Early work and breakthrough McGann's breakthrough role was in
Give Us a Break, devised by
Geoff McQueen, McGann played a good snooker player who got into scrapes with
Robert Lindsay, who played his wideboy manager. The series was a comedy drama in the vein of the ITV series of the time,
Minder. The series only lasted for one season and it was concluded by a one-off special. His first major dramatic role was the
British World War I deserter and criminal
Percy Toplis in the 1986
BBC serial
The Monocled Mutineer. The film was based on the 1978 book of the same name, written by William Alison and
John Fairley. The serial garnered controversy from British right-wing media, though McGann's performance garnered acclaim. In 1986, he was cast as the anonymous main character (Marwood) in
Bruce Robinson's
cult film,
Withnail and I. He also starred as Anton Skrebensky in
Ken Russell's 1989 adaptation of
D. H. Lawrence's
The Rainbow. McGann's other early film appearances include
The Monk,
Dealers,
Tree of Hands and the epic war film
Empire of the Sun. McGann and other young British actors who were becoming established film actors such as
Tim Roth,
Gary Oldman,
Colin Firth and
Bruce Payne were dubbed the '
Brit Pack'. Since 1989, McGann has concentrated primarily on television work, including
Nice Town and
Nature Boy for the BBC, and
The One That Got Away and the second series of
Hornblower for
ITV. However, he has had small roles in a number of high-profile American films like
The Three Musketeers and
Alien 3. His role in
Alien 3 was originally larger, but much of it was edited out of the final print. The cut footage can be seen in the extended version of the film. In 1992, he was cast as
Richard Sharpe, the lead character in the
Sharpe series of made-for-TV films based on
Bernard Cornwell's novels. However, he injured his knee while playing football just days into filming ''
Sharpe's Rifles'' in
Ukraine and was replaced by
Sean Bean in the role.
Doctor Who McGann played the
eighth incarnation of
the Doctor, in the
Doctor Who 1996 television film. The television film also starred
Eric Roberts,
Daphne Ashbrook and featured the outgoing
Seventh Doctor,
Sylvester McCoy. McGann's brother,
Mark McGann, also auditioned for the title role. The
Doctor Who television film was a joint venture between the BBC,
Universal Studios and the
Fox Broadcasting Network. McGann had signed a contract to appear as the Eighth Doctor in a new
Doctor Who television series, if Fox or Universal exercised their option. Thus, the television film was supposed to be a "
back door pilot" in that, if it obtained respectable ratings, the new series would continue to be produced. The film was shown on 14 May 1996 in the US and on 27 May 1996 in the UK. Although it had 9.08 million viewers and was very successful in the UK, ratings were very low in the United States. As a consequence, Fox did not exercise its option to pick up the series and Universal could not find another network interested in airing a new
Doctor Who series. Thus no new series was produced until 2005, after all the contractual rights had returned to the BBC. McGann gave permission for his likeness to be used on the covers of the BBC's
Eighth Doctor novels and he has reprised the role of the Eighth Doctor in an extensive series of audio plays by
Big Finish Productions. A number of these plays have also been broadcast on
BBC Radio 7 (later BBC Radio 4 Extra). After months of speculation, on 14 November 2013, which was coincidentally McGann's birthday, as part of the show's 50th Anniversary celebrations, McGann finally reprised his role as the Eighth Doctor, in the mini-episode "
The Night of the Doctor". In this appearance, his incarnation of the Doctor regenerates, 17 years after his first television appearance, into a
previously unknown Doctor played by
John Hurt. Additionally, McGann briefly appeared in the anniversary comedy homage
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. He made his first appearance on the main television series in a cameo in the 2022 special "
The Power of the Doctor", alongside other past Doctors. He also featured in the documentary film
Doctor Who Am I, supporting TV movie director
Matthew Jacobs' embrace of the
Doctor Who fandom and its conventions.
Later career In the years following his appearance as the Doctor, McGann continued to diversify his acting portfolio with the television and film roles he accepted. In 1997 he appeared as a concerned father in the film
FairyTale: A True Story and later that same year as Rob in
Downtime, then in 1998 he appeared as Capt. Greville in
The Dance of Shiva. In the 2000s McGann's film appearances began to increase with films like
My Kingdom (2001),
Listening (2003) and
Gypo (2005). Perhaps his most iconic role since
Doctor Who came in 2002, when McGann appeared in the film adaptation of the third story from
Anne Rice's
The Vampire Chronicles,
Queen of the Damned. McGann played the part of
David Talbot, a member of the secret organisation the
Talamasca, which researches and investigates the supernatural. Talbot has appeared in many of Rice's novels and has become a central character over the years. The film also starred
Stuart Townsend,
Marguerite Moreau and R&B singer
Aaliyah. McGann has also been in demand for
voice-over work in Britain in recent years, particularly on television documentaries and commercials. He also gained acclaim for his portrayal of William Bush in the final four instalments of the
ITV/
A&E television series
Hornblower, based on the
Horatio Hornblower books by
C.S. Forrester. He initially appears in the 2001 episode "
Mutiny", with Bush being the 2nd Lieutenant of HMS
Renown (and Hornblower's superior). In the 7th episode, "
Loyalty", he agrees to join Hornblower as his 1st Lieutenant when Hornblower takes command of HMS
Hotspur. McGann again portrays Bush in the 2003 finale of the series, "
Duty". In 2006, he appeared in the television drama
Tripping Over. In 2007, McGann starred alongside
Dervla Kirwan,
Lorraine Ashbourne and
David Bradley in BBC One drama
True Dare Kiss, written by Debbie Horsfield. In 2010, McGann played a major role in a feature-length episode of long-running BBC mystery series
Jonathan Creek, as well as appearing as a regular in the crime drama
Luther. In 2011, McGann played a major role as an Assistant Commissioner with something to hide in the final episode of
Waking the Dead and also featured in
Simon Gray's
Butley alongside
Dominic West at the
Duchess Theatre in London. In 2017, McGann joined the cast of the long-running BBC series
Holby City, playing neurosurgeon
John Gaskell. Starting in 2021, he hosts the British Podcast Awards Gold-winning
Noiser Podcast Network production
Real Dictators, a history podcast that explores the lives, personalities, and regimes of authoritarian leaders.
Audio books and voice work McGann is also known for
audiobook narration having read several
Pat Barker and
Bernard Cornwell novels. He narrated the abridged audiobook of
Jeff Noon's 1993 cyberpunk classic
Vurt. McGann continues to play the Eighth Doctor on audio. McGann's first Big Finish audio play appearance was in 2001 in the story
Storm Warning. It was through the Big Finish audio plays that McGann's Doctor faced many classic
Doctor Who villains like the
Daleks (in various different audio plays, the first of which being
The Time of the Daleks) and the
Cybermen (first encountered by the Eighth Doctor on audio in
Sword of Orion). Five Eighth Doctor dramas were broadcast in
BBC 7's
The 7th Dimension slot between August 2005 and January 2006. They were in release order, starting with
Storm Warning, although
Minuet in Hell was judged unsuitable for the timeslot, and skipped. Two more Eighth Doctor audios,
Shada and
The Chimes of Midnight, were broadcast in December 2005 and January 2006. All six of these stories were rebroadcast on BBC7 beginning in July 2006. In 2007 and 2008, a series of audio plays starring McGann as the Eighth Doctor and
Sheridan Smith as companion
Lucie Miller was broadcast on BBC7. His voice featured in the 1997 video game
Ceremony of Innocence, together with those of
Isabella Rossellini and
Ben Kingsley. After hearing him sing in
The Monocled Mutineer, composer
Bernard J. Taylor invited McGann to create the role of Benedict in the concept studio recording of the
Much Ado, a musical based on
Shakespeare's
Much Ado About Nothing. McGann portrayed Ambassador Durian in
The Minister of Chance, a fantasy audio drama released in six parts from 2011 to 2013. The series is a spin-off of the
Doctor Who audio drama
Death Comes to Time, but has no official connection to the franchise. In February 2014, a crowdfunded short film based on the first instalment of
The Minister of Chance was released to those who had helped fund it. McGann portrays antagonist Noah Shackleton in the audio drama adaptation of
The Phoenix Files. The Australian production is the largest audio drama ever produced in Australia with a cast of 42 actors. McGann appears in all three instalments of the science-fiction dystopian thriller series. McGann has done audio narration for BBC documentaries, including the 2014 BBC Scotland production,
Apples, Pears and Paint: How to Make a Still Life Painting. McGann is chief narrator in the popular
A short history of… podcast series, which explores various historical topics in easily accessible episodes. ==Personal life==