What If Doctor Who had been… Brian Blessed?

By John Freeman on August 10, 2015

The cover of an imaginary November 1966 issue created by Colin Brockhurst of the BBC’s in-house magazine, Ariel, featuring Brian Blessed as the Second Doctor

Geoffrey Bayldon. Brian Blessed. Richard O’Brien. At one point or another, such actors have been considered for the iconic role of Doctor Who – and if they weren’t, they should have been. But how would they have looked on screen?

That’s the premise behind designer Colin Brockhurst‘s wonderful new not-for-profit fan project, the Changing the Face of Doctor Who – a selection of posters, merchandise, listings and ephemera that imagines different actors in the roles of the first eight Doctors, some who were merely considered, some who were approached and one who should have been.

There’s some wonderful work here, including faux Radio Times articles, Target novel covers and even a badge featuring Ron Moody as the Doctor, all of which you can check out here on Colin’s web site.

Colin has been the designer of the popular Doctor Who comics magazine Vworp Vworp! for several years and says he hopes his love of Doctor Who in all its forms is evident from this latest project, which has taken him nearly a year to complete. The amount of work he’s put into it is, frankly, astonishing, and worth a look.

Geoffrey Bayldon stares out of a faux cover of the Radio Times.

A set of telesnaps from the first episode of The Destiny of Doctor Who, introducing Brian Blessed as the Doctor.

Ron Moody graces this fake Doctor Who badge as the Third Doctor, the creation of designer Colin Brockhurst

• The Changing Face of Doctor Who web page

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.