Brian Blessed was offered the role of the Doctor, but his ideas “scared” the BBC

Actor Brian Blessed was offered the role of the Doctor on Doctor Who way back in the mid-60s, but apparently his ideas “scared [the BBC] to f**king death.”

Actor Brian Blessed, readily identifiable by his huge beard and booming voice, has had plenty of notable roles over the years, from Prince Vultan in the campy 1980 adaptation of Flash Gordon to Boss Nash in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. He was even in the original production of Cats, for whatever that’s worth. But he could have played a character to eclipse them all: the Doctor on Doctor Who.

According to a new interview Blessed gave to Radio Times, the BBC offered him in the role in the mid-sixties, when William Hartnell was still playing the very first Doctor. “I was in [BBC police drama] Z-Cars for two years playing ‘Fancy’ Smith, the tough, heroic Yorkshireman,” he remembered. “And then [BBC producer] Andrew Osborn took me for a long walk and he said, ‘Bill Hartnell’s very old and we want a young Doctor Who’.”

It sounds like Blessed seriously considered the role. “My biggest love in life is space,” he said. “I mean, there’s the Flash Gordon thing, but of course in reality I’ve done six months training in Moscow in Space City, so I’m a fully qualified cosmonaut, and I’ve done work with NASA on Reunion Island in the Pacific, with lots of microbiologists and geologists. I’ve done a lot.” Seems like a match made in heaven, no?

Except there was one problem: “I said, ‘Really guys, I love Doctor Who, I love watching it, but I don’t see him the way you see him’.” Indeed, as Blessed remembers it, the ideas he had for the character were so out there, “[t]hey nearly had a heart attack. It absolutely scared them to f**king death.” So he went off and did a Three Musketeers series instead, and the role of the Second Doctor went to Patrick Troughton.

What did he suggest that was so outrageous? We don’t know everything, but according to The Sun, one of his ideas involved using makeup to “make [the Doctor] Chinese,” since “Who” is a surname that sounds like it comes from that part of the world. Considering that Britbox recently added content warnings to old episodes of Doctor Who that have a white actor playing an Asian character and that trade in outdated stereotypes, maybe the executives were right to feel nervous, although Blessed claims he only suggested ideas like that “to get out” of the offer.

Blessed would eventually appear on Doctor Who, in the 1986 story “The Trial of a Time Lord,” playing the warlord Yrcanos. And who knows? Maybe when Jodie Whittaker is done playing the role we can have our first 80-something Doctor…unless Blessed has any more bright ideas.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels