As Ncuti Gatwa says farewell to the TARDIS with his Billie Piper made her surprise Doctor Who return as Gatwa regenerated in the cliffhanger ending of season 15's "The Reality War". After playing the first companion audiences were introduced to in the modern series, Rose Tyler, Piper is now expected to take on the role of the Time Lord herself.

However, Billie Piper had already returned to the Whoniverse in 2013 in a twist role for Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, which saw her play a key role in one of the series' most notable storylines. Despite bearing Rose's appearance, the character in itself was a different entity, separate from her past role. As such, Piper is one of a select number of Doctor Who stars to return to the Whoniverse as three distinct characters.

10 Billie Piper

Rose Tyler/The Moment/The Sixteenth Doctor

In 2005's "Rose", audiences were introduced to London teen Rose Tyler, who adventured with both the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) throughout Doctor Who seasons 1 and 2, and would travel across dying realities to reunite with the Doctor for season 4's finale.

Following this and a cameo in Tennant's final adventure "The End of Time", Piper would return for the 50th-anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" as The Moment, a powerful Time Lord weapon who takes on Rose's appearance to avert Gallifrey's destruction. Piper is now set to play the Sixteenth Doctor.

9 David Tennant

The Tenth Doctor/The Metacrisis Doctor/The Fourteenth Doctor

Billie Piper's co-star, David Tennant, would also find himself playing not only three distinct characters, but incarnations of the Doctor himself. During his tenure as the Tenth Doctor, Tennant's incarnation was shot by a Dalek, but a freak Metacrisis event that involved Regeneration energy being poured into his severed hand resulted in a part-human second Tenth Doctor forming. Dubbed the Metacrisis Doctor, he ed Rose on Pete's World in Doctor Who season 4. Tennant's time in the TARDIS wouldn't be over following his departure, as the actor was cast as the Fourteenth Doctor for the show's 60th-anniversary celebrations.

8 Peter Capaldi

Lobus Caecilius/John Frobisher/Tenth Doctor

Another actor who played a role in David Tennant's tenure was Peter Capaldi, who guest-starred in Doctor Who season 4's "The Fires of Pompeii" as the marble merchant Caecilius, whom the Doctor rescues from the eruption. When the Time Lord reached his Twelfth incarnation, Capaldi returned to play the Doctor, having been given Caecilius' face to remind him to stay true to his values. Capaldi's third Doctor Who role was that of John Frobisher, the tragic Secretary to the Home Office during the 456 crisis of Torchwood: Children of Earth.

7 Richard E. Grant

The Great Intelligence/The Curse of Fatal Death Tenth Doctor/The Shalka Doctor

While his canonicity has been debated for some time, Richard E. Grant is also another actor who has played multiple characters as well as the Time Lord. Across Doctor Who season 7, Grant portrayed Doctor Simeon/The Great Intelligence during his plot to erase the Doctor's timeline, reuniting with then-showrunner Steven Moffat after having played a version of the Tenth Doctor for the Children in Need parody The Curse of Fatal Death. Grant also played an alternate Ninth Doctor for the animated 40th-anniversary adventure "Scream of the Shalka", which would later be canonized in Doctor Who season 14's "Rogue".

6 Katy Manning

Jo Grant/Iris Wildthyme/Zelanda

A fellow companion who adventured in the TARDIS to take on three Whoniverse roles is Katy Manning, best known for her portrayal of the Third Doctor's (Jon Pertwee) companion Jo Grant. Following her Doctor Who tenure, Manning would take on the role of her own eccentric Time Traveler, Iris Wildthyme, a fellow Renegade from Gallifrey, in Big Finish's various spin-offs. Finally, having faced the Ice Warriors in 1972 "The Curse of Pelladon", Manning took on the role of the Ice Warrior Zelanda in the 2022 audio drama "Wrath of the Ice Warriors".

5 Anjli Mohindra

Rani Chandra/Skithra Queen/Theodora Markway

When Katy Manning returned to the Whoniverse as Jo in The Sarah Jane Adventures "The Death of the Doctor", she ed forces with Anjli Mohindra's Rani Chandra, the young friend of Elizabeth Sladen's former companion Sarah Jane Smith. While the actor has reprised her role for Doctor Who: Redacted and her own Big Finish range, Mohindra returned to the Whoniverse on-screen as the Skithra Queen in season 12's "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror." Mohindra also portrayed reporter Theodora Markway across Big Finish's The Fourth Doctor Adventures line.

4 Derek Jacobi

The War Master/The Shalka Master/Martin Bannister

Another character Jo met in her further adventures was that of Derek Jacobi's The War Master, who made his debut disguised as Professor Yana in Doctor Who season 3's "Utopia", before Big Finish would flesh out his tale in their audio dramas. However, Jacobi played an alternate incarnation of the Master alongside Grant's Ninth Doctor in "Scream of the Shalka", now in a robot body and reluctant companion of the Doctor. Jacobi would also play the writer Martin Bannister in Doctor Who: Unbound's "Deadline", who is trapped in delusions of having met the Time Lord.

3 Julian Bleach

Davros/The Ghostmaker/The Nightmare Man

A fellow Doctor Who villain performer to hold three roles in the Whoniverse is Julian Bleach, best known for his portrayals of the Dalek's creator Davros, both before and after the incident that left him bound to his own travel machine, in Doctor Who seasons 4, 8, and 60th-anniversary celebrations. In Torchwood, Bleach portrayed the terrifying entity known as the Ghostmaker in "From Out of the Rain". The actor would then play the dream-haunting Vishklar The Nightmare Man in The Sarah Jane Adventures.

2 Silas Carson

The Ood/Ood Sigma/Kudlak

While he may be best known for his role of Ki Adi-Mundi in the Star Wars prequels, Silas Carson has also held several notable roles throughout the Whoniverse. As he provided the translated voice of the Ood in Doctor Who season 2, Carson would also provide the voice to the rebellious Ood Sigma in "Planet of the Ood", who would help free his kind from human enslavement. On the less heroic side of things, Carson would also provide the voice of Uvodni General Kudlak in The Sarah Jane Adventures' "Warriors of Kudlak", who attempted to use human children as frontline soldiers.

1 Neve McIntosh

Alaya/Restac/Madame Vastra

Finally, Neve McIntosh holds the unique honor of holding three separate characters in quick succession across a single era of Doctor Who. McIntosh made her debut as the Silurian sisters Alaya and Restac in "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood", as the species reawoke and faced Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor in season 5. While both siblings perished, McIntosh returned to play Silurian-turned-Victorian Sleuth Madame Vastra in "A Good Man Goes To War" a single season later in season 6, becoming a recurring ally to the Time Lord.

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Doctor Who
Adventure
Mystery
Sci-Fi
5/10
295
7.2/10
Release Date
December 25, 2023
Network
BBC
Directors
Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Richard Martin, Peter Moffatt, Pennant Roberts, Lennie Mayne, Chris Clough, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Gerald Blake, Graeme Harper, Waris Hussein, Rodney Bennett, Mervyn Pinfield, Hugh David, John Gorrie

Cast

See All

WHERE TO WATCH

Streaming

Writers
Russell T. Davies, Dave Gibbons, Kate Herron, Steven Moffat
Franchise(s)
Doctor Who / Whoniverse
Creator(s)
Donald Wilson, Sydney Newman