Neil Patrick Harris as the Toymaker.
At 7.35pm on Wednesday 6th September 1990, a doctor arrived on BBC1 – but probably not the one you were expecting… Where 12 months previously – practically to the day and time – the TARDIS materialised at the start of Doctor Who’s final series of the 20th century, this was the British audience’s first sight of Neil Patrick Harris as Doogie Howser MD. There’s a pleasing serendipity to the star of the show that inherited Doctor Who’s place in the schedules having a major role to play in its future.
With his turn as the Toymaker 33 years away, Doogie Howser MD made Harris a star in his native America at the age of 16, playing the precocious teen medic over four seasons. In the decades since, the actor has turned his talents to comedy, drama and musicals on stage and screen.