Michael Gothard

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors
  1. 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. Gothard, Peter Arne, Colin Baker, Steven Berkoff, John Carson, David Collings, Peter Gilmore, 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.
  2. David Weston, Doctor Who #113: Warriors’ Gate, TV, 1981.        Unavailable when approached for Biroc of the leonine Tharil race – opposite Doc4 Tom Baker. Weston was selected because he resembled… a lion.
  3. 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  Gothard, Easton, Terence Alexander, Peter Arne, Keith Barron, Brian Blessed, John Carson, Michael Craig, Paul Darrow, Peter Gilmore, John Hallam, Terrence Hardiman, Del Henney, Glyn Houston, Martin Jarvis, William Lucas, Conrad Phillips, Anthony Valentine and Frank Windsor.
  4. Marcel Bozzuffi, To Catch A King, TV, 1983.      Gothard proved unavailable so director Clive Donnor sent for The French Connection’s hit-man – and then had him dubbed in the leaden HBO thriller about Robert Wagner saving the Duke of Windsor from an SS kidnap plot, circa 1940.
  5. Andrew Burt, Doctor Who #126: Terminus, TV, 1983.        Gothard, Burt, Nicholas Ball, Tom Chabon, Paul Darrow, Del Henney, Bernard Hill, Patrick Mower, Patrick Stewart, Anthony Valentine, David Warner were in the Valgard mix – to join Doc5 Peter Davison at the Terminus space station which proves to be a leper colony. Now read on…
  6. Nigel Humphreys, Doctor Who #130: Warriors of The Deep, 1983.      The 17 choices for Bulic were Richard Heffer, Roger Lloyd Pack, Bruce McCulloch, Terry Molloy, Stephen Rea, Carl Rigg, Donald Sumpter, Dave Warwick, Steve Yardley – plus Gothard, Nicholas Ball, Tom Chadbon, Maurice Colbourne, Paul Darrow, Tony Osoba, Edward Peel from the astonshing army of 203 candidates for just 18 roles in that year’s Lifeforce movie mess. Bruce was no kin of (the Scot) Ian McCulloch who played Nilson.
  7. Ian McCulloch Doctor Who #130: Warriors Of The Deep, TV, 1983.      Gothard, Nicholas Ball, Tom Chadbon and Edward Peel were also up for Nilson in Doc5 Peter Davison’s finale. Plus Peter Arne, Ian Jolm, Ronald Lacey, Denis Lil, Alfred Lynch, Ian McKellen, Clive Merrison (BBC Radio’s Sherlock Holmes) and John Normington.
  8. Peter Firth, Lifeforce, 1984.
  9. Maurice O’Connell, Doctor Who #132: Frontios, TV, 1984.      There  were 17 possibilities for Cockerill opposite Doc6 Peter Davison. O’Connell won. And lost. Most of his work was cut. Huge sigh of relief from… Gothard, Alun Armstrong, Nicholas Ball, Jim Broadbent, Tom Chadbon, Maurice Colbourne, Forbes Collins, Michael Elphick, John Hallam, Del Henney, Philip Jackson, Alan Lake, Terry Molloy, Tony Osoba, Edward Peel, Donald Sumpter and Stephen Yardley.
  10. Maurice Colbourne, Doctor Who #133: Resurrection Of The Daleks, TV, 1984.        Producer John Nathan-Turner wanted a name for Commander Lytton… like 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, Clive Merrison, Terry Molloy (aka Davros), John Rhys-Davies, Maurice Roëves. Plus several soldiers from that the Lifeforce army: Gothard, Nicholas Ball, Steven Berkoff, Tom Chadbon, Paul Darrow, 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!  

  11. John Stratton, Doctor Who #140: The Two Doctors, TV, 1985.       The two Time Lords were Doc2 Patrick Troughton and Doc 6, the short lived Colin Baker. Shockeyes were more plentiful. The 22 prospects were: Gothard, Stratton, Joss Ackland, George Baker, Ian Bannen, Brian Blessed, Denholm Elliott, James Ellis, Frank Finlay, Ronald Fraser, Don Henderson, Donald Houston, Freddie Jones, Jeremy Kemp, Roy Kinnear, Ronald Lacey, TP McKenna, Aubrey Morris, Donald Pleasence, Peter Sallis, George Sewell, Peter Vaughan.
  12. Paul Darrow, Doctor Who #141: Timelash, TV, 1985.        Gothard, Darrow, Steven Berkoff, Andrew Burt, Tom Chadbon, Ronald Lacey, Patrick Mower and David Warner were in the frame for Tekker opposite Doc6 Colin Baker. Producer John Nathan-Turner suggested Darrow play Tekker like his Blakes 7 character, Avon. Darrow had a loftier notion. Richard III.
  13. 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, a 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 still more survivors of the Lifeforce regiment: Gothard, Tom Adams, George Baker, John Carson, Frank Finlay, Julian Glover, Del Henney, Peter Jeffrey, TP McKenna, Patrick Mower, Clifford Rose, Patrick Stewart, Nigel Stock, Anthony Valentine, David Warner and Frank Windsor. The difference being Who was science fiction and Lifeforce was science fart.
  14. David Bowie, Labyrinth, 1985. The #1 problem was  who should portray the Goblin King Jareth – an actor or a rock star?   Michael Gothard (having, at last, a  welcome if brief break from The Doctor’s casting), Kevin Kline or Simon MacCorkindale versus Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger or  Prince.  Jim Henson (making, alas, his final film) voted Sting.  But his kids (one, Brian was voicing Hoggle)), said Bowie would be better. So did Bowie – wanting a kids’ yarn, loving the script, funnier than he’d expected.  Well, the humour of Terry Jones of the Monty Pythons was on certain pages.
  15. Tom Chadbon, Doctor Who #143: The Trial of a Time Lord, TV, 1986.     Oh, The Doc is calling again…! As the franchise was as much on trial as Doc6 Colin Baker in the season-long investigation, 16 actors were flagpoled for Merdeen… Gothard, Tom Adams, Keith Barron, Brian Blessed, Hywel Bennett, Andrew Burt, Kenneth Colley, Peter Gilmore, Gareth Hunt, Paul Jerricho, Clive Merrison, Paul Shelley, Anthony Valentine, David Warner, James Warwick.
  16. Donald Pickering, Doctor Who #144: Time and The Rani, TV, 1987.      Gothard, Pickering, George Baker, Kenneth Colley, John Fraser, Don Henderson, Ronald Lacey, TP McKenna, Clifford Rose were on the Bulic list for the debut of Doc7 Sylvester McCoy… first actor to regenerate twice. In a blond wig, he took the place of an unconscious Doc6 when Colin Baker refused any regeneration scene after being axed from the story’s lead – and then did it all over as Doc7.
  17. Don Henderson, Doctor Who #146: Delta and The Bannermen, TV, 1987.    Chimeron Queen Delta escapes the baddies and heads to Disneyland (!) but arrives instead at… a Welsh holiday camp! Director Chris Clough chose Henderson for Bannerman boss Gavrok from producer John Nathan-Taylor’s familiar dartboard list: Nicholas Ball, Kenneth Colley Michael Elphick, Michel Gothard, Bernard Hill, Jeremy Kemp, Ronald Lacey, TP McKenna, Clifford Rose, Peter Vaughan, Simon Ward, David Warner,
  18. Edward Peel, Doctor Who #147: Dragonfire, TV, 1987.       The usual suspects were up for Kane, the icy director of Iceworld, on the dark side of planet Svartos… Gothard, Peel, John Alderton, Nicholas Ball, Tom Chadbon, Ian Holm, David Jason, TP McKenna, Clifford Rose, Simon Ward, David Warner. Despite these 18 offers, Gothard never entered the Whoverse  in any of his 42 screen roles.

 

 

 Birth year: 1939Death year: 1992Other name: Casting Calls:  17