actress Georgia Moffett
Quick snapshot
- Born Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett on 13 April 1951 in Streatham, London (IMDb, the film and TV database)
- Played the Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who from 1981 to 1984 (Radio Times, the UK TV listings magazine)
- Married to Elizabeth Morton since 2003 (Starburst Magazine, the sci-fi film and TV monthly)
- How large his reported role in The Good Ship Murder season 4 really is (Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry)
- What his 2026 credit in The Marlow Murder Club actually involves (IMDb, the film and TV database)
- Whether he’ll ever return to the Doctor Who TV series itself (Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry)
- The exact details of his brief first marriage to Diane Russell in the 1970s (Czech Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry)
- 1978: marries actress Sandra Dickinson (Czech Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry)
- September 2026: new Fifth Doctor audio drama Shock and Awe arrives (Radio Times, the UK TV listings magazine)
- Shock and Awe reunites Davison with Sarah Sutton, who played Nyssa (Radio Times, the UK TV listings magazine)
- More reported TV work, including season 4 of The Good Ship Murder (Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry)
Nine facts, one pattern: the public record is consistent, and the essentials haven’t shifted in decades.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (IMDb) |
| Date of Birth | (IMDb) |
| Place of Birth | Streatham, London, England (IMDb) |
| Nationality | British (Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years Active | 1970s–present (Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry) |
| Spouse(s) | Sandra Dickinson (1978–1994) (Czech Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry); Elizabeth Morton (2003–present) (Starburst Magazine) |
| Children | Georgia Moffett, Louis and Joel (Czech Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry) |
| Notable Roles | Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who (Radio Times); Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small (Wikipedia) |
What is Peter Davison doing now?
Peter Davison’s recent TV appearances
- Law & Order: UK — Davison had a lead role across several series, according to A Brief History of Time (Travel), a Doctor Who biography site.
- The Good Ship Murder season 4 — a 2026 Wikipedia update says Davison joined the cast in June 2026 (Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry).
- The Marlow Murder Club — IMDb lists him in the 2026 series (IMDb, the film and TV database).
- Murder They Hope (2020) — a comedy in his recent credit list (IMDb, the film and TV database).
- Recurring roles in Pat & Cabbage, The Name of the Rose, and Gentleman Jack, per the same A Brief History of Time (Travel) biography.
Asked about the pace of work, Davison told Starburst Magazine that he didn’t have many new projects at that moment — he had just finished filming Law & Order. The pause looks shorter now: the Wikipedia and IMDb listings above both point to 2026 television work.
Two of those 2026 credits rest on a single Wikipedia line and a bare IMDb entry. Fans should treat the roles as real but unspecified until broadcast details appear.
Convention appearances and voice work
- The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe — a Big Finish audio drama due in September 2026, per Radio Times, the UK TV listings magazine.
- Welcome to our Village, Please Invade Carefully — a science-fiction radio drama Davison mentioned in his Starburst Magazine interview.
Davison has stayed close to the Doctor Who fan circuit for decades, and the Big Finish audio line means the Fifth Doctor never fully goes silent between screen appearances. In 2026, the audio side is actually the most concrete thing on his calendar.
The implication: this is a working actor choosing smaller, selective parts — not a retiree doing nostalgia laps.
What is Peter Davison’s most famous role?
The Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who (1981–1984)
Ask most fans outside Britain and the answer is the Fifth Doctor — the incarnation Davison played from 1981 to 1984 (Radio Times, the UK TV listings magazine).
That run made him part of Doctor Who’s permanent furniture. It also gave his family a permanent link to the show: his daughter grew up, became an actress, and married the Tenth Doctor. The Fifth Doctor role keeps returning, too — the 2026 Shock and Awe audio is the latest continuation of that 1981–84 era.
Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small
- Wikipedia’s entry leads with a different answer: Davison is “best known” for playing Tristan Farnon in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small (Wikipedia, the crowd-edited encyclopedia).
- The role made him a household name in the UK — the answer older British viewers give first.
The two answers don’t really compete — All Creatures gave him his first wave of British fame, Doctor Who gave him the international recognition — and both claims sit in the same five-decade résumé.
What this means: “most famous role” is a generation question, and Davison can win it on both sides. The pattern: two signature roles from two different eras, each one defining Davison for a different generation of viewers.
Related reading: John Rhys-Davies: Biography, Age, Height, Net Worth, and Family
Are David Tennant and Peter Davison related?
David Tennant married Peter Davison’s daughter Georgia Moffett
- Peter Davison’s daughter, actress Georgia Moffett, married David Tennant in 2011 after the pair met during Doctor Who production (Czech Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry).
- Georgia Moffett has appeared on screen with her father in Fear, Stress and Anger and The Last Detective (TV Tropes, the pop-culture wiki).
So yes: two actors who each played the Doctor are family. Tennant is Davison’s son-in-law; Davison is Tennant’s father-in-law. One married the other’s daughter — there’s no blood relationship between the two men.
The connection is real but legal, not biological: Davison and Tennant are in-laws, not relatives. That’s the detail fans most often get wrong.
They are father-in-law and son-in-law
- Davison’s grandson, Ty Tennant, is also an actor, with credits in Tolkien and Doom Patrol (A Brief History of Time (Travel), a Doctor Who biography site).
- The family connection has become part of Doctor Who’s own mythology whenever actors’ personal lives cross the show’s casting.
The pattern: Doctor Who is a small world, and the family tree is the proof. The implication: Doctor Who’s casting legacy extends beyond the screen into the actors’ own family trees.
Related reading: Arthur Hughes: Biography, Disability & Latest News
Is Peter Davison still married to Sandra Dickinson?
Marriage to Sandra Dickinson (1978–1994)
No. Davison and Dickinson divorced in 1994 — the “still married” search is pointing at a marriage that ended more than 30 years ago.
- 1978: Davison marries Sandra Dickinson; 1994: the marriage ends (Czech Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry).
- Daughter Georgia Moffett comes from this marriage.
- Some sources also note a brief first marriage, to Diane Russell, that ended in divorce in the mid-1970s.
So the short answer is no — Davison has been married to Elizabeth Morton since 2003. The longer answer: the Sandra Dickinson era produced a daughter and a lasting public association, which is why the two are still asked about as a couple.
Current marriage to Elizabeth Morton (since 2003)
- Davison married actress Elizabeth Morton in 2003 (Starburst Magazine, the sci-fi monthly).
- The couple have two sons, Louis and Joel, both of whom appeared in The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot (Czech Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry).
The trade-off: the 1980s-era Sandra Dickinson question still dominates search, but the marriage that followed has already lasted longer than the Dickinson years.
What is Sandra Dickinson doing now?
Acting career highlights
- Sandra Dickinson is an American-born actress who was married to Davison from 1978 to 1994 (Czech Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry).
- She has kept working in television and theatre.
- Her daughter with Davison, Georgia Moffett, is herself an actress and married David Tennant in 2011 (TV Tropes, the pop-culture wiki; Czech Wikipedia).
So “what is Sandra Dickinson doing now?” has two answers. Per the biographical record, she has stayed active as an actress, with credits in television and theatre (Czech Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry). The quieter truth: her current projects are less tracked than Davison’s, so “now” is genuinely hard to pin down from the open record.
Recent appearances
The open record doesn’t track Dickinson’s latest roles the way it tracks Davison’s. The confirmed fact is continued activity in TV and theatre; the specifics are not well documented.
The pattern: the question says more about the Doctor Who family tree than about Dickinson’s own résumé — and the family tree is the better-documented half of that story.
What’s confirmed and what’s still unclear
Confirmed facts
- Born 13 April 1951 in Streatham, London (IMDb)
- Fifth Doctor from 1981 to 1984 (Radio Times)
- Married Sandra Dickinson in 1978 and divorced in 1994 (Czech Wikipedia)
- Georgia Moffett married David Tennant in 2011 (Czech Wikipedia)
- Married Elizabeth Morton since 2003 (Starburst Magazine)
What’s unclear
- Scale of the reported role in The Good Ship Murder season 4 (Wikipedia)
- What the 2026 Marlow Murder Club credit involves (IMDb)
- Whether Davison will return to Doctor Who on television, beyond audio
- Sandra Dickinson’s precise current projects, which are not widely reported
- Whether his first marriage to Diane Russell in the mid-1970s is accurately documented in public records
What Peter Davison says about his career
Three moments sum up where Davison’s career actually stands:
Not many projects at the moment — just finished filming Law & Order.
Peter Davison, in an interview with Starburst Magazine
The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe, due September 2026, reunites Peter Davison with Sarah Sutton — Nyssa to a generation of fans.
Radio Times, the UK TV listings magazine, on the Big Finish announcement
There was also a science-fiction radio drama, Welcome to our Village, Please Invade Carefully, recorded around the same period.
Peter Davison, as reported by Starburst Magazine
For fans of classic Doctor Who, the near-term stake is concrete: a new Fifth Doctor audio adventure lands in September 2026, and the family link to David Tennant keeps the story alive between releases. For Peter Davison himself, the choice is clear: keep moving between the occasional Doctor Who role and the smaller, selective parts that keep him current — or let the Time Lord headlines outrun the rest of the résumé.
en.wikipedia.org, silive.com, taleventry.com, music.amazon.com, tvchoicemagazine.co.uk
Frequently asked questions
How old is Peter Davison?
Peter Davison was born on 13 April 1951, which makes him 74 as of 2025 (IMDb, the film and TV database).
What is Peter Davison’s real name?
He was born Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett; Peter Davison is the name he has used professionally (IMDb, the film and TV database).
Where was Peter Davison born?
He was born in Streatham, London, England (IMDb, the film and TV database).
What role did Peter Davison play in All Creatures Great and Small?
He played Tristan Farnon in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small (Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry).
How many children does Peter Davison have?
Three: Georgia Moffett, from his marriage to Sandra Dickinson, and Louis and Joel, from his marriage to Elizabeth Morton (Czech Wikipedia’s Peter Davison entry).
When did Peter Davison play the Fifth Doctor?
He played the Fifth Doctor in the original BBC series from 1981 to 1984 (Radio Times, the UK TV listings magazine).