Paul McGann

Paul John McGann (born 14 November 1959REF: Who-ology: The Official Miscellany) is a British actor who played the Eighth Doctor, beginning with the 1996 TV movie Doctor Who. He reprised the role in audio stories for BBC Radio and Big Finish Productions, and reprised the role twice onscreen in the Doctor Who mini-episode The Night of the Doctor and the special The Power of the Doctor.
== Career ==
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".
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.
McGann was offered the lead role in the ITV series Sharpe in 1993. Unfortunately, during the filming of the series' first instalment, Sharpe's Rifles, McGann was injured while playing football and subsequently had to withdraw. The role was then given to, and made famous by, Sean Bean.
=== Doctor Who ===
Paul McGann reportedly found out about the Doctor Who TV movie during the 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.
During the production of the TV Movie, McGann participated in the documentary Bidding Adieu: A Video Diary, 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.
McGann portrayed power-hungry ambassador Durian in The Minister of Chance series, a spin-off of Doctor Who.
In 2013, McGann appeared as himself in The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, alongside fellow classic Doctor actors Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy.
From 2017 to 2018, McGann played sinister surgeon John Gaskell in forty episodes of the medical drama series Holby City (1999-ongoing).
=== Reprising the Doctor ===
McGann had given permission for his likeness to be used in BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures novel range and the monthly 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 spin-off 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 Main Range, 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 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 The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure 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).
According to Nicholas Briggs, McGann nearly stopped doing Big Finish during his initial run with companion Charley Pollard, but changed his mind following the casting of Sheridan Smith as new companion Lucie Miller and the new direction for the Eighth Doctor.https://www.bigfinish.com/podcasts/v/2021-10-31-twelfth-timejacked
== In the DWU ==
A version of Paul McGann was mentioned as being one of the actors in the Doctor Who TV movie, in Hospitality, a short story featuring the in Iris: Abroad.
Another version of Paul McGann appeared in the 2001 short story Father Time: "Set Visit", a speculative piece about what if the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures was part of the television series.
== Credits ==
As the Eighth Doctor
=== Television ===
==== Doctor Who ====
* Doctor Who
* The Power of the Doctor
==== Mini-episodes ====
* The Night of the Doctor
==== Other ====
* The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot
=== Webcasts ===
* Shada
=== Audio ===
==== Doctor Who Main Range ====
* Storm Warning
* Sword of Orion
* The Stones of Venice
* Minuet in Hell
* Invaders from Mars
* The Chimes of Midnight
* Seasons of Fear
* Embrace the Darkness
* The Time of the Daleks
* Neverland
* Zagreus
* Scherzo
* The Creed of the Kromon
* The Natural History of Fear
* The Twilight Kingdom
* Faith Stealer
* The Last
* Caerdroia
* The Next Life
* Terror Firma
* Scaredy Cat
* Other Lives
* Time Works
* Something Inside
* Memory Lane
* Absolution
* The Girl Who Never Was
* The Company of Friends
** Benny's Story
** Fitz's Story
** Izzy's Story
** Mary's Story
* The Silver Turk
* The Witch from the Well
* Army of Death
* The End of the Beginning
==== Special Releases ====
* Living Legend
* Shada
* The Four Doctors
* The Light at the End
* The Legacy of Time
** Lies in Ruins
** Collision Course
==== Charlotte Pollard: The Further Adventuress ====
* The Mummy Speaks!
* Eclipse
* The Slaying of the Writhing Mass
* Heart of Orion
==== The Eighth Doctor Adventures ====
* Blood of the Daleks
* Horror of Glam Rock
* Immortal Beloved
* Phobos
* No More Lies
* Human Resources
* Dead London
* Max Warp
* Brave New Town
* The Skull of Sobek
* Grand Theft Cosmos
* The Zygon Who Fell to Earth
* Sisters of the Flame / The Vengeance of Morbius
* Orbis
* Hothouse
* The Beast of Orlok
* Wirrn Dawn
* The Scapegoat
* The Cannibalists
* The Eight Truths / Worldwide Web
* Death in Blackpool
* Situation Vacant
* Nevermore
* The Book of Kells
* Deimos / The Resurrection of Mars
* Relative Dimensions
* Prisoner of the Sun
* Lucie Miller / To the Death
* What Lies Inside
** Paradox of the Daleks
** The Dalby Spook
* Connections
** Here Lies Drax
** The Love Vampires
** Albie's Angels
* Audacity
** The Devouring
** The Great Cyber-War
* In the Bleak Midwinter
** Twenty-Four Doors in December
** The Empty Man
** Winter of the Demon
==== The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller ====
* The Dalek Trap
* The Revolution Game
* The House on the Edge of Chaos
* Island of the Fendahl
==== Dark Eyes ====
* Dark Eyes
** The Great War
** Fugitives
** Tangled Web
** X and the Daleks
* Dark Eyes 2
** The Traitor
** The White Room
** Time's Horizon
** Eyes of the Master
* Dark Eyes 3
** The Death of Hope
** The Reviled
** Masterplan
** Rule of the Eminence
* Dark Eyes 4
** A Life in the Day
** The Monster of Montmartre
** Master of the Daleks
** Eye of Darkness
==== Doom Coalition ====
* Doom Coalition 1
** The Eleven
** The Red Lady
** The Galileo Trap
** The Satanic Mill
* Doom Coalition 2
** Beachhead
** Scenes From Her Life
** The Gift
** The Sonomancer
* Doom Coalition 3
** Absent Friends
** The Eighth Piece / The Doomsday Chronometer
** The Crucible of Souls
* Doom Coalition 4
** Ship in a Bottle
** Songs of Love
** The Side of the Angels
** Stop the Clock
==== Ravenous ====
* Ravenous 1
** Their Finest Hour
** How to Make a Killing in Time Travel
** World of Damnation / Sweet Salvation
* Ravenous 2
** Escape from Kaldor
** Better Watch Out / Fairytale of Salzberg
** Seizure
* Ravenous 3
** Deeptime Frontier
** Companion Piece
** L.E.G.E.N.D.
** The Odds Against
* Ravenous 4
** Whisper
** Planet of Dust
** Day of the Master
==== Stranded ====
* Stranded 1
** Lost Property
** Wild Animals
** Must-See TV
** Divine Intervention
* Stranded 2
** Dead Time
** UNIT Dating
** Baker Street Irregulars
** The Long Way Round
* Stranded 3
** Patience
** Twisted Folklore
** Snow
** What Just Happened?
* Stranded 4
** Crossed Lines
** Get Andy
** The Keys of Baker Street
** Best Year Ever
==== The Eighth Doctor: The Time War ====
* The Eighth Doctor: Time War: Volume One
** The Starship of Theseus
** Echoes of War
** The Conscript
** One Life
* The Eighth Doctor: Time War: Volume Two
** The Lords of Terror
** Planet of the Ogrons
** In the Garden of Death
** Jonah
* The Eighth Doctor: Time War: Volume Three
** State of Bliss
** The Famished Lands
** Fugitive in Time
** The War Valeyard
* The Eighth Doctor: Time War: Volume Four
** Palindrome
** Dreadshade
** Restoration of the Daleks
* Cass
** Meanwhile, Elsewhere
** Vespertine
** Previously, Next Time
==== The War Doctor ====
* Exit Strategy
==== Sontarans vs Rutans ====
* The Battle of Giant's Causeway
==== The Robots ====
* The Final Hour
==== The Paternoster Gang ====
* Till Death Us Do Part
==== Peladon ====
* The Truth of Peladon
==== Classic Doctors, New Monsters ====
* The Sontaran Ordeal
* Day of the Vashta Nerada
* Together in Eclectic Dreams
* If I Should Die Before I Wake
* The Silent Priest
==== Once and Future ====
* The Union
==== Doom's Day ====
* The Crowd
==== Time Lord Victorious ====
* He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not
* The Enemy of My Enemy
* Mutually Assured Destruction
* Echoes of Extinction
==== The Diary of River Song ====
* The Rulers of the Universe
==== Susan's War ====
* The Shoreditch Intervention
==== Master! ====
* Hellbound
==== The War Master ====
* Rage of the Time Lords
** The Missing Link / Darkness and Light
* Hearts of Darkness
** The Castle of Kurnos 5
** The Cognition Shift
As Durian
=== Webcasts ===
==== The Minster of Chance ====
* The Minister of Chance: Prologue
=== Audio ===
==== The Minster of Chance ====
* The Pointed Hand
* The Broken World
* The Forest Shakes
* Paludin Fields
* The Tiger
* In a Barque on the River Hex
Other Roles
=== Audio ===
==== Doctor Who Main Range ====
* Zagreus - Zagreus
* Other Lives - Edward Marlow
* Klein's Story - Johann Schmidt
==== Master! ====
* Hellbound - Axon Doctor
==== The War Master ====
* The Cognition Shift - 
=== Audiobook Readings ===
==== BBC Novelisations ====
* The Novel of the Film
==== BBC Audio ====
* Earth and Beyond
** Bounty
** Dead Time
** The People's Temple
==== Time Lord Fairy Tales ====
* The Three Brothers Gruff
=== Documentaries ===
* The Ultimate Guide
* The Ties that Bind Us - Narrator
* Getting a Head - Narrator
* Doctor Who Am I
== External links ==
* The McGann Library fan forum
* On Borrowed Time - Paul McGann article at Kasterborous.com
* (archived)
== Footnotes ==
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Category:Articles that were originally Wikipedia forks
Category:Doctor Who regular cast
Category:The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot cast
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Category:Actors who have voiced for the Doctor
Category:The Diary of River Song voice actors
Category:Pre-2005 Doctor Who cast reprising their roles at Big Finish
Category:BBC Audio audiobook readers
Category:BAFTA award nominees
Category:Saturn Award nominees
Category:Actors who portrayed the Master
Category:Actors who were credited in the Doctor Who opening titles
Category:Main Range voice actors
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Category:Bonus Releases voice actors
Category:Eighth Doctor Adventures voice actors
Category:Special Releases voice actors
Category:Big Finish regular cast
Category:Actors who portrayed the Eighth Doctor
Category:The Minister of Chance voice actors
Category:Dark Eyes voice actors
Category:Doom Coalition voice actors
Category:Ravenous voice actors
Category:The Eighth Doctor: Time War voice actors
Category:Classic Doctors, New Monsters voice actors
Category:Actors who portrayed the War Doctor
Category:The War Master voice actors
Category:The Legacy of Time voice actors
Category:Susan's War voice actors
Category:Stranded voice actors
Category:Big Finish Time Lord Victorious voice actors
Category:1963 Doctor Who cast reprising their roles in 2005 Doctor Who
Category:The Robots voice actors
Category:Peladon voice actors
Category:Big Finish Doom's Day voice actors
Category:Actors who portrayed multiple incarnations of the Doctor
Category:The Paternoster Gang voice actors
Category:Once and Future voice actors
Category:The War Doctor voice actors
Category:Sontarans vs Rutans voice actors
Category:Master! voice actors