Doctor Who might not have seen the last of Christopher Eccleston...
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Doctor Who is one of those shows that actors can never fully shake.
00:03You can appear as a canon fodder supporting character in a single episode,
00:09and for the rest of your career that will be the most iconic thing you've ever done.
00:14You'll be attending fan conventions and signing autographs for decades,
00:18and it will be the thing you get asked about the most on social media and in interviews.
00:23Now sure, the vast majority of Doctor Who actors would probably return if asked to,
00:29but there are times when said actors, from main stars to companions to
00:34one-off supporting characters, have publicly discussed that idea,
00:38openly declaring their wish to step back into the TARDIS for another jaunt around the universe.
00:45So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture,
00:47and here are 10 actors who want to return to Doctor Who.
00:52Number 10, Michelle Gomez.
00:54Michelle Gomez last played the wickedly funny villainess Missy in 2017's series 10 finale,
01:01where she was seemingly killed off by her prior rather angry incarnation.
01:06However, in typical master fashion,
01:08Missy survived this apparent demise and soon went on to torment the 13th Doctor.
01:13Gomez's infectious energy made her an instant hit with fans,
01:17and she clearly had a blast in the role,
01:20so it's no surprise that she's eager to return at some point in the future.
01:24In 2019, the actress told Radio Times that she was completely
01:29open to stepping back into Missy's shoes,
01:32expressing particular interest in squaring off against Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor, stating,
01:38Oh gosh, yeah, of course I would. I'd love to have a little run around with her.
01:41I don't know if that's ever going to happen, but I'm completely open to it,
01:44and I'd love to see Missy come back in and just get to play again.
01:47With Whittaker set to regenerate at the end of 2022,
01:50a Missy 13 showdown doesn't seem to be on the cards, but hey, who knows?
01:56Maybe Chris Chibnall has managed to squeeze
01:58that confrontation into November's centenary special.
02:01Number 9, Billy Piper
02:03After leaving the show in 2008's emotional series 4 finale,
02:07followed by a brief cameo in 2010's The End of Time Part 2,
02:1150th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor saw Billy Piper return to Doctor Who,
02:16swapping the down-to-earth charm of Rose Tyler
02:19for the steely power of the Time Lord's super weapon, The Moment.
02:23As for another return to the show?
02:25Well, there was a time where she seemed completely disinterested in the idea,
02:29telling The Guardian that she wouldn't go back.
02:32But in recent years, she does seem to have warmed to the idea,
02:35explaining in a 2021 video that if the circumstances and story were right,
02:40then she would be more than willing to step back into the TARDIS,
02:44adding that she's now been away from the show long enough to start to miss it.
02:48Rose is one of the most popular companions to come from the modern series,
02:52and seeing as it was Russell T Davies who created her,
02:56it would seem somewhat poetic for him to include her in his second era as showrunner.
03:01Number 8, Alex Kingston
03:03The story of River Song was wrapped up beautifully in the 2015 Christmas special,
03:09but there are so many reasons why it would make sense for River to come back.
03:14Chief among these is her wibbly-wobbly timeline,
03:16which makes it easy to say that her next adventure takes place
03:20anywhere between Let's Kill Hitler and The Husbands of River Song,
03:23with little explanation necessary.
03:25Combining this with the fact that she's one of the most fun companions in the show
03:30and a perennial fan favourite,
03:32and it's no surprise that Alex Kingston is gunning for River to reappear,
03:36declaring that,
03:37With such an open-ended timeline,
03:46it wouldn't be a shock to see River pop up for another one-off adventure.
03:50She is the Doctor's wife after all.
03:52Number 7, Carol Ann Ford
03:54As companion Susan Foreman,
03:56Carol Ann Ford's last Doctor Who appearance was in 1983's The Five Doctors.
04:01We don't talk about dimensions in time.
04:03So it's been a fair old while since we saw her in the role.
04:06Despite this, Ford clearly doesn't feel like she's lost that spark,
04:10or that she's rusty.
04:11In a 2020 interview with SFX Magazine,
04:14the actress was asked if she wanted to return to the show,
04:18perhaps for an adventure with Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor,
04:21to which she responded in the affirmative.
04:24Ford also told a hilarious story about the time
04:27she visited Peter Capaldi on the Doctor Who set.
04:30According to her,
04:31Mr Attack Eyebrows danced around the TARDIS singing,
04:34I want you to come back, I want you to come back,
04:36which prompted her to think,
04:38my God, I'd love to work with him.
04:40A photograph of Susan famously appeared on the 12th Doctor's desk
04:44in the Series 10 opener.
04:46So if we take this to mean that the Doctor is still thinking about her,
04:49then there is an inbuilt story reason to bring Susan back.
04:53That and the fact that the First Doctor literally promised Susan
04:56that he would visit her again,
04:58a promise he has yet to fulfil.
05:00Number 6, David Tennant
05:02Since regenerating into Matt Smith in early 2010,
05:06David Tennant's 10th Doctor has been in so many comics,
05:09video games and audio dramas,
05:11and a starring role in the 50th special,
05:13that it never really felt like he truly left.
05:16Given his willingness to come back
05:18for all those expanded media projects over the years,
05:21it isn't a surprise that he's also keen to return
05:24in an on-screen capacity,
05:25stating in a 2019 interview
05:28that he'd love to see a 60th anniversary special
05:31that united him with Whittaker, Capaldi, Smith and Eccleston's Doctors.
05:36In a more recent 2021 interview, he added,
05:39Anything is possible.
05:40Never say never to anything.
05:42Given the 10th Doctor's popularity being as high as it is,
05:46and Tennant's old pal Russell T Davies
05:49returning to spearhead Doctor Who in 2023,
05:52it almost seems inevitable that we will see Tennant
05:55don the converse and brown coat again within the next few years.
05:59Number five, Georgia Tennant.
06:01Whenever the subject of abandoned Doctor Who plot threads is raised,
06:05one that almost always gets mentioned
06:08is the fate of Jenny, the Doctor's daughter.
06:11Though Russell T Davies and Stephen Moffat
06:13have jokingly revealed that she flew into a moon and died,
06:17we don't know what she's been up to
06:19since her last on-screen appearance 14 years ago.
06:22Actress Georgia Tennant, David's wife,
06:25was never asked to return to the show,
06:26but to this day she continues to hold out hope
06:29that the call might arrive.
06:31In a recent chat with Metro, Tennant stated
06:33that she would obviously return to the show if asked,
06:36adding that she even has her own storyline in mind.
06:39I like the idea that she's sort of gone off
06:40and had a couple of kids and she's let herself go a bit,
06:43and she's enjoying her life,
06:45and then someone comes back and goes,
06:47no, come on, you've got to go back to work.
06:49Considering that the Doctor believes Jenny to be dead,
06:51there's quite a lot of dramatic potential
06:54for reuniting these characters on screen.
06:56And if the 14th Doctor is a woman,
06:58it would be interesting to see Jenny's reaction
07:01to her father's new look.
07:03Number four, Paul McGann.
07:04As Doctors go, Paul McGann's eighth
07:07is in a unique position.
07:08Having not been granted a full series of television,
07:11audiences don't know his Doctor
07:13as well as they know the rest of them,
07:15so it almost feels like a no-brainer to bring him back.
07:18McGann himself also shares this stance,
07:20telling Doctor Who Magazine in 2016
07:23that he feels like his on-screen tenure isn't yet over
07:27and that there's a bit of potential
07:29in an eighth Doctor return.
07:30He then jokingly added,
07:31I'm younger than Capaldi,
07:33before explaining that if he were to return,
07:35then the story reasons would have to be compelling.
07:38The positive response to The Night of the Doctor
07:40proves that there's still a hunger
07:42for McGann's take on the Time Lord,
07:44and it just feels right for him to get his due.
07:48Number three, Matt Smith.
07:50Matt Smith has made the jump to Hollywood
07:52since leaving Doctor Who in 2013.
07:55With starring roles in Terminator Genisys,
07:58Netflix's historical epic The Crown,
08:00Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho,
08:02and this year's Morbius.
08:04Like Karen Gillan, it almost feels like
08:06he's getting too big to step back down
08:08into the relatively low-budget world of Doctor Who.
08:11But despite all his success,
08:13he still wouldn't mind donning the tweed jacket and bow tie
08:17at some point in the future.
08:19In fact, in 2017,
08:20he didn't just tell MTV that he wants to come back.
08:24He openly declared that he will be back one day.
08:27Yeah, why not? I'd come back if the timing was right.
08:31Look, I'll be back one day when I'm old and gray,
08:33which isn't far off.
08:34Much like the Tenth Doctor,
08:36Eleven's popularity makes him
08:38one of the top candidates for a return.
08:40And with Smith still being so young,
08:42he could get away with playing the role
08:44for many decades to come.
08:46Number two, Christopher Eccleston.
08:48For well over a decade,
08:50the narrative surrounding a potential return
08:52to Doctor Who for Christopher Eccleston
08:54has been that he will never do it in a million years,
08:57primarily due to the poor experience he had
08:59during his short tenure on the series in the mid-2000s.
09:03And while it's certainly true that he has problems
09:06with the way the show was run during his brief tenure,
09:09the actor does seem to have softened on Doctor Who
09:12in recent years and has even opened himself up
09:14to a potential on-screen return.
09:16Many fans thought they'd never see Eccleston return
09:19to play the Ninth Doctor in any capacity,
09:21and yet in 2020, it was announced
09:24that he'd be reprising the role
09:25for a series of big Finnish audio dramas,
09:28a clear sign that he wasn't totally averse
09:30to dipping his feet in Whoniverse waters.
09:33More recently, he's gone one step further,
09:35indicating that he'd be down
09:36for a proper on-screen return,
09:39just not in a multi-Doctor special,
09:41stating,
09:42the Ninth Doctor in particular
09:43is a one-man band, definitely,
09:46so he doesn't work with other Doctors.
09:47If you want me back, you get me on my own.
09:49With Eccleston's rocky history with the show,
09:51it does feel unlikely that we'll see him
09:54picking up that sonic screwdriver once again,
09:56but the chances of it happening
09:58have increased slightly in recent years.
10:01Number one, Catherine Tate.
10:03In early 2021, it was reported
10:05that Catherine Tate had been spotted in Liverpool
10:08at the exact same time
10:10that Doctor Who were filming series 13 in that city.
10:14And while it was later revealed
10:16that she very much wasn't in Liverpool,
10:18this flimsy rumour caused quite the stir
10:20in Doctor Who fan circles.
10:22So you can imagine how hyped people would be
10:25if Donna Noble did actually return to the show.
10:28Fortunately, then, Catherine Tate
10:29is very much open to the idea,
10:31telling The One Show,
10:33No one's been in touch,
10:34but I'm on the same number, I'd just like to say.
10:36So if you've got the money, I've got the time.
10:38Donna is another character
10:40closely associated with returning showrunner
10:42Russell T Davies,
10:43and so, on the surface at least,
10:45that does increase the chances
10:46of him wheeling her out for another spin.
10:48You simply cannot contain the best temp in Chiswick.
10:52And that concludes our list.
10:53If you can think of any other actors
10:55who would be willing to return to Doctor Who,
10:57then do let us know in the comments below.
10:59And while you're there,
11:00don't forget to like and subscribe
11:01and tap that notification bell.
11:03Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there,
11:05and I can be found across various social medias
11:07just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:10I've been Ellie with Who Culture,
11:11and in the words of River Song herself,
11:13goodbye, sweeties.