British icons shoved together” is how Steven Moffat described 2010’s Victory of the Daleks, in which Matt Smith’s Doctor and his mortal enemies encountered the man who led the nation through its darkest hour. “Churchill and the Daleks,” added the showrunner. “It just works.”
When it came to casting, the producers didn’t have to look far for their Churchill: actor Ian McNeice had just completed an acclaimed run as the legendary wartime leader in the National Theatre’s production of Howard Brenton’s Never So Good, starring Jeremy Irons as Harold Macmillan.