Doctor Who Doctor's nature, somewhere between the twelfth and final incarnation. On rare occasions, other actors have stood in for the lead. In "The Five Doctors", Richard Hurndall played the First Doctor due to William Hartnell's death in 1975; 34 years later David Bradley similarly replaced Hartnell in "Twice Upon a Time". In "Time and the Rani", Sylvester McCoy briefly played the Sixth Doctor during the regeneration sequence, carrying on as the Seventh. For more information, see the list of actors who have played the Doctor. In other media, the Doctor has been played by various other actors, including Peter Cushing in
David Bradley (English actor) David Bradley (English actor) David John Bradley (born 17 April 1942) is an English actor. He is known for playing Argus Filch in the "Harry Potter" film series, Walder Frey in the HBO fantasy series "Game of Thrones" and Abraham Setrakian in the FX horror series "The Strain". He is also an established stage actor with a career that includes a Laurence Olivier Award for his role in a production of "King Lear". Other acting credits include the BBC series "Our Friends in the North", the ITV series "Broadchurch" (for which he won the best supporting actor award at the