In an interview with TV & Satellite Week magazine, Alan Cumming revealed that he was once asked if he was interested in playing the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who.

“They didn’t offer me the job, but I was approached about it. I still have a flat in London so I assumed I’d be staying there during filming. They told me it would be an eight-month shoot in Cardiff and I said, ‘What?’ I think that’s what possibly blew it. Nothing against Cardiff but…”

Cumming lives in New York City and has turned down other offers for roles due to the British climate.

According to Darren Scott, who interviewed him for The Pink Paper, Russell T Davies asked Cumming if he would be interested in playing the ninth Doctor in the 2005 reboot of Doctor Who.

So if it weren’t for the Welsh weather, there was a chance that the ninth Doctor could have been played by Alan Cumming instead of Christopher Eccleston.