‘Doctor Who’ Turns 60: Where Are the Time Lord Portrayers Now?
Don’t be tardy for the TARDIS party! Doctor Who is celebrating its 60th anniversary (which officially falls on November 23) in grand style, bringing back Tenth Doctor David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as companion Donna Noble for a series of special episodes. And that trio of new stories — which kick off on BBC One in the U.K. and Disney+ in the U.S. on Saturday, November 25 — will also introduce Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor.
So, six decades into the British sci-fi franchise, where are the actors who have played the titular Time Lord thus far? The first three — William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee — have passed away, we’re sad to report, but scroll down for updates on the other 10.
Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials, Saturday, November 25, December 2, and December 9, Disney+
Tom Baker
Baker has kept up his residence in the Whoniverse. He co-wrote the 2019 novel Doctor Who: Scratchman, voiced The Curator in the 2020 podcast Doctor Who: Stranded (after playing the role onscreen in the 50th anniversary special), and reprised his role as the Doctor in the 2020 audio story Genetics of the Daleks. Unrelatedly, he also narrated the new short film Lovers and Madmen, in which filmmaker Jack Jewers sent a portrait of William Shakespeare to the edge of space.
Peter Davison
Davison returned to his role as the Time Lord in the 2022 Doctor Who episode “The Power of the Doctor” and in the “Earthshock” installment of this year’s Doctor Who: Tales of the TARDIS miniseries. Outside the franchise, he also joined Tennant, one of his Doctor Who successors (and his son-in-law), in an episode of Prime Video’s Good Omens this year.
Colin Baker
Baker also made an appearance in “The Power of the Doctor,” and he starred in the “Vengeance on Varos” episode of Tales of the TARDIS. Plus, he reprised the part in the 2022 audio drama Doctor Who: Unbound: Doctor of War. In December, he’ll play Ebenezer Scrooge in the touring Crime and Comedy Theatre Company production of A Christmas Carol.
Sylvester McCoy
McCoy, too, returned for “The Power of the Doctor,” and appeared in the Tales of the TARDIS episode “The Curse of Fenric.” He also voiced The Doctor in dozens of episodes of the audio drama Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures between 1999 and 2021. As for non-Doctor Who roles, McCoy played Igor in Rob Zombie’s 2022 film adaptation of The Munsters.
Paul McGann
McGann reprised his role as the Doctor in — you guessed it — the 2022 Doctor Who episode “The Power of the Doctor,” and he voiced the part in four installments of Time Lord Victorious, including one co-starring Tennant. Elsewhere on screen, McGann appeared in recent episodes of the British TV series Anne and McDonald & Dodds, and he stars as Jake Strathearn in the PBS Masterpiece drama Annika.
Christopher Eccleston
Eccleston returned to the Doctor Who universe only recently, starring in the audio drama Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures starting in 2021 and voicing his Doctor in the “Time Lord Immemorial” episode of the Doctor Who: Once and Future audio series earlier this year. In other work, Eccleston stars as Fagin in the CBBC children’s TV show Dodger, and he’ll appear in the upcoming fourth season of HBO’s True Detective.
David Tennant
Tennant’s roles since his first run on Doctor Who include Broadchurch and Around the World in 80 Days. And in addition to returning to the world of Doctor Who for the 60th anniversary specials (as the Fourteenth Doctor), his 2023 roles include continuing as the demon Crowley in the second season of Good Omens and voicing Huyang in Ahsoka.
Matt Smith
Smith has moved on from Doctor Who with an Emmy-nominated role as Prince Philip in the Netflix drama The Crown and his current role as Daemon Targaryen in the HBO Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. His recent film roles, meanwhile, include parts in Last Night in Soho and Morbius.
Peter Capaldi
Capaldi stars as criminal Gideon Shepherd in the Prime Video thriller series The Devil’s Hour, which has been renewed for Seasons 2 and 3, and has the upcoming Apple TV+ drama Criminal Record. He also voices Seamus MacGregor, Scottish grandfather of Nick (Nick Kroll), in the Netflix series Big Mouth. And he appeared in the 2019 “Someone You Loved” music video for musician Lewis Capaldi, his second cousin once removed.
Jodie Whittaker
After her Doctor Who exit, Whittaker narrated the Sky Kids TV show Ready Eddie Go!, starred as Tess in this year’s Paramount+ Australia drama One Night, and played Orla O’Riordan in the second season of the BBC One crime anthology Time. Coming up, she’ll star in the Netflix drama series Toxic Town, a true-crime story dubbed “the British Erin Brockovich.”
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