- 2 days ago
From heartfelt letters to auditions in Steven Moffat's kitchen, these are the stories of how every Doctor got cast in Doctor Who!
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Hello everybody, Ellie here, and you might remember that earlier this year we looked at why every lead actor left Doctor Who.
00:07And now, with Shooty Gatwa's first season right around the corner, it's a good time actually to look at the exact opposite.
00:14So this is how every Doctor Who got cast.
00:17Yes, we know it's the Doctor, not Doctor Who, but whatever.
00:22Let's kick things off with William Hartnell.
00:25William Hartnell had been acting for over 30 years by the time he was offered the role of the First Doctor.
00:30A role in the 1944 war movie The Way Ahead secured him a fairly consistent career playing tough men,
00:36from army generals to hard-boiled detectives and sinister crooks.
00:40In 1957, Hartnell was cast in the sitcom The Army Game and became a household name.
00:46When The Army Game ended in 1961, Hartnell fell back into guest spots in other TV shows and a movie role that would change his life.
00:53Lindsay Anderson, a key figure in the British new wave of cinema,
00:57cast Hartnell as the elderly rugby scout Dad Johnson in 1963's This Sporting Life.
01:04Hartnell gives an astonishing performance here, displaying a tender interest in Richard Harris' Frank,
01:09which appears to go beyond rugby.
01:11It was Hartnell's performance as Johnson that caught the attention of Doctor Who's first producer, Verity Lambert.
01:16The first Doctor was imagined as an older man, and Hartnell's ability to play tough characters with a soft centre made him perfect for the role.
01:25Patrick Troughton
01:26Patrick Troughton was an incredibly gifted character actor in film and television,
01:31and had clocked up some impressive credits in the years before Doctor Who.
01:35A fascinating tidbit about his career is that he was the first actor to play Robin Hood on television,
01:40doing so in the BBC's 1953 serial of the same name.
01:44Doctor Who's producers believed that an actor of Troughton's versatility was a good fit to replace William Hartnell,
01:50and though he was initially unsure, he ultimately signed on the dotted line.
01:54Arguably, Troughton had the toughest role of any lead actor in the history of Doctor Who.
01:58Not only did he have to sell the concept of regeneration,
02:01he had to be markedly different to William Hartnell while staying true to the heart of the character.
02:06Thankfully, however, some of his more outlandish suggestions for the second Doctor,
02:09including a turban and darker skin, were shot down by the production team.
02:13Troughton blazed a trail for future incarnations,
02:16so it's understandable that Hartnell apparently noted that he was, quote,
02:19the only man in England who can take over.
02:22John Pertwee
02:23A former naval intelligence officer, John Pertwee served alongside James Bond creator Ian Fleming,
02:30perhaps influencing his own 007-inspired take on the Doctor.
02:33When the Second World War ended, Pertwee embarked on a prolific career on stage and screen.
02:38He was encouraged to inquire about playing the Doctor when it became clear that Patrick Troughton would be leaving.
02:43Producer Peter Bryant duly placed Pertwee's name on the list, right behind Oliver Star, Ron Moody.
02:49When Moody turned down the role, which was reportedly the single biggest regret of his career,
02:54Pertwee was a shoo-in for the Third Doctor.
02:57Before Doctor Who, Pertwee was primarily known for playing comedy roles,
03:01appearing in multiple carry-on movies and the beloved radio sitcom The Navy Lark.
03:05Mindful of this reputation, Pertwee was keen to play the Doctor as a more serious and heroic figure.
03:10This is largely why the Third Doctor is more straight in his first season,
03:14but quickly softens, allowing Pertwee to lean into his talents as a comedian.
03:19Tom Baker
03:19The story of how Tom Baker became the Fourth Doctor is the stuff of legend.
03:24In the early 1970s, Baker's career appeared to be in the ascendant,
03:28after he was cast in movies like Nicholas and Alexandra and The Canterbury Tales.
03:32Unfortunately, the roles dried up by 1974, and Baker found work on a building site.
03:38Meanwhile, Barry Letts and Terrence Dix were casting the actor who would replace John Pertwee as the Doctor.
03:43They had considered actors like Bernard Cribbins, I mean, can you imagine?
03:47Graham Crowden and Fulton McKay, all of whom, incidentally, have appeared in Doctor Who in other roles.
03:52That was until BBC head of serials Bill Slater received a letter from Tom Baker, whom he'd previously worked with.
03:59Slater passed the details to Letts and Dix, suggesting they go see Tom's latest movie, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.
04:05Letts and Dix were both captivated by Baker's performance, and offered the out-of-work actor the role of a lifetime.
04:11Baker recalls his last day on the building site in his autobiography in suitably quirky fashion.
04:16He says,
04:17And the rest is history.
04:29Peter Davison
04:30In 1981, Doctor Who producer John Nathan Turner was grappling with how to replace Tom Baker.
04:36It was the biggest challenge for the show, since his predecessors had to seek out potential candidates for the second Doctor.
04:41John Nathan Turner approached Richard Griffiths, these days best known as Uncle Vernon in Harry Potter, about the role.
04:47But he wasn't available.
04:48An actor who was available, despite simultaneously appearing in two sitcoms, Holding the Fort and Sink or Swim, was Peter Davison.
04:56John Nathan Turner had worked with Davison before on All Creatures Great and Small, the show that had made Davison a household name.
05:02Davison's profile and his youthful appearance were deemed a winning combination by John Nathan Turner, who quickly offered the role to the initially reluctant star.
05:11Davison worried about being too young to play the Doctor, and was also concerned about becoming typecast.
05:16He needn't have worried, of course, as he would go on to become the most successful actor to have played the Doctor in the classic era.
05:22So much so that he's still working today in shows like The Gold, Gentleman Jack, and Good Omens.
05:28Colin Baker
05:29On the advice of Patrick Troughton, Peter Davison made the decision to leave Doctor Who after three years.
05:35As with the transition between Tom Baker and Peter Davison, John Nathan Turner was keen to cast someone who would provide a sharp contrast with their predecessor.
05:42Colin Baker, therefore, could not be more different from Peter Davison.
05:46Where Davison had generally played sympathetic everyman characters, Baker had carved out a career playing villains in acclaimed dramas like The Brothers and The Roads to Freedom.
05:56Not to mention his antagonistic role in the fifth Doctor serial, Arc of Infinity.
06:00It was Baker's strong performance here that ultimately led to his casting as the sixth Doctor, despite his concerns that Doctor Who generally didn't recast guest stars as the lead.
06:09Colin's fears proved to be unfounded, however, when John Nathan Turner offered him the role.
06:14John Nathan Turner and Baker had become acquaintances in the months following Arc of Infinity, and the producer increasingly believed that he would make a great Doctor.
06:22If only the BBC had agreed with John Nathan Turner's assessment at the time.
06:27Sylvester McCoy
06:28Sylvester McCoy had previously thrown his hat into the ring for the sixth Doctor, having been unaware that John Nathan Turner had already cast Colin Baker.
06:36Fast forward a couple of years and the BBC has fired Colin Baker, and John Nathan Turner is looking for a new Doctor.
06:42Again, Sylvester McCoy, via his agent, puts himself forward for the role, following a recommendation to John Nathan Turner by BBC producer Clive Droig.
06:50After seeing McCoy perform in The Pied Piper on stage, John Nathan Turner was convinced that he was the right man to play a Troughton-esque Seventh Doctor.
06:59McCoy had a knack for physical comedy, perfected during his years in the anarchic theatre group The Ken Campbell Roadshow.
07:05However, BBC One controller Jonathan Powell wasn't convinced that McCoy could lead a TV show, and nixed the casting.
07:11Undeterred, John Nathan Turner assembled a number of actors, McCoy among them, to record screen tests opposite one Janet Fielding, who had played Teagan opposite the Fifth Doctor.
07:21Viewing the tapes, Powell conceded that McCoy was the strongest performer, and so he was officially cast as the Seventh Doctor.
07:28Paul McGann
07:29Looking at the history of the 1996 TV movie, it feels like there wasn't a single actor in the UK who wasn't considered for the role of the Eighth Doctor.
07:38And not just UK actors either. Americans like Jurassic Park's Jeff Goldblum and Twin Peaks' Kyle MacLachlan were also potential candidates.
07:46Paul McGann eventually emerged as the frontrunner for the role, due to the BBC's desire to have a British actor as the lead.
07:52McGann taped his audition for the TV movie in September 1994, but even that wasn't enough to secure the role.
07:58Fox wanted a big name like Sting. Yep, seriously, can you imagine Sting as the Doctor?
08:03The BBC and producer Philip Siegel, however, vetoed this wild casting suggestion.
08:08Eventually, Siegel offered to cast a big name as the Master, if Fox agreed to Paul McGann's casting as the Doctor.
08:15Peter Capaldi later revealed that he turned down the chance to audition for the TV movie, believing that he would have to, quote,
08:21jump through hoops for something I'd never get.
08:23He's an astute man, that Peter Capaldi.
08:26Christopher Eccleston.
08:27Oh, Christopher Eccleston and Russell T. Davis.
08:30Where did it all go wrong?
08:32In 2003, it was announced that RTD would be reviving Doctor Who for a brand new series.
08:38Also in 2003, RTD and Christopher Eccleston collaborated on the ITV drama The Second Coming, which depicted the return of the Son of God.
08:46When he discovered Russell was reviving Doctor Who, Eccleston expressed his interest in the title role.
08:51Speaking about this during promotion for his first and only series, Eccleston stated that he was excited to do something for a younger audience.
08:58Eccleston was also a suggestion made by executive producer Mal Young.
09:02However, before he received Eccleston's interest, Russell T. Davis never believed that the actor, best known for gritty and challenging work, would ever do Doctor Who.
09:10Which is presumably why more, quote,
09:12obvious names like Hugh Grant and Bill Nighy were pursued by the team prior to Eccleston's casting being announced.
09:18It was a game-changing bit of casting that signalled Doctor Who wasn't just going to be phoning it in, and helped ensure the show's overnight success back in 2005.
09:28David Tennant.
09:29David Tennant has always cited Doctor Who as one of the key influences on his decision to become an actor.
09:35In fact, Tennant had played multiple roles in Big Finish audio dramas in the years before he was cast as Doctor No. 10.
09:41Alongside these audio dramas, Tennant's TV career was taking off with a breakthrough role in 2004's Blackpool, opposite the next Doctor, David Morrissey.
09:50Tennant also got the chance to work with Russell T. Davis on the 2005 show Casanova, which is what led to his casting as the 10th Doctor.
09:58When Christopher Eccleston decided not to return for Doctor Who Series 2, Russell T. Davis had to find a replacement fairly quickly.
10:05So it was a good job that he'd literally just worked with an incredibly talented actor, who had also been dreaming of playing the Doctor since he was a little kid.
10:13Not wishing for their new lead to leave as quickly as Eccleston had, the BBC signed Tennant for multiple series.
10:18Not that he would have minded, the man just can't keep away.
10:21Matt Smith.
10:22When Stephen Moffat took over Doctor Who in 2010, he was keen to cast an older Doctor to differentiate the character from David Tennant.
10:30A reverse Peter Davison manoeuvre, if you will.
10:32Instead, he cast the youngest actor to ever play the Doctor.
10:35Matt Smith had previously auditioned for the role of Watson in Moffat and Mark Gatiss' Sherlock, but was turned down because he was more of a Holmes figure than a Watson.
10:44Smith proved this when he turned up to audition for the Doctor and completely won over Moffat,
10:49convincing him that this young actor could still embody the Doctor's centuries' worth of experiences.
10:54It's said that Stephen Moffat and his producers had their hearts set on one particular actor before Matt Smith walked into the room,
11:00leading to much speculation over the years.
11:03Peep Show's Patterson Joseph and Voyage of the Damned's Russell Tovey also auditioned for the role of the 11th Doctor,
11:09eventually losing out to Smith.
11:11It's even been rumoured that Chiwetel Ejiofor was offered the part, but turned it down.
11:15It's certainly a tantalising what-if, though who can deny that Smith was utterly perfect casting.
11:22Peter Capaldi
11:23Stephen Moffat had apparently considered casting Peter Capaldi as the 11th Doctor back in 2009, but it never came to be.
11:30Four years later, Moffat revisited this notion and offered Capaldi the role after a private audition at Moffat's home.
11:37It's widely believed that Capaldi was always the first choice for the role,
11:41which was why he auditioned in Moffat's kitchen rather than in a more official setting.
11:45However, other options were being explored for the unlikely possibility that lifelong Doctor Who fan Capaldi
11:50would turn down this most coveted of characters.
11:53Actor Ben Daniels revealed that he had been asked about succeeding Matt Smith as the 12th Doctor.
11:58Meanwhile, bookies slashed the odds on James Bond actor Rory Kinnear being cast as the Doctor,
12:03believing that it was a dead cert.
12:05While these potential candidates had been rumoured and leaked to the press ahead of the big swanky primetime reveal in August 2013,
12:12Peter Capaldi was always at the top of the list.
12:15Jodie Whittaker
12:16The short version of how Jodie Whittaker was cast as the 13th Doctor is that she had worked with Chris Chibnall on Broadchurch,
12:23but it's a bit more complicated than that.
12:25Doctor Who was never on Whittaker's mind, even when Chibnall contacted her for a meeting.
12:30She assumed it was to discuss the final season of Broadchurch and was surprised when Doctor Who was brought up.
12:35The actress was then put through months of auditions, reading specially designed script pages to test whether she could handle the Doctor's many sides.
12:42She recorded a self-tape where she pretended to defuse a device, a typical Doctor scenario, and successfully bagged the role.
12:49Several other mystery actresses also auditioned.
12:52Rumours emerged prior to Peter Capaldi's final series that he would be replaced with Tilda Swinton or Phoebe Waller-Bridge,
12:58which obviously never came to pass.
12:59Whatever the truth of those rumours was, Chibnall has stated that he was always going to cast a female Doctor,
13:05and that Jodie Whittaker was always his number one choice.
13:08David Tennant
13:09Again
13:09The story of how the COVID-19 pandemic inadvertently led to David Tennant being cast as the 14th Doctor is a fascinating one.
13:18The chain of events is as follows.
13:20Former Doctor Who magazine writer Emily Cook organised tweet-alongs to several popular Doctor Who episodes to keep fans entertained during lockdown.
13:28After a tweet-along for The Runaway Bride in December 2020, Catherine Tate texted Russell T. Davis and indicated she'd be down to do more Doctor Who.
13:36Russell T. Davis loved the idea, and upon learning that David Tennant was also up for it, he informed the BBC.
13:41With the future of the show uncertain and no clear plan in place for Chibnall and Whittaker's successors,
13:46the promise of new episodes with Tennant and Tate must have been music to the Biebs' ears.
13:51RTD soon agreed to return as showrunner, bringing with him a bold vision for the show that is currently unfolding before our very eyes.
13:57The return of David Tennant as an older, weather-beaten incarnation of the Doctor was the perfect way to reinvigorate wider public interest in the show during Doctor Who's 60th anniversary year.
14:08Shooty Gatwa
14:09Shooty Gatwa was already becoming a huge star when he auditioned for the role of the 15th Doctor.
14:15Rising to fame playing Eric Effiong in Netflix's Sex Education, Gatwa had also snagged a small role in 2023's blockbuster hit Barbie.
14:22This led to him making a cameo during the I'm Just Ken performance at the 2024 Oscars, in what is surely one of the most iconic moments for a Doctor actor.
14:30Casting director Andy Pryor told Digital Spy that Gatwa, quote,
14:34"...blew everyone away during his audition."
14:37Pryor also revealed that the auditions took place over a couple of days, and that there were other actors they would happily have cast.
14:44Elsewhere, Russell T. Davis revealed to the Radio Times that Shooty Gatwa was the last actor to audition for the role, and that the showrunner had already cast someone else in his head.
14:53He said,
14:53"...I thought someone else was a guaranteed hit, and then in Shooty came, and that person will never know."
14:59Cue decades of speculation over who RTD would have cast if Shooty Gatwa had turned left and never auditioned for Doctor Who.
15:06And there you have it.
15:07Now, at the beginning, I mentioned that this list was inspired by a previous video, so go check out why every lead actor left Doctor Who.
15:14In the meantime, I've been Ellie for Who Culture, and in the words of Riversong herself, goodbye, sweeties.
15:20And then, I'll see you next time.