10 Doctor Who Behind The Scenes Secrets You Need To Know
7. The TV Movie's A-List Aspirations
The 1996 TV movie is an odd thing. It was an American co-production, which is strange enough for Doctor Who. It went through so many iterations during development, including one where the Doctor and the Master were half-brothers, and Borusa was the Doctor's gramps. Fair enough.
At points, it was also aiming to be much more of a blockbuster event than it ended up being.
This is largely down to some of the insane A-list names Philip Segal and Peter Wagg (the project's original spearheads) had considered to star in and direct this new era of Doctor Who.
Hollywood heavyweights like Ralph Fiennes, Hugh Grant, Sean Bean, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and Pierce Brosnan – yes, James Bond himself – were all thrown around as potential Doctor candidates in the early stages. Some would of course go on to appear in Doctor Who further down the line, like McKellen as the voice of the Great Intelligence opposite Matt Smith.
Meanwhile, Wagg shortlisted some big-name directors for the project including Alien and Blade Runner's Ridley Scott, Gremlins' Joe Dante, and Star Trek III and IV director Leonard Nimoy.
This means there's a timeline where we got a Doctor Who movie starring Picard and directed by Spock! Just imagine.