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Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and those other Star Wars players who've time-travelled to the Doctor Who galaxy.
Transcript
00:00We're going to go through a list of two of the biggest sci-fi franchises to have existed,
00:04Doctor Who and Star Wars. How many names have crossed over between the two of them? It might
00:09surprise some people to think, well hang on, wasn't Doctor Who for the longest time this like
00:12small little BBC show that no one had heard about? And to them I would say, how dare you?
00:18With that in mind, I'm Sean Ferrick for Who Culture and here are 10 actors who appeared
00:23in Star Wars and Doctor Who. Number 10, Felicity Jones. Oscar nominee
00:29Felicity Jones tends to shy away from huge blockbuster flicks like Star Wars, largely
00:34opting for meatier dramatic roles in films like The Theory of Everything, A Monster Calls and On
00:38the Basis of Sex. However, in 2016 she dipped her toes into the genre pool in a major way,
00:44delivering a solid performance as the tough as nails Jyn Erso in Rogue One A Star Wars Story.
00:49Considering that Jyn was obliterated by the Death Star at the end of that movie, Jones's first Star
00:53Wars feature was also probably her last. Although considering that fellow deceased rebel Cassian
00:58Andor has just had his series start airing on Disney Plus, so perhaps we'll see Jones reprise
01:04her role in a similar Disney Plus prequel one day. Her Hooniverse character fared much better,
01:08with Jones starring as cockney jewel thief Ada Mullins in the 2008 episode The Unicorn and the Wasp,
01:13opposite David Tennant's 10th Doctor and Catherine Tate as his companion Donna Noble.
01:17Initially going by the name Robina Redmond in order to mask her real identity, Mullins was one of
01:22the suspects in the murder of Professor Peach, was ultimately cleared when the true culprit was
01:26uncovered by the Doctor and Agatha Christie, a giant alien wasp. Yeah, it's Doctor Who, just go with it.
01:31Number 9, Michael Sheard. The late Michael Sheard didn't have much screen time in the Star Wars
01:36universe, but his small role has become the subject of a fascinating fan theory in the decades since.
01:41Popping up in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, Sheard played Admiral Ozell, a high-ranking Empire
01:46officer who oversaw the Siege of Hoth in the early stages of the movie. Unfortunately for him though,
01:50this offensive didn't work out, and a pissed off Vader force choked him to death for his tactical
01:55ineptitude. The fact that Ozell failed at his job and made it easier for the Rebels to escape has
01:59led to the theory that he was actually a Rebel spy, or even just a Rebel sympathiser. And hey,
02:04with Hux being outed as a spy in The Rise of Skywalker, it's not completely bonkers to suggest
02:08that Ozell was in a similar situation. Jumping over to the small screen, and Sheard's Doctor Who resume,
02:12is one of the most impressive of all time. Between 1966 and 1988, he appeared in no less than
02:18six different serials opposite five different Doctors, the most notable of these being the
02:24role of Scarman in the fourth Doctor story Pyramids of Mars, and even did an audio drama with eighth
02:29Doctor Paul McGann in 2001. Now that is quite the Hooniverse legacy. Number eight, Simon Pegg. Simon Pegg
02:37is one of those rare actors who's completed the Holy Trinity. He's got roles in Star Wars, Star Trek,
02:42and Doctor Who. Add to that all the cool points he gained by working on the Cornetto trilogy and Mission
02:46Impossible, and this unassuming Brit is something of a god amongst nerds. After playing Chief Engineer
02:51Scotty in 2009's Star Trek reboot, and its 2013 sequel, and 2016 threequel, Pegg's minor, easy-to-miss
02:58Star Wars role came during 2015's Force Awakens, where the actor was hidden under several layers of
03:04makeup and prosthetics as Unkar Plutt, the penny-pinching junk dealer who interacts with Rey a
03:09couple of times throughout the film. Pegg's Doctor Who character was also a bit of a dick, with the
03:13superstar helping to bring the show back to television in the first series of the 2005
03:16revival. Squaring off against Christopher Eccleston's ninth Doctor in the episode The Long
03:20Game, Pegg played the scenery-chewing villain The Editor, a glorified henchman who served a higher
03:25power that was manipulating the human race. Pegg was originally set to play Pete Tyler, a character who
03:30would recur throughout season two, unlike the one-and-done editor. However, considering that his Hollywood
03:34career blew up around this time, it's unclear if Pegg would have been game for a more modestly budgeted
03:39small-screen sci-fi. Number seven, Lily Cole. Sticking with the sequel trilogy, model-turned-actress
03:45Lily Cole had an ever-so-brief role in The Last Jedi's Canto Bight casino sequence, where she stood
03:49alongside Justin Theroux's Master Codebreaker as he enjoyed a spot of gambling. Referred to as Lovey,
03:55Cole's character has just a single line of dialogue during this sequence, but her extravagant hairstyle
04:00and intricately woven costume ensured she remained somewhat memorable. Cole had significantly more
04:05screen time over in the Hooniverse, where she played the seductive Siren in the 2011 episode, The Curse of
04:10the Black Spot. This villain of the week tormented the 11th Doctor and a gang of pirates on board a
04:14stranded ship, snatching them away to their presumed deaths. In true Doctor Who fashion though, it was
04:19eventually revealed that the Siren was actually a misunderstood alien, who was stealing people not to
04:22kill them, but to cure them. Cole's unique look contributed greatly to the Siren's otherworldly
04:27presence, and she was a standout in an otherwise unremarkable episode. Number six, David Prowse. Though James
04:33Earl Jones receives a tonne of credit for making Darth Vader one of the greatest villains in movie
04:37history, and of course rightfully so, it's important not to forget the man behind the mask.
04:43The late David Prowse was the man who physically played Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy,
04:47with a six foot six inch bodybuilder putting his towering frame to good use. David brought a
04:52physicality to Darth Vader that was essential for the character, said George Lucas shortly after
04:56Prowse's death in late 2020. He made Vader leap off the page and onto the big screen. Five years before
05:02his debut in a galaxy far far away, Prowse's height again proved the perfect match for a villain role
05:07when the Doctor Who team was searching for an actor to portray the Minotaur in the third Doctor
05:11serial, the Time Monster. As is the case with many classic Doctor Who bodies, the makeup and effects
05:15don't exactly hold up to modern standards here, this Minotaur is clearly just a half naked dude with a
05:20Halloween mask on, but Prowse's bulging muscles did at least make the character feel intimidating at
05:26various points. Number five, Silas Carson. Though the vast majority of moviegoers won't know who
05:32he is, Silas Carson has built himself an incredible career over the last 20 years or so, starring
05:37opposite Hollywood heavyweights Tom Hardy, Daniel Day-Lewis and Viggo Mortensen in films like Locke,
05:42Phantom Thread and Hidalgo respectively. He's an underrated MVP within the Star Wars Galaxy 2,
05:47and that's because Carson had a whopping four roles across the prequel trilogy, from 1999's Phantom Menace to
05:532005's Revenge of the Sith. He played Trade Federation representatives Newt Gan Ray and Lot Dodd,
05:59doomed Jedi Master Ki-Adi Mundi and Republic Pilot Antidar Williams who dies early in the first film.
06:04Carson's Hooniverse call sheet is also rather chunky, with the actor providing the voice of the
06:08alien species the Ood across various Doctor Who stories from 2006 to 2021. He also lent his pipes
06:14to several aliens in the 2005 episode The End of the World and even appeared in Who's spin-off
06:19the Sarah Jane Adventures as General Oovlavad Kudlak. Try saying that 10 times fast.
06:24Number 4, Tosin Cole. It must be a dream come true to appear in a Star Wars movie,
06:28even if your role is the very definition of blink and you'll miss it. That's how Tosin Cole's part
06:33in 2015's The Force Awakens is best described, with the young actor getting mere seconds of screen time
06:38as Lieutenant Bastion, a resistance pilot who flies alongside Poe Dameron in the Assault on Starkiller
06:43base. Despite having very little to do in the movie, Cole still had to adhere to the same strict
06:47secrecy rules as the rest of the cast, telling Radio Times that the audition process was crazy,
06:52they take the secrecy crazy seriously. Less than two years after The Force Awakens record-setting
06:57theatrical run, it was announced that Cole be joining Doctor Who as one of the 13th Doctor's
07:01main companions, Ryan Sinclair. He debuted in the 2018 episode The Woman Who Fell to Earth,
07:06spending two full seasons on the show before departing in the 2021 New Year's Day special.
07:12Number 3, Christina Chong. Speaking of bit parts in The Force Awakens, Christina Chong's small
07:17role in the seventh episode of The Skywalker Saga is something of a mystery to this day
07:21because it was cut in its entirety during editing. In July 2014 it was announced that Chong had joined
07:25the film in a minor role and although she did travel to Abu Dhabi to shoot her scenes and even
07:30got called in for reshoots at Pinewood Studios in London, her character didn't make the final cut.
07:34Reflecting on her Star Wars experience in a recent interview, Chong said,
07:37My scene was with Daisy Ridley and it was at the beginning, the very first day of the shoot.
07:40I essentially got paid twice to do that job and it ended up on the cutting room floor,
07:44which is kind of amazing. Fortunately, Doctor Who's editors were much kinder to Chong and her
07:49character Lorna Bucket, a soldier working for the part religious, part military organisation,
07:53the Church of the Papal Mainframe, played a vital role in the 2011 episode A Good Man Goes to War.
07:59Along with Peg, Chong is another of these rare actors who's completed the Trek Wars Who trifecta,
08:04having boldly gone to the Star Trek franchise in 2022's Strange New Worlds, which currently has just
08:10wrapped production on its second season. Number 2, Alan Rusko.
08:15Like Silas Carson, Alan Rusko played a host of different characters across the Star Wars prequels,
08:19although you never actually saw his face due to him being buried under mounds of prosthetics. In The
08:24Phantom Menace, he played the rather eclectic trio of Jedi Master Plo Koon, slimy Twi'lek Bib Fortuna in
08:30a scene that was cut from the film, and Trade Federation Captain Dalte Dauphine, who dies towards the end of
08:35the third act when young Anakin Skywalker blows up the battleship he's stationed on. He also played
08:39another Trade Federation representative, Rune Hakko in Attack of the Clones, who was seen alongside
08:44Count Dooku at several points throughout the film. He was also very busy over on Doctor Who,
08:47and played various characters in the first series of the 2005 revival, including in Auton in the first
08:52episode, a Slothene in the fourth and fifth, and the sinister Android game show host in the finale.
08:57He returned to the show for his most recognisable role in 2009, playing flood victim Andy Stone in the
09:03terrific 10th Doctor episode, The Waters of Mars.
09:07Number 1, Jeremy Bullock. With Boba Fett enjoying a modern resurgence, thanks to The Mandalorian
09:12and his own self-titled Disney Plus show, there's never been a better time to shine a spotlight on
09:16the original man behind the mask, Jeremy Bullock. Bullock, who sadly passed away in late 2020,
09:21a month after David Prowse, wore that iconic Boba Fett costume in The Empire Strikes Back and returned
09:26three years later for Return of the Jedi. As with Vader though, the voice was provided by a different actor,
09:31in this case Jason Wingreen, whose vocals were then dubbed by the incumbent Timora Morrison in the
09:362004 DVD release of the original trilogy. Bullock had a second more visible role in The Empire Strikes
09:41Back 2, swapping the bounty hunter's armour for the Empire uniform of Lieutenant Sheckle. Bullock was a
09:46last minute replacement for this part, after the original actor became unavailable. He also had a
09:50cameo in Revenge of the Sith, portraying Tantive 3 pilot Captain Colton. Moving from the cinema to the
09:55living room now, and yes, the guy who played Boba Fett also appeared in Doctor Who, it doesn't really get
09:59much cooler than that. Bullock popped up twice during the classic years of the show, originally
10:03starring opposite First Doctor in the 1965 serial The Space Museum, and returning for a more sizeable
10:09role of Hal the Archer in 1973's The Time Warrior alongside John Pertwee's Third Doctor. Hal's one of
10:15the very first characters to kill a Sontaran on screen, making Bullock quite the badass no matter
10:19which galaxy he appeared in. That's everything for our list folks, and if you reckon I missed anything let
10:23me know in the comments below. Please don't forget to like, share and subscribe, and remember that you can
10:27catch us over on Twitter at WhoCulture, you can catch myself at SeanFerrick on Twitter, and at
10:31Sean.Ferrick88 on Instagram. You look after yourselves until I see you again, look after
10:36your friends and family, our friends in Ukraine, stay safe, stay strong, our friends in Iran,
10:40your bravery is inspiring. Thank you so much everyone, keep things wibbly wobbly.

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