Discussion Main / RecastAsARegular

I don't believe all the Doctor Who-related items properly fit.

These are actors who regularly play monsters, some of which happen to have appeared more than once. This is not the same thing as being cast as a regular character:

• Jimmy Vee and Ruari Mears both played several characters but their most famous roles are the Graske (of The Sarah Jane Adventures) and Bannakaffalatta, and Elder Ood, respectively.
• Paul Kasey will have played at least one of just about every monster since the very first episode of the revival in 2005. He was cast as recognisable Ood Sigma in 2008 and reprised the role for several years.
• Silas Carson played an Alien in 2005 and Kudlak in 2007, then became the recurring voice of the Ood.

These are actors who have only ever appeared in the series in a regular role (the other roles mentioned are spin-offs or in some cases entirely unofficial fan films):

• David Tennant played a myriad of roles in the Audio plays before becoming the Tenth Doctor.
• Richard E. Grant played the Doctor in Curse of Fatal Death and Scream of the Shalka, which was his 'extra' role before more famously/recently playing an incarnation of The Great Intelligence as Dr Simeon.
• Nicholas Briggs played Mike in Auton 2: Sentinel and a few characters in Real Time before becoming the Daleks, Cybermen and Judoon.
• Nicholas Pegg was the Think-Tank voice in Shada before becoming the Daleks, too.

This is, in addition to the above point, straight-up not an example of "went on to become a regular character", because neither Lazarus nor the Spitfire pilot is a regular character:

• Mark Gatiss is the only person to play both The Doctor (in The Web of Caves) and The Master (in Sympathy for the Devil). Then he was an unnamed Spitfire pilot before becoming Lazarus. He's also a series writer.