Doctor Who 2005 Cast: Where Are They Now?

In one of the most memorable roles of the 2005 series, Simon Callow portrayed the great Charles Dickens in an episode that has since been dubbed "the unofficial Ninth Doctor Christmas special".

That episode is The Unquiet Dead, a spooky affair in which Dickens battles gaseous ghosts called the Gelth, alongside the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler.

Callow reprised the role of Dickens for a quick cameo in the 2011 finale episode The Wedding Of River Song, and in 2009, he played a completely different character in the Whoniverse - namely, Tree Lorn Acre Slitheen-Blathereen - in The Gift, a Sarah Jane Adventures story. Bit of a mouthful that one.

Since 2005, Callow has appeared in a slew of small films (his bigger hits came prior to Doctor Who, like his memorable villain role in 1995's Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls), but recently, his TV work has been the standout part of his career.

Between 2013 and 2018, he appeared in Outlander, Agatha Christie's Poirot, Plebs, Death In Paradise, and perhaps most notably of all, he's set to appear in Series 2 of Netflix's The Witcher, playing the Dorian detective Codringher.

Amusingly, he also narrated (and acted in) a version of A Christmas Carol for BBC4, which aired in 2018. Callow and Dickens are a formidable pair!