Biography

He was originally cast as the lead in the ITV's "Sharpe" series of television movies but ruptured a cruciate ligament playing football a few days into the shooting of Sharpe's Rifles (1993) in the Ukraine. Due to a misdiagnosis he continued for weeks, unwittingly causing more damage. He was replaced in the role by Sean Bean, who starred not only in Sharpe's Rifles (1993) but the other thirteen films as well. Bean's replacement of McGann triggered the largest insurance settlement in British television history...a value of £2,128,172.

He replaced Sylvester McCoy when he became the official Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who: The Movie (1996). The film was a failed attempt to relaunch Doctor Who (1963) as an ongoing series. Although it was a ratings hit in the UK, it flopped in the United States. Nevertheless, his performance was well-received and he went on to reprise the role in audio adventures.

He narrated the audio book versions of several of Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe's" novels.

He has played two protagonists whose name is never revealed in Withnail and I (1987) and Doctor Who: The Movie (1996).

In 1998, he was involved, along with Sherilyn Fenn, Kate Winslet, Rufus Sewell and Miranda Richardson in the film project "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline". The film was to be executive produced by Emma Thompson, and written and directed by Fay Efrosini Lellios. The shooting was set to start in June 1998 in New Hampshire. The film was canceled due to financial withdrawal.

[on his one-off performance as the Doctor in Doctor Who: The Movie (1996)] I don't want to be remembered as the George Lazenby of Doctor Who.

Careers are what they are, they don't make any sense at all when you look back. We're not in charge of them.

I filled a CV in for something, for publicity purposes, only last week and I left Doctor Who: The Movie (1996) off. I only say that because there were times when I don't need to mention it, or perhaps, well, let's be brutally honest, it's not so cool to mention it. It depends who I'm talking to. Sometimes it's the first thing I mention. It depends, it just depends. Because it takes all sorts.

Never having been a Doctor Who (1963) fan as a child; other than seeing them, I was never committed to them, and I'm still surprised year in, year out, at the involvement, the fervour, the zeal that the fans, the adherents, the people who are making the stories, and all these references, all this history, I'm still surprised at how complex and important it is.

I'm not a sci-fi lover, I wasn't from the start. So perhaps I miss that passion for other worlds, other dimensions, that sort of scope and that magnitude of storytelling, that's not my thing though I meet plenty of people whose thing it definitely is. Mine is more Earthbound than that; I prefer fiction, stories, things that are maybe rooted in our collective traits, simple, human, what makes us tick as human beings; I love a good novel.