Doctor Who director, Geoffrey Sax, has recalled how Harry Van Gorkum was close to becoming the Eighth Doctor in The TV Movie.

Before Paul McGann was cast in the iconic role (and did a superb job of it, it has to be said), practically every actor you could name was up for the part — including future Doctors, Christopher Eccleston, Peter Capaldi, and John Hurt — but Sax has revealed that on in particular was a hair’s breadth away from being the Doctor. He said:

“There was a guy called Harry Van Gorkum, and he came extremely close, and he had a huge amount of charisma. I think what happened was we were pushing for him, and I think the BBC said at the time, ‘Well, we would like somebody with a bit more of a name, because obviously, although Doctor Who’s got the brand, we just want to make it really special. So, if you can find a name, somebody who’s already more established in the UK, let’s go with that.’ And that’s how Paul became involved.”

It was apparently Alan Yentob, then-Controller of BBC1, who pushed for someone else to take the part.

It’s certainly a shame for Harry Van Gorkum, who, five years ago, remembered how close he came:

“My agent says, ‘Harry, I’ve got some news for you. You’ve got Doctor Who. Everyone loved you. Everyone said, ‘This is fantastic – we’ve found him’.’ And I couldn’t believe it. I remember I fell to my knees in my trailer and kind of collapsed. I had a bit of an emotional moment. It was the turning point in my career. I thought, ‘My God, I’m going to play Doctor Who in America’…”

Around the time, Gorkum was starring in Seinfeld, The Big Easy, and The World of Lee Evans, and has subsequently appeared in Gone in 60 Seconds, Charmed, 24, Friends, and Batman & Robin.

Previously, we thought Gorkum was the second choice for the role, should McGann fall through; instead, he was actually cast, seemingly by Fox/Universal, acting through producer Philip Segal, so it was the British side of things that resulted in McGann being the Doctor intead.