The Doctor (Doctor Who)
Changing faces
William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton with Jon Pertwee in The Three Doctors. Originally Hartnell's role had been intended to be more extensive, but his health had deteriorated to the extent that he could only make a limited appearance which would be his last television role. Troughton and Pertwee with Peter Davison in The Five Doctors, the twentieth anniversary special, with newly released footage of Tom Baker and another actor, Richard Hurndall, standing in for the deceased William Hartnell. Archive footage of Hartnell taken from The Dalek Invasion of Earth introduced the story. Baker declined to appear, feeling that the role came too soon after he had left the programme (a decision he later said he regretted) and the narrative was reworked to use clips from Shada, an intended six-part story from the Fourth Doctor's era that was never completed due to industrial strikes. A waxwork dummy of Baker from Madame Tussauds was used in publicity photographs. Patrick Troughton with Colin Baker in The Two Doctors. This story is notable for not being produced either to celebrate the programme's anniversary or as a Children in Need production. Sylvester McCoy was joined by Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Colin Baker, with the first and the second Doctor being represented by rubber heads, because both actors had died by then, in Dimensions in Time, the programme's thirtieth anniversary charity special in aid of Children in Need in 1993. Except for the mannequin versions of Hartnell and Troughton, no two Doctors are shown on screen at the same time. (This story was a crossover with EastEnders). Sylvester McCoy returned to film early segments of Doctor Who, the TV film featuring the Seventh Doctor's regeneration scene. Peter Davison with David Tennant in the 2007 Children in Need special "Time Crash". Paul McGann returned to film the Eighth Doctor's final moments and regeneration in the 2013 mini-episode "The Night of the Doctor", a prelude to the 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor". None of the other Doctors appeared in this mini-episode, although archive footage of John Hurt appears briefly in the closing scene, for which he provided original audio. David Tennant appeared in the 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" with Matt Smith. Also co-starring was John Hurt as a newly revealed incarnation of the Doctor. Tom Baker had a cameo appearance in the special as the curator of the National Gallery. He was implied to be a future Doctor who was "revisiting" an "old favourite" face, but the script never explicitly states this. Dialogue states that "perhaps it doesn't matter either way" whether the Doctor and Curator are the same individual. Archive footage of the original eight Doctors was reworked with new audio from voice actor John Guilor, and a brief appearance by future Doctor actor Peter Capaldi was inserted, to represent all thirteen incarnations of the Doctor. Matt Smith made another appearance in "Deep Breath", the first full episode after his regeneration. He made a telephone call to his future to reassure Clara Oswald and urge her to accept his successor, portrayed by Peter Capaldi. The scene was filmed on the set of "The Time of the Doctor", Smith's last story as the incumbent Doctor, for the eighth series. In addition to the above, Tom Baker, Davison, Colin Baker, McCoy, McGann, Tennant and Hurt have reprised the role on many occasions since 1999 in audio dramas from Big Finish Productions.
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