Portrayal
Richard E. Grant had previously played the Doctor, albeit briefly, in the 1999 Comic Relief charity special Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, when a series of explosions caused the Doctor to rapidly regenerate; Grant's incarnation was intended to be the Tenth. In the spoof, Grant's Doctor was characterised as conceited, a trait associated with many of Grant's past acting roles. For Shalka, Grant played the character straight, with little of his trademark conceitedness. This charity special does not run in the official Doctor Who continuity.
The Shalka Doctor was visually modelled on Grant himself.
Grant's third Doctor Who role was canonical, portraying a different doctor, Dr Walter Simeon, in the 2012 Christmas episode "The Snowmen" and The Great Intelligence in the 2013 episode "The Bells of Saint John".
Read more about this topic: Shalka Doctor
Famous quotes containing the word portrayal:
“From the oyster to the eagle, from the swine to the tiger, all animals are to be found in men and each of them exists in some man, sometimes several at the time. Animals are nothing but the portrayal of our virtues and vices made manifest to our eyes, the visible reflections of our souls. God displays them to us to give us food for thought.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)