10 Actors Who Turned Down Doctor Who
5. Geoffrey Bayldon
Alan Webb, Cyril Cusack, and Leslie French were amongst the potential actors to play the very first Doctor, back in 1963. But perhaps the biggest name of all was Geoffrey Bayldon – famed stage performer and star of the children’s series Catweazle. Bayldon declined the offer because it was a long schedule of 52 weeks and required him to play an old man.
Despite not playing the lead role, Bayldon is not shy of working on many Doctor Who-based projects. He had a guest appearance as Organon in “The Creature from the Pit”, alongside Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. He also played an alternative first Doctor in two audio plays based on the television series in the Doctor Who unbound series: Auld Mortality (2003) and A Storm of Angels (2005).