Since Doctor Who began, if you forgave its occasional production shortfalls, it paid you off generously with AMAZING performers and casting. And in the Classic Series, casting often was everything. The New Series mostly continues the impeccable standard. I stand with a majority of fans and say they've NEVER blown casting the role of the Doctor, and more often than not the companions have been perfectly rendered too. Many, MANY iconic villains are what they are not because of ring modulators or Dalek casings - They were effortlessly portrayed through perfect casting, sometimes by names that were justly famous already (Martin Jarvis, Kylie Minogue, Brian Blessed, Julian Glover, and Sir Ian McKellan for example) or who rose to fame shortly thereafter (We can count Andrew Garfield, Martin Clunes, and Carey Mulligan amongst those who broke out on "Who"). Sometimes, though....they get it SO wrong. New and Classic Who sometimes just skimp on the casting budget, or seemingly think it'll come together after editing and Murray Gold have their way with it.....but no. Some performances are just SO painful, and it's not even the writing or story OR costume. It's just an actor who's literally screaming for you to end the game of "Which One Doesn't Belong" that you shouldn't even be playing. So here, as we set off to another series with such names as Dame Diana Rigg and Warwick Davis in the cast lists, are ten names that we shouldn't ever have seen in the credits following that familiar end-of-episode sting.
10. Paul Grist (Bill Filer, The Claws of Axos)
While watching "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks" upon first broadcast, a girl I was watching it with turned towards me as the New York showgirls were speaking, and playfully said, "Doo they tink we awl tawk like that? Ora ah they gettin' evin for awl the bayed Inglish voyses we doo?" Phonetic rendering aside, the New Yorkers WERE a little over the top in that story, and often were obviously NOT American once the cameras stopped. Oh, but they didn't have ANYTHING on Paul Grist. 3rd Doctor Jon Pertwee faces a parasitic gestalt entity called Axos in the story I speak of and, because he seriously had nothing better to do, the Master turns up too. Jo Grant screams, the Brigadier yells some orders, and there's a Government Man on the scene named Chin who mucks things up for the Doctor and looks like his grooming took tips from KFC's Colonel Sanders. But an unexpected development in this story is that somehow, despite ONLY recently causing trouble for the British government and UNIT, The Master has provoked the American Government to send an FBI agent, Bill Filer, over with orders to detain him. This is remarkable for two reasons: 1. This plot point is completely unnecessary to "The Claws of Axos"; Anyone else could've filled the occasional plot functions. 2. Paul Grist seems to have NO idea where New York is. I think he suspects it's in Texas. I cannot even begin to describe the unintentional hilarity that Grist provokes as he renders EVERY line with what is unmistakably a southern accent. It's like the production team sent him away with an Elvis film to learn how to do an American accent. I will grant you that PERHAPS Bill Filer had previously lived in the southern US and relocated to New York - Why even say he's from New York then? To add insult to injury, his southern accent is..... OK at best, but more often than not poor. And really, why not just cast an American?(Or, as is often the case, a Canadian? Donald Sutherland was a go-to guy for this sort of thing in the 60's...) The moment an actor was cast who obviously couldn't hack the accent should've been the moment they changed the script to have him be from ANYWHERE else. Really, after almost firing stolen missles and nearly wrecking peace conferences, the Master should've had MI6's attention. This is ignoring the fact that, accent aside, Grist is terrible overall. The accent just takes a bad performance and makes it HILARIOUSLY bad. In a story where the piece of Axos interrogating the Doctor looks like nothing less than a Space-genital in netting, laughs in the wrong places aren't going to help anything.
(Less than) Shining Moment:
Filer is unconscious in a hospital bed. He is aware of Axos' plans to complete its takeover of Earth, but cannot warn anyone as he is unable to be roused. However, he clearly has it on his mind - How do we know? Because he's uncontrollably shaking his head and CLEARLY speaking every important point of the takeover plan. What should come across as someone asleep but ominously muttering things we already know (So he doesn't have to be THAT clear; Even just muttering "Axonite....distribution....No, no" would've done it) instead looks as convincing as an 8 year old "pretending" to be asleep by scrunching their face up to keep their eyes closed.
In a parallel universe where game shows' final jackpots and consequent fortunes depend on knowledge of obscure music trivia and Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker Doctor Who episodes, I've probably gone rich, insane, and am now a powermad despot. But happily we're not there, so I'm actually rather pleasant. Really.
Since Doctor Who began, if you forgave its occasional production shortfalls, it paid you off generously with AMAZING performers and casting. And in the Classic Series, casting often was everything. The New Series mostly continues the impeccable standard. I stand with a majority of fans and say they've NEVER blown casting the role of the Doctor, and more often than not the companions have been perfectly rendered too. Many, MANY iconic villains are what they are not because of ring modulators or Dalek casings - They were effortlessly portrayed through perfect casting, sometimes by names that were justly famous already (Martin Jarvis, Kylie Minogue, Brian Blessed, Julian Glover, and Sir Ian McKellan for example) or who rose to fame shortly thereafter (We can count Andrew Garfield, Martin Clunes, and Carey Mulligan amongst those who broke out on "Who"). Sometimes, though....they get it SO wrong. New and Classic Who sometimes just skimp on the casting budget, or seemingly think it'll come together after editing and Murray Gold have their way with it.....but no. Some performances are just SO painful, and it's not even the writing or story OR costume. It's just an actor who's literally screaming for you to end the game of "Which One Doesn't Belong" that you shouldn't even be playing. So here, as we set off to another series with such names as Dame Diana Rigg and Warwick Davis in the cast lists, are ten names that we shouldn't ever have seen in the credits following that familiar end-of-episode sting. 
