Paul McGann

Paul McGann (born 14th November 1959) played the eighth incarnation of the Doctor in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie and also voices the role in audio plays for BBC Radio and Big Finish Productions. His is considered to be either the longest or shortest tenure as the Doctor, depending on whether one counts the non-television stories to be canon or not. (Some do not recognize the canonicity of the television movie at all, despite it having been recognized numerous times by the TV series itself (DW: The Next Doctor, The Eleventh Hour, et al).) McGann also gave permission for his likeness to be used in BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures novel range and the weekly Doctor Who Magazine comic strip continuing his character's adventures without him having any actual involvement just like Sylvester McCoy before him. McGann made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role of Percy Toplis. Following on from that part, he was cast as the eponymous "I" in Bruce Robinson's cult film comedy, Withnail and I (1987). He also starred as Anton Skrebensky in Ken Russell's 1989 adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's The Rainbow.

Since then his career has concentrated on television work including the Hornblower series and he has had small roles in a number of high-profile American films including Alien³ and Queen of the Damned. His voice also featured in the 1997 video game Ceremony of Innocence together with those of Isabella Rossellini and Ben Kingsley. Coincidentally, his co-star in Withnail, actor Richard E. Grant, also played the Doctor in the 2003 animated webcast Scream of the Shalka, and also played the (Quite Handsome) 10th Doctor in the Doctor Who parody sketch, "The Curse of Fatal Death."

Although McGann played the Doctor on screen only once, he has reprised the role of the Eighth Doctor in the audio arena on many occasions dating back to 1997 when he recorded several readings for BBC Audio, beginning with an audio book adaptation of DWN: Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film and continuing with a collection of short stories, BBCR: Earth and Beyond. Since 2000 he has played the role in an extensive series of audio plays by Big Finish Productions and was treated as the "current" Doctor by the majority of fandom until Christopher Eccleston assumed the role in 2005. McGann continues to play the Eighth Doctor on audio, and also in a second series of audios produced by Big Finish for broadcast on BBC7 Radio. He also, like other past Doctors, contributes to BBC Video's, ever-growing series of classic series DVD releases, for example providing the narration for "The Ties That Bind Us", a featurette on the 2008 release of The Five Doctors.

He was born in Surrey, although his family moved to Liverpool when he was a young child. His brothers Mark, Joe, and Stephen are also actors; the four of them starred together (as four brothers) in the 1995 television miniseries The Hanging Gale. They also formed the pop quartet "The McGanns", releasing the single "Everything But The Boy".

Paul McGann reportedly found out about the Doctor Who TV Movie during production of the 1993 film The Three Musketeers. Tim Curry was offered the role of the Eighth Doctor and he was interested in playing the role, because he's always interested in a role that isn't a villain. But he didn't know how to play the character. One day during filming, Curry approached McGann on how he would play The Eighth Doctor if he was cast. Curry turned down the role of The Eighth Doctor because of scheduling conflicts with several movies and McGann would go on to be cast as the Eighth Doctor. (However, given that the 1996 TV movie wasn't cast or even organized until 1995, it's possible the production discussed by Curry and McGann in 1992 when The Three Musketeers was being filmed was a different film.)

Television Movie - 1996

 * Doctor Who

Webcast - 2003

 * Shada (webcast)

Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories

 * Storm Warning
 * Sword of Orion
 * The Stones of Venice
 * Minuet in Hell
 * Invaders from Mars
 * The Chimes of Midnight
 * Seasons of Fear
 * Embrace the Darkness
 * The Time of the Daleks
 * Neverland
 * Scherzo
 * The Creed of the Kromon
 * The Natural History of Fear
 * The Twilight Kingdom
 * Faith Stealer
 * The Last
 * Caerdroia
 * The Next Life
 * Terror Firma
 * Scaredy Cat
 * Other Lives
 * Time Works
 * Something Inside
 * Memory Lane
 * Absolution
 * The Girl Who Never Was

Webcast Audio

 * Shada

The New Eighth Doctor Adventures

 * Blood of the Daleks
 * Horror of Glam Rock
 * Immortal Beloved
 * Phobos
 * No More Lies
 * Human Resources
 * Dead London
 * Max Warp
 * Brave New Town
 * The Skull of Sobek
 * Grand Theft Cosmos
 * The Zygon Who Fell to Earth
 * Sisters of the Flame
 * The Vengeance of Morbius
 * Orbis
 * Hothouse
 * The Beast of Orlok
 * Wirrn Dawn
 * The Scapegoat
 * The Cannibalists
 * The Eight Truths
 * Worldwide Web
 * Death in Blackpool
 * Situation Vacant

BBC Audio releases

 * Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film (audio book)
 * Earth and Beyond