Actors who auditioned for the role in the 1996 film included Michael Crawford, Rowan Atkinson (who played a spoof version of the Doctor in Curse of Fatal Death), Liam Cunningham (who appeared in the 2013 Doctor Who episode "Cold War"), Mark McGann (whose brother Paul McGann eventually got the role), Trevor Eve, Michael Palin, Robert Lindsay, Eric Idle, Tim McInnerny (who appeared in the 2008 Doctor Who episode "Planet of the Ood"), Nathaniel Parker, Peter Woodward, John Sessions (who later played Tannis in the audio drama Death Comes to Time, and voiced Gus in the 2014 Doctor Who episode Mummy on the Orient Express), Anthony Head (who appeared in the 2006 Doctor Who episode "School Reunion", narrated episodes of the Doctor Who Confidential behind-the-scenes series, and provided voice-acting work for both the televised The Infinite Quest and the Excelis story arc from Big Finish Productions), Rik Mayall, and Tony Slattery. Billy Connolly has stated that he was also considered for the part. Peter Capaldi was invited to audition, but declined, as he "didn't think [he] would get it, and... didn't want to just be part of a big cull of actors." Capaldi was eventually cast as the Twelfth Doctor. Harry Van Gorkum was cast as the role for the Eighth Doctor but the BBC, unlike Fox and Universal did not find him a fitting choice. Roger Rees was approached and showed interest.
