Eighth Doctor

The Eighth Doctor was the eighth incarnation of the Doctor. Unlike many of his predecessors and successors, this incarnation expressed a more Human and emotional side, with a love and respect for all life. His own life was a temporally complex one, which so frequently involved time paradoxes and parallel universes that it was impossible to know with authority how the major epochs of his existence fit together. Complicating the matter even further was his possible involvement in the Last Great Time War.

Birth Cry
This incarnation's life began when the Doctor regenerated for a seventh time, after being caught in the crossfire of a shoot out between rival Chinese-American youth gangs. He was shot in 1999, in San Francisco's Chinatown and dying on the operating table while being attended by Dr. Grace Holloway, who was unaware of, and thus unfamiliar with, the Doctor's Time Lord physiology. Almost immediately, he was caught up in yet another battle with the Master, whose essence had survived his execution on Skaro and entered the body of a Human ambulance driver, named Bruce. Knowing this Human body would not last, the Master plotted to use the Eye of Harmony to steal the Doctor's remaining incarnations.

The Doctor's defeat of the Master involved a temporal orbit, travelling back into his own timestream to undo events in which he had been involved. (DW: Doctor Who) This paradox was this Doctor's birth cry, (EDA: Unnatural History) heralding a life of considerable complexity. Those attempting to view this incarnation's time-stream would find it not a neat line (EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles) but rather a chaos of paradoxes (EDA: Interference - Book One, Interference - Book Two, BFA: Storm Warning) and parallel timelines. (BFA: Zagreus, EDA: Time Zero)

Life, Death and Amnesia
Leaving San Francisco, the Doctor was attacked by the Master, causing yet another case of amnesia. He found himself travelling to different past points in his own timeline, encountering his previous incarnations and, at one point, securing the release of his old teacher Borusa from the Tomb of Rassilon. At the end of this journey, the Doctor regained his memories and acquired his newest companion, Sam Jones, a young woman from the same Shoreditch neighbourhood in which the Doctor stayed in, in I.M. Foreman's junkyard with his granddaughter Susan Foreman. (EDA: The Eight Doctors)

The Doctor left Sam Jones at a Greenpeace rally and went adventuring alone for three years. (EDA: Vampire Science) This extended side trip saw him reunite with Bernice Summerfield to save Britain from the Ice Warriors (NA: The Dying Days) and travel with Stacy Townsend and Ssard. (EDA: Placebo Effect)

Izzy and Destrii
On a trip to Stockbridge, the Doctor encountered his old enemy, the Celestial Toymaker. The Toymaker had brainwashed all the residents of Stockbridge into obeying him, however there were two normal people left in Stockbridge to fight back against the Toymaker. Those resistant to the Toymaker were the Doctor's old friend Maxwell Edison and his companion, "comic geek" Izzy. After the Doctor restored the city to normal with the help of Max and Izzy, the Doctor again offered Max the opportunity to travel with him in the TARDIS. Max refused yet again, so the Doctor invited Izzy, and she decided to accept, joining him on his travels. (DWM: End Game)

On their first adventure, they departed to the distant future of Earth in the 51st century, where they managed to traverse a pirate-infested wasteland and reach the Keep, a mysterious source of power in the middle of nowhere. Within, they found the genius, Crivello, who had solved the problem of the dwindling energy Earth received from the Sun, by creating a second sun capable of providing enough energy. The Doctor helped Crivello launch the device and a secondary sun was created in the Crab Nebula to provide Humanity with a new home as Sol went supernova. (DWM: The Keep)

While leaving Crivello, the Doctor and Izzy awoke in a celestial staircase, apparently having died in their departure. With classic villains damning the Doctor's exploits, both he and Izzy were sentenced to Hell - only to discover that, in fact, they were in a simulated environment. With the aid of a figure in white, they destroyed the parasite threatening the TARDIS' datascape and recovered, with the Doctor realizing the figure was, in fact, the representation of the TARDIS' own soul. (DWM: A Life of Matter and Death)

The Doctor and Izzy materialised in a small satellite orbiting Crivello's sun, and witnessed an attack on it by Daleks. While attempting to stop the Daleks plans it was revealed that another of the Doctor's deadliest enemies, the megacorp known as the Threshold was hired to destroy the Daleks, and already had a plan in motion. This plan failed and Izzy escaped with the Threshold's payment and a portal-generating Threshold ring. She warped to the Doctor's location, and he was informed of the Threshold's mission, and knew who hired them. After all, the box containing their payment was embossed with the Seal of Rassilon. The Doctor managed to defeat both the Daleks and the Threshold by making Crivello's sun go supernova, as the Doctor and Izzy escaped in the TARDIS a Threshold agent appeared to remind the Doctor the Threshold was not destroyed yet. (DWM: Fire and Brimstone)

After that, they appeared on a touristic planet, and the Doctor unwittingly careened into a crime scene and inadvertently framed himself for a series of murders. It took Izzy's yet-to-be-written touristic log to send an anonymous tip to the police to arrest the true culprit and ensure the Doctor's liberation. (DWM: By Hook or By Crook)

The Doctor and Izzy arrived in 17th century Japan and became involved in a alien research by the Gaijin, the Gaijin were working with the locals in Japan and had created the secret to immortality, 250 million Nanoforms that would recreate any damaged tissue within seconds. The Doctor managed to stop the Gaijin from giving the locals immortality with the help of Samurai Sato Katsura, who was injured in the conflict. The Doctor used some of the Nanoforms to heal Sato, however the Doctor poured too many of the Nanoforms on Sato and made him Immortal. (DWM: The Road to Hell)

Later the Doctor and Izzy had a brief meeting with an old enemy of the Doctor's, known as Beep the Meep, in a parallel universe, one where the adventures of the Doctor were nothing more than televised programmes and science fiction. The Doctor defeated Beep and confused by the oddities of the parallel universe, the Doctor and Izzy departed. (DWM: TV Action!) The Doctor, Izzy and new companion Kroton were taken to Paradost to find that Sato Katsura and the the Master had joined forces to fight the Doctor and Kroton for the Glory, where the protector of the Glory had full powers over space and time. Kroton killed Sato Katsura and the power over the Glory was passed on to him. Kroton used this power to banish the Master from Paradost and restore peace to space and time. Kroton then decided to leave the TARDIS and the Doctor and Izzy left in search of new adventures. (DWM: The Glorious Dead)

The Doctor and Izzy met an Oblivioner called Destrii, who swapped bodies with Izzy and then fled before the Doctor could get Izzy's body back. (DWM: Ophidius) The Doctor eventually managed to track Destrii down on the planet Oblivion and got Izzy's body back, the stress that Izzy went through being in Destrii's body for so long caused Izzy to leave the Doctor's company. (DWM: Oblivion)

The Doctor travelled alone for a time and met his old friend Frobisher. (DWM: Where Nobody Knows Your Name) He then bumped into Destrii again and he invited her to join him on his travels. (DWM: Bad Blood / Sins of the Fathers) The duo then travelled to London 2004 where they stopped the Cybermen from converting all humans into new Cybermen, The Doctor and Destrii then left for new adventures. (DWM: The Flood)

Travels with Sam and Fitz
Resuming his travels with Sam after picking her up at the Greenpeace rally, the Doctor came to encounter evidence of the Time Lords' future war with the nameless Enemy in the East Indies, ReVit Zone late in the 21st century where an auction was taking place. (EDA: Alien Bodies)

At this auction he met several players who came to play roles both in the Doctor's own timeline and the War with the Enemy. They included the Faction Paradox and the Celestis. This is one of the first, but not the last, paradoxical events in the Doctor's eighth incarnation, as he found out about the war "too early" as Homunculette declared. The Doctor saw more than a glimpse of his own future with the focus of the auction being "The Relic", in reality the Doctor's own corpse. (EDA: Alien Bodies)

The Doctor's companion Sam Jones also experienced a revelation about herself, (EDA: Alien Bodies) though these revelations had a far greater impact on the Doctor when he detected a dimensional scar in San Francisco 2002. Sam Jones fell into the scar and her history and personality changed, back to its original state, before her timeline had been altered. The Doctor placed his TARDIS in the dimensional scar to contain the energies and sort out this changed, or rather, restored Sam Jones. (EDA: Unnatural History)

The Doctor acquired another companion, Fitz Kreiner, (EDA: The Taint) and then with the departure of Sam Jones gained another companion, Compassion. (EDA: Interference - Book Two) Both Sam Jones and Fitz played pivotal roles in the Doctor's battles with various enemies, including the Faction Paradox. It was this such battle which would change both companions and the Doctor. The Doctor then travelled alone for a time. (EDA: Interference - Book Two)

Following this battle, the Doctor's TARDIS was destroyed. This changed the Doctor's view of Gallifrey and changed the lives of his companions in ways that would be felt for a long time, as the Doctor was forced to travel inside his companion Compassion, who had evolved into a TARDIS. (EDA: The Shadows of Avalon)

The foreknowledge of the Second War in Heaven obtained by the Doctor and the Time Lords culminated in a destruction of Gallifrey and its system. The shock and pain of launching this attack prompted his friend and companion, Compassion, to deliver him to Earth with his own TARDIS which she found in the debris of Gallifrey, to allow the Doctor to recover for 100 years. When the Doctor awoke on Earth, he found that he could not remember who he was or anything that he had done before waking up. The only things the Doctor could find linking him to his past was a small blue box, the size of a matchbox and a note in his pocket from his companion, Fitz Kreiner. (EDA: The Ancestor Cell)

Eventually the Doctor learned that, just prior to the destruction of Gallifrey, the sum total of the Matrix was placed within his mind with the help of Compassion. The sheer size of the Matrix in the Doctor's mind was enough to compress his own memories, thus causing his amnesia. This provided a means to rebuild Gallifrey and restore the Time Lords. The Doctor set out to do just this with the assistance of the Time Lord, Marnal. (EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles) The Doctor was seen to succeed in restoring the Time Lords and Gallifrey in a vision of his future. (EDA: The Tomorrow Windows)
 * Presumably this is the Gallifrey that was destroyed in the Last Great Time War. This being the case, any of his other documented adventures occurred after this point.

Travels with Charley
The Doctor returned to Earth, at an indeterminate point in the future, and gained two companions, brother and sister, Gemma and Samson Griffin. The Doctor left Samson and Gemma at a carnival and met Mary Shelley in Switzerland and began travelling with her. The Doctor then dropped her off in her normal time and resumed his travels with Samson and Gemma. (BFA: Mary's Story)

The siblings travelled with the Doctor for a time, until they encountered a Nekkistani time vessel in the vortex. Whilst aboard, Gemma was captured by Davros and forced to do his bidding. Aboard the TARDIS she, under Davros's instruction, altered the Doctor's memories and forced him to take Davros to Earth. (BFA: Terror Firma)

The Doctor was left within the vortex, without prior memory of those events with Samson and Gemma. He narrowly avoided contact with a Vortisaur and materialised his TARDIS within the ballast tanks of the R101. On board the R101, he met Charley Pollard. (BFA: Storm Warning)

During his travels with Charley, the Doctor was transformed into a Ventriloquist's dummy by the Celestial Toymaker. Although he was able to communicate via Charley when she used him as a doll, she was suffering from amnesia at the time, and had to outsmart the Toymaker herself. The Doctor then reverted back to normal as they travelled away from the Toymaker's Toyshop. (CC: Solitaire)

Saving Charley had unforeseen consequences, and the Doctor and Charley were pursued by the Time Lords until being captured by the CIA. (BFA: Embrace the Darkness, The Time of the Daleks, Neverland) It was revealed to the Doctor that Charley's surviving the destruction of the R101 had caused a crack in the Web of Time, but that she was also, because of this, the portal into the world of Anti-Time. The Doctor, along with Lady President Romana travelled to a universe of anti-time. (BFA: Neverland) The Doctor became possessed by the being Zagreus while in the universe of Anti-Time and threatened the existence of the universe. However the Doctor with the help of some of his previous incarnations, expelled Zagreus from his mind. Romana then exiled the Doctor and Charley to another universe incase any trace of Anti-Time and Zagreus still resided within him. (BFA: Zagreus)

While in the other Universe, the Doctor encountered a native known as C'rizz who began travelling with them. (BFA: The Creed of the Kromon) Eventually, the Anti-Time energies were purged from the Doctor by Rassilon, allowing Zagreus to manifest as an independent spirit that could possess the bodies of the dead. Zagreus confrontd the Doctor and tried to trick the Doctor into taking him into the main universe. The Doctor saw through his deception, leaving Zagreus trapped in Anti-Time while the Doctor, C'rizz and Charley returned to the main Universe. (BFA: The Next Life)

Back in the main Universe, Davros had laid a trap for the Doctor on Earth. Davros however was sharing his mind with the Dalek Emperor and had become mentally unstable, the Doctor managed to exploit this instability and made the Dalek Emperor side of Davros' mind dominant. The Daleks then agreed to leave Earth rather than be defeated by the Doctor. (BFA: Terror Firma)

C'rizz faced many challenges in the new universe that challenged his mental state. (BFA: Something Inside) This eventually led to C'rizz sacrificing his life to save the Doctor from the Absolver. (BFA: Absolution) C'rizz's death had a negative impact on Charley and after a confrontation with the Cybermen, she parted ways with the Doctor. (BFA: The Girl Who Never Was)

Lucie, Loneliness and Tamsin
Lucie Miller appeared in the TARDIS suddenly, much to the consternation of the Doctor. Immediately the Doctor tried to return her to her correct era but found he was unable to do so. He accidentally arrived on the planet Red Rocket Rising and gradually, earning Lucie's trust, he eliminated two rival factions of Daleks. (BFA/BBCR: Blood of the Daleks) Over the course of his journeys, the Doctor grew fond of Lucie, and the two mellowed to a mildly antagonistic friendship. He learned she was mistakenly made part of a Time Lord witness protection scheme. (BFA/BBCR: Human Resources) The two continued to explore the universe together defeating old foes such as Morbius and Zygons, until a dark secret the Doctor had been keeping regarding Lucie's Auntie Pat forced them apart. (BFA: Death in Blackpool)

After leaving Lucie, the Doctor decided to travel to Earth in the 22nd century, after the Dalek invasion, to visit Susan and check on her progress. When he arrived he found that Susan had given birth to a child named Alex, who was now in his late teens. The Doctor wanted Alex to have an education on Gallifrey where it would be much more beneficial to him than on Earth. Alex didn't want to go to Gallifrey, as he saw Earth as his home. After leaving Alex to continue his life on Earth, the Doctor made an attempt to get Susan to come travelling with him, to which she too declined. (BFA: An Earthly Child)

Once again travelling alone, the Doctor landed on Earth and met many Humans auditioning to travel with him. He could only take one, so he chose to take a woman named Tamsin. (BFA: Situation Vacant) The Doctor didn't leave the advert in the newspaper and discovered that another time-traveller had placed the advert, this time-traveller was later revealed to be the Monk, who the Doctor and Tamsin later met in Ireland 1006. (BFA: The Book of Kells)

Later, the Doctor stopped the Monk from creating a new timeline in which the Ice Warriors took back Mars from the humans. The Doctor also saved Lucie from a human base on Deimos, after she had been abandoned by the Monk. Tamsin then left the Doctor, after the Monk convinced her that the Doctor was evil. The Doctor then took Lucie away in the TARDIS to experience the Christmas he failed to give her the last time they met. (BFA: The Resurrection of Mars) The Doctor and Lucie then had Christmas dinner with Susan and Alex Campbell. (BFA: Relative Dimensions)

The Last Great Time War
Eventually, the Doctor decided to join the conflict between the Daleks and the Time Lords after he witnessed the death of a child at the hands of a Dalek. (ST: Museum Peace)

During the Last Great Time War the Doctor fought on the front lines at the Fall of Arcadia (DW: Doomsday) and attempted to save a group of sentient suns from falling into another universe. (ST: Osskah)

The Doctor was later held prisoner for over a month on an unknown planet. With the help of a Malmooth named Chantir he managed to overpower the prisons guards and escape. He then managed to obtain the Key of Rassilon, the Doctor planned to use the key as a De-Mat Gun that would lock the Medusa Cascade and bring an end to the war. (IDW: The Forgotten) This weapon may have been related to the Moment in some way, though precise details were unknown. (DW: The End of Time)

Regeneration
The exact circumstances behind the Doctor's eighth regeneration are unknown. However, the Doctor's tenth incarnation revealed that he had been alone when he died. He further implied that his eighth incarnation's demise had been influenced by the events of the Last Great Time War. (IDW: The Forgotten)

For the list of Eighth Doctor stories in the order of which he experienced them see Eighth Doctor - Timeline

Personality
This incarnation was more romantic than his predecessors, and much more open in his admiration for Humans. While earlier incarnations, especially the first and seventh, would be visibly exasperated by Human failings and quirks, this Doctor was more likely to be quietly amused.

The eighth incarnation also behaved in a more Human like manner than his predecessors. This is most clearly seen in his willingness to entertain romantic notions with Grace Holloway, albeit in an innocent, almost childlike manner. (DW: Doctor Who)

Like his fifth incarnation, he exhibited an endearing vulnerability, but this was contrasted by a sense of urgency and decisiveness. He also demonstrated a flippant sense of humour reminiscent of, though not identical to, the second and fourth incarnations. The eighth incarnation was largely an open pallet early in his life. However, as he began to experience life and the universe for himself, he soon matured into a fully developed individual. (EDA: Vampire Science, Unnatural History, Interference)

The Doctor became a darker and angrier person with the loss of his TARDIS and home in the dimensional barrier between Earth and Avalon, and his then reliance on Compassion as a means of travel. (EDA: The Shadows of Avalon)

Following his exile on Earth and particularly the loss of his second heart he became a much darker, though passionate person. (EDA: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street, History 101) The Doctor often had panic attacks brought on by the single pulse in his body. Though his second heart was returned, its long absence still left a changed Doctor. (EDA: Camera Obscura) After the death of his adopted daughter Miranda Dawkins, the Doctor became very angry at anything that reminded him of her. (EDA: Sometime Never..., Halflife)

Towards the end of this incarnation, the Doctor's memory began to fail. He also began to reminisce about his adventures with previous companions. (ST: The End, BFA: The Company of Friends)

Habits and Quirks
The eighth incarnation had a penchant for late 19th century style clothing, beginning with a Wild West costume he stole from a hospital worker's locker shortly after his regeneration. He also exhibited a habit of giving people, even strangers, hints about their future, while not expressing outright the nature of that future, with one exception. (DW: Doctor Who) This incarnation also had a tendency to repeat someone's name when he was trying to make a point, or when he got excited. (EDA: Vampire Science)

The Doctor also had quite a bit of experience in pick-pocketing, something unseen from any other incarnation and was also very afraid of heights. (DW: Doctor Who)

The Doctor could pilot a lifeboat with ease. (TN: Rip Tide) The Doctor could play the violin, harpsichord, flute, transverse cello, harp, banjo, theremin, wobbleboard and the piano. (EDA: The Year of Intelligent Tigers, Eater of Wasps)

After the Second War in Heaven, the Doctor began to smoke cigarettes. (EDA: Halflife)

Mysteries and Discrepancies

 * At one point, the Doctor said that he was half-Human on his mother's side. (DW: Doctor Who) A later adventure has the eighth incarnation describing a ruse where he tricked the Master into believing he was half-Human, using a Chameleon Arch. (IDW: The Forgotten)

Appearance
Like previous incarnations, the eighth incarnation wore clothes from the Victorian era, and also had long curly hair. He wore a long green velvet jacket, a waistcoat with a pocket watch, a cravat (DW: Doctor Who) and occasionally a top hat. (DWM: The Curious Tale of Spring-Heeled Jack, BFA: Other Lives)

Due to his green jacket being destroyed in an explosion, the Doctor replaced it with a blue velvet jacket which was very similar to the original. (DWM: Beautiful Freak) The blue coat was later destroyed in an exploding cybership, so the Doctor then bought a new green jacket identical to his original from a costume shop in San Francisco. (DWM: The Flood, EDA: Genocide)

When intending to travel to Egypt, the Doctor wore a Fez so he could fit in with the locals. (DWM: Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game) The Doctor once wore long shorts on a holiday in Egypt. (DWM: The Power of Thoueris!) In America, the Doctor wore a cowboy hat, boots and gloves. He also wore a knee-length leather coat. (DWM: Bad Blood)

The Doctor has also worn a brown cotton duster coat over a high-collared shirt with a grey cravat and grey trousers. While in India he had worn a grey homburg hat with red trousers, stout boots and a linen jacket. (TN: The Eye of the Tyger) The Doctor once dressed in a loose cotton shirt and trousers, with a floppy white sun-hat. He later changed into a white shirt and jeans. (TN: Rip Tide)

Following the Second War in Heaven, the Doctor began to wear a shirt and trousers, but felt that they did not suit him, and soon changed back into his original clothes. (EDA: The Burning) The Doctor grew a beard shortly before his wedding to Scarlette. (EDA: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)

The Doctor once wore a dark shirt and trousers with a dove grey coat made out an alien synthetic. He also had a tattoo of a man transforming into a jaguar. (EDA: The City of the Dead) The Doctor changed into a dark red coat and shorts whilst in Barcelona. (EDA: History 101) The Doctor and his companion Fitz once wore wide-brimmed hats. (EDA: Camera Obscura)

Longevity
Although the eighth incarnation appeared on television only once, if one factors in original novels, audio dramas and radio plays, he is the most prolific of all the Doctors to date, even surpassing the fourth incarnation with his seven-year tenure on television, and the seventh incarnation who was featured in his own extensive series of novels (Virgin New Adventures) and audio dramas. Like all non-televised spin-off productions, however, the canonicity of all but the 1996 television film, and subsequent on-screen references taken from this film, are open for debate.

Canon debate
Due to the nature of the 1996 movie, and certain continuity-bending issues raised by it, the place of the eighth incarnation within canon remained a matter of, sometimes heated, fan debate for more than a decade, until the revival of Doctor Who in 2005 directly addressed the issue.

In the 2007 episode DW: Human Nature, a drawing of the eighth incarnation, as played by McGann, was briefly glimpsed on one of the pages of John Smith's "Journal of Impossible Things", alongside drawings of other established incarnations. Later, the 2008 Christmas special, DW: The Next Doctor, put the issue to rest fully by including brief footage of Paul McGann from the TV movie in a recap of the Doctor's first nine incarnations. A similar on-screen appearance, again using footage from the movie, occurred in the 2010 episode DW: The Eleventh Hour in another "roll call" of past Doctors. An image of the eighth incarnation appeared yet again during a sequence in the later Series 5 episode, DW: The Lodger, which also included a line of dialogue explicitly identifying the incarnation played by Matt Smith as the eleventh, and therefore accounting for the incarnation portrayed by McGann.

Continuity Contradictions
The eighth incarnation's adventures after the TV movie have taken place in three mediums; the Big Finish audioplays, the Doctor Who Magazine and Radio Times comic strips, and the BBC novels. The continuity between these three separate ranges is unclear.

Big Finish Productions began by associating themselves with the books, for example referencing Sam Jones, (BFA: Minuet in Hell) but eventually decided to divorce themselves, even retroactively inserting a new companion called Samson to whom the 'Sam' reference might refer, although this is unlikely as the Doctor had lost his memories of Samson. (BFA: Terror Firma) A short story collection depicted Sam being edited out of history. (ST: Repercussions...) At one point, the Doctor was able to look into parallel universes, seeing glimpses which reflected the events of the DWM and EDA adventures. (BFA: Zagreus)

Despite this, it is possible for all three to fit into the same continuity. The novel, Vampire Science, establishes that the Doctor left his companion, Sam Jones, at one point. While only a few hours passed for Sam, the Doctor apparently travelled for three years without her.

Within this gap, one could fit The Dying Days, the Radio Times comic strips and the Eighth Doctor comic strip stories. After this, Vampire Science and the rest of the Eighth Doctor Novels occur with Eighth Doctor Big Finish Audio Dramas following those events due to those stories referencing events depicted in the novels. The Zygon Who Fell to Earth is one of these stories, where the Doctor refers to a previous run-in with Zygons in the 19th century, this took place in the BBC novel The Bodysnatchers. Another audio Minuet in Hell shows the Doctor recalling a memory with his previous companion Sam, a character from the BBC novels.

While no explanation has ever been provided, the audio drama, The Company of Friends, features appearances from comic book and novel companions, and a much older eighth incarnation, who refers to all the companions he had had in that lifetime. These companions were Destrii, from the comics, Compassion and Trix, from the books and Lucie, from the audios, which contradicts suggestions that the different ranges are set in alternate universes and supports the above proposal.

Casting
Numerous actors were considered for the part before McGann was cast, including Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Head and McGann's younger brother Mark. According to a 2010 report, one of those in consideration (although he currently says he was never approached), was Scottish comedian and occasional dramatic actor Billy Connolly.