9 Problems With Doctor Who No One Wants To Admit

5. The Guest Stars Are Usually Crap

Doctor Who is a staple of British pop culture and it seems as if there isn't an actor working today who wouldn't say no to taking on a coveted guest stint in the series. As a critically acclaimed televisual institution in its own right, you're basically being offered a role on primetime TV when you sign up to appear in the show, as well as a nifty side income from the repeat fee cheques and a first class ticket to being universally adored when you're inevitably invited to the never ending plethora of Doctor Who conventions around the world. Unless you're totally crap, that is. And they usually are. More often than not, it's the kids. Sorry, but it's true. They say you should never work with children and you only have to watch Series 7's Nightmare in Silver (if you can bear sitting through it again) to see that. But why oh why do they hire such rubbish guest actors when there's literally the crème de la crème of British acting talent quite literally knocking on the doors of Roath Lock studios? Nobody outside of the show knows the ins and outs of the casting process, of course, and the TV industry is as corrupt as the next one, but surely it would've made more sense to cast somebody with a shard of charisma to play Perkins in Mummy on the Orient Express, rather than Frank Skinner who reportedly only got the role because he "begged and begged and begged" anyway. Let's all beg for a guest role in the next series and see how far that gets us, since they're practically giving them away... You've got to take the good with the bad, of course, and Doctor Who has had some bloody good signings over the years. What about stage and screen veteran Imelda Staunton in The Girl Who Waited, for example, and Golden Globe winner Sir Ian McKellen in The Snowmen? Oh yeah, they were only heard and never seen, in a true case of Wasted Opportunities. There was Kylie Minogue in Voyage of the Damned, to be fair, which was a pretty big deal. Perhaps Justin Bieber will follow suit in this year's Christmas Special. Stranger things have happened.
Doctor Who Editor
Doctor Who Editor

Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.