The ‘jarring’ exclusion of a former Time Lord during the BBC’s coverage of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary festivities has enraged many.
Paul McGann, who played the ninth Doctor in a TV feature and over 70 audio dramas in 1996, was left out of BBC Breakfast’s programme on the renowned science-fiction series on Saturday.
In footage broadcast by BBC reporter Lizo Mzimba, the 64-year-old Withnail and I star was missing from a montage of archive clips of prior performers who portrayed the legendary part.
Previous Time Lords mentioned in the study were William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and McCoy.
More recently, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, and Jodie Whittaker have travelled in the tardis, with an image of incoming Doctor Ncuti Gatwa featured on the section.
The exclusion angered a number of X, formerly known as Twitter, users, with one fuming: ‘#DoctorWho noticing an astoundingly jarring lack of Paul McGann recognition by the BBC today. Hope it leads to something.’
Another raged: ‘@BBCBreakfast you had better let Lizo know that his Doctor Who report omits Paul McGann from its montage- I am calm but some Whovians might be outraged.’
‘@BBCNews might be an oversight (hope it was anyway) but couldn’t help but notice the lack of Paul McGann during your Doctor Who segment this morning. Especially during the montage of previous actors playing the role,’ a third commented.
Fans of Paul need not despair, as he is apparently in discussions to feature in a Doctor Who spin-off series, with showrunner Russell T Davies also stating that there would be more Whovian content in the future.
‘Russell likes the idea of bringing back McGann with his own set of episodes in the TARDIS,’ a source has now said.
‘Disney are on board as they want more original content and want to fully exploit the franchise as they know how big it could become,’ they added when speaking to The Mirror.
In a television production starring Eric Roberts, Daphne Ashbrook, and the outgoing seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, Paul played the eighth version of the Doctor.
The film, a collaboration between BBC Worldwide and Universal Studios, was an effort to resurrect the sci-fi show after it was terminated in 1989.
While there were intentions to make it into a series, it was never taken up due to low ratings in the United States, and no new episodes were made until 2005.
Then, last year, he appeared with other former Doctors in The Power of the Doctor special, which marked Jodie’s final appearance in the role.
@BBCNews might be an oversight (hope it was anyway) but couldn't help but notice the lack of Paul McGann during your Doctor Who segment this morning. Especially during the montage of previous actors playing the role pic.twitter.com/jIO87p6mYs
— Rob's Media Vault (@Robsmediavault) November 23, 2023
@BBCBreakfast you had better let Lizo know that his Doctor Who report omits Paul McGann from its montage- I am calm but some Whovians might be outraged
— Neil Jeffery (@SirBlimelyWindy) November 23, 2023
#DoctorWho noticing an astoundingly jarring lack of Paul McGann recognition by the BBC today. Hope it leads to something 👀
— Dominic Morris (the curious doctor) (@d_mozarella) November 23, 2023
Clip on the BBC news omitting Paul McGann from the line up of Doctors. 🙁
— jamie robertson (@pinkjockalypse) November 23, 2023
Last month Paul also said he’d love to return, telling The Guardian: ‘The fans call me the longest and the shortest [Doctor]. I’ll have it. Less than two hours of screen time in 27 years, but somehow still kind of everywhere all at once. It could only happen in Who world.’
‘I was recently in one of the Jodie Whittaker episodes (The Power of the Doctor). That’s the only time that the Eighth Doctor got on to the telly. So, it gave me a little taste for it. I wouldn’t mind doing some more,’ he added.
Doctor Who returns later this month with three episodes commemorating the 60th anniversary, with David Tennant reprising his role as the Doctor and Catherine Tate reprising her role as Donna Noble.
The specials will begin on November 25 with The Star Beast, which will see the Doctor and Donna finally meet after years apart.
Following this will be Wild Blue Yonder on December 2 and The Giggle on December 8.
Doctor Who is available to watch on iPlayer.