The Doctor (Doctor Who)
Jodie Whittaker took over the role as the Thirteenth Doctor in the 2017 Christmas special. In addition to the above-listed actors, others have played versions of the Doctor for the duration of particular storylines.
Notably, John Hurt guest starred as the War Doctor in the closing moments of the 2013 episode "The Name of the Doctor", the webcast "The Night of the Doctor" and the 50th Anniversary episode "The Day of the Doctor". The War Doctor is an incarnation existing between those of McGann and Eccleston. Hurt was never the programme's lead actor; his Doctor was retroactively inserted into continuity for the programme's 50th anniversary, and was written so as not to disturb the ordinal naming of the established Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. In the 1986 serial "The Trial of a Time Lord", Michael Jayston played the Valeyard, an amalgamation of the Doctor's darker sides from between his twelfth and final incarnations.
List of actors considered for the part of the Doctor
Actors who auditioned for the role in the 1996 film included Rowan Atkinson (who played a spoof version of the Doctor in "Curse of Fatal Death"), Liam Cunningham (who appeared in the 2013 "Doctor Who" episode "Cold War"), Mark McGann (whose brother Paul McGann eventually got the role), Robert Lindsay, Eric Idle, Tim McInnerny (who appeared in the 2008 "Doctor Who" episode "Planet of the Ood"), Nathaniel Parker, Peter Woodward, John Sessions (who later played Tannis in the audio drama "Death Comes to Time", and voiced Gus in the 2014 "Doctor Who" episode "Mummy on the Orient Express"), Anthony Head (who appeared in the 2006 "Doctor Who" episode "School Reunion", narrated episodes of the "Doctor Who Confidential" behind-the-scenes series, and provided voice-acting work for both the televised "The Infinite Quest" and the "Excelis" story arc from Big Finish Productions), Rik Mayall and Tony Slattery. Billy Connolly has stated that he was also considered for the part. Peter Capaldi was invited to audition, but declined, as he "didn't think [he] would get it, and... didn't want to just be part of a big cull of actors." Capaldi was eventually cast as the Twelfth Doctor.