Paul McGann Paul John McGann ( born 14 November 1959 ) played the eighth incarnation of the Doctor in the 1996 " Doctor Who " television movie and the 2013 BBC iPlayer and BBC Red Button " Doctor Who " mini - episode " The Night of the Doctor " and also voices the role in audio plays for BBC Radio and Big Finish Productions . He was born in Surrey , although his family moved to Liverpool when he was a young child . His brothers Mark , Joe , and Stephen are also actors ; the four of them starred together ( as four brothers ) in the 1995 television miniseries " The Hanging Gale " . They also formed the pop quartet " The McGanns " , releasing the single " Shame About The Boy " . Career . McGann made his name on the BBC serial " The Monocled Mutineer " , in which he played the lead role of Percy Toplis . Following that part , he was cast as the eponymous " I " in Bruce Robinson ' s cult film comedy , " Withnail and I " ( 1987 ) . He also starred as Anton Skrebensky in Ken Russell ' s 1989 adaptation of D . H . Lawrence ' s " The Rainbow " . " Doctor Who " . Paul McGann reportedly found out about the " Doctor Who " TV movie during production of the 1993 film " The Three Musketeers " . Tim Curry was offered the role of the Eighth Doctor and he was interested in playing the role , because he ' s always interested in a role that isn ' t a villain , but he didn ' t know how to play the character . One day during filming , Curry approached McGann on how he would play the Eighth Doctor if he were cast . Curry turned down the role of the Eighth Doctor because of scheduling conflicts with several movies , and McGann would be cast as the Eighth Doctor . ( However , given that the 1996 TV movie wasn ' t cast or even organised until 1995 , it ' s possible the production discussed by Curry and McGann in 1992 when " The Three Musketeers " was being filmed was a different film . ) During production of the TV movie , McGann participated in the documentary " " , Sylvester McCoy ' s personal documentary of his then - final outing as the Seventh Doctor . Post - " Who " work . Since " Doctor Who " , McGann ' s career has concentrated on television work including the " Hornblower " series . His voice was featured in the 1997 video game " Ceremony of Innocence " , together with those of Isabella Rossellini and Ben Kingsley . In 2013 , McGann appeared as himself in " The Five ( ish ) Doctors Reboot " , alongside fellow classic Doctor actors Peter Davison , Colin Baker , and Sylvester McCoy . Reprising the Doctor . McGann had given permission for his likeness to be used in BBC Books ' Eighth Doctor Adventures novel range and the weekly " Doctor Who Magazine " comic strip continuing his character ' s adventures without him having any actual involvement . As a result , in the many years before television " Who " returned to production , the Eighth Doctor remained the " current " Doctor in all the new " Doctor Who " spinoff media with the character ' s mannerisms extrapolated from his brief performance . In 1997 , McGann made his first foray into " Doctor Who " audio when he recorded several audiobooks for BBC Audio , beginning with an audio adaptation of " The Novel of the Film " and continuing with a collection of short stories , " Earth and Beyond " . In 2000 , he joined the roster of Big Finish Productions , reprising the role of the Eighth Doctor for the range of Big Finish " Doctor Who " audio stories , and was treated as the " current " Doctor by the majority of fandom and the BBC until Christopher Eccleston assumed the role in 2005 . He also made his webcast debut with the animated " Shada " . McGann continues to play the Eighth Doctor in Big Finish ' s main " Doctor Who " range as well as The New Eighth Doctor Adventures , a second series of audios produced by Big Finish for broadcast on BBC7 Radio . McGann participated in a commentary and other material for the DVD re - release of his own TV Movie . He has narrated material on other classic " Who " DVD releases as well , for example the " Five Doctors " DVD featurette " The Ties That Bind Us . " Paul McGann finally returned to the screen as the Eighth Doctor in 2013 , when he reprised the role in " The Night of the Doctor " . Though it was only a brief outing , the mini - episode allowed him a chance to at last depict his regeneration story . Following this , he bragged that Colin Baker was now the only previous Doctor to have never filmed his regeneration sequence , due to his forced dismissal from the role , which was later rendered a moot point when Baker himself recorded his regeneration in the audio anthology " " released in 2015 . During his regeneration story , McGann also briefly portrayed the newly regenerated War Doctor , making him one of two actors to have technically portrayed two different incarnations of the Doctor ( the other being his predecessor Sylvester McCoy , who similarly briefly played the Sixth Doctor during his regeneration sequence ) .