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When the opportunity to travel in time and space just isn't enough.
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00:00Due to Doctor Who's very nature of traveling anywhere in time and space, different stories
00:05and locations each week, it has had an ever-expanding roster of guest stars over the past 58 years.
00:12Some actors take a role on the show out of love and nostalgia. Others, like John Simm,
00:16take the role so that their children will actually be able to watch their parents work
00:20without fear of bad language or sexy scenes. Not everyone holds the show in such esteem,
00:26however, and there have been a fair few guest actors who aren't overly thrilled to take part
00:31in the show. And even those that are sometimes have particularly strange requests in order for
00:36them to get into character as all manner of alien weirdos, historical figures, and intergalactic
00:42tyrants. This list collects a range of actors who've appeared in the show over the past five decades,
00:48charting their unusual requests, vanity, eccentric motives, and incredibly demanding performances.
00:54With that in mind, I'm Ellie with Who Culture, and this is 10 Most Unusual Demands
00:59Made by Doctor Who Guest Stars.
01:01Number 10. Vi Delmar Negotiated a Separate Contract for Her Teeth in The Pirate Planet
01:06Vi Delmar was an English character actor who'd pop up in everything, from Carry On Cowboy to
01:13Dr. Finley's Casebook. Born in 1902, Delmar was in her mid-70s when she was cast as the aged queen,
01:19Xanaxia, in the closing two parts of Douglas Adams' Doctor Who debut, The Pirate Planet.
01:25Queen Xanaxia, of course, was the true villain of the story. In an attempt to remain youthful,
01:31she plunders the galaxy for rare minerals to power the time down that sustains her.
01:35Trapped in the final few moments of her life, she is defeated by the Doctor, who warns her that
01:40there's not enough energy in the world to sustain her existence forever. In order to better portray this
01:46wise and old queen, Delmar was asked to remove her false teeth by director Pennant Roberts.
01:51She refused to do so, and ended up negotiating an extra fee to appear on screen without her
01:57falses in. According to IMDb, this was her final on-screen credit as an actor, but Delmar lived
02:02on until 1994. The fate of her false teeth is unknown.
02:07Number 9. Nicholas Briggs Disagreed With How The Daleks Were Written In Doomsday
02:12Nicholas Briggs is so entwined with the Daleks now that a whole nation responded to the executioner's
02:18line, I am not Nick, with, yes you are. On top of this, he's the voice of the Cybermen,
02:24the Jadoon, the Zygons, Skaldak the Ice Warrior, not to mention his extensive work with Big Finish.
02:30Briggs is one of the few figures to have been with Doctor Who since 2005. He's the monster guy,
02:35he has a ring modulator, he's the Dalek expert. So much so that during filming of the series
02:422 finale Doomsday, he disagreed with how the dialogue was written. Reading the script, Briggs
02:47felt that Dalek Sek sounded like he was jarringly in conversation with himself, and that the lines
02:52would be better split between Sek and another Dalek. Director Graham Harper agreed, and they sought
02:57permission to change the script as written. Is Briggs paid by the Dalek, or just a flat rate for voice
03:03work? If the former, then this was a sneaky little move for some extra cash. But it's more than likely
03:08to be the latter, and he just really knows his Daleks.
03:11Number 8. John Kane's method acting nearly barred him from filming in Planet of the Spiders.
03:17John Kane's performance as Tommy in 1974's Planet of the Spiders is a bit of its time. It's not a
03:24particularly nuanced portrayal of a character with learning difficulties, though the script
03:28does have its heart in the right place. When Sarah exclaims, you're normal, after his miraculous
03:33interaction with the Great Crystal, Tommy simply replies, I hope not. Kane was predominantly
03:38a theatre actor at the time of filming, and would get into character on his way to the
03:43first day of shooting. Adopting Tommy's voice, he asked the taxi driver to take him to where
03:49they made the television programmes, because he was on his way to meet his friend Doctor Who.
03:54On arriving at TV's centre, the taxi driver alerted a security guard, who told Kane that
03:58the TARDIS had left, and Doctor Who would wave to him next time he was on telly. Kane turned down
04:03the driver's offer of a lift back home, and eventually had to remonstrate with the guard
04:07to be allowed inside to start filming.
04:10Number 7. Simon Callow insisted Dickens be treated with respect in The Unquiet Dead.
04:16Actors will sometimes avoid roles that may damage their reputation, often by being connected with
04:21work that doesn't appear worthy of their talents. Simon Callow is slightly different, and was
04:26reticent to appear in The Unquiet Dead, because he was fearful that it would sully the reputation
04:31of Charles Dickens. Having written about the author, and having played him in a one-man show,
04:36Callow is a proper Dickens scholar, and was uncomfortable with the idea of him being a guest
04:40in a Doctor Who story. His fears were rooted in the idea that the author is often deployed
04:45as a cheap way to add some Victorian character to a ropey old period piece. He'd clearly seen
04:51what Doctor Who did with H.G. Wells in Timelash. So Callow was adamant that the script
04:55be respectful to the Dickens' legacy. He was therefore pleasantly surprised when he realised
05:00that Gatiss was almost as big a Dickens fan as he was. Callow was drawn to the script that saw
05:05the author worry about his legacy and his value as he nears the end of his life. It's one of the
05:11great Doctor Who performances, and was perfect to relaunch the series' historical adventures.
05:17Number 6. Kate O'Mara swapped Hollywood's sunshine for a damp gravel pit for Time and the Rani.
05:22Kate O'Mara always brought a bit of Hollywood glamour to Doctor Who in the 1980s. She only
05:28appeared twice, but the character was such a hit with fans that any time a big-name female
05:32actor is cast as a villain, she's immediately rumoured to be the Rani.
05:36Keely Hawes and Michelle Gomez were certainly speculated to be new incarnations of the villainous
05:41Time Lady. To date, she's not made a return, perhaps due to how Kate O'Mara made the role her own.
05:46Indeed, O'Mara was very keen to return to the role for 1987's Time and the Rani, in spite of her
05:53success in the USA in popular soap Dynasty. She also had a few requests for executive producer
05:59John Nathan-Turner when she wrote to him,
06:01I can't stand the eternal sunshine. You've got to help me. I want to be in a gravel pit somewhere
06:07in the pissing rain, changing in a caravan in front of 20 nosy crew members. Whilst the hours and
06:12hours of location footage on the new Blu-rays don't dwell on her changing room arrangements,
06:17she certainly gets her wish for a soaking wet gravel pit.
06:20Number 5. Paul Darrow was out for revenge against Colin Baker in Time Lash.
06:26Actors take on roles for all manner of reasons. For Paul Darrow, he accepted the role as Tekka
06:31in Time Lash purely out of a thirst for revenge. Back in 1980, Colin Baker had made a scene-stealing
06:38appearance as the villainous Baben the Butcher in the Blake 7 episode City at the Edge of the World.
06:44Darrow felt that Baker's bombastic performance upstaged him on his own show. He's not wrong,
06:49it's a role that lives long in the memory and has now spawned a big Finnish spin-off.
06:53Darrow decided to return the favour five years later on the set of Time Lash. Nathan-Turner had
06:59cast him to play the role of the collaborator Malan Tekka in the same cool anti-heroic manner that he
07:04played Avon. Darrow declined this offer and instead decided to perform the part as if he
07:09was Shakespeare's Richard III, hump and all. Director Pennant Roberts declined the hump,
07:14but Darrow proceeded to exaggerate his performance in what is one of the most memorable and thousands
07:18wouldn't. Their master actor Anthony Ainley was bald as a kneecap. The master's jet black hair was
07:24unsurprisingly a wig. Anecdotally, he was very sensitive about his baldness and would insist on
07:29his make-up being done in private. Ainley's sensitivity over his baldness reached ludicrous
07:35heights during the production of 1982's Time Flight. For reasons that are never made clear,
07:40the master is disguised as the mystical Khalid, a bald racist stereotype for the benefit of seemingly
07:46nobody. Of course, to wear the heavy latex and make-up used to cover up his appearance,
07:50Ainley would have to remove the wig. No deal. He insisted that the make-up artist fit the bald cap
07:56over his luxurious black wig. Christopher Lee was similar. He refused to remove his wig for his
08:02role as Mycroft Holmes in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, until he was eventually convinced
08:07to by the director, Billy Wilder. Ron Jones, the director of the much-derided Time Flight,
08:12had no such luck with Ainley, despite warning of the unbearable heat he'd have to deal with.
08:17Number 3. Anton Differing preferred tennis to Doctor Who in Silver Nemesis.
08:22Anton Differing was a prolific German character actor who had fled Germany in 1939 to live and
08:28work in Canada, the US, and Britain. Often playing Nazis in the movies following the end of the war,
08:34he appeared in genre classics like Where Eagles Dare, and also starred in Jerry Lewis's infamous
08:39little-seen concentration camp clown film The Day the Clown Cried. By the late 80s,
08:44Differing was in his 70s and very much still working. Doctor Who's 25th anniversary special,
08:50silver nemesis, centred on a battle between the Cybermen, a Nazi and his private militia,
08:55and two Elizabethans to obtain the mythical nemesis statue. It's up to the Doctor and Ace to stop them.
09:01And who did the Doctor Who production team have in mind for the aging Nazi? Why Anton Differing,
09:06of course! Differing was completely unaware of Doctor Who, and had never seen an episode.
09:11He took the role on, though, not because he was a late convert to the magic of the show,
09:15but because the shooting dates coincided with Wimbledon, and he could watch the matches between
09:19shoots from his hotel room.
09:21Number 2. Davros Smokes Inside a Paper Bag in Genesis of the Daleks
09:26No disrespect to those who came after him, but Michael Wisher was the definitive Davros.
09:31Evil doesn't shout, it whispers, he famously noted, and it's this hissing menace that brings
09:37the creator of the Daleks so chillingly to life. A eugenicist who is absolutely convinced of the
09:42purity of his own race above all else. The darkness of Davros and Terry Nation's inspiration
09:49from the dark subject matter of the Holocaust is at odds with the frankly crazy way that
09:54Wisher prepared for the role. Knowing that he would be encased inside a rubber mask to play the
09:59part, he decided to rehearse his lines whilst wearing a paper bag on his head. The idea was that
10:04the bag would prepare him for the restrictive experience of wearing the Davros mask. Wisher
10:08was also a prolific chain smoker, and cut two air holes in the top of the bag to allow him to
10:13smoke whilst wearing the very flammable paper bag. Something which would never in a million years
10:19happen in an age of health and safety legislation. When it came to playing Davros on set, Wisher had
10:24a peculiar costume decision. Beneath the black leather tunic, he wore a kilt and knee pads in order
10:29to feel more comfortable in the Dalek shirt. Number 1. Stephen Berkhoff's never-to-be-repeated
10:35role as the Chakri in The Power of Three. In an interview with SFX Magazine, The Power of Three
10:41director Douglas MacKinnon rather diplomatically stated that, you could ask anyone on the cast
10:47or crew and they'll agree that his participation was extraordinary. As the years have passed,
10:52some details have come out in various fan circles that suggest this is code for, he was an absolute
10:57nightmare to work with. Allegedly, he refused to act, delivered lines in bizarre ways and through
11:03numerous tantrums. The day's shooting with Berkhoff was virtually unusable, and Chris Chibnall had to
11:08hastily rewrite dialogue to work with what they could salvage. The Chakri was never originally
11:13intended to be a hologram, but Berkhoff's stock still performance necessitated such a rewrite.
11:19In an interview a few years later, Berkhoff complained about being worked to death and spending
11:24the majority of his 15 hours in the makeup chair. Perhaps by the time he'd been made up as the
11:29Chakri, he was ready to go home. It's no excuse for unprofessional behaviour though. The biggest
11:33laugh is that MacKinnon had worked with Berkhoff before. One can only imagine how he'd have behaved
11:38with an unfamiliar director. And that concludes our list of the most unusual demands made by Doctor Who
11:44guest stars. If you can think of any others that weren't mentioned in this video, then comment them
11:48below, and while you're there, like and subscribe, and tap that notification bell. Don't forget
11:53to head over to Twitter to follow us there. I've been Ellie with WhoCulture, and in the words
11:57of Riversong herself, goodbye, sweeties.
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