British couple receive £325,000 for defending the honor of Doctor Who star Sylve

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[Kosh GTO]

Sylvester McCoy didn't just wear the most question marks of any Doctor — he also played the role the longest. A British game show incorrectly claimed that David Tennant played the role for longer than McCoy, leading to a recount.

According to the Daily Mail, the game show Million Pound Drop asked contestants which actor had played the Doctor for longest: McCoy, Tennant, Paul McGann, or Christopher Eccleston:

British couple receive £325,000 for defending the honor of Doctor Who star Sylvester McCoy

A husband and wife team, Johnny and Dee, decided to split their £650,000 between McCoy and McGann, but the host told them they were wrong — David Tennant played the Doctor for longer than either of those two. The two were disqualified and lost all their money — but afterwards, fans called the program to complain. McCoy played the role from 1987 to 1989, and then reprised the role in 1996 — making him technically the longest-serving Doctor. McGann, meanwhile, was the Doctor from 1996 to 2005, if you count all the audio plays he recorded during the time the show was off the air. (And the question says nothing about playing the Doctor on television, just playing the Doctor.) Tennant, meanwhile, only played the Doctor from 2005 to early 2010.

So actually I think Johnny and Dee should have gotten to keep all £650,000, since McCoy and McGann played the role for about nine years each. The duo returns to the program, with their money reinstated,











I'm sorry to be an extra-pedantic nerd about this    , I think the question is pretty ambiguous, You see,you could interpret it in terms of time between first onscreen appearance as the current Doctor and last onscreen appearance as the current Doctor (in which case McCoy gets it), or most hours onscreen as the current Doctor (in which case I think it'd be Tom Baker), or even just most time between first onscreen appearance as the Doctor and last onscreen appearance, regardless of whether they were the "current" Doctor in each appearance (in which case I think it'd be Peter Davison since he started as the Doctor in 1981 and then appeared in 'Time Crash' in 2007)

[A-HK]

Obviously it was Hartnell. His Doctor had been around for about 900 years. None of his later incarnations have lasted more than a decade or so.

Anyway, of course the answer does depend on the exact wording of the question.

Which is : "Who played Dr Who for the longest period?"



So it isn't "number of episodes".
But it doesn't say "continuous period", which would be Tennant (of the 4 choices).

Sylvester did about 42 episodes from 1987-89.
Tennant did 47, 2005-09 and I think Sylvester's were also mostly 25 minutes, shorter than the 45 minutes of the new series.
So Tennant easily has more screen time.

And then we have to define "play the Doctor" -- Tom Baker has just done some audio plays as Doctor #4, (which I've posted...) so he gets about 35 years from 1st to last. And of course, the movie, which is what complicates the Sylvester tally.


Very silly of them to ask such a vague question with a huge amount of money riding on it.


 

[Kosh GTO]

wow i thought i knew allot of doctor Who.... I see we got a resident Dr.who historian here!!!!!!!

at least now i know what some people like up here.Instead of the barren landscape of nobody interacting with everyone else.

[A-HK]

wow i thought i knew allot of doctor Who.... I see we got a resident Dr.who historian here!!!!!!!

I didn't know all those facts off the top of my head, but I know where to look them up.

I watched every episode (from the very first in 1963) of Doctor Who as broadcast, up to the end of Doctor #5.  
One of these days I'll catch up with #6 and #7.
But I don't rewatch them over and over like some fans; most of them just once, 30 or 40 years ago.