10 Doctor Who Actors You Won't Recognise Out Of Costume

6. Sarah Parish

Every actor has their dream role and surely for many the thought of playing a giant half human, half arachnid in Doctor Who is right up there with the likes of Hamlet and Hedda Gabler? It should be if it isn't (after all, why else would you go to drama school?) and for Sarah Parish it became a reality in 2006 when she signed up to play the Empress of the Racnoss in the Tenth Doctor's second festive escapade, The Runaway Bride. Granted, she couldn't actually move in her costume but the make up and prosthetics were still damned impressive, so hats off to the team who brought her to life. It took Sarah four hours to transform into this scheming spider and the episode milked her for all she was worth by just showing us shots of her pincers before finally revealing her in all her glory in the last 10 minutes. To give credit where credit's due, though, a giant spider walking around would've raised a few eyebrows to say the very least (to be fair, stranger things have been spotted on the streets of London...) so at least she was realistic in her attempt to take over the world (that is, as realistic as a million of your spider babies feasting on human flesh on Christmas Day can be!), because so many Doctor Who villains are just so silly they're almost destined to fail, aren't they? Besides, it's just as well she didn't have to move that much, really, since Sarah's costume made her practically immobile anyway. Her extra eyes do blink occasionally, though, and, if you look really closely, you can just about see her legs move from time to time. Turns out NuWho and the Classic Series aren't so different after all. It'll be wobbly sets next.