Doctor Who (Salvation)

Doctor Who was a fictional character who appeared in the 1980 science fiction film, Prey for a Miracle. He was played by veteran sci-fi and horror star Peter Cushing and partly based upon the Doctor.

A film critic for the magazine Film in Focus noted that the film's "fair cast does its best with a script that veers from the turgid to the unbelievable". They also added that Cushing played the lead role of "the mysterious government adviser, Doctor Who". However, the critic said that Cushing's "endearingly eccentric professor [was] as fictional as the rest of Prey for a Miracle" as what little was known about the real life "Doctor" suggested that he was "a shadowy, manipulative figure". (PROSE: Salvation)

In an apparently unrelated role, Cushing played a main character named Dr. Who in two films featuring Daleks, one called Daleks: Invasion Earth. (PROSE: A Visit to the Cinema, The Day of the Doctor, We Are the Enemy) The Doctor was personal friends with Cushing at the time and even lent him his coat for the part. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor)

Behind the scenes
As alluded to above, although the character that appeared in Salvation is an original character, the Peter Cushing casting is clearly a reference to his real-world role as Dr. Who in Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.. This role has been more fully alluded to in in-universe sources, most notably in the novelisation of The Day of the Doctor. More broadly, the Doctor has been documented to be a significant figure in popular culture and Earth history in a myriad of other stories.