10 Unbelievable Doctor Who Facts That Are Somehow True
2. Bernard Cribbins Auditioned For The Fourth Doctor
Bernard Cribbins will always be remembered for playing Wilfred Mott in various Doctor Who episodes airing between 2007 and 2024. However, things could have been very different if an important meeting from the mid 1970s had gone another way. In 2008, the actor revealed that he had auditioned to play the Fourth Doctor in 1974.
Cribbins was one of many names in the frame to succeed Jon Pertwee, including fellow Carry On star Jim Dale and Silurians guest star Fulton MacKay. While it's hard to see anyone else but Tom Baker in the role of the Fourth Doctor, Bernard Cribbins feels like the one name who could have taken Doctor Who to something approximating that level in terms of popularity.
"I would have loved to have done it" said Bernard Cribbins in 2008, and there's a part of all of us that would have loved to have seen it. Still, if Cribbins had played the Fourth Doctor in the 1970s, who would have played Donna's beloved grandfather in the late 2000s? While it may have been disappointing for Cribbins back in 1974, this failed audition worked out beautifully in the end.