10 Doctor Who Guest Stars Who Came Back In Bigger Roles

5. Nicholas Courtney

Nicholas Courtney is universally cherished for his portrayal of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart ('the Brigadier' will do for short) in Doctor Who but you might not know - unless you've really been doing your research - that his liaisons with the titular Time Lord began long before his inception as one of the show's most memorable and adored characters. Originally in the running for the part of Richard the Lionheart (which was eventually awarded to Julian Glover) in the 1965 First Doctor serial The Crusader, Nicholas finally got his chance to share the screen with William Hartnell when he landed the role of Space Security Agent Bret Vyon in The Daleks' Master Plan later that same year. Its director, Douglas Camfield, was so impressed by Courtney's performance that he lined him up for another guest stint, this time as Captain Knight, during the Second Doctor's encounter with The Web of Fear in 1968. This would never come to any fruition, though, as the stars promptly aligned for Nicholas to take over the serial's more substantial role of Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart when its original actor, David Langton, was forced to back out due to conflicting contractual commitments (try saying that when you're drunk!). The rest, as they say, is history. Courtney wasted no time in firmly establishing himself as one of the most formidable forces within the Doctor Who universe and he was swiftly promoted to Brigadier and subsequently took over the helm of the UNIT organisation which paved the way for him to become a recurring character in the show throughout the early 1970s. He aided the Second/Third Doctors on various Earth excursions and has appeared, either on TV or in the form of an audio dventure, alongside every subsequent Doctor up to and including Paul McGann. Nicholas sadly passed away in 2011 but his legacy lives on through his on screen daughter, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and he was also honoured during the Series 8 finale when the Twelfth Doctor finally granted him the salute he had always wanted. Granted the poignancy of the moment was somewhat diminished by the fact that the Brig had been converted into a Cyberman (??), but it's the thought that counts.