Doctor Who: 10 Actors Who Could Play The Sixteenth Doctor

Alexander Siddig is best known to sci-fi fans for his role as Dr Julian Bashir in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a character that evolved dramatically over the course of the show, transforming from eager, fresh-faced recruit to more nuanced and conflicted officer – a very similar acting spectrum to that required for the Doctor.

Siddig has made a career out of playing similar roles, with a calculated and slightly grey approach to morality. In Primeval, he played Philip Burton, a cold businessman whose scientific ambitions often clashed with his more do-goody colleagues. In Gotham, he appeared as Ra’s al Ghul, a figure of immense power and mystique, but also a charm and class that made him a rather amicable criminal. Add in his admittedly uneventful turn as Doran Martell in Game of Thrones, and you have an actor who is no stranger to the nerd world, and also has some fairly solid credentials playing schemers and orators.

Siddig would mark a return to an older, more classical Doctor, likely one with Machiavellian tendencies – a modern McCoy, perhaps. At 59 years of age he might not want to be running up and down corridors all day, but that would only force the show to take a more dramatic approach, with less reliance on 'crash bang wallop'.

He’s not had an enormous break yet, but you’ll find few people who don’t recognise his face from something or another. He’s a household face, just not a household name – exactly the level of fame ideal for the show!