10 Doctor Who Cameos You Definitely Missed
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
00:04proved 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,
00:12in 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
00:20the 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
00:29you definitely missed.
00:3110.
00:32Sandy McDonald in The Unicorn and the Wasp
00:35Appropriately enough, our first cameo comes from an episode all about looking for clues,
00:40though hopefully you won't need a magnifying glass to spot him.
00:43Look closely when the Tenth Doctor and Donna are enjoying cocktails on the lawn in The
00:47Unicorn and the Wasp, and you might just spot a footman bearing a passing resemblance to
00:51the tenth and now fourteenth incarnation of everyone's favourite Time Lord.
00:56That's because he was played by David Tennant's late father, Sandy McDonald.
01:00I was coming down to visit David, McDonald explained to Doctor Who Confidential.
01:04I think they must have been short of someone because they very kindly invited me to play
01:08the part of a footman.
01:09Having your dad feature in Doctor Who is a claim to fame no other Doctor can make, but
01:13consider also that Tennant's future wife Georgia and his father-in-law Peter Davidson
01:18obviously also have appeared in Doctor Who, and at this point, the Tennant clan pretty
01:23much just own Doctor Who.
01:269.
01:27Brian 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?
01:34The Twelfth Doctor Arsa Tramp in his debut story Deep Breath, a nod to Peter Capaldi's
01:38previous roles in the Whoniverse.
01:40But Capaldi isn't the only familiar face in this scene.
01:43In fact, the Tramp's face had also featured in the Whoniverse before, in the Fifth Doctor
01:47serial Snake Dance, and in the Sarah Jane adventures in the story The Mad Woman in the
01:52Attic.
01:53The character behind these characters, Brian Miller, also provided Dalek voices for Resurrection
01:58and 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
02:08Smith.
02:09A meeting between the Twelfth Doctor and Sarah Jane was sadly always off the cards, due to
02:13Sladen's untimely passing in 2011.
02:16But by having her widow appear in Twelve's debut story, the production team were at least
02:20able to nod to what could have been.
02:24Nicholas 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's Shindig's Silver
02:36Nemesis, pay attention to the group of tourists that walk through the shot.
02:40Some of these tourists are, as you would expect, plain old extras, but hidden away at the back
02:44are a number of Doctor Who contributors, including none other than the Brigadier himself, Nicholas
02:49Courtney.
02:50Unlike the other tourists, Courtney's face is obscured, but he's easily identified
02:54by his grey blazer and cream trousers.
02:57The disguise is completed by a beret, apparently chosen by Courtney himself, having been told
03:01he was playing a French tourist.
03:03Also among the crowd were writers Graham Curry and Kevin Clarke, and directors Andrew Morgan,
03:08Peter Moffat and Fiona Cumming.
03:10If all had gone to plan, Silver Nemesis would have featured a much more prominent cameo
03:14in the form of Prince Edward.
03:16The ambitious producer John Nathan-Turner made an appeal to Buckingham Palace, hoping
03:20for the best, but his appeal was swiftly shot down.
03:247.
03:25Mark Gatiss in Victory of the Daleks
03:28Over a period of 12 years, from 2005 to 2017, Mark Gatiss penned no less than nine Doctor
03:35Who stories, and physically appeared in three, as Richard Lazarus in The Lazarus Experiment,
03:40Gantok in The Wedding of River Song, and Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart in Twice Upon a
03:44Time.
03:46What you might not know is that Gatiss also provided the voice of World War II pilot Danny
03:50Boy in Victory of the Daleks, the only instance of him appearing in an episode that he had
03:55also written, and the first time in the show's history that a character had been written
03:59and performed by the same person.
04:01Gatiss had not written the part with himself in mind, but he was offered it late in the
04:05day 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
04:11Demon's Run.
04:13It's hardly Gatiss' most significant contribution to the show, but nevertheless, it's a role
04:17he clearly relished playing.
04:196.
04:20Harley Byrd in In the Forest of the Night
04:23This entry is another voice you might recognise, and is the youngest actor on this list.
04:28Harley Byrd played inquisitive schoolgirl Ruby in series 8's In the Forest of the
04:33Night.
04:34If you notice something familiar about her voice, specifically a similar cadence to that
04:37of a certain cartoon character, then you'd be onto something.
04:41That's because she was the voice of Pepper Pig between 2007 and 2020.
04:46Byrd is one of four actors to have voiced the character over the years, and the longest
04:50serving.
04:51She was just 12 years old when she recorded her Doctor Who scenes, roughly halfway through
04:54her stint as the animated piglet.
04:56Interestingly, she's also not the only actor to have starred in both shows.
05:01Pepper Pig's grandparents, Grandpa Pig and Granny Pig, have both been played by classic
05:05Who alums, specifically David Graham, who voiced the Daleks throughout the Hartnell era, and
05:10Frances White, Cassandra in the first Doctor serial, The Myth Makers.
05:14So basically, Pepper Pig's grandparents are a 60s Dalek and a Greek High Priestess.
05:19Now there's an idea for a big finish box set.
05:225.
05:23John Nathan Turner in Arc of Infinity
05:26This is by far the hardest cameo on this list to spot, but persevere with that pause button
05:32and you'll find it eventually.
05:33The episode in question is part 4 of Arc of Infinity, Towards the Beginning.
05:37Here, the TARDIS lands in Amsterdam, and the Fifth Doctor consults the directory inside
05:42a telephone booth.
05:43Pay close attention and you might just glimpse a man walking behind the booth in a brown
05:47sheepskin coat.
05:48That man is Doctor Who stalwart John Nathan Turner, the producer who oversaw the show
05:52from 1980 to its cancellation in 1989.
05:56Unlike the Silver Nemesis cameos, however, Nathan Turner's inclusion was nothing more
06:00than an accident.
06:01The filming in Amsterdam attracted lots of attention, with many shots ruined by people
06:06pointing at the camera.
06:07Consequently, John Nathan Turner had to act as a crowd marshal, which is how he ended
06:11up in the shot.
06:12Reportedly, on another occasion, an old woman started attacking him, believing him to be
06:16a thief.
06:17Sadly, this particular instance of crowd control wasn't committed to camera.
06:214.
06:22Greg James in Closing Time
06:24Closing Time saw the return of James Corden as the Eleventh Doctor's one-time flat share
06:28Craig Owens, and it also saw Aunty Mabel herself, Linda Barron, appear in a supporting role
06:34as shop worker Val.
06:35Corden 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 ladieswear section, and
06:44you'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,
06:52christening him Carlos and hinting at a complex backstory.
06:55However, his Doctor Who experience was also something of a logistical nightmare.
06:59Why?
07:00Well, Doctor Who is filmed in Cardiff, a two-hour train ride from the Radio 1 studio in London.
07:06For 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
07:13sleep that afternoon.
07:15Now, that's the level of dedication that Doctor Who deserves.
07:183.
07:19Murray Gold in Voyage of the Damned
07:212007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned boasts one of Doctor Who's most impressive
07:26guest casts.
07:27Kylie Minogue, Geoffrey Palmer, Russell Tovey, Bernard Cribbins, Clive Swift, the list goes
07:32on and on.
07:33But look closely and you'll find another star hidden away on the decks of the Space
07:37Titanic.
07:38He only ever appears in the background, in the band playing guitar, and he doesn't look
07:42particularly notable.
07:44You might not even recognise his face, the moustache does help keep it disguised, but
07:48you'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, only this time he'd end up starring in the
08:03episode 2.
08:04It was something of a departure for Gold, who admitted to Doctor Who Confidential that
08:08he found work as a supporting actor boring, and that he resented having to wear a fake
08:12moustache.
08:132.
08:14Dudley 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, and you might just spot a very
08:32energetic conductor playing the band off as the curtain comes down in the Palace Theatre.
08:36Fast forward to Part 4, and this mysterious figure appears again, this time conducting
08:41a 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,
08:50including the score to City of Death.
08:52Like 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.
09:041.
09:05Kayvan Novak in The Time of the Doctor
09:08You'd be forgiven for thinking that there wasn't anything particularly remarkable
09:12about the actor who played Handles, the 11th Doctor's beloved cyberhead.
09:15He's got a slightly different twang to that of usual Cyberman voice actor Nick Briggs,
09:20yes, but surely it's not someone we'd recognise from elsewhere, is it?
09:24Well, that's where you'd be wrong.
09:26Even prior to appearing in The Time of the Doctor, Kayvan Novak had multiple TV credits
09:30to his name, including E4 comedy Phonejacker, a show he also co-created and which won him
09:36a BAFTA.
09:37His film credits were fewer, but have exploded in the years since he lent his pipes to Matt
09:41Smith's Swan Song, with 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
09:50Time of the Doctor, as the vampire Nandor in the TV adaptation of What We Do in the
09:55Shadows.
09:56It's a rare case, on this list at least, of someone cameoing in Doctor Who before rising
10:00to prominence, to the point where fans of Novak's other work will likely not have
10:04made 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, and while you're
10:16there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell so you never
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10:25across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
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10:32I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of Riversong herself, goodbye, sweeties.