This is a list of actors who have appeared in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who.
Series main cast The following tables are an overview of all the regular cast members that have appeared throughout the show since 1963.
1963–1973 William Hartnell, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell and Jacqueline Hill first appeared as the Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright respectively in the show's debut serial; An Unearthly Child. Ford departed in The Dalek Invasion of Earth in 1964 and was replaced by Maureen O'Brien playing a character called Vicki. Russell and Hill departed together the following year in The Chase and were subsequently replaced by Peter Purves as Steven Taylor. Adrienne Hill took over from O'Brien for a short period of time as Katarina. Jean Marsh subsequently played the character of Sara Kingdom also for a short period of time before being replaced by Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet in The Massacre in 1966. Purves and Lane stepped down from their roles at around the same time and were replaced by Anneke Wills and Michael Craze who played Polly and Ben Jackson.
Patrick Troughton took over from Hartnell in the fourth season as the Second Doctor and starred alongside Wills and Craze and, after they stepped down, Deborah Watling, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury who respectively played Victoria Waterfield, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot. At the end of The War Games, Troughton was replaced by Jon Pertwee who began his run as the Third Doctor alongside Caroline John as Liz Shaw in the 1970 serial; Spearhead from Space. John departed after Inferno and Katy Manning as Jo Grant, her replacement, appeared in the following serial Terror of the Autons. Throughout Pertwee's run, Nicholas Courtney, Richard Franklin and John Levene made regular appearances as The Brigadier, Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton respectively.
ActorCharacterAppearances Season 1(1963–64) Season 2(1964–65) Season 3(1965–66) Season 4(1966–67) Season 5(1967–68) Season 6(1968–69) Season 7(1970) Season 8(1971) Season 9(1972) Season 10(1972–73) William Hartnell The Doctor First colspan="4" colspan="5" Patrick Troughton Second colspan="3" colspan="3" colspan="3" Jon Pertwee Third colspan="6" colspan="4" Carole Ann Ford Susan Foreman colspan="2" colspan="8" William Russell Ian Chesterton colspan="2" colspan="8" Jacqueline Hill Barbara Wright colspan="2" colspan="8" Maureen O'Brien Vicki colspan="2" colspan="7" Peter Purves Steven Taylor colspan="2" colspan="7" Adrienne Hill Katarina colspan="2" colspan="7" Jean Marsh Sara Kingdom colspan="2" colspan="7" Jackie Lane Dodo Chaplet colspan="2" colspan="7" Anneke Wills Polly colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="6" Michael Craze Ben Jackson colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="6" Frazer Hines Jamie McCrimmon colspan="3" colspan="3" colspan="4" Deborah Watling Victoria Waterfield colspan="3" colspan="2" colspan="5" Wendy Padbury Zoe Heriot colspan="4" colspan="2" colspan="4" Caroline John Liz Shaw colspan="6" colspan="3" Nicholas Courtney The Brigadier colspan="4" colspan="2" colspan="4" John Levene Sergeant Benton colspan="5" colspan="4" Katy Manning Jo Grant colspan="7" colspan="3" Roger Delgado The Master colspan="7" Richard Franklin Mike Yates colspan="7" colspan="3"
1973–1981 Katy Manning stepped down from the role of Jo Grant at the end of the tenth season in The Green Death. She was replaced by Elisabeth Sladen in The Time Warrior as Sarah Jane Smith. Jon Pertwee was subsequently replaced by Tom Baker at the end of Season 11 in Planet of the Spiders. Nicholas Courtney and John Levene reprised their roles as the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton numerous times during Baker's run. The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane were joined on their adventures by Harry Sullivan, played by Ian Marter, before he left them in Terror of the Zygons. After one more season, Sladen left the role of Sarah Jane Smith in the 1976 serial; The Hand of Fear. Louise Jameson debuted in The Face of Evil portraying a character called Leela. They were joined by K-9 in The Invisible Enemy, a robotic dog voiced by John Leeson and, on a few occasions; David Brierly.
Jameson was replaced by Mary Tamm, who played Romana, a Time Lady and one of the Doctor's own species. Tamm stayed on for just one season before her character regenerated in Destiny of the Daleks and was portrayed by Lalla Ward. Baker, Ward and Leeson were joined by Matthew Waterhouse, the actor who played Adric, in Full Circle. Romana and K-9 departed together in Warriors' Gate. The 1981 serial Logopolis was the first to introduce Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding as Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka respectively, but the last to star Tom Baker as the Doctor. ActorCharacterAppearances Season 11(1973–74) Season 12(1974–75) Season 13(1975–76) Season 14(1976–77) Season 15(1977–78) Season 16(1978–79) Season 17(1979–80) Season 18(1980–81) Jon Pertwee The Doctor Third colspan="7" Tom Baker Fourth colspan="7" Peter Davison Fifth colspan="7" Nicholas Courtney The Brigadier colspan="2" colspan="5" John Levene Sergeant Benton colspan="5" Richard Franklin Mike Yates colspan="7" Elisabeth Sladen Sarah Jane Smith colspan="4" colspan="4" Ian Marter Harry Sullivan colspan="2" colspan="5" Peter Pratt The Master colspan="3" colspan="4" Geoffrey Beevers colspan="7" Anthony Ainley colspan="7" Louise Jameson Leela colspan="3" colspan="2" colspan="3" John Leeson K-9 colspan="4" colspan="2" David Brierly colspan="6" colspan="1" Mary Tamm Romana I colspan="5" colspan="2" Lalla Ward II colspan="6" colspan="2" Matthew Waterhouse Adric colspan="7" colspan="1" Sarah Sutton Nyssa colspan="7" colspan="1" Janet Fielding Tegan Jovanka colspan="7" colspan="1"
1982–1996 Peter Davison starred as the Fifth Doctor starting in the nineteenth season alongside Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding, before Waterhouse departed when Adric was dramatically killed off in Earthshock. In Mawdryn Undead, a new companion called Vislor Turlough was introduced, played by Mark Strickson. Sutton stepped down from the role of Nyssa in Terminus and Kamelion, an unusual robotic character voiced by Gerald Flood, was introduced in The King's Demons.
For "The Five Doctors" – the show's 20th anniversary special – Carole Ann Ford, Nicholas Courtney, Elisabeth Sladen, Lalla Ward, Wendy Padbury, Caroline John, Richard Franklin, John Leeson and Frazer Hines reprised their roles as, respectively, Susan Foreman, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Sarah Jane Smith, Romana, Zoe Heriot, Liz Shaw, Mike Yates, K-9 and Jamie McCrimmon. The special was broadcast between the twentieth and twenty-first seasons.
Davison, Fielding and Strickson continued on until Fielding stepped down from the role in Resurrection of the Daleks. She was replaced in Planet of Fire by Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown, a serial which also marked the final appearance of Strickson and Flood. Davison was replaced by Colin Baker in The Caves of Androzani and Bryant was replaced with Bonnie Langford as Mel Bush, a few years later, after her character was killed off in Mindwarp. Sylvester McCoy took over from Baker in Time and the Rani and Langford was replaced by Sophie Aldred as Ace at the end of the twenty-fourth season. The series was axed in 1989, but a TV movie was made in 1996 which saw Paul McGann taking over from McCoy.
ActorCharacterAppearances Season 19(1982) Season 20(1983) Special(1983) Season 21(1984) Season 22(1985) Season 23(1986) Season 24(1987) Season 25(1988–89) Season 26(1989) Movie(1996) Peter Davison The Doctor Fifth colspan="4" colspan="6" Richard Hurndall First colspan="2" colspan="7" William Hartnell colspan="2" colspan="7" Patrick Troughton Second colspan="2" colspan="5" Jon Pertwee Third colspan="2" colspan="7" Tom Baker Fourth colspan="2" colspan="7" Colin Baker Sixth colspan="3" colspan="3" colspan="4" Sylvester McCoy Seventh colspan="6" colspan="3" Paul McGann Eighth colspan="9" Anthony Ainley The Master colspan="2" colspan="4" colspan="2" Eric Roberts colspan="9" Matthew Waterhouse Adric colspan="2" colspan="6" Sarah Sutton Nyssa colspan="2" colspan="6" Janet Fielding Tegan Jovanka colspan="4" colspan="6" Mark Strickson Vislor Turlough colspan="3" colspan="6" Nicholas Courtney The Brigadier colspan="5" Carole Ann Ford Susan Foreman colspan="2" colspan="7" Elisabeth Sladen Sarah Jane Smith colspan="2" colspan="7" Gerald Flood Kamelion colspan="6" Nicola Bryant Peri Brown colspan="3" colspan="3" colspan="4" Frazer Hines Jamie McCrimmon colspan="2" colspan="5" Bonnie Langford Mel Bush colspan="5" colspan="2" colspan="3" Sophie Aldred Ace colspan="6" colspan="3"
2005–2011 Upon the revival of Doctor Who, Christopher Eccleston would be the first actor to portray the newest incarnation of the Doctor. Multiple actresses were considered to play the Doctor's next companion, with Billie Piper announced as the frontrunner to star as Rose Taylor. The role ultimately went to Piper, with the character’s name changed to Rose Tyler. Eccleston and Piper made their debut in "Rose". For the second half of the first series they were joined by John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness. Due to disagreements with the producers and network executives, Eccleston departed after a single series and was succeeded by David Tennant portraying the Tenth Doctor beginning at the end of "The Parting of the Ways". Barrowman was also written off at the end of this series and would go on to lead his own spin-off series, Torchwood. Tennant's first full episode was "The Christmas Invasion" which led into the second series with Piper continuing her role. Elisabeth Sladen and John Leeson returned to Doctor Who in the series two episode "School Reunion" reprising their roles as Sarah Jane Smith and K-9, respectively. The two would also go on to star in their own spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures. Piper left in the second series finale, "Doomsday". Catherine Tate starred as Donna Noble, the Doctor's one off companion in "The Runaway Bride", and was briefly introduced in "Doomsday". Freema Agyeman replaced Piper for the series three, and appeared as Martha Jones from "Smith and Jones" to "Last of the Time Lords". Agyeman had previously appeared in a separate role in "Doomsday" and was cast as Jones following positive reception from the producers; the two characters were later explained to be cousins. Barrowman briefly re-joined the show for the three-part third series finale. Derek Jacobi and John Simm portrayed new incarnations of the Master.
Tennant was joined by Kylie Minogue portraying Astrid Peth in the 2008 Christmas special, "Voyage of the Damned". This episode also introduced Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott, later revealed to be Donna's grandfather, who would continue to recur across series four. Cribbins was not originally expected to appear outside of the special, but was asked to return in place of Howard Attfield who had portrayed Donna's dad Geoff and died unexpectedly while filming was still underway. Despite having another actress and character lined up for the fourth series, the producers ultimately decided to ask Tate to return instead. Piper returned for this series making a set of various cameo appearances. Ageyman also returned for three episodes mid-series. Alex Kingston was introduced as a mysterious time-traveler called River Song in the later portion of the series during which her character was killed-off. The series four two-part finale saw numerous cast members return including Piper, Barrowman, Agyeman, Sladen, and Leeson, while also featuring the departure of Tate. Tennant decided to leave the role following a series of specials which featured David Morrissey, Michelle Ryan, and Lindsay Duncan as one-time companions in their respective episodes. "The End of Time" saw the return of Cribbins, this time as the Doctor's companion. This episode also saw brief cameo appearances from Piper, Tate, Agyeman, Barrowman, and Sladen ahead of Tennant's regeneration.