Paul John McGann is an English actor. He came to prominence for portraying Percy Toplis in the television serial The Monocled Mutineer (1986), then starred in the dark comedy Withnail and I (1987), which was a critical success and developed a cult following. McGann later became more widely known for portraying the eighth incarnation of the Doctor in the 1996 television film Doctor Who. He is also known for playing Lieutenant William Bush in the TV series Hornblower (1998–2003).
McGann at the 2015 Florida Supercon
McGann in March 2007
McGann at the 2014 Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest
McGann in May 2017
Francis Percy Toplis was a British criminal and imposter active during and after the First World War. Before the war he was imprisoned for attempted rape. During the war he served as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps, but regularly posed as an officer while on leave, wearing a monocle. After the war he became notorious following the murder of a taxi driver and the wounding of a police officer who attempted to apprehend him. The manhunt was major news at the time. He was tracked down and killed in a gunfight with police.
Percy Toplis in military uniform, as printed in the Nottingham Evening Post
Lincoln Prison where Toplis served his sentence 1912–1914
The Tomintoul bothy in which Toplis spent some of his last weeks alive