Those who watch Doctor Who on a regular basis know that the series likes to bring in guest stars throughout each season, often in surprise roles.
The BBC already announced one major guest star for the ninth season of the series: Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams. This announcement has already created a stir in the fan community, with many attempting to guess what character she's playing on the show.
However, Williams isn't the first guest star Doctor Who has hosted during its new series, which began in 2005 when Christopher Eccleston took up the mantle as the Doctor. Since then, the series has seen many familiar faces pop up as guest stars, including a few who ended up becoming series regulars later on, such as Peter Capaldi and Karen Gillan.
So which Doctor Who guest stars made the most impact on fans? Here's our list of those guest stars on the new series that stood out more than the rest.
Simon Pegg (2005)
Actor and geek icon Simon Pegg almost appeared in Doctor Who earlier on, thanks to him getting offered the role of Rose Tyler's father, Pete. However, Pegg wasn't available to take the role, so instead he became The Editor in the episode "The Long Game." In that episode, the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper), joined by short-time companion Adam Mitchell (Bruno Langley), visited a space station responsible for broadcasting news across the galaxy. However, things are not what they seem and soon they discover that The Editor is using the press to control humanity.
Pegg is no stranger to science fiction. In his own series, Spaced, he often parodied other science fiction programs, including Doctor Who. He was an international star even before being cast as Scotty in the J.J. Abrams-helmed Star Trek films, though, thanks to his work in cult films like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.
Anthony Head (2006)
Best known for his role as Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Anthony Head turned up on Doctor Who in the episode "School Reunion" as Brother Lassar, posing as Lucas Finch, the headmaster at Deffry Vale High School. Lassar was actually a Krillitane, a type of alien species that could create an illusion around itself to appear in whatever form he chose. The headmaster was using the school's students to solve the Skasis Paradigm, a mathematical equation that would unlock the secrets of the universe and allow Lassar to make him and his brothers into gods. Lassar also ate humans who got in his way.
Fortunately, the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) and Rose (Piper) eventually stopped him.
This episode also featured the return of classic Who companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), who eventually got a spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Carey Mulligan (2007)
Before she became an Oscar-nominated actress, Carey Mulligan appeared on Doctor Who as Sally Sparrow, in an episode that is often cited as one of the best of the series, "Blink." That episode featured the first appearance of the Weeping Angels, stone statues that only come to life when no one looks at them. Those who dare to blink risk the Weeping Angels zapping them backwards in time. This, unfortunately, happened to the 10th Doctor (Tennant) and his companion Martha (Freema Agyeman), meaning that Sally had to figure out how to help the Doctor return to present day, but also how to save the TARDIS from falling into the hands of the Angels.
Mulligan won the Constellation Award for Best Female Performance in Science Fiction for her performance in that episode. She went on to star in An Education in a role that earned her nominations for the SAG Award, the Golden Globe and the Academy Award. That performance also scored her a win as the Best Actress in a Leading Role at the BAFTAs.
Timothy Dalton (2009, 2010)
When it came to casting Time Lord founder and Gallifreyan President Rassilon on Doctor Who in the two-parter "The End of Time," the series decided to go with former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton. This episode featured the 10th Doctor (Tennant) going head-to-head with his nemesis, The Master (John Simm), who took over control of the human race to restore the Time Lords' home planet, Gallifrey, which got trapped in a time lock shortly before being destroyed in the Time War.
Just before the Doctor sends Gallifrey back into the time lock, Rassilon makes an attempt on his life, but fails when The Master sacrifices himself and saves the Doctor.
During his battles, though, the Doctor still sustains major injuries and dies at the end of the episode. He then regenerates into the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith).
Tony Curran (2010)
Today, most know actor Tony Curran as the despicable, but somehow lovable, Datak Tarr on Syfy's Defiance. However, sci-fi fans got their first taste of Curran's acting skills on Doctor Who, when he portrayed artist Vincent Van Gogh in "Vincent and the Doctor." In that episode, the Doctor visits Van Gogh after finding an interesting detail in one of his paintings: a monster painted in a church's window on one of Van Gogh's most famous works, "The Church at Auvers." Companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) befriends the artist and, with the Doctor, discovers that there's an invisible monster terrorizing Provence that only Van Gogh can see.
The Doctor defeats the monster and even takes Van Gogh to the future to see his paintings hanging in a museum, where the curator (Bill Nighy) talks about the brilliance of the artist's work. However, in the end, this isn't enough to save Van Gogh from his imminent suicide, but in the present day, the episode shows that one of his paintings now has the words "For Amy."
Sir Michael Gambon (2010)
Harry Potter's Dumbledore, Sir Michael Gambon, did double duty on Doctor Who's 2010 Charles Dickens-inspired Christmas Special, "A Christmas Carol," by taking on two roles: that of the miserly Kazran, as well as the role of Eliot, Kazran's father. In this episode, the 11th Doctor comes to Kazran for help to save a crashing space liner, which has the Doctor's two companions – Amy and Rory – onboard. Kazran, however, refuses, forcing the Doctor to do something he shouldn't do: travel through the past to alter Kazran's present.
The Doctor discovers the secret to Kazran's happiness: a girl locked in an ice box and stored in a warehouse. The Doctor travels through time and brings Kazran and this girl together throughout his young life, but then the Doctor realizes why she's kept in the warehouse in a frozen state: she only has several days to live. However, Kazran and the girl finally get a Christmas Day together, during which she sings and calms the sky, which saves the space liner, as well as Amy and Rory.
Hugh Bonneville (2011)
Best known as Downton Abbey's Lord Grantham, Hugh Bonneville put time in on Doctor Who as a pirate in "Curse of the Black Spot." His character, Captain Henry Avery, was once a naval officer in the 1600s, who left his wife and son, Toby, to take up piracy, leaving his wife to die. However, his son eventually stowed away on his ship without his knowledge.
Meanwhile, the Doctor appears on Avery's ship, just as a creature resembling a Siren starts cursing its crew with a black spot that appears on their hands, marking them for death by the Siren. Eventually, the Siren takes Toby, and the Doctor discovers that those with the black spot aren't dying, but, are actually being transported to an alien ship: but this ship has no crew. Captain Avery chooses to stay by his son's side on the alien ship, rather than return to his own ship and takes the helm to sail through the stars.
Bonneville also appeared briefly in another episode as Captain Avery, "A Good Man Goes To War."
James Corden (2010, 2011)
James Corden's Craig Owens was so popular on Doctor Who that he appeared twice during the course of Smith's run as the 11th Doctor. The first episode Corden appeared in was "The Lodger," which featured a story about the Doctor being stranded on Earth and separated from his companion Amy Pond (Gillan). The TARDIS tries to find him, but there's some strange force preventing it from returning. So the Doctor moves in to Craig's apartment and attempts to appear like a normal human, while inadvertently creating a romance for Craig.
Corden appeared as Craig again as a married man, with a baby, in "Closing Time." The Doctor visits Craig on his "farewell tour," because he believes his life as the 11th Doctor is almost over. Of course, again, he turns Craig's life upside down, as well as the life of Craig's baby boy, Alfie (who the Doctor calls "Stormageddon").
Of course, this being Doctor Who, there are aliens invading a department store, and the Doctor soon discovers that these aliens are, in fact, the terrible Cybermen, who "upgrade" humans to become more like them. With the help of Craig and little Stormageddon, though, the Doctor stops them.
Mark Sheppard (2011)
It's likely that actor Mark Sheppard has appeared on just about every genre television show ever made, at least within the last 10-15 years. Not only does he have a recurring role as Crowley on Supernatural, but he also had roles on Battlestar Galactica and Firefly, along with numerous guest-starring roles on other related TV series. So when Doctor Who came to the U.S. to shoot two episodes, "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon," it made sense that Sheppard appear on the series as Canton Everett Delaware III, an openly gay ex FBI-agent in 1969. In those episodes, Delaware assists the Doctor in his investigation of the Silence, villains that you forget about when you're not looking at them.
In these episodes, the Doctor must solve a mystery that not only involves the Silence, but also that of a strange little girl who regenerates at the end of the episode.
This episode also featured Sheppard's father, William Morgan Sheppard, as an older version of Delaware.
Sir Ian McKellen (2012)
Sir Ian McKellen didn't actually appear visually in Doctor Who, but his voice did. McKellen portrayed The Great Intelligence in "The Snowmen," another Doctor Who Christmas special. Before the special aired, though, the BBC used a diversion tactic to prevent viewers from knowing McKellen's true role on the episode: they initially announced that McKellen was the voice of the Snowmen.
In this episode, the Doctor has just lost Amy and Rory forever. He visits Victorian England, joining Strax, Jenny and Vastra, who are there investigating mysterious random appearances of snowmen around London. During his adventure, the Doctor meets Clara Oswald, a barmaid living a double life as a governess. However, this isn't the same version of Clara he meets later on, the girl who eventually becomes his companion (although the series eventually explains her appearance in the 1800s).
The Doctor discovers that the entity behind the snowmen is The Great Intelligence, an interdimensional creature that can exist in multiple realities at the same time. It's goal? To consume mankind. Fortunately, the Doctor stops it.
