Time & Perspective Quote by John Leeson

There is a particular kind of pride that only comes from making something iconic with whatever was lying around the studio. John Leeson’s line is casual to the point of dismissal - “or whatever gizmos” - but the understatement is the tell. He’s pointing to a lost era of TV craft where the magic wasn’t sleek, it was jury-rigged: a human voice shoved through hardware until it became a character.

The intent is plainly technical, even anecdotal: credit Dick Mills, name the ring modulator, describe the desired effect. The subtext is more interesting. Leeson is quietly reminding us that “electronic” isn’t a natural property of a performance; it’s a negotiated illusion built by engineers and budget constraints. By emphasizing “at the time,” he frames the sound as historically contingent - not the inevitable voice of a machine, but a specific 1970s answer to “What should a robot sound like?” That answer, famously, became the voice of K-9: friendly, slightly abrasive, charmingly artificial.

Context matters because Leeson is an actor talking about authorship. He doesn’t claim sole ownership of the character’s impact; he shares it with the backstage specialist. That humility also doubles as a subtle critique of how audiences remember pop culture: we lionize faces and catchphrases, but the texture - the timbre that makes a character instantly recognizable - often belongs to technicians like Mills. The “little more electronic” is doing a lot of work: not fully inhuman, just enough to sell the premise while keeping warmth and personality intact.