- Paul Shelley, Doctor Who #117: Four To Doomsday, TV, 1981. Merrison (BBC Radio’s Sherlock Holmes) was not persuaded to play the Minister of Persuasion. Nor were Colin Baker, Michaels Cashman and Cochrane, Tom Chadbon, Jack Galloway, Martin Jarvis, Paul Jerricho, Martin Potter, Malcolm Tierney and James Warwick. This was Doc5 Peter Davison’s second outing. “And I didn’t know what I was doing!”
- .Keith Drinkel, Doctor Who # 122: Time Flight, TV, 1982. As many as 25 casting (or dart) board regulars were up for any (or all!) of three characters in Doc4 Peter Davison’s tale about a missing Concorde. Merrison, Dallas Adams, Sean Arnold, Colin Baker, Andrew Burt, Tom Chadbon, Michael Cochrane, Ian Collier, Forbes Collins, Eric Deacon, Jack Galloway, Richard Heffer, Paul Jerricho, Ian McCulloch, Terry Molloy, Edward Peel, Martin Potter, Jeff Rawle, Carl Rigg, Patrick Ryecart, Malcolm Stoddard, Donald Sumpter, Robert Swann Malcolm Tierney, Stephen Yardley – they were all up for Flight Engineer Scobie…
- Michael Cashman, Doctor Who # 122: Time Flight, TV, 1982. …and for First Officer Bilton.
- Michael McDermott Doctor Who # 122: Time Flight, TV, 1982. … plus Sheard – which wasn’t even offered to another Whoverse favourite Michael… Sheard.
- Ian McCulloch, Doctor Who #130: Warriors of The Deep, 1984. The 13 possible Nilsons were Merrison, Peter Arne, Ian Holm, Dennis Lill, Alfred Lynch, Ian McKellen, John Normington plus five of the staggering 203 candidates for just 18 roles in that year’s Lifeforce movie mess: Nicholas Ball, Tom Chadbon, Michael Gothard, Ronald Lacey, Edward Peel. The difference being Who was science fiction and Lifeforc was science fart. Not the happiest of Whoverse shoots – and not just because Doc5 Peter Davison folllowed Doc2 Patrick Troughton’s golden rule. Three seasons and out. Merrison’s first TV gig was in #37: The Tomb of the Cybermen, 1967, opposite Troughton.
- Maurice Colbourne, Doctor Who #133: Resurrection Of The Daleks, TV, 1984. Auntyr wanted a name for Commander Lytton… like Merrison, Meg Bennett, Brian Blessed, Kenneth Cope, Timothy Dalton (the future Lord President in #202: The End of Time, 2000), Leslie Grantham (not yet Dirty Den in EastEnders), Alfred Lynch, Terry Molloy (the future Davros), John Rhys-Davies, Maurice Roëves. Plus several of the Lifeforce army that year: Nicholas Ball, Steven Berkoff, Tom Chadbon, Paul Darrow, Michael Gothard, Don Henderson, Del Henney (he became Colonel Archer), Martin Jarvis, Michael Jayston, Edward Peel, George Sewell, Patrick Stewart, Anthony Valentine and David Warner. All 25 up for one role in Doctor Who… Preposterous!
- Tom Chadbon, Doctor Who #143: The Trial of a Time Lord, TV, 1986. As the franchise was as much on trial as Doc6 Colin Baker in the season-long investigation, 16 actors were flagpoled for Merdeen... Merrison, Tom Adams, Keith Barron, Brian Blessed, Hywel Bennett, Andrew Burt, Kenneth Colley, Peter Gilmore, Michael Gothard, Gareth Hunt, Paul Jerricho, Paul Shelley, Anthony Valentine, David Warner, James Warwick. Merrison’z two trips to the Whovrse were 20 years apart. After his TV debut in #37: The Tomb of the Cybermen, 1967, he was the Deputy Chief Caretaker in #145: Paradise Towers, 1987. Inbetween time, Merrison and his Dr Watson (Michael Williams) were the only actors to portray the complete Conan Doyle-Sherlock Holmds canon – on BBC Radio
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 7