John Carson

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors
  1. Ray Barrett, Doctor Who #11: The Rescue, TV, 1964.     For Bennett read Barrett… opposite Doc1William Hartnell and, yes, the Daleks!
  2. Laurence Payne, Doctor Who #25: The Gunfighters, TV, 1966.    Doc1 at the OK Corral with Payne making a tougher Johnny Ringo than Carson would have done. Payne had future adventures with both Bakers: Doc4 Tom in The Leisure Hive, 1980, and Doc6 Colin’s 1985 Two Doctors (the second was Doc2 Patrick Troughton).
  3. George Baker, Doctor Who #111: Full Circle, TV, 1980.     he baker’s dozen actors up for Login were familiar names from 80s Whoverse casting. Baker, Carson, Joss Ackland, Brian Blessed, James Ellis, Frank Finlay, Bernard Hepton, Donald Houston, Jeremy Kemp, William Lucas, Alfred Lynch, TP McKenna, Edward Woodward. And they stayed listed until they became available. As they did… Carson, for example, was finally captured for Ambril in #124: Snakedance, 1983, with Doc5 Peter Davison.
  4. Lee Montague, The Legacy,1977.     Welsh director Richard Marquand’s list for the hotelier, Grandier, were Joss Ackland, Peter Arne (also up for the immolated Liebnecht), Ian Bannen, John Carson, Frank Finlay, Ian Hendry, Peter Jeffrey. Also in the literal horror was Who singer Roger Daltrey – his price for allowing his country house to be used for five murders.  Leading man Sam Elliott warned the Associated Press off the film: “It’s about 15 years behind its time.”
  5. Emrys James, Doctor Who #112: State of Decay, TV, 1980.      There were 21 potential Aukons and all – except James – had been this way before, standing at the Whoverse portal, awaiting a callback. Carson, Peter Arne, Colin Baker, Steven Berkoff, David Collings, Peter Gilmore, Michael Gothard, John Hallam, Donald Houston, Martin Jarvis, Michael Jayston, Ronald Lacey, William Lucas, Ian McKellen, John Normington, Patrick Stewart, Anthony Valentine, Peter Vaughan, David Warner, Peter Wyngarde.
  6. Michael Robbins, Doctor Who #119: The Visitation, TV, 1982.     One of Doc5 Peter Davison’s three favourite tales, although Robbins hated his rôle as much as scenarist Eric Saward disliked the performance. Also up for Richard Mace were such regulars on the Whoverse casting (or dart) board as Carson, Bannen, Frank Finlay, Ronald Fraser, Donald Houston, William Lucas, Glyn Owen and Donald Pleasence.
  7. Moray Watson, Doctor Who #120: Black Orchid, TV, 1982.    Not a rehash of Sophia Loren’s 1958 Hollywood melo, but an adventure (with cricket!) in 1925 England for for Doc5 Peter Davison. Also the frame for Sir Robert Muir were Carson, Robin Bailey, Geoffrey Bayldon, William Lucas, Nigel Stock and Peter Vaughan.
  8. Richard Easton, Doctor Who #122: Time Flight, TV, 1982.    The 19 nominations for Concorde pilot Captain Stapley in the worst Doc5 Peter Davison episode (the budget ran out…) were Carson, Easton, Terence Alexander, Peter Arne, Keith Barron, Brian Blessed, Michael Craig, Paul Darrow, Peter Gilmore, Michael Gothard, John Hallam, Terrence Hardiman, Del Henney, Glyn Houston, Martin Jarvis, William Lucas, Conrad Phillips, Anthony Valentine and Frank Windsor.
  9. Nigel Stock. Doctor Who #122: Time-Flight, TV, 1982.  Change of   Professor Hayter as Doc 5 Peter Davison find himself 140 million years in Earth’s past. Carson, like Stock and two others in his cast (Anthony Ainley, Keith Drinkel) were among the astonishing army of 203 candidates for just 18 roles in Lifeforce, 1984. The difference being Who was science fiction and Lifeforce was science fart.
  10. Patrick Stewart, Lifeforce, 1984.
  11. Michael Gothard, Lifeforce, 1984.

  12. Aubrey Morris, Lifeforce, 1984.  
  13. Frank Finlay, Lifeforce, 1984.
  14. Jerome Willis, Lifeforce, 1984.
  15. Peter Porteous, Lifeforce, 1984.
  16. Martin Jarvis, Doctor Who # 138: Vengeance on Varos, TV, 1984.     Carson, Jarvis, George Baker, Keith Barron, Brian Blessed, Frank Finlay, Julian Glover, John Hallam, Terrence Hardiman, John Hurt, Derek Jacobi, Michael Jayston, Dinsdale Landen, Ian McKellen, Anthony Valentine, and David Warner were the 16 choices for the beleaguered Governor of Varos, a kind of Pontius Pilate revisited.
  17. Terence Alexander, Doctor Who #139: The Mark of the Rani, 1984.   Carson, Alexander, Joss Ackland, Harry Andrews, Bernard Archard, Robin Bailey, George Baker, Ian Bannen, Geoffrey Bayldon, Peter Cushing, Allan Cuthbertson, Frank Finlay, Robert Flemyng, Michael Gough, Dinsdale Landen, TP McKenna, Donald Pickering, Peter Sallis, John Standing, Patrick Stewart, Peter Vaughan… and the Z Cars cops James Ellis and Jeremy Kemp they were the 23 contenders for Lord Ravenworth. Phew! Standing was the most suitable as he was the fourth baronet in his family’s line.
  18. William Gaunt, Doctor Who #142: Revelation of the Daleks, 1985.   For the second time, 25 actors were up for a single rôle… in Doctor flaming Who. Preposterous! An unlikely choice for a mercenary, Gaunt was selected late in the game after an exhausting Orcini search through Joss Ackland, Ray Brooks, James Ellis, John Fraser, Peter Gilmore, Denis Lill, Philip Madoc, Peter Vaughan… Plus survivors of the Lifeforce battalion: Carson, Tom Adams, George Baker, Frank Finlay, Julian Glover, Michael Gothard, Del Henney, Peter Jeffrey, TP McKenna, Patrick Mower, Clifford Rose, Patrick Stewart, Nigel Stock, Anthony Valentine, David Warner and Frank Windsor.
  19. George Sewell, Doctor Who #148: Remembrance of the Daleks, 1988. Aunty searched for fascist leader Ratcliffe among Joss Ackland, Kenneth Cope, Peter Gilmore, Bernard Hill, Glyn Houston, Stratford Johns… and such Lifeforcers as Carson, George Baker, Keith Barron, Steven Berkoff, John Carson, Kenneth Colley, Del Henney, Ronald Lacey, TP McKenna, David Warner, Frank Windsor.
  20. Ronald Fraser, Doctor Who #149: The Happiness Patrol, 1988.   If the cap fits… Sixteen actors, from the rarely changing Whoverse register, were seen for the same three roles. Fraser won Joseph C from Carson, George Baker, Keith Barron, Peter Cellier, Kenneth Cope, Frank Finlay, Nigel Hawthorne, Glyn Houston, William Lucas, Michael Robbins, Clifford Rose, Moray Watson, Frank Windsor…
  21. Harold Innocent, Doctor Who #149: The Happiness Patrol, 1988. … and Innocent became Gilbert M from the same group…

  22. John Normington, Doctor Who #149: The Happiness Patrol, 1988. …while Normington was selected for Trevor Sgma instead of any of the others…
  23. James Ellis, Doctor Who #152: Battlefield, 1989.    Also short-listed for Peter Warmsly opposite Doc7 Sylvester McCoy in the final episode of Nicholas Courtney’s Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart were Carson, Joss Ackland, George Baker, Geoffrey Bayldon, Kenneth Colley, Freddie Jones, Ronald Lacey and David Warner. But producer John Nathan-Taylor had been determined to land the Irish Ellis since the 1980 start of Taylor’s  here ending repugnant paedophile-scandal-ridden tenure.

 Birth year: 1927Death year: 2016Other name: Casting Calls:  23