12 AWFUL TV Shows Doctor Who Actors Want You To Forget

Doctor Who has generally proved a fantastic stepping stone for the actors involved, with many moving on to extremely successful careers due to their involvement in the classic Sci-Fi show.

The likes of Arthur Darvill and David Tennant have struck gold in Comic Book TV serials Legends of Tomorrow and Jessica Jones, while even more have struck gold in the film industry. Many Who actors have had an extensive career on screen prior to their travels on the TARDIS, epitomised by the overall strong track record of our current Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, whose list of quality performances helped her land the title role.

However, amongst the cavalcade of quality products that our favourite Who actors have had in their careers, there are also quite a few TV show appearances they'd much rather we forgot about. While the performances from the actors themselves haven't always been out and out awful, the shows themselves have ranged from painfully dull to out and out dreadful.

From dreary Period pieces to ultra corny soapies, Comedies devoid of humour or Sci-Fi products that couldn't match their premise, there have been many a failure that our favourite Who actors wish they could jump in the TARDIS so as to undo their mistakes.

So prepare to take a trip through time as we explore those awful TV shows Doctor Who actors would rather we forgot.

While she may have received a mixed reaction for her work as the first ever female Doctor, Jodie Whittaker's strike rate has generally been very strong when it comes to her TV roles. From the time bending Marchlands to the Crime mystery of Broadchurch and the firefighting antics of the London Fire brigade in The Smoke, Whittaker has consistently been a strong performer in high quality serials.

One show that Whittaker would much rather we forget however is the incredibly dreary 2008 mini series, Tess Of The D'Ubervilles. Based on the famous Thomas Hardy novel, the plot concentrates on the low status Durbeyfield family who find that they have unexpected regal links. Whittaker plays Izz, the eldest sister of the titular Tess, played by Gemma Arterton, with the Durbeyfields attempting in vain to step up the 'status ladder'.

The miniseries unfortunately proved all style and minimal substance, utilising all the weaker traits of the period drama genre, including a stack of stereotyped characterisations without any soul or believability. Arterton does an okay job in the lead role of Tess, as does Eddie Redmayne as Tess' one true love, but the whole thing is such a snore fest that it's hard to care about the intriguing plot points present in Hardy's novel.

Topical themes of sexual assault, murder and execution are unfortunately addressed here like an interpretation of a Danielle Steele novel. Such a waste of such strong source material.