Who Is the Best Actor to Play the Doctor?

2023-08-12

Doctors come and go, and each leaves their mark on the role — one as iconic as Sherlock Holmes or James Bond. But outside of their undeniable impact on Doctor Who, some of the actors who have played the Doctor go on to impress and find audiences in other roles. Even if those parts may not match the level of notoriety a franchise like Doctor Who bestows, those performances sometimes demonstrate a range and expertise in their craft few can match. Who are the actors who best fit that description? It's a hard question to answer even if you adhere to the "orthodox" view, sticking to the actors who pl...

Who are the actors who best fit that description? It's a hard question to answer even if you adhere to the "orthodox" view, sticking to the actors who played the lead in the series on an ongoing basis. However, the nature of the show — in particular the way it both reboots and revisits its central character — means there are plenty of wild cards.

Everyone knows the major players: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker, and, soon, Ncuti Gatwa. But if the criteria is "actors who played the Doctor," we're also forced to consider David Bradley, Richard Hurndall, Peter Cushing, and John Hurt, among others.

In this Pull To Open Side Trip, we set out to answer — or at least address — the potentially unanswerable question: Who is the best actor to ever play the role of the Doctor?

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