10 Doctor Who Actors Who Almost Played Different Characters

3. Michelle Gomez

From one Michelle, to another! Because you can never have too many Michelle's, especially when one of them is portraying the first female incarnation of the Master. Did she mention... bananas? Speculation was rife when Michelle Gomez made her ominous Doctor Who debut in the closing moments of last year's series premiere, Deep Breath, and it wasn't until the finale that she finally revealed who she was. It didn't take her long (it was, like, 20 minutes) to establish herself as one of the most formidable adversaries in television history and it's no exaggeration to say that it's a role she was quite literally born to play. Except, she almost didn't. Michelle had originally signed up to play Ms Delphox in Time Heist but she was forced to pull out at the last minute due to conflicting commitments. Keeley Hawes promptly stepped in as the powerful banker instead but the ship had far from sailed for Michelle. As you'll know, she was reinstated as the recently regenerated renegade Time Lord and her foray into unequivocal madness has only just begun because she'll be back with a vengeance in the Series 9 two-part premiere, The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar, later this year. Look out, Doctor...