Doctor Who: 10 More Characters We Want To See Return
9. Sil
The revived series has maintained a healthy balance between introducing new aliens and bringing back some old classics. The 60s and 70s have been mined for their best creations, from Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Silurians, Ice Warriors and Zygons, to the even more obscure Great Intelligence and Macra. But the 80s have been completely overlooked. To be fair there aren’t that many stand-out candidates. But one villain surely worth revisiting is the slug-like Mentor, Sil, as played by Nabil Shaban.
Sil was a particularly nasty piece of work. Lacking in any morals in his capitalist ventures, he also had a morbid fascination for watching others tortured and killed, purely for entertainment: “There is nothing I more enjoy than human suffering.” He was just as fascinating to watch, especially when things weren’t going his way leading to an inevitable temper tantrum. All the most memorable aliens have extraordinary and disturbing voices, and Sil was no different; sibilant and modulated, with a slimy laugh to match his appearance.
Nabil Shaban is still a leading character actor on stage and screen and, if called upon, could easily return to the role he very much made his own.