Born: 13th April 1951 (as Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett)
Episodes Broadcast: 1981-1984, 1993, 2007, 2013, 2022

With hindsight, it seems absurd that there was any controversy about the casting of Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor: the man born Peter Moffett in Streatham, London would go on to build one of the most respected and accomplished resumes in British television. Never excelling academically, Moffett's schooldays instead saw him gravitating towards acting and music. Following his graduation, he worked odd jobs, including as a mortuary attendant. Moffett considered enrolling at a teacher training college, but he instead gained admission to the Central School of Speech and Drama in 1969. After completing his studies there in 1972, he joined the repertory company at the Nottingham Playhouse, where he was an actor and assistant stage manager. It was at this point that he adopted “Davison” as his professional surname, in order to avoid confusion with future Doctor Who director Peter Moffatt.

In 1973, Davison married teacher Diane Russell but, during a stint with the Lyceum Young Theatre Group in Edinburgh, Scotland, he began a relationship with his colleague, Sandra Dickinson. Davison and Russell divorced in 1975, the same year that he made his television debut -- alongside Dickinson -- in three episodes of The Tomorrow People. A fallow period followed, during which Davison worked as a filing clerk, but he then won a regular role in 1977's Love For Lydia. But it was 1978 that proved to be Davison's watershed year: not only did he marry Dickinson, but he was also cast in his breakout role as Tristan Farnon, the junior veterinarian on the immensely popular All Creatures Great And Small. He would return to the character on and off for the next dozen years. Davison even began to apply his musical skills, collaborating with Dickinson to create the theme tunes for Mixed Blessings and Button Moon.

Unable to bear the thought of watching someone else take the job, Davison agreed to be the new Doctor

Bolstered by the fame Tristan brought him, Davison was soon starring in the sitcoms Holding The Fort and Sink Or Swim. Then, in late 1980, he received a telephone call from John Nathan-Turner, who had been the production unit manager on All Creatures Great And Small. Now the producer of Doctor Who, Nathan-Turner was seeking an actor to fill the considerable shoes of his departing star, Tom Baker. A photo on his wall of Davison from a charity cricket match had sparked an epiphany: Davison should be the new Doctor. The actor was caught off guard and, a day later, he informed Nathan-Turner that he intended to turn down the offer. However, the two remaining in contact and, unable to bear the thought of watching someone else take the job, Davison soon relented.

The Fifth Doctor made his first appearance in the closing seconds of 1981's Logopolis. Infamously, Doctor Who Monthly heralded the news with a front-cover proclamation that Peter “Davidson” was now the Doctor -- marking neither the first nor last time the actor would suffer that ignominy. Amongst fans and the media alike, Davison's casting proved contentious, given that he was more than a decade younger than any of his predecessors. But the mould-shattering decision also helped broaden the audience's understanding of who could play the Doctor, ultimately paving the way for Doctor Who to boast lead actors as diverse as Matt Smith and Jodie Whittaker.

With audiences having to wait until 1982 to watch Davison in a full adventure as the Doctor, he made a memorable cameo in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy as the Dish of the Day. The era of the Fifth Doctor then launched with Castrovalva, although Four To Doomsday -- the second serial to be broadcast -- had been the first to go before the cameras. Unfortunately, Davison found himself creatively stifled by his sophomore season in 1983, as Nathan-Turner placed an increasing emphasis on fan-pleasing continuity and persistently denied Davison's ambition to invest his Doctor with more humour. Despite the excitement which accompanied Doctor Who's twentieth anniversary -- culminating in the multi-Doctor extravaganza The Five Doctors -- Davison decided to heed the advice given to him by Second Doctor actor Patrick Troughton, to spend no more than three years on the show.

Ironically, Davison was much happier with his final season in 1984, and especially with his swansong, the perennial favourite The Caves Of Androzani. But he quickly moved on to other work, including starring roles in Anna Of The Five Towns, A Very Peculiar Practice and Campion. A rare Stateside appearance came in an episode of Magnum, PI. Dickinson gave birth to daughter Georgia at Christmas 1984.

The Nineties proved to be a more challenging decade for Davison, with his 1994 divorce from Dickinson its nadir. Regular roles still included Fiddlers Three and Ain't Misbehavin, alongside guest appearances in shows like Kinsey and Jonathan Creek. He could also be seen on the silver screen in Black Beauty and Parting Shots, and in the West End in the musical Chicago.

Audio adventure Red Dawn gave Davison the opportunity to act alongside daughter Georgia

Davison returned as the Fifth Doctor for Dimensions In Time, a charity special celebrating thirty years of Doctor Who. He also became involved in a series of direct-to-video dramas from BBV which featured numerous Doctor Who alumni, starting with The Airzone Solution in 1993. Then, in 1999, Davison became one of the first actors to join the range of Doctor Who audio dramas from Big Finish Productions. He appeared in both The Sirens Of Time -- the multi-Doctor story which launched the series -- and in its first regular release, Phantasmagoria. The following year, Ice Warrior adventure Red Dawn gave Davison the opportunity to act alongside his teenaged daughter.

Davison's career began picking up steam again as the new century dawned. He scored a major success with the sitcom At Home With The Braithwaites, and other starring roles included The Complete Guide To Parenting, Distant Shores, The Last Detective and Fear, Stress And Anger (in which Georgia Moffett played his on-screen daughter). Davison also enjoyed more West End plaudits, including a starring role as King Arthur in Spamalot, a musical adaptation of the movie classic Monty Python and The Holy Grail. In 2003, Davison married actress Elizabeth Morton; they would have sons Louis and Joel.

Davison made a further on-screen appearance as the Fifth Doctor in 2007's Time Crash. A short interlude produced for the 2007 edition of the Children In Need charity telethon, it saw him paired with the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant. The following year, Georgia Moffett made a guest appearance in Doctor Who -- ironically playing the title role in The Doctor's Daughter. She and Tennant became romantically involved, and married in 2011.

In 2013, Davison created and co-starred in The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, a loving send-up of Doctor Who created for its fiftieth anniversary which featured numerous faces from the show's past. It was produced by Georgia Tennant, as his daughter was now known. Meanwhile, Davison was a lead actor in several seasons of Law & Order: UK, and had recurring roles in Pat & Cabbage, The Name Of The Rose and Gentleman Jack. He had a supporting part in David Tennant's 2017 movie You, Me And Him as well as the 2018 family film Patrick. In 2018, Davison was the Fifth Doctor again -- this time on stage, opposite the Muppets at London's O2 arena.

Davison's acting career continued into the Twenties, including a starring role in Life and appearances in The Trial Of Christine Keeler and Call The Midwife. He could also be seen in the Toni Collette movie Dream Horse, made by former Doctor Who director Euros Lyn. Davison then reprised the Fifth Doctor for 2022's The Power Of The Doctor, which celebrated the BBC's centenary and saw the regeneration of Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor. The following year, he could be seen as the Doctor again in an episode of Tales Of The TARDIS on BBC iPlayer, which featured an abridged version of Earthshock. In addition to his daughter Georgia's accomplishments as an actor and producer, Davison's grandson, Ty Tennant, is also an actor, having appeared in the film biography Tolkien and television programmes including War Of The Worlds and the offbeat DC Comics super-hero drama Doom Patrol.