We talk a lot about favourite Doctor's and companions, but a little less so about the characters than make each story utterly unique!

I thought it might be a nice idea to vote on which guest stars, or the characters they've played, have been our favourite in each series of the show.

I've done a poll (not sure if it'll appear straight away so check back later) and thought that maybe I'll do a series per week. Maybe find out which guest star is favourite of each series, and then run one final poll to figure out who is the most loved guest star in Doctor Who. For the benefit with consistency with later series, the poll excludes all lead cast and recurring cast characters. In the case of Series 1 this means I have excluded Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, John Barrowman, Camille Coduri and Noel Clarke. Apologies if I've forgotten anyone or omitted anyone I maybe shouldn't have.

So yes, which guest characters are your favourites in Series 1?

Penelope Wilton

I appear to have made the first vote. Florence Hoath (Nancy in The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances) is my choice - I'd love to see her back in the show. Real character.

Another vote for Ms Hoath. Don't think she's acting anymore, which is a shame. Thought she was excellent in the best story of the series.

Penelope Wilton for me.
Harriet Jones went on to make great, if sadly brief, apperances in The Christmas Invasion and The Stolen Earth too, which says it all about how good Penelope's delivery of the character was.

Oh my goodness - BEYOND difficult. I honestly cannot choose.

I had to go for Annette Badland/Margaret/Slitheen.
Such a wonderful character in all three episodes - we saw the dark and light side to her!
Now she is just an egg!! (Maybe waiting to return?)

Jo Joyner for me. Usually hate EastEnders actors but she was brilliant as Linda and I hated that she was killed off. I could easily have watched a series with Rose and Linda With A Y as the companions.

Makes me realise how good the first season was! I can't choose! But I think Simon Callow and Florence Hoath are up there!

I nearly voted for Shaun Dingwall as Father's Day is probably my favourite episode of series 1.

But I voted for Jo Joyner because Lynda was so sweet and it was so sad that she was killed.

After a night of tears and anxious delay, this morning I have voted for Zoë Wanamaker.

I love so many of the season 1 guest stars by I just think Lady Cassandra was brilliantly realised and also the first iconic character of the ‘New Who’ age.

“Moisturise me, moisturise me” . . . just brilliant!

Quite! I've not even voted on my own poll so far! Good going, me!

I wondered whether to do two series polls a week but think I'll stick to just the one, so the Series 2 vote will be up next Wednesday

Oh dear lord - I'm crying tears of anxiety just thinking about it!

I thought Florence Hoath was excellent as Nancy, she brought so many aspects to the character. The hardship of war, being a 'single mum in 1941' , some humour, and her reaction to Rose's comments about future Britain, plus having to feed loads of kids.

There's just so many things there to commend her on, Nancy is definitely one of the stand out characters in the first series.

I also think Richard Wilson is excellent in the same story. I think at the time he had yet to be seen in Merlin so for me this was proof, if ever it were needed, that this guy was just the guy who played Victor Meldew in One Foot In The Grave. I thought he brought a certain ethos and sentiment to the role he played, and the effects of that gas mask transformation helps him stand out as well.

Extra mention for Jo Joyner as Lynda, with a 'Y', quite simply the best companion who never was!!!!!

I think what worked with Nancy was that she was never anything "special". She wasn't important or revered, it was her normality and humanity that shone through in quite a dark story, revolving around a very dark war.

I'd always hoped we'd see Nancy again at some point, in a largely unrelated story that just picks up the character again. It would have been nice to see her join a different Doctor in the 50's or something.

Went to check this out and she's certainly had no TV or film work since 2008, seems she was doing voice overs in 2010.


http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0387524/b...4?ref_=nm_bd_5

Interesting titbit there at the end. This was said at a July 2010 convention so it would have been the role of Amy that she auditioned for.

I've just finished watching series one (I'm very behind, I know!) and I really liked her too.

It's only your first time? Wow!
I hope you enjoyed it, Series 1 and Series 4 rank as my favourites

Penelope Wilton. She is awesome full stop.

Big soft spot for Jo Joyner and Simon Callow's appearances.

Really want to have a series one session over the weekend now.

A very difficult choice, but I ended up voting for Penelope Wilton, with Simon Callow as runner up. All of the actors listed put in excellent, intelligent performances IMO.

It took me a whole week to actually decide, but then I knew Series 1 would be one of the hardest to vote on for me. There's so many rich performances, and a mix of both established and up-and-coming actors who stole the show in their respective episodes. I'd argue that it possibly even has the strongest line-up of all... whilst the show has attracted bigger names than any of those listed here, few series can be said to have attracted such quality across the board (no discredit to anyone who shows up later on!). Even less impressive villains of the series were played by superb actors.

I went with Penelope Wilton in the end though. It was a tough one, as I said. When I started the week I felt I wanted to vote for Simon Callow...such a fantastic portrayal of Dickens, and a definite second place for me. I had a change of heart when people kept praising Florence Hoath and I realised how awesome she was as Nancy. Then I was remembering the poignant return of Margaret in Boom Town, though frankly she had little to do in her two previous episodes - Annette Badland had one of my all-time favourite scenes of the first series though, when she begs for her life. Superb actress! Harriet Jones though was a fantastic character, both fun and responsible. I wasn't so fond of what they did with her later...I actually wanted her to become a recurring presence like Judi Dench has been to Bond. Alas it wasn't to be, so the best I could do was vote for her in her best and biggest success story

This really underlines how great some of the guest casting in C21st DW has been! I voted Annette Badland: always one of my favourite actors, and she did so much with the Margaret Blaine character. Scary, funny, sympathetic, malicious: she's got it all.

So here are your Series 1 Top Five Guest Stars

1st - Penelope Wilton, as Harriet Jones (Aliens of London/World War Three)
2nd - Florence Hoath, as Nancy (The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances)
3rd - Simon Callow, as Charles Dickens (The Unquiet Dead)
4th - Jo Joyner, as Lynda Moss (Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways)
4th - Annette Badland, as 'Margaret' (Aliens of London/World War Three, Boom Town)

The final result impressively displays a mixture of acting names both very well known, and some less familiar. It was very close between the top two positions - whilst Florence Hoath secured an early lead at the start of the week, she was soon caught up by Penelope Wilton and the two were level-pegging until around the final day when Wilton took the lead.
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/97...b/p00r0vht.jpg

Simon Callow secured a very comfortable third place, whilst Jo Joyner and Annette Badland are level-pegging in fourth. Of the 16 nominees included for Series One, 11 received at least one vote.

Penelope Wilton, who secured over 26% of the final vote, will be included in the Final Poll to be run when we've gotten through all the series.