How Every Doctor Who Got Cast

Looking at the history of the 1996 TV Movie, it feels like there wasn't a single actor in the UK who wasn't considered for the role of the Eighth Doctor.

And not just UK actors either – Americans like Jurassic Park's Jeff Goldblum and Twin Peaks' Kyle MacLachlan were also potential candidates.

Paul McGann eventually emerged as the frontrunner for the role, due to the BBC's desire to have a British actor as the lead. McGann taped his audition for the TV Movie in September 1994, but even that wasn't enough to secure the role.

Fox wanted a big name like Sting (yep, seriously, Sting) to play the Doctor, but the BBC and producer Philip Segal vetoed this wild casting suggestion. Eventually, Segal offered to cast a big name as the Master, if Fox agreed to Paul McGann's casting as the Doctor.

Peter Capaldi later revealed that he turned down the chance to audition for the TV Movie, believing that he would have to "jump through hoops for something I'd never get."

He's an astute man, that Peter Capaldi.