The vast majority of encounters in the realm the Tour calls ‘Who Not Who!’ are truly cases of serendipity, chancing upon Doctor Who actors often quite far away temporally and spiritually from their time on Doctor Who. But there are exceptions, as there always must be, to this violable rule.
The late 60s saw programs such as ‘The Saint’ and ‘The Avengers’ and even ‘The Prisoner’ on US TV schedules. Another window appeared in the mid-80’s where cross-pollination between both sides of the pond, where British actors take their shot in sunny California or American productions decamp for Britain. Years ago we wrote about Tom Baker turning up on ‘Remington Steele’ as a baddie. But the Tour Honchos also have seen the reverse coming at them for quite some time, to when Peter Davison appeared in Magnum P.I,
Within 18 months of wrapping his time in the TARDIS, Davison had a prominent role of the Season 6 opener ‘Deja Vu’ as a Higgins protégé Ian MacKerras. But this is Davison in ‘Tristan’ mode, all wide-eyed and inexperienced to the point of naïveté. Still it’s always a treat when these things come to pass. As an added treat, Geoffrey Beevers from The Keeper of Traken appeared as a Coroner. Pamela Salem from The Robots of Death and Remembrance of the Daleks as a femme fatale and Julian Glover from The Crusades and City of Death as, shockingly, a bad guy, also appeared.
The long, winding road surely can’t keep finding Doctor Who people outside of Doctor Who much longer … can they?
