Carey Mulligan and 9 Other A-List Guest Stars on Doctor Who

Doctor Who is the oldest science fiction series still on the air — the first season aired in 1963. More than a generation of geeks grew up with it, but the show shows no signs of slowing down.

Not surprisingly, more than one big star has appeared in the cult project over all these years.

1. Kylie Minogue

One Christmas, the TARDIS crashed into a spaceship called the Titanic. On board, the Doctor, then played by David Tennant, met a waitress named Astrid, who became his companion for the episode.

In the episode titled Voyage of the Damned, the role of Astrid was played by Australian singer and actress Kylie Minogue. The Doctor Who showrunners negotiated her participation in the series for about a year, looking for a free spot in her busy schedule. A miracle happened, and Minogue appeared in the project's traditional Christmas episode.

Minogue began acting before she began singing: she made her debut in 1976 in the series The Sullivans.

2. James Corden

TV host James Corden is best known to viewers of The Late Late Show and its Carpool Karaoke, in which he sings with guest stars in a car, and Crosswalk the Musical, in which Corden and his guests perform a musical on a crosswalk.

Meanwhile, Corden played the episodic role of Craig Owens in the fifth and sixth seasons of Doctor Who. Corden is a close friend of the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, and the characters even kissed in one of the episodes.

3. Carey Mulligan

Carey Mulligan is a British actress whose credits include Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive and Baz Luhrmann 's The Great Gatsby. The actress played Sally in one of the show's most memorable episodes, Blink.

In the story, Sally walks through an abandoned mansion with a friend who suddenly disappears. She soon learns that the statues of weeping angels that fill the house can instantly transport people back in time, and among the DVDs she finds a video message addressed to her from the Doctor.

4. Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Now Gugu Mbatha-Raw is starring in big projects like Edward Norton's Motherless Brooklyn and Apple TV+ 's The Morning Show. But she got her start on Doctor Who.

In the third season, Mbatha-Raw played the sister of Martha Jones, the Tenth Doctor's companion. It turned out to be a good start for her career, although fans of the series don't really remember the actress — she only appeared in four episodes.

Mbatha-Raw became famous for her role in the anthology series Black Mirror — she starred in one of the best episodes, San Junipero.

5. Andrew Garfield

For Andrew Garfield, Doctor Who was one of his first projects. In 2007, Garfield played Frank in the episode Daleks in Manhattan — he helped the Tenth Doctor fight the Daleks.

In 2010, Garfield appeared on the set of David Fincher's biographical drama The Social Network. Then, as we know, there were the Spider-Man movies (twice), and the role of selfless Desmond Doss in the drama Hacksaw Ridge, and many more no less impressive roles.

6. Sharon Osbourne

Sharon is known to the public not so much as an author and British TV presenter, but as the wife of infamous rocker Ozzy Osbourne. However, Sharon is no stranger to TV projects: for three years, from 2002 to 2005, she and her entire family starred in the reality show The Osbournes.

Sharon only appeared on Doctor Who once, in 2007, in an episode titled The Sound of Drums, in which she played herself.

7. Lily Cole

Lily Cole is better known as a British model and actress who has appeared in advertising campaigns for brands such as Chanel, Cacharel and many others.

However, Lily is no newcomer to the big screen either: in the movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus she played with Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Christopher Plummer and Heath Ledger, and on the set of Snow White and the Huntsman she worked with Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth.

In Doctor Who, Lily plays the role of the Siren in the episode The Curse of the Black Spot. She appears to the sailors and puts a black spot on their palms (just like in Pirates of the Caribbean ).

8. Mark Sheppard

Mark is best known to viewers for his role as the cruel but charming demon Crowley on Supernatural. But fans of the actor may also have seen him in 24, Firefly, and Charmed.

In Doctor Who, Sheppard played Canton Everett Delaware III. He appears in the first two episodes of the sixth season, helping the Doctor investigate the disappearance of a little girl.

9. Bill Nighy

One of the best British actors also appeared in Doctor Who, in one of the most popular episodes, introducing viewers to Vincent van Gogh.

In the episode Vincent and the Doctor, Van Gogh was played by Scottish actor Tony Curran, and the supporting role of the curator of his exhibition at Orsay was played by Bill Nighy.

Bill Nighy's credits include one of the best Christmas comedies, Love Actually, the thriller about the war between vampires and werewolves, Underworld, and the best pirate movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (in case you didn't know, it is Nighy who is hiding behind Davy Jones' tentacles).

10. Brian Cox

Brian Cox did not receive a physical embodiment in the Doctor Who series, remaining in the credits of the Christmas special The End of Time as the voice of the Elder Ood — an alien creature with two brains: external and internal.

However, the actor's face is well known to all fans of X-Men history: Brian Cox played the role of William Stryker, a military scientist who conducted all sorts of experiments on mutants and gave Wolverine an adamantium skeleton and sharp claws.

And of course Cox is well known to fans of quality drama — he played the patriarch of the Roy family, Logan, in one of the best modern TV series, Succession.