Michael Jackson was almost Doctor Who

Hold on to your overly long scarves...

Michael Jackson was at one time being sought to play 'Doctor Who' in a big screen adaptation of the classic British sci-fi series, it has emerged.

Better still, perhaps, is that comedy legend Bill Cosby was going to be the second choice to play the Timelord from Gallifrey.

The impossibly bizarre casting choices have emerged thanks to a new book, 'Now on the Big Screen: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who at the Cinema', a catchily-entitled exploration by Charles Norton.

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The book centres on the aborted attempts to bring Sydney Newman's creation to the screen.

Paramount had set in place an agreement with Daltenreys, a British production company which held the rights to the intellectual property back in 1988.

Oddly, Daltenreys were co-funded by a group of Doctor Who fans, one of whom was singer Bryan Ferry, who wanted to bring the show to the big screen, fancying the bombastic tagline 'The Man. The Myth. The Movie.'

Because of Jackson's recent appearance in 'Moonwalker', the studio was keen for the King of Pop to play the role.

Coming in a close second, should Jackson have been unavailable, was Bill Cosby, due to his massive success playing Cliff Huxtable on 'The Cosby Show'.

[Matt Smith set to leave Doctor Who]

Thankfully, there's no details on who their third choice was.

The role is currently up for grabs following Matt Smith's recent announcement that he will leave the TV show after this year's Christmas special.

Let's hope those involved in developing the show in the 80s aren't in any way involved in replacing him.

But maybe Bill Cosby might have been better than Sylvester McCoy. We may never know...