Doctor Who’s Jacob Anderson previously auditioned to play Rory

“I did actually audition for Doctor Who a long time ago,” Anderson told Doctor Who Magazine. “I auditioned for Rory.

“I was definitely too young, and Arthur Darvill is amazing. I’ve worked with him since [on Broadchurch], and he’s a lovely man. So I’m glad that he did it.”

In the end, of course, the role of nurse-turned-centurion Rory went to Darvill, who appeared regularly from 2010-2012 alongside Smith and onscreen partner Gillan, before the "Ponds" departed in The Angels Take Manhattan.

In the pantheon of classic Doctor Who casting What-Ifs it’s an intriguing one – imagine if for all this time, we’d had Anderson paired with Gillan’s Amy Pond instead – but Anderson doesn’t seem too disappointed to have missed out back then. Or at least, finally landing his dream job has rubbed out those bad memories.

“This is the one thing I always wanted to do,” he said.

“I used to think, ‘I’ll do anything, I’ll wear prosthetics, whatever… I just want to be part of Doctor Who!’ It has such an ingrained place in my brain, and in my history, for a multitude of reasons.”

Now, at last, it also has an ingrained place on his IMDB page. Dreams do come true, kids.

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Doctor Who returns to BBC One on Sunday 31st October. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi page or our full TV Guide.