Tom Chadbon | 1946 – 2026

It has been reported today that actor Tom Chadbon has died at the age of 80.

Chadbon played Duggan in the Doctor Who serial City of Death (1979) and returned to Doctor Who as Merdeen in the 1986 serial The Trial of a Time Lord. Chadbon has also been an occasional guest star in Big Finish audio productions. Most notably, he played the recurring character of Will in the second series of the Sarah Jane Smith audio adventures. He also had a featured guest role in No More Lies, during Paul McGann’s 2007 broadcast season on BBC Radio 7. He also reprised the role of Del Grant for the Blake’s 7 audio series for Big Finish.

The list of his Doctor Who related stories are:

Tom Chadbon was considered for an unusually large number of Doctor Who roles across the 1980s — far more than most guest actors. These are all documented casting considerations from production records and the TARDIS Databases.

All Known Doctor Who Roles Tom Chadbon Was Considered For

Below is the complete list of roles he was in the running for but ultimately not cast:

Fifth Doctor Era (Peter Davison)

• Persuasion — Four to Doomsday
• Roger Scobie — Time-Flight
• Andrew Bilton — Time-Flight
• Douglas Sheard — Time-Flight
• Valgard — Terminus
• Eirak — Terminus
• Nilson — Warriors of the Deep
• Bulic — Warriors of the Deep
• Joseph Willow — The Awakening
• Cockerill — Frontios

Sixth Doctor Era (Colin Baker)

• Colonel Patrick Archer — Resurrection of the Daleks
• Gustave Lytton — Resurrection of the Daleks
• Major Salateen — The Caves of Androzani
• Chief Officer — Vengeance on Varos
• Arak — Vengeance on Varos
• Tekker — Timelash
• Mykros — Timelash

Seventh Doctor Era (Sylvester McCoy)

• Kane — Dragonfire
• Group Captain Ian Gilmore — Remembrance of the Daleks
• Redvers Fenn‑Cooper — Ghost Light

Tom Chadbon was highly regarded by the production office — especially during the JNT era — for his reliability, strong screen presence, and ability to play both heroic and morally ambiguous roles. His actual appearances (Duggan and Merdeen) were only a fraction of the parts he was discussed for.

“BYE BYE DUGGAN”