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David Tennant just can't stop playing the Doctor, even when he isn't in Doctor Who...
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00:00The entire premise of Doctor Who is that the Doctor can go anywhere at any time with the help
00:04of their magical flying cuboid, also known as the TARDIS, but let's be honest, it's much better to
00:09say magical flying cuboid. The show has such a vast cultural reach that its various heroes and
00:15villains sometimes appear in other shows, often played by the original actors to boot. I'm Ellie
00:20for Who Culture and this is 10 Doctor Who characters who appeared outside the show.
00:25Number 10. The Daleks in Big Fat Quiz of the Year. The Big Fat Quiz of the Year has been a staple of
00:31British TV ever since the first one back in 2004. The idea of the show is that a group of comedians
00:37get together in December to answer questions about the year that was. Sometimes they answer
00:41them correctly, but most of the time they come up with silly answers to make people laugh. It's a
00:45simple formula, but one that usually works. In 2015, there was a special anniversary edition of
00:50the quiz, which is hosted by British comedian Jimmy Carr. A staple of the program is Guest Question
00:56Askers, and on this occasion, that honour went to one of the universe's biggest villains. Carr introduced
01:02a Dalek to ask the show's final question, which was about best-selling media. This Dalek was of the
01:07iconic bronze design, which had been their main design since Doctor Who returned in 2005. Let's just
01:13forget about that whole Teletubby Daleks thing as well, you know? We'd just gone out of my mind.
01:17Interestingly, one team partaking in the quiz included Jonathan Ross, who's a big Doctor Who
01:22fan, and also Warwick Davis, who played Porridge in Nightmare in Silver.
01:27Number 9. The Fourth Doctor in The Simpsons
01:30Considering how long both shows have been on TV, it's not a massive surprise that Doctor Who and
01:35The Simpsons have crossed paths a few times over the years. In a sequence poking fun at British
01:40culture from the episode Love is a Many Splintered Thing, the TARDIS materialises in the middle of the
01:45Houses of Parliament. Out steps Alfred Hitchcock, who proceeds to breakdance, while watch the
01:50Hooples all the young dudes play in the background. Yep, that actually happened.
01:54The Time Lord, who has appeared most often in the realm of Springfield, is easily number
01:59four, who has turned up a bunch of times over the years. In the episode Sideshow Bob's Last
02:04Gleaming, the fourth Doctor is one of the esteemed representatives of television, convened after
02:09Bob threatens to destroy the medium. He then appears in a Treehouse of Horror segment, having been captured
02:15by the sci-fi obsessed villain, The Collector, who is actually comic book guy. He can also be seen
02:19signing autographs at a convention in the episode Mared to the Mob. Hopefully Tom Baker got some
02:25residuals for all of the uses of his image, but something tells me he probably didn't.
02:29Number 8. The Twelfth Doctor in Newzoids
02:32When it was announced that Peter Capaldi would be taking on the role of the Twelfth Doctor, there was
02:36some concern that his previous roles would affect how viewers saw him. One part in particular was
02:41singled out as being very un-Doctor-y, Capaldi's turn as swearaholic political spinmaster Malcolm Tucker
02:47in the thick of it. Tucker was conniving, underhanded, and just about the rudest person in television
02:53history. Basically, he was everything the good-hearted time traveller should never be. While Doctor Who
02:58itself never brought attention to Capaldi's past life as an icon of post-watershed television, another show
03:04did. Newzoids was a satirical sketch show that ran from 2015 to 2016, and depicted various celebrities
03:11as animated puppets. Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor likeness was used across the series, with a healthy
03:16serving of Malcolm Tucker's foul language thrown in for good measure. One highlight was a sketch where
03:21the Twelfth Doctor met the Twelfth Doctor. Both then travelled back in time to when Doctor Who was
03:26quote, much simpler and cheaper. Cue a Dalek made of a bin, a whisk, and a plunger. Though Capaldi
03:31doesn't voice himself in Newzoids, the heightened riff on his famous Scottish tones work well for a
03:37ridiculous comedy show about talking puppets. 7. The Eleventh Doctor in Call the Midwife
03:43Can I just say, I absolutely love this particular sketch. I've seen it so many times. Since the 1980s,
03:49Comic Relief has hosted several telethons designed to raise money for good causes, usually by forcing
03:55celebrities to participate in criminally unfunny sketches and skits they are severely underqualified
04:00for. Now, a classic Comic Relief trait is to mash up popular TV shows, and in 2013, the show One
04:07Born Every Minute crossed over with Call the Midwife, a drama about a maternity unit in post-war Britain,
04:13which is brilliant by the way, and also, fun fact, stars Paul McGann's brother Stephen McGann. After the
04:18old-timey nurses make a complete hash of delivering the child, the partner of the pregnant woman says he
04:24wants a doctor and presses a button on the wall. You can see where this is going, right?
04:29Cue the TARDIS materialising in the room. Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor sticks his head out,
04:34introduces himself, and then claims the woman's kids will become a monster known as Jedward.
04:39Oh god, Doctor, save us! Who cares if it's a fixed point? It's hardly the greatest sketch in the world,
04:44but you can't judge something too harshly when it's for charity. And it's always good to see the
04:49eleventh Doctor, even if he has clearly stood in front of a green screen. Also, fun fact for you,
04:53as someone who does watch Call the Midwife, the lovable character's sister Monica Joan is a very
04:58big fan of Doctor Who, and has been seen on numerous occasions getting very excited about watching it on
05:04her brand new television. Number 6, K-9 in American Dad. Who'd have thought that of all the characters in
05:11a show about all of time and space, one of the most enduring would be a little robot dog.
05:16K-9 was part of the fourth Doctor's entourage, and travelled alongside his master in several classic
05:21adventures. He returned to the show alongside Sarah Jane Smith in 2006, and played a key role in her
05:27spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures. In between keeping the universe safe and fetching Sarah Jane
05:31the morning paper, K-9 has also found time to appear in an American animated sitcom. In the episode of
05:37American Dad, called Hayley Was a Girl Scout, Stan gets involved with a troop of the titular cookie
05:42sellers, and they build a robot to enter the National Robotics Convention. The contest is
05:46modelled after a dog trial, so of course it features a cameo from the goodest boy in the
05:51whole galaxy. K-9's ultra-brief appearance in this episode betrays creator Seth MacFarlane's
05:57deep-seated nerdiness. This is the guy who made his own Star Trek spoof. Of course he was going to
06:02cram a Doctor Who reference into one of his shows. Number 5, The Sixth Doctor in Roland Ratt.
06:07Brits who grew up in the 1980s will probably remember Roland Ratt, a puppet who appeared
06:12across several strands of media throughout the decade. He appeared in numerous TV shows
06:17on multiple different networks, including the BBC, he had his own video game, and he released
06:22a bunch of singles, one of which made it to number 14 in the UK charts. Roland Ratt the
06:27series was a show hosted by the hand-operated Rodent, which featured several famous faces as
06:32guest stars. Serving as the continuity announcer for this program on one occasion in 1986 was
06:38Colin Baker, in full costume as the Sixth Doctor. Well, I didn't see that coming. The Doctor begins
06:43by claiming that of all the creatures in the universe, Roland is by far the slimiest. He
06:48doesn't seem happy at all to be working for a grime-dwelling beast, which is entirely fair,
06:52let's be honest. After the episode ends, Baker, who has fallen asleep, introduces the next show
06:57on the schedule, which just so happens to be Doctor Who. Reggie Ratt pops up and calls the show
07:02rubbish, which Baker responds to by trying to shoot him with a laser. It's utter madness, honestly.
07:08Number 4. The Daleks in 2D TV
07:10As the most recognisable baddies in the whole Who-niverse, and across television in general,
07:16the Daleks have either appeared in or been parodied in dozens of TV shows and movies since
07:21they debuted in 1963. They can be found in the background of Futurama as a toy in Rugrats,
07:26and in various forms in the show Queer as Folk, which may or may not have been written by
07:31Russell T. Davis. They can also be found in 2D TV, a British animated sketch show that ran for five
07:37series between 2001 and 2004. It specialised in sending up UK pop culture, so it only made sense
07:44that Doctor Who got a mention. In a segment called Galaxy Idol, a spoof of American slash pop idol,
07:50a panel of judges, including the fourth Doctor, see, there he is again, give their thoughts on the
07:55singing abilities of a group of aliens. A Dalek gives its best rendition of Halfway Up the Stairs
08:00before getting dissed by Simon Cowell. In the same series, Scarrow's Finest have another run-in
08:05with some reality stars when their fashion choices get critiqued by Trini and Susanna.
08:10Interestingly, Trini and Susanna later appeared in robot form in the Doctor Who episode Bad Wolf.
08:15Maybe Russell T. Davis got the ideas from watching 2D TV? Who knows?
08:19Number 3. The 10th Doctor in Extras
08:22Following the success of The Office, the UK version, not the US one, Ricky Gervais and
08:27Steven Merchant's next big project was Extras, a show about a jobbing actor who just can't get
08:32that lucky break. Main character Andy Millman gets work on a number of different shows and
08:37runs into his fair share of famous faces along the way. In the Extras Christmas special,
08:42which also served as its finale, he lands the role of a lifetime, a giant slug called Schlong
08:47in an episode of Doctor Who. After angrily telling his agent he'll never play an alien
08:51on Doctor Who, that's exactly what ends up happening. Though this particular episode may
08:55be fictional, one thing that is real is David Tennant, who appears in character as the 10th
09:01Doctor. The Time Lord is able to defeat his slimy opponent by throwing a handful of salt
09:06over him, which Andy sells with all the enthusiasm of a guy reflecting on what life choices led him
09:11to this moment. Ricky Gervais has never appeared in Doctor Who in the real world. Maybe this experience
09:16scarred him for life. Number 2. The Force Doctor in Disney Time
09:21The early days of British TV weren't anything to shout home about, so imagine the excitement felt
09:27by kids up and down the land when Disney Time launched in 1961. It was a compilation show that
09:33broadcast edited clips from Disney movies free on television, which was a revelation at the time.
09:38The programme proved so popular that it ran in some form or another until 1998,
09:43and attracted some big guest stars along the way. Various celebrities were brought
09:47in to provide links between the clips, and they didn't always have something to do with the House
09:52of Mouse. TV presenter Noel Edmonds got the gig, as did Philip Schofield, and on the August Bank
09:57holiday in 1975, Tom Baker also appeared on the show in character as the Fourth Doctor. Landing in his
10:04TARDIS, Baker, who had only just begun his stint as the Fourth Doctor, chatted in between excerpts from
10:09clock cleaners, bed knobs and broomsticks, and the Jungle Book, among others. Neatly,
10:14this appearance tied into the next episode of Doctor Who, with the Doctor receiving a note from
10:18the Brigadier requesting some aid against the Zygons. Now that's how you do cross-promotion.
10:24Number 1. The Cybermen in Top Gear
10:26Much like Doctor Who, Top Gear was a long-running BBC show that was given a new lease of life when it was
10:32revamped in the early 21st century, although nobody's been fired from Doctor Who for punching a
10:37producer… yet. In one of its first series, Back from the Grave, the motoring show held a gimmicky
10:42race to determine who was the master of the universe. The segment consisted of several famous
10:48sci-fi characters doing laps in a car to see who could do it the fastest, with Darth Vader,
10:53Ming the Merciless, and a Klingon all getting some screen time. And Doctor Who was very well
10:58represented as well. A Cyberman and a Dalek are in the initial line-up, but the Mondasian Killing
11:03Machine's lap gets interrupted when the TARDIS materialises in the middle of the track. And it's
11:08only blooming Colin Baker at the controls, appearing on TV as the Sixth Doctor almost 20 years after he
11:14was first cast. Unfortunately, when the Dalek gets a go, it can't fit into the car. It handles this
11:20situation by exterminating all the contestants. Flippin' hell, talk about sore loser. This segment has been
11:26cut from the version of the episode on BBC iPlayer, presumably due to rights issues. Or maybe the
11:31Daleks exterminated it out of shame. One of the two. And that concludes our list, but for some more
11:37subtle Doctor Who easter eggs and references in other TV shows, then check out our video covering
11:42just that. In the meantime, I've been Ellie for Who Culture, and in the words of Riversong herself,
11:47goodbye, sweeties.
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