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" This week, it was announced that 25-year-old Jenna-Louise Coleman will step into Karen Gillan&amp;#039;s shoes as the new Doctor Who companion. The Titanic actress will make her debut on the sci-fi drama this Christmas. Of course, Who has got away with this sort of thing before, swapping out Doctors and companions alike for years, but which other shows pulled off the difficult task of replacing a lead actor? This week&amp;#039;s Friday Fiver reels off those we think managed it best... Cheers - Shelley Long replaced by Kirstie Alley A famous switcheroo. When Long decided to quit the hit NBC comedy to pursue a film career, Alley was brought in to replace her as the show&amp;#039;s female lead and love interest for Sam Malone (Ted Danson). The move worked and Cheers continued for another six seasons with its new star on board. As for Long? A couple of Brady Bunch movies aside, she didn&amp;#039;t exactly set the big screen alight.      The Avengers - Honor Blackman replaced by Diana Rigg This &amp;#039;60s drama went through a number of different iterations - many forget that it originally began with two male leads. But it&amp;#039;s the John Steed / Emma Peel double-act that is most fondly remembered, with Diana Rigg being brought in to replace Honor Blackman when the latter quit to film the James Bond film Goldfinger. Rigg herself was eventually replaced by Linda Thorson before the series wrapped in 1969.      Charlie&amp;#039;s Angels - Farrah Fawcett replaced by Cheryl Ladd The first of many cast changes for ABC&amp;#039;s frothy drama. In five years, Charlie&amp;#039;s Angels replaced almost its entire lead cast - with only Jaclyn Smith sticking it out for the entire run - but the viewers kept tuning in regardless. A less successful replacement was last year&amp;#039;s ill-judged reboot, a misfire on every level.      Men Behaving Badly - Harry Enfield replaced by Neil Morrissey It&amp;#039;s not very often that you can accuse Harry Enfield of being a let down in the comedy stakes, but he just seemed out of place in ITV&amp;#039;s first series of the classic geezer sitcom. His character Dermot was a little too polite and wholesome for a show that encouraged, well, men behaving badly. It was only with the arrival of Tony, Morrissey&amp;#039;s dozy manchild and &amp;quot;semi-stud&amp;quot; (Wikipedia&amp;#039;s quote, not ours), that Martin Clunes&amp;#039;s Gary had a proper playmate to bounce off. Once the show moved to a later slot on the BBC and the genius of his hopeless crush on neighbour Deborah (Leslie Ash) was realised, it became difficult to remember things without him.       Star Trek - Jeffrey Hunter replaced by William Shatner Perhaps not a very well known switcheroo, but a hugely significant one. Can you imagine the original Star Trek without Captain Kirk at the helm? Well, it happened. Jeffrey Hunter helmed the Enterprise for the legendary sci-fi&amp;#039;s 1965 pilot episode, playing a character named Captain Pike. So underwhelming was his performance that NBC actually rejected the series and buried the episode away for over 20 years. Luckily, the Star Trek team were given a second chance, dumped Hunter for Shatner, and... well, you know the rest.       Can a replacement be better than the original? Share your thoughts below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/tube-talk/news/a372785/tvs-best-replacements-friday-fiver/>