9.Ken Campbell Is... The Seventh Doctor! (1987)
A fascinating what if... Ken Campbell, avant-garde theatrical actor and comedian was one of a limited number of new leading men considered after Michael Grade ordered the dismissal of Colin Baker. Determined to axe the show, but wary of another PR backlash after "the cancellation-no-sorry-it's-just-a-hiatus-really" crisis that rocked the show in 1985, it was decided by BBC Drama to give the show one chance under a new star. Sound familiar? Campbell fitted the bill a genuine name with profile, as well as naturally eccentric. However, his reading proved, according to script editor Andrew Cartmel, "too disturbing" to consider showing on-screen. As a result, a more relatively unknown theatre actor called Sylvester McCoy, who had trained under Ken Campbell, was suddenly in the running. Despite BBC concerns that McCoy was too lightweight for the role, one screen-test (very much rigged in his favour) later and McCoy was in. Years later, rumours began that when David Tennant told Doctor Who Magazine a "KC" had declined a role in the revived series, it may well have been Campbell, shortly before he sadly passed away.