10 Actors Who Returned To Doctor Who
Doctor Who might not have seen the last of Christopher Eccleston...
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00:00 Doctor Who is one of those shows that actors can never fully shake.
00:03 You can appear as a canon fodder supporting character in a single episode,
00:09 and for the rest of your career that will be the most iconic thing you've ever done.
00:14 You'll be attending fan conventions and signing autographs for decades,
00:18 and it will be the thing you get asked about the most on social media and in interviews.
00:23 Now sure, the vast majority of Doctor Who actors would probably return if asked to,
00:29 but there are times when said actors, from main stars to companions to one-off supporting
00:35 characters, have publicly discussed that idea, openly declaring their wish to step back into
00:41 the TARDIS for another jaunt around the universe. So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Who
00:47 Culture and here are 10 actors who want to return to Doctor Who.
00:52 Number 10, Michelle Gomez. Michelle Gomez last played the wickedly funny villainess Missy in
00:58 2017's Series 10 finale, where she was seemingly killed off by her prior, rather angry incarnation.
01:06 However, in typical master fashion, Missy survived this apparent demise and soon went
01:11 on to torment the 13th Doctor. Gomez's infectious energy made her an instant hit with fans,
01:17 and she clearly had a blast in the role, so it's no surprise that she's eager to return
01:23 at some point in the future. In 2019, the actress told Radio Times that she was completely
01:29 open to stepping back into Missy's shoes, expressing particular interest in squaring
01:34 off against Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor, stating, "Oh gosh, yeah, of course I would.
01:39 I'd love to have a little run around with her. I don't know if that's ever going to happen,
01:42 but I'm completely open to it, and I'd love to see Missy come back in and just get to play again."
01:47 With Whittaker's set to regenerate at the end of 2022, a Missy 13 showdown doesn't seem to be on
01:53 the cards. But hey, who knows? Maybe Chris Chibnall has managed to squeeze that confrontation into
01:59 November's centenary special. Number 9, Billy Piper.
02:03 After leaving the show in 2008's emotional Series 4 finale, followed by a brief cameo in 2010's
02:10 The End of Time Part 2, 50th Anniversary Special The Day of the Doctor saw Billy Piper return to
02:15 Doctor Who, swapping the down-to-earth charm of Rose Tyler for the steely power of the Time Lord
02:21 superweapon, The Moment. As for another return to the show? Well, there was a time where she
02:27 seemed completely disinterested in the idea, telling The Guardian that she wouldn't go back.
02:32 But in recent years, she does seem to have warmed to the idea, explaining in a 2021 video that if
02:38 the circumstances and story were right, then she would be more than willing to step back into the
02:43 TARDIS, adding that she's now been away from the show long enough to start to miss it.
02:48 Rose is one of the most popular companions to come from the modern series, and seeing as it
02:53 was Russell T Davies who created her, it would seem somewhat poetic for him to include her in
02:59 his second era as showrunner. Number 8, Alex Kingston.
03:03 The story of River Song was wrapped up beautifully in the 2015 Christmas special,
03:09 but there are so many reasons why it would make sense for River to come back.
03:14 Chief among these is her wibbly wobbly timeline, which makes it easy to say that her next adventure
03:19 takes place anywhere between Let's Kill Hitler and The Husbands of River Song,
03:23 with little explanation necessary. Combining this with the fact that she's one of the most
03:28 fun companions in the show, and a perennial fan favourite, and it's no surprise that Alex Kingston
03:34 is gunning for River to reappear, declaring that "I love the character and I think that there are
03:39 wonderful potential opportunities down the road" in a 2019 interview. With such an open-ended
03:46 timeline, it wouldn't be a shock to see River pop up for another one-off adventure.
03:50 She is the Doctor's wife, after all. Number 7, Carol Ann Ford.
03:54 As companion Susan Foreman, Carol Ann Ford's last Doctor Who appearance was in 1983's The Five
04:00 Doctors. We don't talk about dimensions and time. So it's been a fair old while since we saw her in
04:06 the role. Despite this, Ford clearly doesn't feel like she's lost that spark, or that she's rusty.
04:11 In a 2020 interview with SFX Magazine, the actress was asked if she wanted to return to the show,
04:18 perhaps for an adventure with Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor, to which she responded in the
04:23 affirmative. Ford also told a hilarious story about the time she visited Peter Capaldi on
04:28 the Doctor Who set. According to her, Mr Attack Eyebrows danced around the TARDIS singing "I want
04:34 you to come back, I want you to come back", which prompted her to think "My God, I'd love to work
04:39 with him". A photograph of Susan famously appeared on the 12th Doctor's desk in the Series 10 opener.
04:46 So if we take this to mean that the Doctor is still thinking about her, then there is an in-built
04:50 story reason to bring Susan back. That and the fact that the First Doctor literally promised
04:56 Susan that he would visit her again, a promise he has yet to fulfil. Number 6, David Tennant.
05:02 Since regenerating into Matt Smith in early 2010, David Tennant's 10th Doctor has been in so many
05:08 comics, video games and audio dramas, and a starring role in the 50th special, that it never
05:14 really felt like he truly left. Given his willingness to come back for all those expanded
05:19 media projects over the years, it isn't a surprise that he's also keen to return in an on-screen
05:25 capacity, stating in a 2019 interview that he'd love to see a 60th anniversary special that united
05:32 him with Whittaker, Capaldi, Smith and Eccleston's Doctors. In a more recent 2021 interview, he added
05:39 "Anything is possible. Never say never to anything". Given the 10th Doctor's popularity being as high
05:45 as it is, and Tennant's old pal Russell T Davies returning to spearhead Doctor Who in 2023,
05:52 it almost seems inevitable that we will see Tennant don the converse and brown coat again
05:57 within the next few years. Number 5, Georgia Tennant.
06:01 Whenever the subject of abandoned Doctor Who plot threads is raised, one that almost
06:07 always gets mentioned is the fate of Jenny, the Doctor's daughter. Though Russell T Davies and
06:13 Stephen Moffat have jokingly revealed that she flew into a moon and died, we don't know what
06:18 she's been up to since her last on-screen appearance 14 years ago. Actress Georgia Tennant,
06:24 David's wife, was never asked to return to the show, but to this day she continues to hold out
06:29 hope that the call might arrive. In a recent chat with Metro, Tennant stated that she would
06:33 obviously return to the show if asked, adding that she even has her own storyline in mind.
06:39 "I like the idea that she's sort of gone off and had a couple of kids and she's let herself go a
06:43 bit and she's enjoying her life and then someone comes back and goes, 'No, come on, you've got to
06:48 go back to work.'" Considering that the Doctor believes Jenny to be dead, there's quite a lot
06:52 of dramatic potential for reuniting these characters on screen. And if the 14th Doctor is a woman,
06:58 it would be interesting to see Jenny's reaction to her father's new look.
07:03 Number 4, Paul McGann. As Doctors go, Paul McGann's eighth is in a unique position. Having
07:09 not been granted a full series of television, audiences don't know his Doctor as well as they
07:14 know the rest of them. So it almost feels like a no-brainer to bring him back. McGann himself also
07:19 shares this stance, telling Doctor Who magazine in 2016 that he feels like his on-screen tenure
07:25 isn't yet over and that there's a bit of potential in an eighth Doctor return. He then jokingly
07:31 added, "I'm younger than Capaldi," before explaining that if he were to return, then the
07:36 story reasons would have to be compelling. The positive response to The Night of the Doctor
07:40 proves that there's still a hunger for McGann's take on the Time Lord, and it just feels right
07:46 for him to get his due. Number 3, Matt Smith. Matt Smith has made the jump to Hollywood since
07:52 leaving Doctor Who in 2013. With starring roles in Terminator Genisys, Netflix's historical epic
07:59 The Crown, Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho, and this year's Morbius. Like Karen Gillan,
08:05 it almost feels like he's getting too big to step back down into the relatively low-budget world of
08:10 Doctor Who. But despite all his success, he still wouldn't mind donning the tweed jacket and bow tie
08:17 at some point in the future. In fact, in 2017, he didn't just tell MTV that he wants to come back,
08:24 he openly declared that he will be back one day. "Yeah, why not? I'd come back if the timing was
08:30 right. Look, I'll be back one day when I'm old and grey, which isn't far off." Much like the
08:35 Tenth Doctor, Eleven's popularity makes him one of the top candidates for a return. And with Smith
08:41 still being so young, he could get away with playing the role for many decades to come.
08:46 Number 2, Christopher Eccleston. For well over a decade, the narrative surrounding a potential
08:52 return to Doctor Who for Christopher Eccleston has been that he will never do it in a million
08:56 years, primarily due to the poor experience he had during his short tenure on the series in the mid
09:02 2000s. And while it's certainly true that he has problems with the way the show was run during his
09:08 brief tenure, the actor does seem to have softened on Doctor Who in recent years, and has even opened
09:14 himself up to a potential on-screen return. Many fans thought they'd never see Eccleston return to
09:19 play the Ninth Doctor in any capacity, and yet in 2020, it was announced that he'd be reprising the
09:25 role for a series of big Finnish audio dramas, a clear sign that he wasn't totally averse to
09:30 dipping his feet in Hooniverse waters. More recently, he's gone one step further,
09:35 indicating that he'd be down for a proper on-screen return, just not in a multi-Doctor special,
09:41 stating "The Ninth Doctor in particular is a one-man band, definitely. So he doesn't work
09:46 with other Doctors. If you want me back, you get me on my own." With Eccleston's rocky history with
09:51 the show, it does feel unlikely that we'll see him picking up that sonic screwdriver once again,
09:56 but the chances of it happening have increased slightly in recent years.
10:01 Number 1. Catherine Tate In early 2021, it was reported that
10:06 Catherine Tate had been spotted in Liverpool at the exact same time that Doctor Who were filming
10:12 Series 13 in that city. And while it was later revealed that she very much wasn't in Liverpool,
10:18 this flimsy rumour caused quite the stir in Doctor Who fan circles. So you can imagine how hyped
10:24 people would be if Donna Noble did actually return to the show. Fortunately then, Catherine
10:29 Tate is very much open to the idea, telling The One Show, "No one's been in touch, but I'm on the
10:34 same number, I'd just like to say. So if you've got the money, I've got the time." Donna is another
10:39 character closely associated with returning showrunner Russell T Davies, and so on the surface
10:44 at least, that does increase the chances of him wheeling her out for another spin. You simply
10:49 cannot contain the best temp in Chiswick. And that concludes our list. If you can think of
10:54 any other actors who would be willing to return to Doctor Who, then do let us know in the comments
10:58 below. And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:03 Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias
11:07 just by searching Ellie Littlechild. I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of
11:12 River Song herself, goodbye, sweeties.
11:15 [end]
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