Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was a singer. His song, "Man in the Mirror", was playing on the radio as David Gilligan watched a house that he intended to rob in Illinois on 24 December 1987. (PROSE: Be Good for Goodness's Sake)

Rose Tyler once sarcastically called Lady Cassandra "Michael Jackson", alluding to his infamous changes in appearance. (TV: The End of the World)

Behind the scenes
During the height of Michael Jackson's popularity in the 1980s, American film studio Paramount Pictures expressed interest in producing a theatrical Doctor Who film that starred Jackson as the Doctor, riding the coattails of the success of Jackson's film ; these plans fell through sometime around 1988. Had this idea gone through, Jackson would've become the first non-white actor to portray the Doctor, as well as the first non-British one (as he was African-American).