Full Name: Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith
Born: 20 August 1943
First Screen Appearance: Vision On
First regular Doctor Who appearance: Time and the Rani Part 1 (1987)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: Doctor Who (1996)
Like Tom Baker before him, Sylvester McCoy toyed with following a religious life by training as a priest, but swapped this for an insurance job, before working in the box office of the Roundhouse in London. Here he was spotted by the visionary theatre director and actor Ken Campbell, who invited him to join his performing troupe, the Ken Campbell Roadshow.
McCoy created the character of stuntman Sylveste McCoy during his time with Campbell, famous for slapstick routines that involved ferrets and hammering nails up his nose. An ‘r’ was later added to the name, providing Percy Kent-Smith with his more familiar stage name.
McCoy’s mastery of physical comedy led to his working relationship with producer Clive Doig, who employed him on shows ranging from Vision On to Jigsaw. Doig was instrumental in McCoy’s casting as the Seventh Doctor after phoning producer John Nathan-Turner to recommend his friend as the ideal successor to Colin Baker. Following several screen tests, McCoy was offered the role.
McCoy remained with Doctor Who until it ceased production in 1989, returning happily in 1996 to hand over the TARDIS keys to Paul McGann, filming several sequences, including a regeneration scene, in the Doctor Who TV movie filmed in Canada. He now appears regularly in the Doctor Who audio dramas produced by Big Finish.
Work following Doctor Who has seen McCoy appear regularly on stage, screen and radio. In 2007 he appeared as the Fool opposite Ian McKellen in an RSC production of King Lear. Four years later he would join McKellen in New Zealand to play Radagast in a three-part film adaptation of The Hobbit.
Full Name: Paul McGann
Born: 14 November 1959, Liverpool
First Screen Appearance: Play for Today: Whistling Wally (TV, 1982)
Doctor Who appearance: Doctor Who (1996)
As one-quarter of the McGann acting brotherhood (along with Joe, Mark and Stephen), Paul McGann was considered one of Britain’s most exciting young actors following his graduation from RADA in the early 1980s. His breakthrough role was opposite Robert Lindsay in the comedy drama Give Us a Break in 1983, but two subsequent roles would seal his reputation as a star to watch.
In 1986 he was BAFTA-nominated for his acclaimed performance as Percy Toplis in the BBC’s controversial First World War drama The Monocled Mutineer, and he earned a cult following for his turn as ‘I’ in the comedy film Withnail and I in 1987 with Richard E. Grant.
Roles in Hollywood movies Alien 3 and The Three Musketeers followed in the early 1990s, then in 1993 he was cast as Richard Sharpe in a TV adaptation of Bernard Cornwall’s Sharpe novels – a role he was forced to abandon after injuring his knee playing football just weeks into the shoot. His next major casting would see him travel to Canada in 1996 to become the eighth incarnation of the Doctor in a TV movie that was intended to relaunch Doctor Who for an international audience. McGann sought the advice of his friend Sylvester McCoy, who encouraged him to take the role, and the two soon found themselves filming a regeneration scene in an abandoned hospital in Vancouver.
While McGann’s screentime is the briefest of all eleven Doctors – the TV movie failed to secure a commission for a full series – McGann has recorded numerous audio dramas as the Eighth Doctor. He continues to record new stories, and appears regularly at conventions.
McGann is never away from TV screens for long. He starred in the BBC drama Fish in 2000 and played Lieutenant Bush in the second series of Hornblower shortly after. Recent television work has included New Tricks, Luther and Ripper Street.
Full Name: Christopher Eccleston
Born: 16 February 1964, Salford
First Screen Appearance: Blood Rights (TV, 1990)
First regular Doctor Who appearance: Rose (2005)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The Parting of the Ways (2005) Christopher Eccleston grew up in Salford, Lancashire, and harboured dreams of playing football for Manchester United until it was clear his talent lay with acting. He trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and made his stage debut in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Bristol Old Vic in 1988. More stage work followed, but film and TV proved elusive.
Eccleston’s breakthrough screen role was as Derek Bentley in the film Let Him Have It (1991), but it was his performance as DCI Billborough in Cracker (1993) that really brought him to the attention of TV audiences. Eccleston has combined film, TV and stage work throughout his career. He played Trevor Hicks in Jimmy McGovern’s Hillsborough, and was BAFTA-nominated in 1997 for his work in the critically acclaimed drama Our Friends in the North. Film work, on both sides of the Atlantic, includes Elizabeth (1998), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) and 28 Days Later (2002).
In 2003, Eccleston played Stephen Baxter in The Second Coming and, shortly after, the actor emailed the drama’s writer, Russell T Davies. Davies was working on a new series of Doctor Who for the BBC, and Eccleston was keen to be considered for the part of the Doctor. A few months later it was confirmed that Christopher Eccleston would be the ninth actor to play the Doctor.
Eccleston left Doctor Who after one series, saying he had done what he wanted to do with the part. Like William Hartnell over 40 years previously, he had redefined his career away from weighty roles to become a hero for a new generation of children.
Christopher Eccleston has maintained his exhausting work schedule since leaving Doctor Who, guest-starring in the US drama series Heroes, BBC crime thriller The Shadow Line and films The Dark is Rising (2007) and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and as villain Malekith in superhero sequel Thor: The Dark World (2013).
Like the Eighth Doctor before him, the Earth-loving Ninth never had a televised story set on an alien world.
Full Name: David John McDonald
Born: 18 April 1971
First Screen Appearance: Dramarama: The Secret of Croft more (TV, 1988)
First regular Doctor Who appearance: The Parting of the Ways (2005)
Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The End of Time, Part Two (2010)
When he grew up, young David McDonald told his parents, he wanted to be an actor because he was a big fan of Doctor Who. Over 30 years later, not only would he have achieved his dream and become an actor – he would also be the Doctor!