Dr Who tops greatest sci-fi character poll

Doctor Who, whose screen exploits prompted a generation to hide behind their sofas in terror every Saturday, has been named the greatest science fiction character of all time.

The Time Lord, played by a range of actors during the show’s three decades on screen was voted top by TV and movie buffs.

The programme Buffy The Vampire Slayer proved to be the biggest hit in the poll of sci-fi and fantasy figures for SFX magazine with four of its leading figures making the top 10.

Perhaps strangely, Buffy herself – played by Sarah Michelle Gellar – is not the highest ranked character from the show.

The High School heroine is beaten by the cocky vampire Spike – played by James Marsters, who came second in the list.

Doctor Who has a devoted fanbase around the world, but he was axed by the BBC in 1989.

Through the years he has been played by actors such as Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker and Sylvester McCoy. He was able to assume new forms by way of regenerating, to allow new actors to take over.

The Doctor was revived in 1996 for a TV movie -in which he was played by Paul McGann – but the expected global interest failed to materialise, which meant it was just a one-off.

However there continues to be talk of further adventures for the eccentric, who travels through time and space in an old police box and was first seen by TV viewers in 1963.

Two characters from TV’s Farscape made it into the top 10, as did Han Solo and Darth Vader from the Star Wars films.

The top 10 was completed by Gandalf from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy - played by Ian McKellen – at 10.

SFX editor Dave Golder said: “It just goes to prove that there is a certain magic to the character and the idea of the face-changing Doctor which strikes a chord with the public’s imagination.

“Even more impressive is that the Doctor hasn’t been on our screens for over five years now, and he still beat characters who have been in hugely popular shows and films that have been on our screens in the past 12 months.”

SFX readers chose their top five characters to compile a top 100 to be published in the new edition tomorrow. The top 10 is as follows:

1. Doctor Who.

2. Spike (from Buffy).

3. Buffy.

4. John Crichton (from Farscape).

5. Aeryn Sun (from Farscape).

6. Han Solo.

7. Willow (from Buffy).

8. Darth Vader.

9. Angel.

10. Gandalf.