Paul McGann

Paul John McGann (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell;<ref>As pronounced by McGann in his 2009 Talksport interview.</ref> born 14 November 1959) is an English actor. He came to prominence for portraying Percy Toplis in the television serial The Monocled Mutineer (1986), then starred in the dark comedy Withnail and I (1987), which was a critical success and developed a cult following. McGann later became more widely known for portraying the eighth incarnation of the Doctor in the 1996 television film Doctor Who, and its audio drama continuations. He is also known for playing Lieutenant William Bush in the TV series Hornblower (1998–2003).

Early life

Paul John McGann was born in Liverpool on 14 November 1959,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> into a Roman Catholic family. His ancestors immigrated from Ireland in the mid-19th century, having left due to the Great Famine.<ref name="indepie">Template:Cite interview</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His mother, Clare McGann, was a teacher, and his father Joe McGann, a soldier on Gold Beach during D-Day,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> who died in 1984, was a metallurgist.<ref name="Titanic">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Blood">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His cousin, Ritchie Routledge, was in the 1960s band The Cryin' Shames.<ref name=livecho2014>Template:Cite news</ref> He has an older brother, Joe, and three younger siblings: brothers Mark and Stephen and sister Clare.<ref name="Titanic" /><ref name="Blood" /> All three of his brothers are also actors and the four of them played brothers in the 1995 TV serial The Hanging Gale. That same year, McGann also played Grigori Potemkin in the television film Catherine the Great alongside Mark and Stephen.

McGann attended Cardinal Allen Grammar School in the Liverpool suburb of West Derby. He was 17 and working in a shoe shop when he acted on the advice of one of his teachers and successfully auditioned for a place on the acting course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.<ref name=livecho2014/> In 1980, the Principal of RADA, Hugh Cruttwell, selected a scene from an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, which McGann co-wrote with Bruce Payne, to be performed in front of Queen Elizabeth II in one of her rare visits to the academy. Kenneth Branagh performed a soliloquy from Hamlet at the same event.<ref>The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1980) An Entertainment, 19 November 1980 programme, GBS Theatre: London.</ref>

Career

Early work and breakthrough

McGann's breakthrough role was in Give Us a Break, devised by Geoff McQueen, McGann played a good snooker player who got into scrapes with Robert Lindsay, who played his wideboy manager. The series was a comedy drama in the vein of the ITV series of the time, Minder. The series only lasted for one season and it was concluded by a one-off special. His first major dramatic role was the British World War I deserter and criminal Percy Toplis in the 1986 BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer. The film was based on the 1978 book of the same name, written by William Alison and John Fairley.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The serial garnered controversy from British right-wing media,<ref name=badsey>Template:Cite book</ref> though McGann's performance garnered acclaim.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1986, he was cast as the anonymous main character (Marwood) in Bruce Robinson's cult film, Withnail and I. He also starred as Anton Skrebensky in Ken Russell's 1989 adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's The Rainbow. McGann's other early film appearances include The Monk, Dealers, Tree of Hands and the epic war film Empire of the Sun. McGann and other young British actors who were becoming established film actors such as Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Bruce Payne were dubbed the 'Brit Pack'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Since 1989, McGann has concentrated primarily on television work, including Nice Town and Nature Boy for the BBC, and The One That Got Away and the second series of Hornblower for ITV. However, he has had small roles in a number of high-profile American films like The Three Musketeers and Alien 3. His role in Alien 3 was originally larger, but much of it was edited out of the final print. The cut footage can be seen in the extended version of the film.Template:Cn

In 1992, he was cast as Richard Sharpe, the lead character in the Sharpe series of made-for-TV films based on Bernard Cornwell's novels. However, he injured his knee while playing football just days into filming Sharpe's Rifles in Ukraine and was replaced by Sean Bean in the role.

Doctor Who

McGann played the eighth incarnation of the Doctor, in the Doctor Who 1996 television film. The television film also starred Eric Roberts, Daphne Ashbrook and featured the outgoing Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy. McGann's brother, Mark McGann, also auditioned for the title role.<ref name="2010archive">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Doctor Who television film was a joint venture between the BBC, Universal Studios and the Fox Broadcasting Network. McGann had signed a contract to appear as the Eighth Doctor in a new Doctor Who television series, if Fox or Universal exercised their option. Thus, the television film was supposed to be a "back door pilot" in that, if it obtained respectable ratings, the new series would continue to be produced. The film was shown on 14 May 1996 in the US and on 27 May 1996 in the UK. Although it had 9.08 million viewers and was very successful in the UK, ratings were very low in the United States. As a consequence, Fox did not exercise its option to pick up the series and Universal could not find another network interested in airing a new Doctor Who series. Thus no new series was produced until 2005, after all the contractual rights had returned to the BBC.

McGann in March 2007

McGann gave permission for his likeness to be used on the covers of the BBC's Eighth Doctor novel and he has reprised the role of the Eighth Doctor in an extensive series of audio plays by Big Finish Productions. A number of these plays have also been broadcast on BBC Radio 7 (later BBC Radio 4 Extra).

After months of speculation, on 14 November 2013, which was coincidentally McGann's birthday, as part of the show's 50th Anniversary celebrations, McGann finally reprised his role as the Eighth Doctor, in the mini-episode "The Night of the Doctor". In this appearance, his incarnation of the Doctor regenerates, 17 years after his first television appearance, into a previously unknown Doctor played by John Hurt. Additionally, McGann briefly appeared in the anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.<ref>"The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot", BBC programmes, retrieved 26 November 2013.</ref>

He made his first appearance on the main television series in a cameo in the 2022 special "The Power of the Doctor", alongside other past Doctors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also featured in the documentary film Doctor Who Am I, supporting TV movie director Matthew Jacobs' embrace of the Doctor Who fandom and its conventions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Later career

In the years following his appearance as the Doctor, McGann continued to diversify his acting portfolio with the television and film roles he accepted. In 1997 he appeared as a concerned father in the film FairyTale: A True Story and later that same year as Rob in Downtime, then in 1998 he appeared as Capt. Greville in The Dance of Shiva.

McGann at the 2014 Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest

In the 2000s McGann's film appearances began to increase with films like My Kingdom (2001), Listening (2003) and Gypo (2005). Perhaps his most iconic role since Doctor Who came in 2002, when McGann appeared in the film adaptation of the third story from Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, Queen of the Damned. McGann played the part of David Talbot, a member of the secret organisation the Talamasca, which researches and investigates the supernatural. Talbot has appeared in many of Rice's novels and has become a central character over the years. The film also starred Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau and R&B singer Aaliyah. McGann has also been in demand for voice-over work in Britain in recent years, particularly on television documentaries and commercials.

He also gained acclaim for his portrayal of William Bush in the final four instalments of the ITV/A&E television series Hornblower, based on the Horatio Hornblower books by C.S. Forrester. He initially appears in the 2001 episode "Mutiny", with Bush being the 2nd Lieutenant of HMS Renown (and Hornblower's superior). In the 7th episode, "Loyalty", he agrees to join Hornblower as his 1st Lieutenant when Hornblower takes command of HMS Hotspur. McGann again portrays Bush in the 2003 finale of the series, "Duty".

In 2006, he appeared in the television drama Tripping Over. In 2007, McGann starred alongside Dervla Kirwan, Lorraine Ashbourne and David Bradley in BBC One drama True Dare Kiss, written by Debbie Horsfield. In 2010, McGann played a major role in a feature-length episode of long-running BBC mystery series Jonathan Creek, as well as appearing as a regular in the crime drama Luther. In 2011, McGann played a major role as an Assistant Commissioner with something to hide in the final episode of Waking the Dead and also featured in Simon Gray's Butley alongside Dominic West at the Duchess Theatre in London.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2017, McGann joined the cast of the long-running BBC series Holby City, playing neurosurgeon John Gaskell.

Starting in 2021, he hosts the British Podcast Awards Gold-winning<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Noiser Podcast Network production Real Dictators, a history podcast that explores the lives, personalities, and regimes of authoritarian leaders.

Audio books and voice work

McGann is also known for audiobook narration having read several Pat Barker and Bernard Cornwell novels. He narrated the abridged audiobook of Jeff Noon's 1993 cyberpunk classic Vurt.

McGann continues to play the Eighth Doctor on audio. McGann's first Big Finish audio play appearance was in 2001 in the story Storm Warning. It was through the Big Finish audio plays that McGann's Doctor faced many classic Doctor Who villains like the Daleks (in various different audio plays, the first of which being The Time of the Daleks) and the Cybermen (first encountered by the Eighth Doctor on audio in Sword of Orion).

Five Eighth Doctor dramas were broadcast in BBC 7's The 7th Dimension slot between August 2005 and January 2006. They were in release order, starting with Storm Warning, although Minuet in Hell was judged unsuitable for the timeslot, and skipped. Two more Eighth Doctor audios, Shada and The Chimes of Midnight, were broadcast in December 2005 and January 2006. All six of these stories were rebroadcast on BBC7 beginning in July 2006. In 2007 and 2008, a series of audio plays starring McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Sheridan Smith as companion Lucie Miller was broadcast on BBC7.

McGann in May 2017

His voice featured in the 1997 video game Ceremony of Innocence, together with those of Isabella Rossellini and Ben Kingsley.

After hearing him sing in The Monocled Mutineer, composer Bernard J. Taylor invited McGann to create the role of Benedict in the concept studio recording of the Much Ado, a musical based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

McGann portrayed Ambassador Durian in The Minister of Chance, a fantasy audio drama released in six parts from 2011 to 2013. The series is a spin-off of the Doctor Who audio drama Death Comes to Time, but has no official connection to the franchise. In February 2014, a crowdfunded short film based on the first instalment of The Minister of Chance was released to those who had helped fund it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

McGann portrays antagonist Noah Shackleton in the audio drama adaptation of The Phoenix Files. The Australian production is the largest audio drama ever produced in Australia with a cast of 42 actors. McGann appears in all three instalments of the science-fiction dystopian thriller series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

McGann has done audio narration for BBC documentaries, including the 2014 BBC Scotland production, Apples, Pears and Paint: How to Make a Still Life Painting.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

McGann is chief narrator in the popular A short history of… podcast series, which explores various historical topics in easily accessible episodes.

Personal life

In 1992, McGann married Annie Milner. They had two children, music producer Joseph and voice actor Jake, before they separated in 2006; the "very private" McGann has never discussed if or when he and Milner divorced.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Between 2006 and 2008, McGann was in a relationship with actress Susannah Harker.

McGann's great-uncle James "Jimmy" McGann was a trimmer on board the Titanic when she sank on 15 April 1912. Jimmy survived on board Collapsible Boat B and died in 1962.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Acting credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Withnail and I	"I"
	Empire of the Sun	Lieutenant Price
1989	Tree of Hands	Barry
	Streets of Yesterday	Yosef Raz
	The Rainbow	Anton Skrebensky
	Dealers	Daniel Pascoe
1990	Paper Mask	Matthew Harris
	The Monk	Father Lorenzo Rojas
1991	Afraid of the Dark	Tony Dalton
1992	Alien 3	Golic
1993	The Three Musketeers	Girard / Jussac
1997	FairyTale: A True Story	Arthur Wright
	Downtime	Rob
1998	The Dance of Shiva	Capt. Greville	Short film
2001	My Kingdom	Dean
	Mother Me Daughter	Dr. O'Shea	Short film
2002	Queen of the Damned	David Talbot
2003	Listening	The Man	Short film
	Y Mabinogi	King Matholwch (voice)	AKA Otherworld
2005	Gypo	Paul
2006	Poppies	Tony Hudson
2007	Always Crashing in the Same Car	Bill Mackinnon	Short film
	Voice from Afar	Actor 4
2009	Lesbian Vampire Killers	Vicar
2010	Godard & Others	Torrence
2011	Moving Target	Mr. Johnson
2012	Notes from the Underground	Photographer
2013	Art Is...	Lulu's Dad
	A Little Place Off the Edgware Road	James Craven	Short film
2014	The Minister of Chance	Ambassador Durian
2015	Absence	Man
2016	The Pit and the Pendulum: A Study in Torture	Christian Judge
	Tale of a Timelord	The Doctor
	Brakes	Peter
	Letters from Baghdad	Henry Cadogan (voice)
2017	B&B	Josh
	Perplexed Music	Man	Short film
2021	Swallow Your Dreams	James
2023	The Day of the Sun Dog	Jaggers
	The Undertaker	Arthur Morel

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Play for Today	Norman	Episode: "Whistling Wally"
	Russian Night... 1941	Dygin	Television film
	Panorama	Jamrozek	Episode: "Two Weeks in Winter: How the Army Took Over Poland"
1983	Gaskin	Graham Gaskin	Television film
1983–1984	Give Us a Break	Mo Morris	8 episodes
1986	The Importance of Being Earnest	John Worthing	Television film
	The Monocled Mutineer	Percy Toplis	4 episodes
1990	Screen Two	Colin	Episode: "Drowning in the Shallow End"
1992	Nice Town	Joe Thompson	3 episodes
1995	Catherine the Great	Grigory Potemkin	Television film
	The Hanging Gale	Liam Phelan	4 episodes
1996	The One That Got Away	Chris Ryan	Television film
	Doctor Who	The Doctor
	Testament: The Bible in Animation	David (voice)	Episode: "David and Saul"
	The Merchant of Venice	Bassanio	Television film
1998	Our Mutual Friend	Eugene Wrayburn	4 episodes
1999	Forgotten	Ben Turner	Mini-series; 3 episodes
	Breathless Hush	Henry Newbolt	Television film
2000	Nature Boy	Steve Witton	4 episodes
	Fish	Jonathan Vishnevski	6 episodes
2001	Hotel!	Ben Carter	Television film
	Sweet Revenge	Patrick Vine	2 episodes
2001, 2003	Hornblower	Lieutenant Bush	4 episodes
2002	Blood Strangers	DC David Ingram	2 episodes
	The Biographer	Andrew Morton	Television film
2003	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Dr. Peter Lord	Episode: "Sad Cypress"
2004	Lie with Me	Gerry Henson	2-part crime drama
2005	Kidnapped	Colonel MacNab	Television film
2006	Agatha Christie's Marple	Dickie Erskine	Episode: "Sleeping Murder"
	Sea of Souls	Christopher Chambers	Episode: "Rebound"
	If I Had You	Philip Andrews	Television film
	Tripping Over	Jeremy	Mini-series; 6 episodes
2007	True Dare Kiss	Nash McKinnon	6 episodes
2008	Fables of Forgotten Things	Clarence	Television short film. Pilot for future series
2009	Collision	Richard Reeves	5 episodes
2010	Jonathan Creek	Hugo Doré	Episode: "The Judas Tree"
2010–2011, 2019	Luther	Mark North	10 episodes
2011	Waking the Dead	ACC Tony Nicholson	Episodes: "Waterloo", Parts 1 & 2
	New Tricks	DCI James Larson	Episode: "Object of Desire"
2012	Save Our Souls: The Titanic Inquiry	Sir Rufus Isaacs	Television film
	A Mother's Son	David	Mini-series; 2 episodes
2013	Ripper Street	Stanley J. Bone	Episode: "The Good of This City"
	Moving On	Phil	Episode: "Blood Ties"
	The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot	Himself	Television film
2013, 2022	Doctor Who	Eighth Doctor	Episodes: "The Night of the Doctor" (minisode) & "The Power of the Doctor" (cameo)
2014	The Bletchley Circle	John Richards	Episode: "Blood on Their Hands: Part 1"
2016	Moving On	Template:N/a	Director on 2 episodes "Passengers" & "Zero"
	The Musketeers	St. Pierre	Episode: "The Queen's Diamonds"
2017–2018	Holby City	John Gaskell	40 episodes
2021, 2023	Annika	Dr. Jake Strathearn	6 episodes
2022	Anne	Sir Malcolm Thornton	Episode: #1.2
	McDonald & Dodds	Archie Addington	Episode: "A Billion Beats"
2025	Bookish	Mr. Kind	2 episodes

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984–1985	Loot	Dennis	Ambassadors Theatre and Lyric Theatre
1987	A Lie of the Mind	Frankie	Royal Court Theatre
1995	Father and Son: Son and Father	Performer	New Vic, Bristol
1996	Much Ado About Nothing	Dogberry	Horseshoe, Basingstoke
1997	Loot	Dennis	Ambassadors
1998	The Seagull	Constantine	Royal Court Theatre
1999	A Lie of the Mind	Frankie
2003	The Little Black Book	Jean-Jaques	Riverside Studios
2003–2004	Mourning Becomes Electra	Captain Adam Brant	National Theatre
2005	The Gigli Concert	Jimmy	Finborough Theatre
2009	Helen	Menelaus	Shakespeare's Globe
2011	Butley	Reg	Duchess Theatre
2013	Major Barbara	Undershaft	Abbey Theatre
2014	Three Sisters	Alexander Vershinin	Southwark Playhouse
2017	Gabriel	Von Pfunz	Theatre 6
2022	The Forest	Man 2	Hampstead Theatre
2024	The River	The Man	Greenwich Theatre

Narration

Year	Title	Notes
1995	Equinox	Series 10; episode 6: "High Anxiety"
2004	That'll Teach 'Em	Series 2 (5 episodes)
2005	Zero Hour	Series 2
	Ghosts on the Underground
2006–2007	Real Crime	Series 5–6
2011	Britain's Greatest Codebreaker
2012	9/11: The Miracle Survivor	Television film
2013	Wildest Latin America	5 episodes
	Extraordinary People: The Boy with the Incredible Brain
2014	Apples, Pears and Paint: How to Make a Still Life Painting
	France: The Wild Side
	Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race <ref name="bbc">Template:Cite web</ref>
2015	Churchill: Winning the War, Losing the Peace	Television film
	Shark <ref name="bbc2">Template:Cite web</ref>
	Hunt for the Arctic Ghost Ship <ref name="Channel 4">Template:Cite news</ref>
2016	Churchill's Secret	Television film
	Wild Sri Lanka	Disney+
	Wildest Islands of Indonesia
2016–2017	Eden <ref name="channel4">Template:Cite web</ref>	Series 1–2
2020	A Pilgrim's Tale <ref>Template:Cite podcast</ref>	Record album by Seth Lakeman<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2020–2025	Real Dictators <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Podcast
2021	Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World
2021–2022	Short History Of... <ref>Template:Cite podcast</ref>	Podcast; Series 1–2 (41 episodes)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2024	D-Day: The Tide Turns <ref>Template:Cite podcast</ref>	Podcast
2025	Ancient Civilizations <ref>Template:Cite podcast</ref>	Podcast; co-narrator John Hopkins
	Titanic: Ship of Dreams <ref>Template:Cite podcast</ref>	Podcast; 13 episodes
Template:TableTBA	Unexplained Island	Series 1. Completed

Audio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001–2021	Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures	Eighth Doctor	36 episodes
2003–present	Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures		152 episodes
2011–2013	The Minister of Chance	Durian	6 episodes
2015	River Song	Eighth Doctor	Episode: "The Rulers of the Universe"
2019	You're the Boss	Bill	Track 5 on "Shuffle" by Jamie Lenman, reading of a scene from "Always Crashing in the Same Car" (2007)
2019–2020	The War Master	Eighth Doctor	Series 3 & 5 (4 episodes)
2020	Susan's War		Episode: "The Shoreditch Intervention"
2023	The Robots		Episode: "The Final Hour"
	The Paternoster Gang		Episode: "Till Death Us Do Part"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Ceremony of Innocence	Griffin Moss (voice)
2015	Anno 2205	Virgil Drake (voice)	English version
	Lego Dimensions	Eighth Doctor (voice)	Archive audio
2023	Mia and the Dragon Princess	Walsh (voice)

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2020	The Doctors Say Thank You	Himself

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Template:Abbr
1987	British Academy Television Awards	Best Actor	The Monocled Mutineer	Template:Nominated	<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
1990	Barcelona Cinema Festival	Best Actor	Paper Mask	Template:Won	<ref name=":0" />
1996	Saturn Awards	Best Actor on Television	Doctor Who	Template:Nominated	<ref name=":0" />
2006	Torino Gay & Lesbian Film Festival	Special Mention (shared with the cast)	Gypo	Template:Won	<ref name=":0" />
2013	Crime Thriller Awards	Best Supporting Actor	A Mother's Son	Template:Nominated	<ref name=":0" />
2017	Horrible Imaginings Film Festival	Best Actor in a Feature Film	B&B	Template:Won	<ref name=":0" />
2018	Global Independent Film Awards	Best Ensemble Cast (shared with the cast)		Template:Won	<ref name=":0" />
2021	Liverpool Film Festival	Best Actor	Swallow Your Dreams	Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Template:Screenonline name
• Talking Shop: Paul McGann interview at the BBC News website