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Best Guest Stars: Series 4 (2008)

AbominationAbomination Posts: 6,483
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in Doctor Who #1
The fourth series was a rich tapestry of characters both familiar and new, some who had played big parts before, some who would have big parts to come. This makes the Series 4 guest pool rather huge, and respectively one of the most difficult polls to assemble. Keeping the total guest count below 30 was a real challenge for this one!

You can see previous thread results here...
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3

Once more the poll shall be up for a week (closing in the early hours of Wednesday 8th July). The winner will be added to the All Time Favourite Guest Star poll to be done at the very end.

For the benefit of consistency with other series, the poll excludes series leads and significant recurring characters. In the case of Series 4, this is somewhat more complicated by the addition of the Children of Time. The likes of Rose, Martha, Jack and so on are excluded on account of being considered the lead cast - they have had pivotal roles before and feature in the opening credits of various episodes across the series too. To keep things simple, the entire 'Children of Time' assemblage has been removed from the poll listing, including the characters who featured as part of the 'Earth Rescue" sequence at the end of the series. This means that the extensive excluded cast members for Series 4 consists of David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Bernard Cribbins, Jacqueline King, Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman, John Barrowman, Elisabeth Sladen, Tommy Lawrence Knight, Camille Coduri, Noel Clarke, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd.

Apologies for any omissions...there were some tough cuts to make here. And I went with 'Tennant' rather than 'Moffett', as it's what Wikipedia indicated. :)

Important: The next poll will cover The Tenth Doctor Specials (<2009>) and will be posted this Saturday, also running for a week. Full series polls will continue to be posted on Wednesdays as has been the case until now.

Who was your favourite guest star/character from Series 4?

Which Series 4 guest star was yoiur favourite? 35 votes

KYLIE MINOGUE (Astrid Peth, Voyage of the Damned)
2% 1 vote
CLIVE SWIFT (Mr Copper, Voyage of the Damned)
0% 0 votes
JIMMY VEE (Bannakaffalatta, Voyage of the Damned)
0% 0 votes
RUSSELL TOVEY (Alonso Frame, Voyage of the Damned)
2% 1 vote
SARAH LANCASHIRE (Ms Foster, Partners in Crime)
0% 0 votes
PETER CAPALDI (Caecilius, The Fires of Pompeii)
5% 2 votes
PHIL DAVIS (Lucius, The Fires of Pompeii)
0% 0 votes
TIM McINNERNY (Klineman Halpen, Planet of the Ood)
0% 0 votes
CHRISTOPHER RYAN (General Staal, The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky)
0% 0 votes
RUPERT HOLLIDAY EVANS (Colonel Mace, The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky)
0% 0 votes
CHRISTIAN COOKE (Ross Jenkins, The Sontatan Stratagem/The Poison Sky)
0% 0 votes
RYAN SAMPSON (Luke Rattigan, The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky)
0% 0 votes
GEORGIA TENNANT (Jenny, The Doctor's Daughter)
11% 4 votes
FENELLA WOOLGAR (Agatha Christie, The Unicorn and the Wasp)
5% 2 votes
FELICITY KENDAL (Lady Clemency Edison, The Unicorn and the Wasp)
0% 0 votes
TOM GOODMAN HILL (Reverend Arnold Golightly, The Unicorn and the Wasp)
0% 0 votes
ALEX KINGSTON (River Song, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead)
25% 9 votes
COLIN SALMON (Doctor Moon, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead)
2% 1 vote
TALULAH RILEY (Miss Evangelista, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead)
0% 0 votes
EVE NEWTON (Charlotte Abigail Lux, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead)
0% 0 votes
COLIN MORGAN (Jethro Cane, Midnight)
0% 0 votes
LESLEY SHARP (Sky Silverstry, Midnight)
20% 7 votes
JOSEPH LONG (Rocco Colasanto, Turn Left)
0% 0 votes
PENELOPE WILTON (Harriet Jones, The Stolen Earth)
5% 2 votes
MICHAEL BRANDON (Lieutenant General Sanchez, The Stolen Earth)
0% 0 votes
JULIAN BLEACH (Davros, The Stolen Earth/Journey's End)
17% 6 votes

Comments

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    tiggerpoohtiggerpooh Posts: 4,182
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    #2
    I voted for Alex Kingston as River Song, as I thought she was the best guest star in Series 4. I would say Lesley Sharp, Sarah Lancashire and Penelope Wilton are my other favourite guest stars from that series.

    :)
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    MarkBluemelMarkBluemel Posts: 1,781
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    #3
    No context - Alex Kingston for me.
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    saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    #4
    Julian Bleach by a country mile.
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    Michael_EveMichael_Eve Posts: 14,460
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    #5
    Well obviously it's Kylie Min.....sorry, it's the heat and lack of sleep.

    Kingston, Bleach and a marvellously unpleasant McInnerny stand out, and I thought Peter C's character was great ("There's nice." Good Welsh accent, Peter!) but I thought Lesley Sharp gave the series outstanding performance. Quite superb in a difficult role. So she gets my vote.
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    Dalekbuster523Dalekbuster523 Posts: 4,596
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    #6
    Kylie Minogue by far. You can't beat a international singing superstar.
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    Dave-HDave-H Posts: 9,940
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    #7
    Very difficult one. Lesley Sharp and Alex Kingston are certainly very worthy contenders.
    Although the latter's character did rather outstay her welcome later on IMO, there's no denying the impact that River Song made in her first story.
    Still, I'm going for Julian Bleach, who made an amazing tour de force of rebooting the character of Davros, and was every bit a worthy successor to the others who had played the role before. Re-presenting an established and well loved (if that's the right word!) character is never going to be easy, and he did it superbly.
    :)
    BTW saladfingers81, didn't you vote for him, my vote seems to be the only one so far!
    :D
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    saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    #8
    Dave-H wrote: »
    Very difficult one. Lesley Sharp and Alex Kingston are certainly very worthy contenders.
    Although the latter's character did rather outstay her welcome later on IMO, there's no denying the impact that River Song made in her first story.
    Still, I'm going for Julian Bleach, who made an amazing tour de force of rebooting the character of Davros, and was every bit a worthy successor to the others who had played the role before. Re-presenting an established and well loved (if that's the right word!) character is never going to be easy, and he did it superbly.
    :)
    BTW saladfingers81, didn't you vote for him, my vote seems to be the only one so far!
    :D

    Lol. In my excitement I forgot to do the important bit...
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    saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    #9
    Who the hell voted for Minogue?!?! It's one of the most wooden performances of all time!

    Edit- ah. I think I know. Brilliant.
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    saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    #10
    Dalekbuster523 wrote: »
    Kylie Minogue by far. You can't beat a international singing superstar.

    Ike Turner would beg to differ.
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    CAMERA OBSCURACAMERA OBSCURA Posts: 8,023
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    #11
    Lesley Sharp. Great actress in my all time fave Who episode.
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    Dalekbuster523Dalekbuster523 Posts: 4,596
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    #12
    saladfingers81 wrote: »
    Ike Turner would beg to differ.

    Who?:confused:
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    Michael_EveMichael_Eve Posts: 14,460
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    #13
    Dalekbuster523 wrote: »
    Who?:confused:

    You've not heard River Song Deep, Mount Vesuvius High, then? Classic.
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    daveyboy7472daveyboy7472 Posts: 16,416
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    #14
    Has to be Lesley Sharpe for me too. Brilliant acting, especially in the sync scenes with Tennant, and the others too, off course.

    Liked Julian Bleach as Davros as well and the actress who played Agatha Christie was good as well.

    :)
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    daveyboy7472daveyboy7472 Posts: 16,416
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    #15
    Michael_Eve wrote: »
    You've not heard River Song Deep, Mount Vesuvius High, then? Classic.

    This where this forum needs a 'Like' Button! :D
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    tiggerpoohtiggerpooh Posts: 4,182
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    #16
    Michael_Eve wrote: »
    Well obviously it's Kylie Min.....sorry, it's the heat and lack of sleep.

    I know what you mean. Should be cooler and fresher for the weekend and most of next week, so the forecasters say. :)
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    krikkiter68krikkiter68 Posts: 272
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    #17
    A very difficult choice - I genuinely liked them all - but in the end it had to be Lesley Sharp as Sky. She was astonishing.
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    Daniel DareDaniel Dare Posts: 3,503
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    #18
    Lesley Sharpe in Midnight was magnificent.
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    AbominationAbomination Posts: 6,483
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    #19
    Found it hard to choose between two on this one - Lesley Sharp and Julian Bleach both absolutely gave it their all here. Alex Kingston and Fenella Woolgar were a few others I thought were truly great.

    Bleach as Davros was superb. He nailed the creepy vibe in The Stolen Earth, and then took on the more 'mad scientist' persona in Journey's End. However for such a long story I still feel he had very little to do. Journey's End is the one responsible for that - as it didn't seem to nail the pacing as its predecessor had. There was a lot going on but not a lot to say for anyone - Davros included.

    I went for Lesley Sharp in the end. Not only was her character hauntingly captivating and memorable (not to mention creepy), but from an acting standpoint she had one of the hardest jobs going in the fourth series, if not the entire show. You see how versatile an actress she is earlier on, and then her in-sync scenes with Tennant are a mixture of skill and a fantastic actress delivering great writing.
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    Daniel DareDaniel Dare Posts: 3,503
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    #20
    Abomination wrote: »

    I went for Lesley Sharp in the end. Not only was her character hauntingly captivating and memorable (not to mention creepy), but from an acting standpoint she had one of the hardest jobs going in the fourth series, if not the entire show. You see how versatile an actress she is earlier on, and then her in-sync scenes with Tennant are a mixture of skill and a fantastic actress delivering great writing.

    Ditto :)

    And to think I've actually read on various comments sections from numbskulls totally ignoring the facts you've pointed out above, brushing it off with, 'oh it's just a few people taking over each other and nothing happens in it'.
    WHAT?:confused:
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    AbominationAbomination Posts: 6,483
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    #21
    ^ I've heard the same arguments too, and of course people are entitled to their opinions, but I feel that the work she and Tennant did here was terrific...as was that of everyone on that set that managed to deliver a solid, creepy episode without ever really leaving it. :)

    __

    Anyway, a bit late but here are your Series 4 Top Three Guest Stars
    1st - Alex Kingston, as River Song (Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead)
    2nd - Lesley Sharp, as Sky Sylvestry (Midnight)
    3rd - Julian Bleach, as Davros (The Stolen Earth/Journey's End)

    Another woman joins the winners circle in what wasn't really a close call, but rather a respectable result for all three finalists. Alex Kingston's timey-wimey debut as River Song went down as one of her finest appearances of all, despite subsequent appearances in Series 5, 6 and 7. With River now headed to Big Finish, and the possibility of an on-screen return within the next few years still considerable, it's rare to see a character so integral to the show who was once just another guest star in a sea of them!
    http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/River-Song-Silence-in-the-Library.jpg

    Completing the top three were Lesley Sharp and Julian Bleach - both of whom made a massive impact with their characters in the fourth series. The former delivered a chilling performance as Sky in Midnight - a role very unlikely to ever be revisited or explained, but that was part of the mystery and charm. The latter gave us the Big Bad of Series 4, and one I personally would hope to see again!

    Alex Kingston will be included in the Final Poll to be conducted once all eight series have been voted on.
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