Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Captain Jack Harkness

5. He Stopped Sao Til From Stealing The TARDIS

Doctor Who Captain Jack Harkness Bad Wolf
BBC Studios

Remember Sao Til? The world's first alien superstar? No? Then allow me to refresh your memory.

Between 2009 and 2011, John Barrowman was the host of the light entertainment show Tonight's the Night. The show featured live musical performances and revolved around fulfilling the wishes of ordinary members of the public, reminiscent of Cilla Black's Surprise Surprise.

In 2009, Tonight's the Night ran a competition for viewers aged 18 and over, offering them the chance to create an original alien character, which would later be featured in a special Doctor Who sketch. After letting the kids have their fun designing Abzorbaloffs and starring in Utopia, it was only fair that the adults got to have a go!

The winner was Tim Ingham, whose character Sao Til was a blue alien criminal with a robot arm. The design of this villain was genuinely awesome, with its strange featureless face creating an eye-catching contrast with its smart coat and hat!

Sao Til gained access to the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS, and hoped to finally have power over all of time and space. Luckily, Captain Jack was on hand to defeat Sao Til and protect the TARDIS from this nefarious alien menace – right before David Tennant turns up to tell off the two big kids for mucking around in his time machine!

This sketch is an oft-forgotten relic from that late 2000s era when Doctor Who was absolutely everywhere. And who knows, maybe the mighty Sao Til could make a return in RTD2?

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Contributor

Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies.