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If you spotted that cameo in Voyage of the Damned, you deserve a medal!
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00:00If the surprise appearance of past Doctors and companions in The Power of the Doctor proved anything, it's that Doctor Who fans love a cameo.
00:08Indeed, many would argue that the best cameos involve actors we're already familiar with, in roles where we can instantly recognise them.
00:15But some cameos work more stealthily, disguising people we do know as people we don't, to the point where we might not notice them until a repeat viewing, if at all.
00:24And so, with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture, here with 10 Doctor Who cameos you definitely missed.
00:35Appropriately enough, our first cameo comes from an episode all about looking for clues, though hopefully you won't need a magnifying glass to spot him.
00:43Look closely when the 10th Doctor and Donna are enjoying cocktails on the lawn in The Unicorn and the Wasp,
00:48and you might just spot a footman bearing a passing resemblance to the 10th and now 14th incarnation of everyone's favourite Time Lord.
00:56That's because he was played by David Tennant's late father, Sandy MacDonald.
01:00I was coming down to visit David, MacDonald explains to Doctor Who Confidential.
01:04I think they must have been short of someone because they very kindly invited me to play the part of a footman.
01:09Having your dad feature in Doctor Who is a claim to fame no other Doctor can make,
01:13but consider also that Tennant's future wife, Georgia, and his father-in-law, Peter Davison, obviously also have appeared in Doctor Who.
01:21At this point, the Tennant clan pretty much just own Doctor Who.
01:25Number 9. Brian Miller in Deep Breath
01:28From the father of a Doctor, we move to the husband of a companion.
01:32Who frowned me this face?
01:33The 12th Doctor Arsa Tramp in his debut story Deep Breath, a nod to Peter Capaldi's previous roles in the Hooniverse.
01:40But Capaldi isn't the only familiar face in this scene.
01:43In fact, the Tramp's face had also featured in the Hooniverse before, in the 5th Doctor serial Snake Dance,
01:49and in the Sarah Jane adventures in the story The Mad Woman in the Attic.
01:53The actor behind these characters, Brian Miller, also provided Dalek voices for resurrection and remembrance of the Daleks.
02:00Miller also has another significant connection to the show, though.
02:03He was the husband of Elizabeth Sladen, who, of course, played the wonderful Sarah Jane Smith.
02:08A meeting between the 12th Doctor and Sarah Jane was sadly always off the cards, due to Sladen's untimely passing in 2011.
02:16But by having her widow appear in 12th's debut story, the production team were at least able to nod to what could have been.
02:23Number 8. Nicholas Courtney in Silver Nemesis
02:26Brian Miller isn't the only person connected with classic Who to enjoy a cheeky cameo.
02:31When the TARDIS materialises at Windsor Castle in 25th Anniversary Shindig's Silver Nemesis,
02:37pay attention to the group of Taurus that walk through the shot.
02:40Some of these Taurus are, as you would expect, plain old extras, but hidden away at the back are a number of Doctor Who contributors,
02:46including none other than the Brigadier himself, Nicholas Courtney.
02:50Just like the other Taurus, Courtney's face is obscured, but he's easily identified by his grey blazer and cream trousers.
02:57The disguise is completed by a beret, apparently chosen by Courtney himself, having been told he was playing a French Taurus.
03:03Also among the crowd were writers Graham Curry and Kevin Clark, and directors Andrew Morgan, Peter Moffat and Fiona Cumming.
03:10If all had gone to plan, Silver Nemesis would have featured a much more prominent cameo in the form of Prince Edward.
03:16Ever ambitious producer John Nathan Turner made an appeal to Buckingham Palace, hoping for the best, but his appeal was swiftly shot down.
03:24Number 7. Mark Gatiss in Victory of the Daleks
03:27Over a period of 12 years, from 2005 to 2017, Mark Gatiss penned no less than nine Doctor Who stories, and physically appeared in three,
03:37as Richard Lazarus in The Lazarus Experiment, Gantok in The Wedding of River Song, and Archibald Hamish Lethbridge Stewart in Twice Upon a Time.
03:45But what you might not know is that Gatiss also provided the voice of World War II pilot Danny Boy in Victory of the Daleks,
03:52the only instance of him appearing in an episode that he had also written,
03:55and the first time in the show's history that a character had been written and performed by the same person.
04:01Gatiss had not written the part with himself in mind, but he was offered it late in the day by cast and director Andy Pryor.
04:07He reprised the role in A Good Man Goes to War when Danny Boy returned to help take down Demon's Run.
04:12Now, it's hardly Gatiss' most significant contribution to the show, but nevertheless, it's a role he clearly relished playing.
04:19Number 6. Harley Bird in In the Forest of the Night
04:22Now, this entry is another voice you might recognise, and is the youngest actor on this list.
04:28Harley Bird played inquisitive schoolgirl Ruby in Series 8's In the Forest of the Night.
04:33If you notice something familiar about her voice, specifically a similar cadence to that of a certain cartoon character,
04:39then you'd be onto something. That's because she was the voice of Peppa Pig between 2007 and 2020.
04:46Bird is one of four actors to have voiced the character over the years, and the longest serving.
04:50She was just 12 years old when she recorded her Doctor Who scenes, roughly halfway through her stint as the animated piglet.
04:56Interestingly, she's also not the only actor to have starred in both shows.
05:01Peppa Pig's grandparents, Grandpa Pig and Granny Pig, have both been played by classic Who alums,
05:06specifically David Graham, who voiced the Daleks throughout the Hartnell era,
05:10and Frances White, Cassandra in the first Doctor serial, The Myth Makers.
05:14So basically, Peppa Pig's grandparents are a 60s Dalek and a Greek High Priestess.
05:19Now there's an idea for a big finish box set.
05:22Number 5. John Nathan Turner in Ark of Infinity
05:25This is by far the hardest cameo on this list to spot, but persevere with that pause button and you'll find it eventually.
05:33The episode in question is part 4 of Ark of Infinity, towards the beginning.
05:37Here, the TARDIS lands in Amsterdam, and the fifth Doctor consults the directory inside a telephone booth.
05:43Pay close attention, and you might just glimpse a man walking behind the booth in a brown sheepskin coat.
05:48That man is Doctor Who stalwart John Nathan Turner, the producer who oversaw the show from 1980 to its cancellation in 1989.
05:56Unlike the Silver Nemesis cameos, however, Nathan Turner's inclusion was nothing more than an accident.
06:01The filming in Amsterdam attracted lots of attention, with many shots ruined by people pointing at the camera.
06:07Consequently, John Nathan Turner had to act as a crowd marshal, which is how he ended up in the shot.
06:12Reportedly, on another occasion, an old woman started attacking him, believing him to be a thief.
06:17Sadly, this particular instance of crowd control wasn't committed to camera.
06:21Number 4. Greg James in Closing Time
06:24Closing Time saw the return of James Corden as the 11th Doctor's one-time Flatshare Craig Owens,
06:29and it also saw Auntie Mabel herself, Linda Barron, appear in a supporting role as shop worker Val.
06:35But Corden and Barron weren't the only stars to frequent the aisles of Sanderson and Granger.
06:40Pay attention when Craig is making a fool of himself in the ladies' wear section,
06:44and you'll catch a glimpse of Radio 1 DJ Greg James.
06:47James was left to invent his character from scratch, a task which he met with open arms,
06:51christening him Carlos and hinting at a complex backstory.
06:55However, his Doctor Who experience was also something of a logistical nightmare.
06:58Why? Well, Doctor Who is filmed in Cardiff, a two-hour train ride from the Radio 1 studio in London.
07:05For James, this meant being whisked off to Cardiff as soon as his show had finished recording,
07:09then heading straight back to London the following morning to record his next show on Very Little Sleep that afternoon.
07:15Now, that's the level of dedication that Doctor Who deserves.
07:18Number 3. Murray Gold in Voyage of the Damned
07:212007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned boasts one of Doctor Who's most impressive guest casts.
07:27Kylie Minogue, Jeffrey Palmer, Russell Tovey, Bernard Cribbins, Clive Swift, the list goes on and on.
07:33But look closely and you'll find another star hidden away on the decks of the space Titanic.
07:38He only ever appears in the background, in the band playing guitar, and he doesn't look particularly notable.
07:43You might not even recognise his face, the moustache does help keep it disguised, but you'll definitely recognise his music.
07:50That's because this man is Doctor Who's former composer, Murray Gold.
07:54Gold had contributed his musical talents to every Modern Who episode up until that point,
07:59and Voyage of the Damned was no exception.
08:01Only this time, he'd end up starring in the episode too.
08:04It was something of a departure for Gold, who admitted to Doctor Who Confidential that he found work as a supporting actor boring,
08:10and that he resented having to wear a fake moustache.
08:12Number 2, Dudley Simpson in The Talons of Weng Chiang
08:17Murray Gold wasn't the first Doctor Who composer to feature in the show.
08:2030 years earlier, classic Who's own maestro got there first.
08:24To find him, you'll need to turn to the fourth Doctor serial, The Talons of Weng Chiang.
08:28Keep your eyes peeled in the opening moments of part 1,
08:31and you might just spot a very energetic conductor playing the band off as the curtain comes down in the Palace Theatre.
08:37Fast forward to part 4, and this mysterious figure appears again,
08:40this time conducting a rendition of the popular music hall song Daisy Bell.
08:44This is Dudley Simpson, the man who was responsible for some of classic Who's most iconic soundtracks,
08:49including the score to City of Death.
08:51Like Gold, you might not know his face, but his music is nothing short of brilliant.
08:56Indeed, with over 60 scores to his name, Simpson was classic Who's most prolific composer,
09:01so it's fitting that he was the one to make it into the show itself.
09:04Number 1. K-Van Novak in The Time of the Doctor
09:08You'd be forgiven for thinking that there wasn't anything particularly remarkable about the actor who played Handles,
09:14the 11th Doctor's beloved cyberhead.
09:16He's got a slightly different twang to that of usual Cyberman voice actor Nick Briggs, yes,
09:20but surely it's not someone we'd recognise from elsewhere, is it?
09:24Well, that's where you'd be wrong.
09:25Even prior to appearing in The Time of the Doctor, K-Van Novak had multiple TV credits to his name,
09:31including E4 comedy Phone Jacker, a show he also co-created and which won him a BAFTA.
09:36His film credits were fewer, but have exploded in the years since he lent his pipes to Matt Smith's Swan Song,
09:42with roles in Paddington, Men in Black, International and Cruella.
09:46But by far, Novak's most well-known role is one that came about six years after The Time of the Doctor,
09:51as the vampire Nandor in the TV adaptation of What We Do in the Shadow.
09:55It's a rare case, on this list at least, of someone cameoing in Doctor Who before rising to prominence,
10:01to the point where fans of Novak's other work will likely not have made the connection.
10:05So we're gonna say that his Star Turner's Handles was responsible for his career boom.
10:10We're sure of it.
10:11And that concludes our list.
10:12If you think we missed anyone, then do let us know in the comments below,
10:15and while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe,
10:17and tap that notification bell so you never miss a Who Culture video again.
10:21Also head over to Twitter and follow us there, and Instagram as well,
10:24and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Little Child.
10:27Look out for Sean Ferrick on the various socials as well, and Dan the Meigs too.
10:32I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of Riversong herself,
10:35goodbye, sweeties.
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