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Doctor Who's Famous Guest Stars

When it first began, Doctor Who was just another small-budget sci-fi show trying to make it on the BBC. It's proven otherwise in the decades it's been on, and many celebrities took notice. Here are Doctor Who's famous guest stars!

Eugene Fomin Avatar By Eugene Fomin March 14, 2012
  

Ever since the beginning, Doctor Who has featured celebrities, both in large roles and cameos. At first, these celebrities had to be forced on the set or even put into the show using previous recordings, but as the show's popularity grew and Doctor Who became a household name, the celebs formed a huge line just for a chance to be on this hit sci-fi epic. Let's take a look at eleven such celebrities, both from the old show and from the new.

Mind you, there have been a lot of guest stars on this show, so we couldn't include them all. These are just our personal favorites of Doctor Who's famous guest stars. Who's yours? Talk about it in the comments section below!

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Doctor Who Guest Stars
Credit: BBC

The Beatles

Even back when it had just started out, Doctor Who had its share of awesome and famous guest stars. Perhaps the most prominent of these are the Beatles. Well, technically they didn't personally appear, but they were supposed to. In fact, they were even penned to appear, wearing heavy aging makeup in order to work in a joke about how in the future, the Beatles and other similar bands would be considered "classical" music. Unfortunately, the Beatles' manager at the time, Brian Epstein, was a jerk. He objected to "his band" being featured on some sci-fi program, so they had to use a clip from one of the concerts instead. The Beatles are still one of Doctor Who's famous guest stars!

Doctor Who Guest Stars
Credit: BBC

John Cleese

The story goes that Eleanor Bron and John Cleese were filming at the same studio as the Doctor Who folks. Douglas Adams persuaded them to film a brief art critic scene, originally intended for "Two Englishmen." Having had attained popularity through Monty Python, Cleese agreed to do it only if there would be absolutely no pre-publicity running up to the film's release. He didn't even want to be credited with his real name. Doctor Who's famous guest stars can be pretty picky.

Doctor Who Guest Stars
Credit: BBC

Brian Blessed

Most of you know this man as Boss Nass from The Phantom Menace because you suck and don't watch good films. Others will know him from far better films such as Robin Hood, Henry V and Tarzan. In this episode, Brian plays Yrcanos, a savage warrior leader whose people are being outfitted with some very advanced technology by a mysterious benefactor. As usual, the Doctor must investigate the source of this technology and stop the impending doom that such rapid modernization is sure to carry with it. As usual, Brian Blessed does a phenomenal job in the role, making him one of the best of Doctor Who's famous guest stars.

Doctor Who Guest Stars
Credit: BBC

Rowan Atkinson

One of the greatest comics of all time, Rowan Atkinson has been entertaining British audiences practically since time began. It is only fitting, then, that this comic appear on a comedy relief charity special for Doctor Who becoming one of Doctor Who's famous guest stars in the process. Even though this episode is not considered canon, it remains one of the most beloved entries into the Doctor Who franchise and a fan favorite, which makes perfect sense when you compare it with some of the more disastrous charity specials that the show has had over its many, many years.

Doctor Who Guest Stars
Credit: BBC

Simon Pegg

The star of Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Spaced made an appearance on the new Doctor Who, but in a far less comedic role than most people were used to. Here, he played a creepy man in charge of a broadcasting satellite in the future. This satellite/space station creates and broadcasts every single bit of television available to humanity. Who would have guessed there was a sinister plan involved? All of the television is designed specifically to keep the human population stupid and inept... kinda like most of today's TV. I wonder if the Mighty Jagrafess is somehow involved.

 
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