We've already celebrated actors who have doubled up on the same show (frequently hoping you wouldn't notice), but what about the powerhouses of performance who are able to – deliberately – take on multiple roles within the same show?

Here's our salute to those brilliant (and one not-so-brilliant, sorry Harvey) characters, and the people behind them. We've not included sketch shows, because they're different. They just are, okay?

7. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Brent Spiner

CBS

Should Starfleet ever decide to take a holiday, we're pretty sure Brent Spiner could run the Enterprise alone, if he's allowed to include every character he's played on the show.

He's acted as Data (obviously), as well as two other androids made by the same creator – Lore, and B-4. But it doesn't stop there. He's also played his creator, and an alternate version of his creator (Noonien and Arik Soong).

So five characters in total, each with their own soul (or lack of one).

Spiner also showed off his considerable abilities in the one-off season seven episode 'Masks', where Data is possessed by several alien entities determined to invade the Enterprise.

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His performances are even more impressive when you consider the interview above, where he basically says he hates science fiction.

6. The Mighty Boosh – Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt and Rich Fulcher

BBC

From the twisted minds of Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt, The Mighty Boosh is like peering into an alternate dimension after eating waaaaay too much cheese.

Featuring dozens of crazed characters, nearly all played by either Fielding, Barratt or their pal Rich Fulcher, each episode of the Boosh requires more costume changes than an MTV Awards presenter.

Fielding plays central character Vince Noir and several other iconic roles including the Hitcher, the Moon, Old Gregg, Tony Harrison, Montgomery Flange, the Spirit of Jazz and Spider Dijon.

Barratt (aka Howard Moon), meanwhile, plays Rudy van DiSarzio, the Crack Fox, Mr Susan, Dennis the Shaman, Bryan Ferry, Sandstorm, and Jurgen Haabermaaster.

Rich Fulcher, who appears most frequently as zoo owner Bob Fossil, has also played Lester Corncrake, Kodiak Jack, Tommy the Cheese Priest, the Ape of Death, The Betamax Bandit, Alan (the Blue King of Xooberon) and 'Eleanor'.

With costumes that only occasionally look homemade, and very distinct characteristics for each new character, it can be easy to forget just how many people these three actors take on per episode. You can see several of them in the hilarious mash-up with Star Wars below.

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5. The League Of Gentlemen – Reese Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss

BBC

It can sometimes feel like you see the same faces over and over again when you explore a local town. In Royston Vasey, that goes triple, thanks to the fact pretty much every resident is played by the same three people.

Reese Shearsmith took on Edward, Benjamin, Ross, Geoff, Samuel, Stella, Vinnie, Patch, Peter, Lisgoe, Ollie, Bernice, Papa Lazarou, Judee, Pamela, Henry Portrait, and Mike King.

Meanwhile, Steve Pemberton played Tubbs, Harvey, Pauline, Mike, Maurice, Charlie, Reenie, Bob, Ernest, Barry, Dave, Herr Lipp, Barbara, Pop, Farmer Jed, Ally Welles and the Mechanic.

Mark Gatiss played David, Val, Mickey, Brian, Hilary, Tony, Customer, Les McQueen, Sheila, Glen, Phil, Mr. Chinnery, Mama Lazarou, Iris, Lance, Alvin Steele and Mick McNamara.

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That's over 50 characters between three actors, which is fairly astonishing. Especially as they're each so very, very different. You can see just how different in the slideshow above.

But that wasn't the end of two of these actors' multi-character talents…

4. Psychoville – Reese Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton

BBC

After the League finished, Shearsmith and Pemberton took on another varied bunch of weird individuals influenced by horror movies for Psychoville, which was basically an Italian giallo film featuring a maniac clown, a blind beanie-baby collector and a range of other oddballs.

Pemberton played David Sowerbutts, Oscar Lomax and George Aston across two series.

Meanwhile, Shearsmith appears as Jeremy Goode, Hattie, Brian MacMillan, Maureen Sowerbutts, Mr Jelly, and the Silent Singer.

The same actors also went on to play multiple roles on Inside No. 9, which we're not including because a) they've had enough attention in this feature already and b) we don't fancy doing an ultimate count of how many individual characters they've each played because our brains will explode.

3. Doctor Who – Jenna Coleman

BBC

The Impossible Girl, Clara, was torn into a million copies, several of whom went on to help various incarnations of the Doctor (including advising William Hartnell which TARDIS to take).

Those copies include Oswin Oswald the Souffle Girl's incarnation in the future, and Victorian barmaid-governess Clara, but in the series seven finale, we see just how many versions she's played across time – all with the same mission: "There's only one thing I remember: I have to save the Doctor."

*Technically* they're all aspects of the same person, but they didn't know that.

2. Orphan Black – Tatiana Maslany

BBC

It's basically a dream role for an actress – a clone who has eleven (very) distinct identities, who come into conflict with each other.

Tatiana Maslany absolutely nails each character, across 193 different episodes (some characters appear more than others, ranging from 41 individual appearances to just one).

They include Sarah Manning, Beth Childs, Katja Obinger, Alison Hendrix, Cosima Niehaus, Helena, Rachel Duncan, Jennifer Fitzsimmons, Tony Sawicki, Krystal Goderitch, Veera "MK" Suominen and are all so varied, we're astonished it took Maslany three years to win her Emmy.

1. Star Wars Holiday Special – Harvey Korman

CBS Getty Images

We can't possibly leave this feature without a mention of the bizarre TV special Star Wars Holiday Special, which celebrated Life Day (sorry, what?) and features Harvey Korman as Krelman, Chef Gormaanda, and an Amorphian instructor.

It's not quite as an impressive range of characters as some of the other entries on this list, but he was the only actor to play multiple parts on this embarrassment (which features cringeworthy appearances from Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and several other Star Wars stalwarts) and was therefore the bravest person taking part as far as we're concerned.

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Check out his above contribution to the Star Wars universe, as Gormaanda, a female alien chef with a nice line in accidental innuendo. Honestly, it's a real thing that actually happened.

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