5 Doctor Who Actors Who Haven't Quite Made It To Hollywood

3. Michelle Ryan

Before being cast as the first 'companion of the week' of the 2009 Doctor Who "specials", Michelle Ryan was already a household name in the UK for being at the heart of one of EastEnders' most shocking storylines which saw her character, Zoe Slater, being revealed as the daughter of who she - and us - thought was actually her sister, Kat. It wasn't quite as timey-wimey as all the River Song shenanigans but it came pretty close at one point. Michelle is also known for delivering what has become one of the most iconic lines in British soap opera history, "You ain't my muvva!", which will no doubt be permanently imprinted in our minds forever more. What you might not know about Michelle is that she was launched as the face of NBC's new Bionic Woman series after she left the woes of Albert Square behind her. The less said about that the better though really - the series was critically panned and Michelle's ability to portray its protagonist was widely questioned by critics. As such, and rather unsurprisingly, the show crashed and burned after a plummet in the ratings and it was subsequently cancelled after just 8 episodes. Ouch. Every cloud has a silver lining, though, and its fate did mean that Michelle had room in her diary to commit to the role of Lady Christina de Souza in Planet of the Dead. At the end of the episode her character flew off in a red double-decker bus for adventures anew. Nobody knows where she was heading but it's probably best if she stays as far away from the US as possible.