diff --git a/_pytest/core.py b/_pytest/core.py
index eabade7ec..15ce9f4cc 100644
--- a/_pytest/core.py
+++ b/_pytest/core.py
@@ -321,13 +321,15 @@ def importplugin(importspec):
     name = importspec
     try:
         mod = "_pytest." + name
-        return __import__(mod, None, None, '__doc__')
+        __import__(mod)
+        return sys.modules[mod]
     except ImportError:
         #e = py.std.sys.exc_info()[1]
         #if str(e).find(name) == -1:
         #    raise
         pass #
-    return __import__(importspec, None, None, '__doc__')
+    __import__(importspec)
+    return sys.modules[importspec]
 
 class MultiCall:
     """ execute a call into multiple python functions/methods. """
diff --git a/_pytest/runner.py b/_pytest/runner.py
index f9f203ffa..cac63f252 100644
--- a/_pytest/runner.py
+++ b/_pytest/runner.py
@@ -416,9 +416,10 @@ def importorskip(modname, minversion=None):
     __tracebackhide__ = True
     compile(modname, '', 'eval') # to catch syntaxerrors
     try:
-        mod = __import__(modname, None, None, ['__doc__'])
+        __import__(modname)
     except ImportError:
         py.test.skip("could not import %r" %(modname,))
+    mod = sys.modules[modname]
     if minversion is None:
         return mod
     verattr = getattr(mod, '__version__', None)