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[Bored Of Education]

Seeing that they have just started a series of "Scrubs" with the actress that played the second "Becky" in "Roseanne" as one of the few original characters reminds me that this is a rich seam that we haven't discussed.

Neighbours and Home & Away are rife with it but, in thinking about it, James Bond is probably the best/worst for this

[erwin]

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Roger Davis took over immediately from the charismatic Pete Duel to partner Ben Murphy in Alias Smith and Jones when Duel committed suicide in 1971. The series lasted for 17 more episodes. (Wikipedia)

[Andy C]

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Bewitched: Dicks York then Sargent, with the latter replacing the former part-way through a series.

[Purves Grundy]

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I thought the greatest of these was Ed Wood's chiropractor who had to take over from Bela Lugosi half-way through filming Plan 9 From Outer Space, despite looking nothing like him and being about a foot taller.

Time Lords don't count, btw.

[Bored Of Education]

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There was a Bruce Lee film "Game Of Death II" after his death which was basically made up of footage from "Enter The Dragon" padded out with a Bruce Lee look-a-like who couldn't look less like Lee if he was a 60 year old woman from Oxford

[Benjm]

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In the Granada Sherlock Holmes adaptations in 80s/90s, David Burke played Watson for the first series and Edward Hardwicke took over for the remainder. Not sure why Burke left; he has popped up since on 'making of...' documentaries so presumably it was reasonably amicable.

[Wyatt Earp]

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Bored of Education wrote:

Neighbours and Home & Away are rife with it but, in thinking about it, James Bond is probably the best/worst for this

Surely.

Edit: oops, missed PG's rule there.

[Gangster Octopus]

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Grundy's going to get you.

[Wyatt Earp]

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vs

Game on!

[dalliance]

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Barbara Bel Geddes played Miss Ellie in Dallas for most of its run. She has quadruple heart bypass surgery in 1983 though and missed a season and a half of the show. She was replaced during this period by Donna Reed, but came back around 1985 to resume her role.

I'm no expert on heart surgery, but I'm pretty impressed that you can have such a major operation at the age of 60 and live on for another 30 years - she is 90 this year.

[ian.64]

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In the Granada Sherlock Holmes adaptations in 80s/90s, David Burke played Watson for the first series and Edward Hardwicke took over for the remainder. Not sure why Burke left; he has popped up since on 'making of...' documentaries so presumably it was reasonably amicable.

I once came across a piece where Jeremy Brett bid farewell to Burke at a railway station upon his leaving the series. From the tone, it was simply an amicable and human end to Burke's role in the series.

For my money, though, I always liked Hardwicke's interpretation better. Burke, while good, always tended to have a mild hint of the buffoonery that Nigel Bruce seemed to have in the old Rathbone films. Hardwicke, on the other hand, was more grounded and possessed a world-weary integrity. When on-screen events got ugly, Hardwicke's playing gave Watson more steel.

[ian.64]

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Animated series though it is, the role of Meg in Family Guy was first essayed by Lacey Chabert in the first few series, then taken up by Mila Kunis, who has since popped up in quite a few feature films recently, especially Black Swan.

[Benjm]

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ian.64 wrote:

For my money, though, I always liked Hardwicke's interpretation better. Burke, while good, always tended to have a mild hint of the buffoonery that Nigel Bruce seemed to have in the old Rathbone films. Hardwicke, on the other hand, was more grounded and possessed a world-weary integrity. When on-screen events got ugly, Hardwicke's playing gave Watson more steel.

Agreed. When we got access to digital TV (and so hot and cold running Holmes) in the mid 2000s, I realised that I had all but forgotten Burke's stint, so firmly did Hardwicke establish himself in the role.

The box set of Rathbone films was going quite cheaply in HMV recently. I held off, remembering that the diminishing returns through the sequence made Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan outings seem like models of consistency. Rather wish I'd bought it now, just to be able to confirm that perception.

[WOM]

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Speaking of Mila Kunis...

The original Laurie Forman was replaced on That '70s Show by a look-alike after she had trouble showing up for work sober. They quickly wrote the replacement out the following year.

I like when soaps announce a one-day replacement at the beginning of the scene in a voiceover ("The role of Catherine Chancellor will be played today by...").

[WOM]

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Oh, and Barney Rubble on the Flintstones was mis-voiced for part of a season as Mel Blanc recuperated from a bad car accident.

[Gangster Octopus]

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Dan was on his fourth voice by the time he died...

[WOM]

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Oh, and the original Chris on The Partridge Family was replaced after the first season because, apparently, pretty much everyone hated him.

[Stumpy Pepys]

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Purves Grundy wrote:

I thought the greatest of these was Ed Wood's chiropractor who had to take over from Bela Lugosi half-way through filming Plan 9 From Outer Space, despite looking nothing like him and being about a foot taller.

That's not the half of it. Plan 9 was released in 1959; Bela Lugosi died in 1956.

The only bit of Bela Lugosi in the film is the opening scene of him leaving the house (filmed as part of another project).

[Gangster Octopus]

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Bela Lugosi's dead?

[Bored Of Education]

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There was a character called Summer in Neighbours that was played by Marisa Siketa



Who went off to do her exams and what not.

The character was resurrected a couple of years later but played by Jordy Lucas



Nothing out of the normal there except Siketa auditioned for the role that she played and was turned down for Lucas

[Sits]

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benjm wrote:

In the Granada Sherlock Holmes adaptations in 80s/90s, David Burke played Watson for the first series and Edward Hardwicke took over for the remainder. Not sure why Burke left; he has popped up since on 'making of...' documentaries so presumably it was reasonably amicable.

Excellent casting though - if you're going to change an actor. To be honest until I read that I'm not sure I'd even noticed at the time:

David Burke:


Edward Hardwicke:

[Central Rain]

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dalliance wrote:

Barbara Bel Geddes played Miss Ellie in Dallas for most of its run. She has quadruple heart bypass surgery in 1983 though and missed a season and a half of the show. She was replaced during this period by Donna Reed, but came back around 1985 to resume her role.

I'm no expert on heart surgery, but I'm pretty impressed that you can have such a major operation at the age of 60 and live on for another 30 years - she is 90 this year.

She died in 2005. But yes, still pretty good going.

[George]

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David Burke had just become a father and had no desire to spend every waking hour on set so decided to leave after the first series.

[Gerontophile]

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The one I remember was 'Nicky Tilsley' in Coronation Street.

One went upstairs (or to Canada, its been a loooooong while), and then this buff piece of gay eye candy (he is NOT gay) came downstairs and almost had a hit in the Slovenian pop charts. (in reality, not in the show).

And not forgetting 'Mark Fowler' in Eastenders... cant remember the original (suicide I think, in reality) replaced by Todd Carty. Soaps are excellent for this. (Although not for the original actor who played 'Mark Fowler).

Again, a long time ago, and I am not even sure his character's name was 'Mark'.

[Sam]

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You're quite right, Gero. I've never watched EastEnders, but a quick Wiki confirms it. Here's the original actor.