10 Doctor Who Actors Who Nearly Died While Filming

Time and space can be a dangerous place.

Ace Doctor Who Battlefield
BBC Studios

For a soft and cuddly family teatime show, a lot of people die in Doctor Who. Barely an episode goes by without somebody getting done in, and even the main character has bitten the dust over a dozen times!

But for as much death and destruction as there is onscreen, there's also a fair amount of danger behind the cameras too.

With hundreds of episodes in the can - and with thousands of hours of on-set time devoted to them - there were bound to be some accidents in Doctor Who's history. However, an accident is one thing. But one that nearly causes someone to lose their life? That's a very different story.

Sometimes, it's stunt performers in the line of fire, sometimes, it's guest stars, and sometimes, it's series regulars - including the companions and the Doctors themselves!

Get your hard hat ready and fetch your robot dog, because this one's going to get hazardous...

10. Alan Chuntz (Inferno)

Ace Doctor Who Battlefield
BBC Studios

The seventh season of Classic Who went out with a bang with the seven-part serial Inferno.

Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor gets flung across time and space to an alternate reality version of Earth. In this strange new world, the UK is run by a fascist government.

You can make your own jokes with that one.

During a scene in episode three involving the Doctor's car, Bessie, driving at high speeds, stuntman Alan Chuntz took method acting a step too far, and was actually struck by the vehicle for real. This caused a serious leg injury to the performer, and he was immediately transported to A&E. Actor John Levene called it "the worst wound he'd ever seen."

Poor old Pertwee was so distraught by nearly running a man down that he became ill, which pushed back shooting by several hours.

Thankfully, Chuntz recovered, and he even returned to work on Doctor Who a bunch more times, and presumably kept his distance from Pertwee and his road rage.

 
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Contributor

Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.