10 Doctor Who Scenes Where Actors Weren’t Acting
9. The Slappening
The Caves Of Androzani is widely regarded as one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time.
The Fifth Doctor and his pals become involved in a war on the titular planet, which is being fought over the life-prolonging substance spectrox. It's quite an intense serial, which might explain why one guest actor got a little too into character.
Actor and dancer Christopher Gable appears in this story as Sharaz Jek, the sinister villain of the piece, and the owner of a really cool name.
A few minutes into the third episode, a scene called for Jek to backhand the Doctor. Unfortunately, Gable gave it a little too much welly, and smacked Davison for real. So, if the Doctor's reaction to being pelted in the face seems particularly genuine, that's probably why!
Apparently, the mask that Gable had to wear for the character impaired his vision, which is why his slap was so off target.
At least it added more intensity to the scene, although considering that this was Davison's final serial, perhaps he would've liked to bow out of the role without getting beaten up first.