# ID an old Doctor Who character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-an-old-doctor-who-character/845608 "2019-12-30T18:07:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-an-old-doctor-who-character/845608/1 "2019-12-30T18:07:15Z")
I used to know this, but it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten. The creature in question was small and brown, and had a distinctive, maniacal laugh. (At least, I think it was a laugh.) He was played by an Indian actor who had no legs, or whose legs were deformed. ISTR the actor had to ‘wriggle into his costume’. I believe he appeared in a Fourth Doctor series. I thought it might have been Davros, but I’m not finding a picture that corresponds to my failed memory. ---
**Author:** ![vislor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vislor/32/5933_2.png) [@vislor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vislor)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-an-old-doctor-who-character/845608/2 "2019-12-30T18:22:19Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I used to know this, but it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten. The creature in question was small and brown, and had a distinctive, maniacal laugh. (At least, I think it was a laugh.) He was played by an Indian actor who had no legs, or whose legs were deformed. ISTR the actor had to ‘wriggle into his costume’. I believe he appeared in a Fourth Doctor series. I thought it might have been Davros, but I’m not finding a picture that corresponds to my failed memory. Sil? Played by Nabil Shaban? First appeared in Vengeance of Varos and then later Trial of a Time Lord? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-an-old-doctor-who-character/845608/3 "2019-12-30T18:34:28Z")
Aye: that’s Sil. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-an-old-doctor-who-character/845608/4 "2019-12-30T18:35:37Z")
> [@vislor](#): > > Sil? > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Aye: that’s Sil. :smack: Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![vislor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vislor/32/5933_2.png) [@vislor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vislor)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-an-old-doctor-who-character/845608/5 "2019-12-30T18:43:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > :smack: > > Thanks! Glad to help! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-an-old-doctor-who-character/845608/6 "2019-12-30T18:47:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I thought it might have been Davros, but I’m not finding a picture that corresponds to my failed memory. [Sil: the odious slug with an eerie laugh](https://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_odious_slug_with_an_eerie_laugh), a newspaper article from October 1986. The writer who came up with him wrote him a whole movie recently; they aired it just last month: [Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10655906/). [Here’s a great Sil promo pic](https://magazineclonerepub.blob.core.windows.net/mcepub/2912/188846/image/d0e1d3ed-77c5-445d-8242-b6a1532b10e6.jpg). > [@](#): > > SIL is worried, very worried, which doesn’t keep his reptilian skin in the best condition. Confined in a cold detention cell on the moon, awaiting a deportation hearing for trial on drugs offenses on Earth, he faces a death sentence if the application is successful and he is found guilty. And his employers at the Universal Monetary Fund aren’t pleased either. Not at all. As time runs out and friends desert him, SIL must use all of his devious, vile, underhanded, ruthless, and amoral business acumen to survive. Can he possibly slime his way out of this one. Sadly the movie has a 4.9/10 rating on IMDB with just 36 people reviewing it but I am hopeful because one reviewer wrote: > [@soalgrinder](#): > > 8/10 - Feels like it’s from the 80’s - If you’re looking for a deep plot or heavy emotional storyline then this isn’t the film for you however if you go into this expecting a retro, 80’s Doctor Who like experience then this is the film for you. It has the same runtime as an 80’s Doctor who, is divided into four “episodes” and is full of Rubery monster goodness. I would definitely recommend to old school Doctor Who fans. I’d watch it, prolly. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-an-old-doctor-who-character/845608/7 "2019-12-30T19:44:59Z")
[The BBC’s Classic Who page](http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/gallery/index.html) used to be much more useful for such things. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-an-old-doctor-who-character/845608/8 "2020-01-02T03:15:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I used to know this, but it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten. The creature in question was small and brown, and had a distinctive, maniacal laugh. (At least, I think it was a laugh.) He was played by an Indian actor who had no legs, or whose legs were deformed. ISTR the actor had to ‘wriggle into his costume’. I believe he appeared in a Fourth Doctor series. I thought it might have been Davros, but I’m not finding a picture that corresponds to my failed memory. There was a thread about this a few years back [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=744449&highlight=shaban](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=744449&highlight=shaban) Some guy named Johnny L.A. was looking for the answer. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-an-old-doctor-who-character/845608/9 "2020-01-02T03:18:26Z")
Tractaters!