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Paul McGann

Acting Born Nov 14, 1959 Kensington, Liverpool, England, UK 176 credits
176
Total Credits
1964–2026
63 Years Career Span
34
Vault Titles
10
Key Co-Stars

Biography

Paul McGann is an English actor born on November 14, 1959, in Kensington, Liverpool, England, UK. He is known for starring in the 1987 black comedy film Withnail and I. McGann also portrayed the eighth incarnation of the Doctor in the 1996 television movie. He has made his name on The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role. McGann has a long career in acting, with 172 known credits. He is a male actor who has appeared in various media, including television and film.

Sources & verification Paul McGann — The Movie Database (TMDB) Paul McGann - Wikipedia Paul McGann – Wikipedie Paul McGann – Wikipedia Paul McGann | ČSFD.cz Paul McGann (1959) - FDb.cz How Archytele verifies pages
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Career

Career overview

Paul McGann is an English actor known for his work in various film and television projects. He made his name in the 1980s with his lead role in the television series "The Monocled Mutineer." McGann's performance in this series helped establish him as a talented young actor.

In addition to his work in "The Monocled Mutineer," McGann is also known for his role in the 1987 black comedy film "Withnail and I." This film showcased McGann's ability to take on a wide range of roles and demonstrated his versatility as an actor.

McGann's portrayal of the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 television movie and other media featuring this incarnation of the character is also notable. This role has become closely associated with McGann's career and has helped to cement his status as a beloved figure in the world of science fiction.

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Known for

Film

Triesverse: Cataclysm

as The Doctor

Bookish

as Mr. Kind
Film

The Men of Sherwood Forest

as Self - Narrator

The Musketeers

as St Pierre

The Musketeers

as Saint Pierre
Film

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor

as The Doctor (8) (archive footage)

Ripper Street

as Stanley Bone
Film

Bay of Angels

as Narrator

Luther

as Mark North

Moving On

as Phil

Moving On

2009
Film

The Wild Soccer Bunch 2

as Richard Reeves

Frequent co-stars

Ralph Brown 2 shared titles
David O'Hara 2 shared titles
Robert Lindsay 2 shared titles
Sylvester McCoy 2 shared titles
David Attenborough 1 shared title
Barry Paine 1 shared title
Juliet Stevenson 1 shared title
Andrew Sachs 1 shared title
John Hannah 1 shared title
John Shrapnel 1 shared title

Career timeline

Good BehaviourTriesverse: Cataclysm
BookishThe MarblesDoctor Who: Wish World & The Reality War
Doctor Who at the PromsChurchill’s Forgotten War
Talking Doctor WhoThe UndertakerThe Day of the Sun DogMia and the Dragon Princess
AnneDoctor Who Am ISwallow Your Dreams
AnnikaGreta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World
McDonald & DoddsThe Big Night In
Victorian SensationsSwans: Mystery of the MissingThe Cavern Club: The Beat Goes OnThe Doctors: The Paul McGann Years
Picasso's Last StandOi For England's Green and Pleasant Land
Wildest EuropeNero's Sunken CityPerplexed MusicB&BEgypt's Great Pyramid: The New Evidence
Unfinished: The Making of Massive AttackChina: Between Clouds and Dreams · Commissioning EditorWildest Islands of Indonesia
Finding Babylon's Hanging GardenSharkDoctor Who: The Husbands of River SongThe Other Prince WilliamShark: Beneath the Surface
The MusketeersThe MusketeersWildest IndochinaWildest Middle EastSecrets of the Castle
Doctor Who: The Day of the DoctorDoctor Who: The Doctors RevisitedThe Five(ish) Doctors RebootDoctor Who: The Night of the DoctorBrady and Hindley: Possession
Ripper StreetThe Bletchley CircleA Mother's SonWildest IslandsTiger Island
The 9/11 SurferDoctor Who: Tales Lost in TimeDigging The Great EscapeGadaffi and the IRA
LutherGodard & OthersThe Day John Lennon Died
Moving OnMoving On · DirectorLesbian Vampire KillersCollision
The True StoryDoctor Who: The Next DoctorThe Ties That Bind UsFables of Forgotten ThingsMy Dad Was a Communist
True Dare KissThe Foreign Legion: Tougher Than the RestChernobyl Reclaimed: An Animal TakeoverWorld of Compulsive HoardersDavros Connections
Tripping OverIf I Had You
The Orangutan KingTwisted TalesDeath of an IdealistPsychoKidnapped
Agatha Christie's MarpleNew TricksSea of SoulsZero HourBible Mysteries
Hornblower: LoyaltyWreckage and Rage: Making 'Alien³'Hornblower: DutyListeningDoctor Who: Shada
Queen of the DamnedBlood StrangersThe BiographerBlood Strangers
Waking the DeadHornblower: RetributionHornblower: MutinySweet RevengeLike a Hurricane: The Alex Higgins Story
Nature BoyFish
Holby CityForgottenWithnail and Us
HornblowerOur Mutual FriendThe Dance of Shiva
DowntimeFairyTale: A True Story

Full Filmography

176 titles
  • Good Behaviour (2026) as Richard
  • Triesverse: Cataclysm (2026) as The Doctor
  • Bookish (2025) as Mr. Kind
  • The Marbles (2025) as Lord Byron (voice)
  • Doctor Who: Wish World & The Reality War (2025) as The Doctor (archive footage) (uncredited)
  • Doctor Who at the Proms (2024) as The Doctor (8) (archive footage)
  • Churchill’s Forgotten War (2024) as Narrator (voice)
  • Talking Doctor Who (2023) as Self / The Doctor (8) (archive footage)
  • The Undertaker (2023) as Arthur
  • The Day of the Sun Dog (2023) as Jaggers
  • Mia and the Dragon Princess (2023) as Walsh
  • Anne (2022) as Malcolm Thornton MP
  • Doctor Who Am I (2022) as Self
  • Swallow Your Dreams (2022) as James
  • Annika (2021) as Jake Strathearn
  • Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World (2021) as Self - Narrator
  • McDonald & Dodds (2020) as Archie Addington
  • The Big Night In (2020) as Self
  • Victorian Sensations (2019) as Self - Presenter
  • Swans: Mystery of the Missing (2019) as Self - Narrator (voice)
  • The Cavern Club: The Beat Goes On (2019) as Self
  • The Doctors: The Paul McGann Years (2019)
  • Picasso's Last Stand (2018) as Narrator
  • Oi For England's Green and Pleasant Land (2018) as Himself
  • Wildest Europe (2017) as Narrator
  • Nero's Sunken City (2017) as Narrator (English Voice)
  • Perplexed Music (2017) as Man
  • B&B (2017) as Josh
  • Egypt's Great Pyramid: The New Evidence (2017) as Narrator (voice)
  • Brakes (2017) as Peter
  • Unfinished: The Making of Massive Attack (2016) as Narrator (Voice)
  • China: Between Clouds and Dreams (2016) Commissioning Editor
  • Wildest Islands of Indonesia (2016) as Narrator
  • Finding Babylon's Hanging Garden (2015) as Narrator (voice)
  • Shark (2015) as Himself - Narrator
  • Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song (2015) as The Doctor (8) (picture) (uncredited)
  • The Other Prince William (2015) as Self - Narrator (voice)
  • Shark: Beneath the Surface (2015) as self, narrator
  • Wild Sri Lanka (2015) as Paul McGann
  • Super Powered Owls (2015) as Narrator
  • Absence (2015) as Man
  • Churchill: When Britain Said No (2015) as Narrator (voice)
  • Churchill: Winning the War, Losing the Peace (2015) as narrator
  • China - Treasures of the Jade Empire (2015) as Narrator
  • The Musketeers (2014) as St Pierre
  • The Musketeers (2014) as Saint Pierre
  • Wildest Indochina (2014) as Narrator (voice)
  • Wildest Middle East (2014) as Narrator
  • Secrets of the Castle (2014) as Narrator (Voice)
  • The Minister of Chance: Prologue (2014) as Durian
  • The Great Wall of China: The Hidden Story (2014) as Himself
  • France: The Wild Side (2014) as Narrator
  • Codebreaker Alan Turing Persecution Of A Genius (2014)
  • Doctor Who: The Ultimate Time Lord with Peter Davison (2014) as Self
  • A Little Place Off the Edgware Road (2014) as James Craven
  • Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race (2014) as Narrator (Voice)
  • Apples, Pears and Paint: How to Make a Still Life Painting (2014) as Narrator
  • Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor (2013) as The Doctor (8) (archive footage)
  • Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited (2013) as Self
  • The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot (2013) as Self
  • Doctor Who: The Night of the Doctor (2013) as The Doctor
  • Brady and Hindley: Possession (2013) as Narrator (voice)
  • Art Is... (2013) as Lulu's Dad
  • JFK's Secret Killer: The Evidence (2013) as Himself - Narrator (voice)
  • Ripper Street (2012) as Stanley Bone
  • The Bletchley Circle (2012) as John Richards
  • A Mother's Son (2012) as David
  • Wildest Islands (2012) as Narrator
  • Tiger Island (2012) as Narrator
  • Wildest Latin America (2012) as Self - Narrator (voice)
  • Britain's Greatest Codebreaker (2012) as Himself - Narrator (voice)
  • SOS: The Titanic Inquiry (2012) as Sir Rufus Isaacs
  • The 9/11 Surfer (2011) as Narrator
  • Doctor Who: Tales Lost in Time (2011)
  • Digging The Great Escape (2011) as narrator
  • Gadaffi and the IRA (2011) as Narrator
  • Luther (2010) as Mark North
  • Godard & Others (2010) as Torrence
  • The Day John Lennon Died (2010) as Narrator
  • Moving On (2009) as Phil
  • Moving On (2009) Director
  • Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009) as Vicar
  • Collision (2009) as Richard Reeves
  • The True Story (2008) as Narrator
  • Doctor Who: The Next Doctor (2008) as The Doctor (8) (archive footage)
  • The Ties That Bind Us (2008) as Self - Narrator
  • Fables of Forgotten Things (2008) as Clarence
  • My Dad Was a Communist (2008) as Narrator
  • True Dare Kiss (2007) as Nash McKinnon
  • The Foreign Legion: Tougher Than the Rest (2007) as Himself - Narrator (voice)
  • Chernobyl Reclaimed: An Animal Takeover (2007) as Narrator
  • World of Compulsive Hoarders (2007)
  • Davros Connections (2007) as (archival audio)
  • Always Crashing in the Same Car (2007) as Bill Mackinnon
  • Tripping Over (2006) as Jeremy
  • If I Had You (2006) as Philip Andrews
  • The Orangutan King (2005) as Narrator
  • Twisted Tales (2005) as Phone (voice)
  • Death of an Idealist (2005) as Narrator
  • Psycho (2005) as Narrator
  • Kidnapped (2005)
  • Ghosts on the Underground (2005) as Narrator
  • Kidnapped (2005) as Colonel MacNab
  • Gypo (2005) as Paul
  • Daphne Ashbrook in the UK (2005)
  • Agatha Christie's Marple (2004) as Dickie Erskine
  • New Tricks (2004) as D.C.I. James Larson
  • Sea of Souls (2004) as Christopher Chambers
  • Zero Hour (2004) as Narrator (Voice)
  • Bible Mysteries (2004) as Himself-Narrator
  • Lie with Me (2004) as Gerry Henson
  • Lie with Me (2004) as Gerry Henson
  • Hornblower: Loyalty (2003) as Lieutenant Bush
  • Wreckage and Rage: Making 'Alien³' (2003) as Self
  • Hornblower: Duty (2003) as Lieutenant Bush
  • Listening (2003) as Man
  • Doctor Who: Shada (2003) as The Doctor (voice)
  • Otherworld (2003) as King Matholwch (voice)
  • Queen of the Damned (2002) as David Talbot
  • Blood Strangers (2002) as DC David Ingram
  • The Biographer (2002) as Andrew Morton
  • Blood Strangers (2002) as DC David Ingram
  • Waking the Dead (2001) as ACC Tony Nicholson
  • Hornblower: Retribution (2001) as Lt. Bush
  • Hornblower: Mutiny (2001) as Lieutenant Bush
  • Sweet Revenge (2001) as Patrick Vine
  • Like a Hurricane: The Alex Higgins Story (2001) as Self- Narrator
  • Hotel! (2001) as Ben Carter
  • My Kingdom (2001) as Dean
  • Nature Boy (2000) as Steve Witton
  • Fish (2000) as Jonathan Vishnevski
  • Holby City (1999) as John Gaskell
  • Forgotten (1999) as Ben Turner
  • Withnail and Us (1999) as Self
  • Hornblower (1998) as William Bush
  • Our Mutual Friend (1998) as Eugene Wrayburn
  • The Dance of Shiva (1998) as Captain Greville
  • Downtime (1997) as Rob
  • FairyTale: A True Story (1997) as Arthur Wright
  • Testament: The Bible in Animation (1996) as David (voice)
  • Doctor Who (1996) as The Doctor
  • Catherine the Great (1996) as Potemkin
  • Star Trek Story (1996) as Self - Commentary (voice)
  • The Merchant of Venice (1996) as Bassanio
  • The One That Got Away (1996) as Chris Ryan
  • Bidding Adieu: A Video Diary (1996) as Self
  • The Hanging Gale (1995) as Liam Phelan
  • The Hanging Gale (1995) as Liam Phelan
  • The Three Musketeers (1993) as Girard / Jussac
  • Alien³ (1992) as Golic
  • Nice Town (1992) as Joe Thompson
  • Afraid of the Dark (1991) as Tony
  • Paper Mask (1990) as Matthew Harris
  • The Monk (1990) as Father Lorenzo Rojas
  • Drowning in the Shallow End (1990) as Colin
  • Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989) as Dr. Peter Lord
  • Dealers (1989) as Daniel Pascoe
  • Streets of Yesterday (1989) as Joseph
  • The Rainbow (1989) as Anton Skrebensky
  • Tree of Hands (1989) as Barry
  • The Importance of Being Earnest (1988) as John Worthing
  • Empire of the Sun (1987) as Lieutenant Price
  • Withnail & I (1987) as ...& I
  • Cariani and the Courtesans (1987) as Giovanni Cariani
  • ScreenPlay (1986) as Giovanni Cariani
  • Sunday Premiere (1986) as Percy Toplis
  • The Monocled Mutineer (1986) as Percy Toplis
  • Screen Two (1985) as Colin
  • Give Us a Break: Hustle Bustle Toil and Muscle (1984) as Mo Morris
  • Natural World (1983) as Narrator
  • Give us a Break (1983) as Mo Morris
  • Gaskin (1983) as Graham Gaskin
  • Whistling Wally (1982) as Norman
  • Fish (1977)
  • Play for Today (1970) as Norman
  • Horizon (1964) as Himself

Frequently Asked Questions

What movies or TV shows is Paul McGann best known for?

Paul McGann is widely recognized for notable roles and projects including Triesverse: Cataclysm (2026), Bookish (2025), The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954), The Musketeers (2014).

When and where was Paul McGann born?

Paul McGann was born on November 14, 1959 in Kensington, Liverpool, England, UK.

How many credits does Paul McGann have?

Paul McGann has accumulated over 176 film and television credits across a career spanning from 1964 to 2026.

What is Paul McGann's background in cinema and television?

Paul McGann is an English actor born on November 14, 1959, in Kensington, Liverpool, England, UK. He is known for starring in the 1987 black comedy film Withnail and I. McGann also portrayed the eighth incarnation of the Doctor in the 1996 television movie. He has made his name on The Monocled Mutineer, in which he pla...