Brian Blessed nearly played Doctor Who but ‘scared the BBC to death’

Blessed has previously said he told BBC bosses he wanted to play the character as Chinese

Brian Blessed could have played the lead role in Doctor Who, had he not “scared the BBC to death” with his ideas for the character.

The Flash Gordon star was approached about stepping into the shoes of William Hartnell, the first actor to play the Doctor on the science fiction series, in the 1960s.

Speaking to the Radio Times, the 83-year-old actor reminisced about the exchange, saying: “It’s a long story. I was in Z-Cars for two years… 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.’”

Having been offered another role in a BBC adaptation of The Three Musketeers, the actor describes having a “long meeting” with the BBC, recalling: “I said, ‘Really guys, I love Doctor Who, I love watching it, but I don’t see him the way you see him.’”

In response to his suggestions, Blessed said: “They nearly had a heart attack. It absolutely scared them to f***ing death. So I went off and did The Three Musketeers.”

The stage and screen actor has previously addressed this exchange during his live show An Evening With, telling the audience: “I said, ‘‘Well his name is Who, which is not an English name at all, it’s from the far East, so I’d like to play him like Charlie Chan and make him Chinese.’

“Well the offer disappeared very quickly after that as they obviously thought they were dealing with a total maniac.”

The role of the second Doctor eventually went to Patrick Troughton, who starred on the long-running drama from 1966 to 1969.