What Makes a Good Doctor Who Guest Star?
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- Опубліковано 24 жов 2020
- Over the 12 Series of the Doctor Who revival, there have been a vast number of appearances by celebrities. Some have been good, others have been less good. In this video, I talk about some of the ones that stand out to me, trying to work out what makes a good guest star, and what should be avoided.
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Bro, you forgot Andrew Garfield.
That's hilarious, I saw this comment at the start and was like 'wow he forgot Andrew Garfield, that's like one of the main ones'
@@mellow3995 Joe justsaid it in the video when i saw your comment lol
wow i didn't know that was him
Lmao I saw this comment right before he said it in the video
Andrew Garfield is genuinely my favourite
Let's not forget the BEST Doctor Who cameo, Juke from Tracey Beaker in voyage of the dammed. With an honourable mention going to Elaine the pain in Series 1.
What a man... didn't have time to mention him but did manage to squeeze some footage of him in it
"Elaine the pain"
That awful wink she gives milquetost-shirt-and-tie-bloke while they're on the barricades
Ugh, makes me sick in my mouth every time I see it
Never heard of them....
@@theyellowlightsaber3193 If you didn't grow up in the 2000s you won't have.
@@theblackswordsman9951 Duno what you mean by grow up, I was 25 when the show came back so I was aware of pop culture outside of Doctor Who
Sally Sparrow is legitimately my favourite guest in all of the Doctor Who episodes I’ve seen
Blink just would not work without her. Carey Mulligan was clearly destined to do amazing things
Not even as a guest, she became on of my favorite characters in Doctor Who period! So much so that I kinda wanted her to become a recurring character. Maybe not as a companion, since that might be a disservice to her character, but as a recurring side character with her own plot going on that just happens to collide with the Doctor's. Arguably, she's the reason why I even got into Doctor Who, since Blink was the first episode I ever watched. Yes, the Angels themselves were the highlight, but Sally Sparrow was a fantastic character that made that episode great as well.
I legitimately thought sally was gonna be a companion
@@phroggers3604 originally Sally was supposed to be a companion for the Doctor after him getting the Tardis back from the Angels so he and Martha are able to escape. But the actress just didn’t feel that it was meant for her, so she just did the one episode and Moffat knew that her answer would be no, if asked her. But after that the actress had a great career after that episode.
Greg Davies as Hydroflax is the "comedian doing a comedy role" done flawlessly, and they even use the fact that he's a king later on (in the spaceship) to set up one of the funniest moments in the whole show.
Everything in Husbands of River Song works so well... I'll have to talk about it in depth at some point
God I love that man and that episode 😙👌
I think a general rule of thumb.
If you're getting a celebrity cameo in to play themselves it can be a quick couple of seconds
If you're getting a celebrity to play a character it needs to be impactful in some way.
Petition for Olivia Coleman to be the doctor and David Mitchell as the master in a 12/missy type relationship
Yes!!!
Or Olivia Coleman as the woman Prisoner Zero coppied tryign to make sense of what she saw in her dreams with David as a member of M.I.U. (a new post brexit version of UNIT)
Chance would be a fine thing
@@ellisfaeoceantides2369 a fine thing indeed!
DO YOU EVER GET IT WHEN YOU REALISE YOU NEEDED SOMETHING YOU NEVER KNEW COULD EXIST BEFORE NOW BC _SAME_
I work at an airport in the US. Whenever I meet an actor form the UK, I always jokingly ask “What episode of Doctor Who were you in?” So far, 99% of them have told me what episode.....
Only actor I didn’t ask that was Michael York. Because......well.....Michael York.
This is a great anecdote. It is funny, if I'm ever watching something British and think I recognise someone, most of the time it's because they were in Doctor Who
The scene with van Gogh always makes me cry
To me 'the Stephen Fry Episode' will always be that mythical Series 2 episode he wrote that was too expensive to make and was delayed, replaced with Fear Her of all things, and never saw the light of day because he was too busy to do the necessary rewrites.
In terms of the Chibnall era, when Alan Cumming was introduced as King James I, It was literally the equivalent of someone coming in to give you a can of classic Coke after drinking off brand diet cola.
I never really knew it was Bill Nighy, I was so wrapped up in the story. Vincent and the Doctor is probably my all-time favorite outing of Doctor Who. It's perfect in just about every way.
“He’s like the Wario to the Doctors Mario”
I cant think of a better analogy
The woctor
WAHA! HAVE A ROTTEN DAY!
It's nice to see some appreciation for Love and Monsters. It's obvious a highly flawed episode, but definitely doesn't deserve its reputation. It's utterly unique and really very entertaining.
Watching it with someone who doesn't have the same doctor who perspective as you really changes it. I watched it with my boyfriend who'd never watched Who before and he LOVED it. It really made me appreciate the good parts of the ep, even when it previously felt like those where few and far between
Watched it on magic mushrooms with my mates and had the time of my life
@@cfssuperhero better than anything over that past 6 years of doctor who though. Take Russel T Davies at his worst over Chibnall or even Moffat at their best. The glory days of Doctor Who
@@joeswift1064 Davies at his worst was much better than Moffat at his worst, but the best of Moffat was better than the best of Davies.
The Chibnall era had ~4 solid episodes, but yeah, just about everything penned by Chibs himself has been pretty shite (apart from his Silurian two parter, but even that was a remake of Doctor Who and the Silurians)
Being Australian I didn’t know that a lot of these people were considered celebrities in Britain. I rarely have those ‘aha, i know that person’ moments watching Doctor Who
I'm British and honestly I didn't know a lot of them either
Same here. I don’t watch a great many UK comedy shows, so I don’t know many of these faces. I just go with the flow.
Yeah, I'm from Germany and only knew a couple of them, mostly movie actors and some comedians. I guessed that some of the others where famous from the shots/reveals they gave them.
I did wonder how obscure it was worth going. But I realised if I stuck to major celebrities, I'd really just have Kylie
@@Joe_Brennan_ Your video is great. It's interesting to learn just how many side characters are celebrities. I did also know Bill Nighy, Matt Lucas, Stephen Fry and Alan Cumming and recognised them when first watching Doctor Who.
It’s hard to decide if “should we write a celebrity into Doctor Who” or “Should this random important side character be played by a Celebrity” is better or not. I’m sure this video will open up many non Brits to UK celebrities they don’t know about
That's true...while Olivia Colman was, admittedly, underutilised, I'll always remember her in that role.
Fun fact: Doctor Who was my first exposure to Olivia Colman and at the time the reason I was even aware of her as an actress. I later saw Broadchurch, Peep Show, The Crown and my first reaction was always “oh look, it’s prisoner zero from Doctor Who!” until I became more familiar with her work in general lol
So her role may not have been a very big one, but she’s great enough of an actress to leave an impression from just 5 minutes of screen time.
That's really funny, shows she makes enough of an impact even without knowing who she is
You should watch Tyrannosaur. Every scene she's in is a masterclass in acting.
@@Joe_Brennan_ apparently, yeah. also, good video, really enjoyed it!
@@rickardkaufman3988 ooh thanks, hadn't heard of that before
@@fredhasopinions It stars Peter Mullan who has starred in great TV shows like Top of the Lake, Westworld, and Ozark.
Peter Capaldi in the Pompeii episode was really good and funny. Too bad he never showed up again... 🙂
Hahaha
I know it’s a recurring role and it’s mostly just in Torchwood so it doesn’t really count, but I love the fact that Burn Gorman is part of the Doctor Who universe by playing Owen. It’s a role that fits him so well.
The only guest star that matters is Paul O’Grady
“What was I drinking last night, furniture polish?” is a highlight of Who ever since it returned and I doubt it will ever be matched
YES
THERE’S ALL THESE PLANETS AVE YOU SEEN EM?!
IANTO! There's a time and a place!
When you have to explain to your American friends that "He's like if Jay Leno was a former drag artist."
my favorite guest star is timothy Dalton. casting such a big star as such a bug character as rassilon was an excellent choice. apparently he was gonna return in hell bent but was busy filming penny dreadful so they recast him. i reckon i would like hell bent more if Dalton had shown up
Look at you, making your way up the ranks as a WhoTuber! You're doing great stuff and talking about stuff I rarely see people talk about. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much!
McFly should be in every episode
Endorsing the main villain.
Every few years I always see articles that Carey Mulligan turned down the role of Doctor Who companion but I’ve never seen everyone actually ask her in an interview about Doctor Who or if she actually did turn down the role
I never really thought of guests starts as such a huge part of the show, but ur absolutely right!!
Me either, i guess this is why
So glad you mention Simon Callow and Anthony Head both brillaint
They're two of the best
Refusing to mention the *other* creator of Black Books and Father Ted is just *chef's kiss* thank you I live for it
What other creator?
@@christianwise637 Hatsune Miku
Is this some weird political thing?
@@PwnZombie Graham Linehan is the other writer and he's become rabidly anti-trans and obnoxious. So I guess so.
@@JPH1138 He hasn't been so bad on Twitter lately, check it out twitter.com/Glinner
Bro did you say the episode with Simon Pegg is unremarkable... I really liked it and I think it's one of the best. The story is really good, and Simon did a great job as the editor
I think he could've played the master as well, and so could've the guy who played Mr. Finch
I think both of them would've been fabulous Masters. Especially Anthony Head
Michael sheen as House in “the doctors wife” was spine chilling
I know this is new who guest stars but my favourite cameo is John Cleese in City of Death with the 4th doctor. The tiny 1 minute scene with him is like a comedy sketch all by itself.
One of the most embarrassing guest stars for me: watching season 2 and screaming “it’s mr sweet” to a housemate who is definitely not sad enough to have binged house of Anubis 12 times in lockdown
I expect to hear a pin drop 😂
This was a great video dude! I've often had many discussions about the guest stars in Doctor Who and how bad they are utilised and am sad they don't get much of a conversation piece online but you literally mentioned pretty much all my opinions on the matter! I love this this type of video! Only watched your videos before but now subscribing for this type of content! :D
Anthony Head, everyone in Series 3 (Seriously literally everyone. Shakespeare, Brannigan, everyone in The Family of Blood), Michael Gambon, Lindsay Duncan, Kylie (She's so good I forget she's Kylie!), Bill Nighy and that bloke who was in Mummy on the Orient Express. I also really love Malcom in "Planet of the Dead"!
Anthony Head is one of the few one-off NuWho villains who I really feel deserves a return
@@Joe_Brennan_ The Krillitanes are a brilliant idea, and you can have them look however you want, really, they could replace any sort of scavenger race.
With UNIT our of commission (why, I couldn't tell you), Stephen Fry would have been a great addition to the show as head of MI6. Instead, we get about three minutes with him and then he's gone. Olivia Coleman was wasted in The 11th Hour, though the story itself was one of my favorites. I loved her in Broadchurch! And I agree with you on Bill Nighy and Carrie Mulligan - just perfect in what they do.
Really really interesting video essay! :D Guest stars in Doctor Who has always been an area I feel isn't talked about enough and this perfectly sums up the highs and lows of having them! :) Awesome work! :D
Thank you! I thought it was a nice thing to have a look at
@@Joe_Brennan_ You're welcome!! :D
If the Dream Lord is the Wario to the Doctor's Mario, who is his Luigi and Waluigi?
The Master is his Luigi, Scongo is his Waluigi
The most damning thing for Richard E. Grant's appearance is that he's technically a reoccurring actor with three appearances, yet it's easy to forget all three.
I never forget his appearances.
Can’t believe you didn’t mention Jimmy Carr’s cameo as Scongo’s Dad in the Conception of Scongo
Yeah, I definitely think Olivia Coleman would make a great doctor. If there was a way to have a sort of "one-off" doctor, like a doctor who is only Doctor for one episode and has no bearing on continuity. Obviously, I'd watch a whole series with Olivia Coleman as the Doctor, but I know she's too famous for that now
Definitely too busy / famous to be the Doctor now. But I think she would still be willing to be a major character in an episode or even a few episodes. She really is an incredible actor. I was not all that happy with how Marvel's Secret Invasion turned out, but she was the best character by far in that series.
Absolutely thrilled to have found your channel. Thoroughly enjoyed this, you have a new sub from me
I'm glad you found it too! Hope you enjoy being subscribed
Really nice listen. Def enjoyed it.
I don't often comment on UA-cam videos and I''m quite late to this one, heck I haven't even watched doctor who in forever, but this is a good video. Keep up the good work :)
Thank you!
Great video Joe but its still lacking in nardole. We all know he deserves his own video!
Good discussion. Subscribing. I agree with your points. Best of luck at uni. And remember: keep doing yt for fun!
Loved the subtle Black Books / Father Ted jokes.
I'm convinced Strax and Brannigan the cat man from gidlock are the same actor idk
We live in a time when people are very happy to state their absolute belief in verifiably incorrect facts so you go ahead and enjoy yourself.
Bit late to the party on this one but it just randomly came up for me. Not really a Dr Who fan but thought this video was really interesting and felt i had to comment. I hope you see this even though it is a older video. Although I can't say I know a huge number of journalism / media students I've found the ones i do know to be a little pretentious at times. For someone who seems quite young, you presented this with a great deal of authority while at the same time feeling very relaxed. Well thought out and presented, great use of editing to get your points across. Not trying too hard to be be funny but injecting enough humour into your delivery that it works so well. I follow a few youtubers who create, often lengthy, reviews / retrospectives for Video games, TV and Movies. Some i follow because they are outrageously funny some are more straight forward and inciteful but all are well presented. Again, very impressed with the video, will now subscribe to watch some of your older work but mainly to keep an eye on future content. Very impressed and good luck with whatever you do.
I really appreciate this comment. I have a few ideas for some longer projects that I'm very excited to get round to, it's the kind of content I love watching, so it would be nice to give it a go myself.
@@Joe_Brennan_ I saw a video a few years ago that was, a bit unpolished but, very well researched and informative that covered the evolution of Werewolves in culture from mythological beginnings to medieval superstitions to early cinema to modern cinema to modern pop culture. Whether you stick with Doctor Who or expand your horizons. Tackling allegories, parallels and differences between their original concept an a representation in Movies, TV and gaming. For example... do Zombies represent fear of the subject of death, do they represent a primal nature that we wish to deny, do they represent consumerism, do they represent conformity.
Was expecting you to comment on Peter Capaldi's role in the Pompeii episode before he got promoted to the role of The Doctor :P The episode and his part itself were okay but it was such an unusual situation imo, def worth at least a footnote lol
I honestly thought I had mentioned him! I made a big list of guest stars and then sorted them into categories. He was definitely on that list initially
Oh god Ralf Little, him and Foxes were super hyped up in the marketing only for it not to matter.
Chris Addleston and Kylie were some of the better instances, I feel.
Since I've been watching doctor who since I was a kid and I don't live in Britain I had no idea some of these actors were celebrities (and the ones I did I was originaly introduced to them by their doctor who episode) so it's very interesting to hear how much knowing about them before hand affects your experience of the episode
Matt Lucas was amazing and definitely deserved to become a companion.
This was great. I subscribed:)
Thank you! Welcome to the channel
Not sure if it counts as a cameo, but Derek Jacobi as Professor Yana was just superb. To be expected from an actor of his talent, but bot always something you get in Who.
The reveal of Timothy Dalton as Rassilon after having narrated all through the episode was spine-tingling, and watching him crank it up to eleven for his performance was a lot of fun.
My favourite has to be Frank Skinner, though. Unusually for a comedian, he plays a very straight role: someone calm, competent, and not expressly comic-relief. He's not noted as a talented actor outside this, but his usual charming blokeishness just dropped in so perfectly.
4:53 Nice little omission of a certain somebody there!
There was another omission at 1:20...
@@Joe_Brennan_ we stan transphobe erasure 😍😍😍
If only there were some way to know who was omitted,
@@Joe_Brennan_ Nicely done.
0:38- Daniel Kaluuya has come a long way from being a bus passenger who ends up on an alien planet.
8:27 oh, yeah. Of course.
"It's happy for deep people."
"I'm clever and I'm listening and don't patronize me because people have died and I'm not happy."
For Christ sake, her initial response to Wester Drumlins in the first draft was "Sexy!"
God, I hate Sally Sparrow. Or, at least, I _would_ if Claire didn't play her _perfectly._ Only an exceptional actor could read those lines and make them charming.
Good video. Nice little analysis. Very much agree about Satan's greatest foe and Richard E Grant. Subscribed
Rebecca Front is also another famous UK actor who’s hardly used especially considering she’s in a 12th Doctor story with her Thick of It co star Peter Capaldi. She’s not even included in the video
There were just so many
Hopefully all of these people will be able to return to the show one day
This was such a good video!
Thank you!
It's funny how many of these I'd completely forgotten, like Stephen Fry in Spyfall or Lee Mack in Kerblam. (though I think the latter is because whenever I think about Kerblam I am consumed by a blinding rage and black out for several hours)
the posh magician from Jonathan Creek played Richard Nixon once, that was pretty fly.
I love that someone else out there loves Alan Cummings king James as much as me haha totally agree he’s the best thing to come from chibnalls era
I hadn't even realised that the guy in the Louvre was Bill Nye....
Bill Nighy, Bill Nye is an American TV presenter known as (Bill Nye the science guy)
i never liked james corden except for his appearance on doctor who, that's when he peaked
eddie izzard in hannibal is a great example of what to do with a celebrity cameo, obviously he was a recurring character but in the first 1-2 episodes he was in do feel like just great cameo-style appearances relevant to the plot- if celebrity cameos were treated like that, obviously not to the extent of being a major character later on, it would be absolutely fantastic
What about Tom Baker as The Curator? It was technically a guest star one-off appearance with a big impact. Even if it was flirting with the idea of him being The Doctor.
It’s less of a celebrity cameo and more of a fan service cameo
This wasn't even the only Who related thing Anthony Head did. I also remember him as the main villain Balthazar in "The Infinite Quest", an animated 10th Doctor story with Martha that most people seem to have completely forgotten. And iirc, he was the main villain in the Excelis trilogy of audio stories by Big Finish.
Funny how one guy can be typecast several times within the same franchise 😄. I get the impression that he must be somewhat fond of it on some level.
He'd have made a very good Master. One that emphasised the class more than the mania. Maybe some day...
Frank Skinner as Perkins is genuinely one of the best one off characters the show ever had. I was so hoping he'd be a companion
I first saw Olivia Coleman in Peep show and thus I can't help but think of Mark and Jez whenever I see her. Just laughed out loud when she popped up in doctor who.
I actually quite like the robots in DOAS. The voices crack me up every time
THEY'VE STOLEN A DINOSAUR
"Alright, don't shout!"
When they suggested that the new doctor could be a woman, my hope was for Olivia Coleman, but I think she had just started to strike it big and it was sadly a little too late.
She'd be perfect. Maybe in a few years if her Hollywood career calms down
I just have to say that not mentioning you-know-who was an incredible running gag
I think Classic Who pulled off special guest appearances better. They were featured a lot more sparingly, so when more famous actors appeared they were usually given bigger parts (eg. Michael Gough in 'The Celestial Toymaker' and Julian Glover in 'City Of Death'), as opposed to Nu Who's tendency to give less important roles to celebrities just for the sake of it.
one of my favourite guest appearences is Brian Blessed XD
Tony Curran as Van Gogh was incredible. I know he's not a big star, but no one can argue it was amazing.
I guess this role was perfect for him. He was so convincing that the episode became one of my favourites.
No mention of Mr. Bucket/Clive Swift for Voyage of the Damned?
He didn't make the cut, although I do talk a bit about him in my review of Voyage of the Damned, which I did for my Christmas video
Richard E Grant actually played the doctor in a 2003 (I think it was) animated Doctor Who
I took a hefty 1 minute trying to decipher if the video was about The Good Doctor or Doctor Who just by reading the title
Ah yes I can see how that would've been confusing lmao
wait the cat man is dougal? mind blown
For me, "Blink" will always be the Sally Sparrow episode rather than the Weeping Angels episode. It's a shame Carey never became a companion, though probably not for her as she has gone on to greater things.
I mean I would have loved her to become a companion, but I just adore Tate's performance as Donna Noble, so I'm not sad about it.
Sally is definitely great in that episode. But to me the concept of the Angels and the whole timey wimey thing in the episode is unsurpassed. I think it's so good they should never have used the Weeping Angels again in any other episode. "Blink" could have come straight from a Terry Pratchett book.
@@mbrackeva I totally agree. "Blink" should have been a one-off for the Angels. It was an amazing episode and should have remained so.
Jenny! After all she was a closer match to the Doctor than Susan. Also PD's daughter & now DT's wife, that's a star to me.
If you have watched old Who a favourite list may help me with the staggering list of episodes on B...Box. Tomb of Cybermen was the one that made me watch early Who. Walking past the image of his epic foes, so Hammer Horror.
what is with the 1 second clip of tim booth?? am i thick or missing smth lmao
Ah I just needed some footage to accompany the word “sometimes” so thought I’d grab the James song
@@Joe_Brennan_ He's exactly the sort of guy who would turn up as a villain for one episode and most people wouldn't notice it was him. (Remember when he was in Batman Begins? Nor does anybody else...)
Too be Honest the one that really Upset me the most was The Editor played by Simon Pegg in Series 1 Episode 7 The Long Game Because He Would have been so Good as the master Against Iver 10 or 13 Like Jon Sim or Sache Dewan.
I'm going to say The Runaway Bride with Catherine Tate played brilliantly I might add and Anthony head who is also in the high school reunions what's heater quite brilliantly on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and on Merlin
I only remembered brannigan because I was watching death in paradise
When you said bill nighy I thought you meant the science guy 😭
The second syllable of his name was incredibly quiet in this video, so many people thought I said Nye
Same I was like "Since when would a science guy play the art critic?!"
Don't know why I love Ardal O'Hanlon as the Cat Man so much... I just do.
Screw the Great Intelligence. Richard E Grant is The Doctor. Justice for the Shalka Doctor!
Agreed. Such a waste of Grant in general.
04:46 was that a cheeky slitheen reference? 👀
I forgot Stephen fry was in an episode and only remember lee mack for being in the episode that turned me off watching another doctor who episode for an entire year
Very unlikely lee Mack just wanted a cameo. He seemed really eager to do ly which is a shame. should’ve got more
Terapist: Disguised Chris Chibnall isn’t real he can’t hurt you
Disguised Chris Chibnall : 3:51
I think McFly should be the next Doctor
I'd like a mcfly only episode, the doctor just bumps into that shit emo once and never reappears
I didn't even know David Mitchell and Robert Webb were even in Doctor Who.
Hopefully David Mitchell will be in it properly at some point
You know, I actually really liked Lee Mack’s cameo.
A lot of opinions i dont agree on but good vid..
Thank you! I’m glad you can enjoy it even when you think I’m wrong
@@Joe_Brennan_
Your welcome your s10 finale vids are all amazimg i love those stories.
Sorry did you say Simon Pegg was crap as "The Editor", cos youre the first person ive heard say that, considering he was one of the first celeb cameos of the new series I thought he was brilliant.
Your video essay, spurns an important question: Would you say Doctor Who is a show ABOUT the Doctor and his adventures, or is Doctor Who ABOUT the places the Doctor visits and how he responds to them. I think in the shows long history, you can see where this balance has differed.
My initial reaction is to say that it's the former, but I think the balance is really important
Not exactly sure what you're expecting from guest parts but I thought Simon Pegg as the editor was superb and lee Mack was given more than enough screentime to do his wise cracking schtick before being killed off. They don't all have to have a massive role to make an impact, this tradition of having comedians in doctor who goes back to the old show, you best not watch the ken dodd or hale and pace episodes then you'd prob be aghast.