DIME LORDS
Ultimate Doctor Who rich list – surprising star worth £8M to legend nearly forced to sell his home before bagging role
One Doctor Who star was reportedly paid £1million per series
SCIENCE-FICTION fans are gearing themselves up for the latest instalment of Doctor Who this weekend.
David Tennant has returned for the sci-fi show's 60th anniversary special.
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And in a few weeks' time Ncuti Gatwa will emerge from the Tardis as the new Doctor on Christmas Day.
This new incarnation - the first time a black actor will play the role - comes 60 years after William Hartnell starred in the debut episode of Doctor Who back in 1963.
Playing the legendary Time Lord can give any actor's career a boost - and do wonders for their bank balance.
From one star who reportedly made £1million per season to another who now charges £95 per autograph, here we reveal our ultimate Doctor Who rich list.
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Tom Baker - 7.9m
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Legendary Doctor Who actor Tom Baker is worth a reported £7.9m according to Celebrity Net Worth, putting him alongside another actor at the top of our rich list.
He was the longest-serving Doctor, initially appearing between 1974 and 1981, and later made cameos in spin-offs and other series.
Tom, who used to “earn some money from royalties” from Doctor Who, also starred in Black Adder II, The Hound Of The Baskervilles and Monarch Of The Glen.
The star has made a fortune using his distinctive voice - famously taking on voice acting work for video games and TV shows including the comedy Little Britain.
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Tom, now 89, used to live in a converted school in Kent before he relocated to France in 2003.
He’s since returned and is now believed to have a home near Rye, in East Sussex.
Peter Capaldi - £7.9m
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Joint top of our Doctor Who rich list is Peter Capaldi, worth a cool £7.9million according to Celebrity Net Worth.
But life wasn’t always so glam for the Scottish actor, now 65, who bagged his first acting role in Local Hero back in 1983.
Peter told the he “spent the rest of the decade in bedsits” while he battled to win bigger parts.
In 1995, he wrote and directed the Oscar-winning short film Franz Kafka’s It’s A Wonderful Life but struggled to turn it into a full-length movie.
Peter managed to bag smaller roles until he landed his big break in 2005, playing Malcolm Tucker in the political comedy The Thick Of It.
Before that turning point, Peter was so skint that he and wife Elaine thought they “were going to have to sell our house” and he also considered quitting acting.
The TV show led to larger roles including his biggest to date - playing the 12th Doctor for three years from 2014.
A BBC report revealed he was paid an annual salary between £200,000 and £249,999 for the 2016-2017 financial year.
In 2015, he listed his four-bedroom North London home for £1.5m, nearly 20 years on from buying it for just £201,327 - meaning he could have made up to £1.2m in profit.
Since playing the Doctor, Peter’s starred in hits including Amazon Prime show The Devil’s Hour and blockbusters The Suicide Squid and Paddington 2.
David Tennant - £7.12m
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David Tennant has a whopping 156 acting credits to his name and has played a variety of roles from serial killer Dennis Nilsen to a detective in Broadchurch.
According to Screenrant, David, 52, earned around £1m a year playing the legendary Time Lord during his three-year stint until 2008. Since then, he has made several other cameos in Doctor Who.
The actor, who has a stunning West London home, also landed parts in Box Office hits including Harry Potter, How To Train Your Dragon and St Trinian’s 2.
He’s also played the villain Kilgrace in the Marvel and Netflix show Jessica Jones, Crowley in Good Omens and Alexander Litvinenko in a TV mini series.
reported he raked in an impressive £2.4m for the 2020/2021 financial year and his wife Georgia made £726,000.
The couple’s earnings were said to be from their respective acting careers and property profits.
According to Celebrity Net Worth he is worth £7.13m.
Matt Smith - £7.12m
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Matt Smith was relatively unknown before portraying Doctor Who but now is among Britain’s biggest acting stars.
The actor, who played the Time Lord between 2010 and 2013, reportedly earned £600,000 as part of a three-year for the role, according to the .
Since then he’s landed massive roles including playing Prince Philip in Netflix’s The Crown, which earned him an Emmy nomination, and Daemon Targaryen in Game Of Thrones prequel House Of The Dragon.
Matt, now 41, has also appeared in blockbusters including Last Night In Soho, Morbius and The Forgiven.
In 2018, the Mail on Sunday reported he earned around £39,000 per episode for The Crown.
The details emerged after Claire Foy, who played Queen Elizabeth II, received £200,000 in backpay to make up for the gender pay gap between herself and Matt during the show.
Paul McGann - £5.54m
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Paul McGann was brought on as the eighth Doctor in a 1996 TV film for the BBC, seven years after the show was axed.
While it failed to take off, he has since appeared in several TV shows including Luther and Holby City and has narrated documentaries including Secret History.
The actor, now 64, is reportedly worth an impressive £5.54m.
Christopher Eccleston - £4.74m
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Before playing Doctor Who, when the series was rebooted in 2005, Christopher Ecclestone had big parts in 28 Days Later, Cracker, Hearts And Minds and Our Friends In The North.
He reportedly took home £600,000 for just one season playing the timelord, according to , and is now worth an estimated £4.74m according to Celebrity Net Worth.
In 2018, reported that fans were being charged £95 for Christopher’s autograph and £85 to have a photo with him at the London Film and Comic Con.
According to Companies House, the actor is the director of TV entertainment company B’Lung! Limited. In March this year, it reported nearly £885,000 in assets.
Jodie Whitaker - £4.74m
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Jodie Whittaker was the first woman to play the Doctor and her tenure spanned from 2018 until 2022.
The actress was promised the same pay as Peter Capaldi - a salary between £200,000 and £249,000 - as part of the BBC’s pledge to end their gender pay gap.
Her first onscreen role was in 2006 in The Afternoon Play. Since then she’s starred in Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, St Trinian's, Cranford, Marchlands, Black Mirror, and Attack The Block.
Jodie, 41, is married to actor Christian Contreras and worth £4.74m, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Colin Baker - £4.74m
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Colin Baker’s Doctor was a jazzy dresser who opted for colourful clothing.
He was the sixth incarnation of the famous Time Lord and appeared on the show between 1984 and 1986.
In 2012 he branched away from acting to appear on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
He was the fourth person to leave the show, appearing in the same series as Linda Robson and Nadine Dorries.
Colin, now 80, is worth £4.74m according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Sylvester McCoy - £3.16m
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Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy was hired in 1987 and spent two years on the show.
The actor famously complained that “the money was terrible...in those days” while he was at the BBC but later realised the deal wasn’t as bad as he thought.
Sylvester says a producer pal told him to consider the show as “fat dripping off a pig” - in reference to the amount he could make from the role in the long run.
The 80-year-old star - who is reportedly worth £3.16m - said: “He wasn’t wrong, it’s been dripping ever since.”
Among those bonus paydays was a £2,700 fee to appear at a specialist sci-fi event in Stockton in June 2015.
Peter Davison - £2.3m
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Peter Davison took over as the fifth Doctor in 1981 and spent three years in the role. He also featured on a podcast spin-off.
Prior to playing the Time Lord, one of his biggest roles was as Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great And Small.
Peter told he was paid £42,000 to do a live commercial for dog food company Pedigree Chum at Crufts in 1995. He says it helped him "buy my rented flat in Belsize Park".
In recent years, he’s appeared in The Gold, The Windsors, Gentleman Jack, Call The Midwife and Life.
Celebrity Net Worth estimates Peter, now 72, sits on a £2.3m fortune.
Ncuti Gatwa £1.58m ($2m)
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He’s the latest actor to play the Doctor and is reportedly worth £1.58million.
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Ncuti Gatwa, 31, made a tidy sum appearing in the Netflix series Sex Education and also appeared in this year's Hollywood mega-hit Barbie.
According to Companies House, his firm Gemini Moon declared £960,055 total assets for 2022 alone - and no doubt he will continue to make major money after starring as the Doctor.
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