Why Every Lead Actor Left Doctor Who

7. Sylvester McCoy

William Hartnell David Tennant Doctor Who
BBC Studios

Unlike most of his fellow Time Lords, Sylvester McCoy never technically "left" Doctor Who, nor was he fired. He was simply unlucky enough to be the Doctor in 1989, the year in which production of the show was suspended.

It's a shame too, because McCoy had settled into a solid groove towards the end of his era, with he and Sophie Aldred proving a winning combination. Unfortunately, public perception of Doctor Who was at an all-time low, and with viewership declining, the plug was pulled.

Regardless, McCoy was still the incumbent Doctor for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time, and the start of the 1996 TV movie. Writer Matthew Jacobs wished to link the movie directly to the classic series, and so it was decided to depict the Seventh Doctor's regeneration.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.