The Doctors Who's Who (28 page)

If someone watches
Brighton
Rock
now, they will note that William Hartnell was Doctor Who. If they watch
The Omen
, they will note that Patrick Troughton was Doctor Who. And if they watch
Worzel Gummidge
, it will again be noted that the brilliant Worzel was also Doctor Who. The actor – despite great roles – will always be pulled back to that brief period where the universe was his oyster and he could knock on any family door in the nation at teatime on a Saturday afternoon and be invited in. And there is the Pied Piper effect on adults. We tell children
never to talk to strangers, never to take sweets from strangers, but if Tom Baker’s Doctor offered you a jelly baby, would you take it? Conversely, if Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor threw open the TARDIS door and asked, ‘Coming with me?’, would you run inside and let that stone slip back?

Of course you would. The uniqueness of the show makes it special, and makes the lead actors immortal for ever more; and that raises the question after all this time – is it the immortality of the character that gives immortality to the actors? Yes, perhaps it is. But the price of that immortality will always be that all their other work pales into insignificance in comparison to
Doctor Who
. Their epitaph is posthumous typecasting. As the grandparents die, more children are born and then the memories and careers of those past Doctors will fall away. The old movies will cease to be in demand and the only thing that the
Doctor Who
actors will be remembered for is being the Doctor.

So, did typecasting get them in the end or not?

I sincerely hope that this book has addressed the injustice that will continue to build around the careers of the actors who have played the Doctor, because their careers are vitally important to the historical make-up of British TV, cinema, theatre and radio. All those actors are wonderful in many different ways, and the committed
Doctor Who
fan will not cease the costly and time-consuming quest for a full set of autographs – surely the centrepiece of any great
Doctor Who
collection?

Doctor Who
is full of British eccentricity – even though it was conceived by Sydney Newman, a Canadian – and while turning a stream of eclectic actors into TV legends, the Time Lord for the present continues his pioneering journey through time and space and that’s exactly where we want him: fighting the most evil creatures in the universe and making children’s minds more fertile along the way.

Amid the horrors of everyday life, children still need the Doctor, for he is their guardian angel, the theme music his piper’s tune, and once the music stops and the TARDIS door opens, a happy and exciting new land awaits. But the adults dance into that land too, to do battle with the many different evils in the universe. The Doctor, like Robert Browning’s brilliant poem, is for young and old alike.

‘And folks who put me in a passion,

May find me pipe to another fashion.’

The Pied Piper of Hamelin
 
Robert Browning

PART TWO

THE LEGACY

‘A lot of people have said it, and it’s perfectly true to say that any actor who’s cast as Doctor Who has to be a one-off. He had to be somebody where the mould had been broken, so that you’d never come across another actor quite like him.’

Robert Holmes
Doctor Who
scriptwriter

CHAPTER ONE

ACTORS’ CREDITS

WHAT FOLLOWS IS
a detailed guide to the work of the actors who have played Doctor Who. Although extensive, I do not claim this to be complete. I have checked official sources, including film archives, official websites of the actors involved and cross-referenced all that information with additional reference material (theatre programmes, handbills, DVD/video cast lists) in private collections. I believe the end result is a good reflection of what each actor achieved in his career. It clearly shows how much of a career the actors had outside of
Doctor Who
and also the importance of those roles in British theatre, television and cinema history.

I haven’t included every voice-over or narration, but a small selection of the most important are highlighted, apart from advertisements, which are not documented at all. Also, when an actor has appeared in a series, where possible, I have tried to identify the names of individual episodes.

Some inconsistency was found regarding release dates for films, as the copyright date (year of filming is not necessarily the year of release) was quoted in many archives rather than the
release date. The copyright date was largely, though not necessarily, the year prior to release, so I had to make a judgement as to what year to document as a ‘release date’. The UK title is used for individual films and/or its foreign title if a foreign film. Additionally, a more general US title is given, if it makes it clear that the film is a sequel.

I have tried to include as many radio shows as possible, especially for Jon Pertwee who did much work there, but the main thrust is film and TV.

Finally, I didn’t include dates and locations for theatre appearances because a lot of early information – from the 1960s and before – doesn’t exist, especially for touring companies and appearances in repertory theatre. So what you have here is a useful guide that highlights, at a glance, the strong body of work each actor completed outside of
Doctor Who
.

WILLIAM HARTNELL

FILMS:

The Unwritten Law
(1929)

School for Scandal
(1930),
Man of Mayfair
(1931),
Diamond Cut Diamond
(1932),
Say it with Music
(1932),
That Night in
London
(1932),
Follow the Lady
(1933),
I’m an Explosive
(1933),
The Lure
(1933),
Seeing is Believing
(1934),
The Perfect Flaw
(1934),
Swinging the Lead
(1935),
While Parents
Sleep
(1935),
Old Faithful
(1935),
The Guv’nor
(1935),
The Shadow of Mike Emerald
(1935),
La Vie Parisienne
(1935)
[aka
Parisian Life
, 1936],
Crimson Circle
(1936),
Nothing but Publicity
(1936),
Midnight at Madame Tussaud’s
(1936),
Farewell Again
(1937),
They Drive by Night
(1938),
Too Dangerous to Live
(1939),
Murder Will Out
(1939).

They Came by Night
(1940)*,
Freedom Radio
(1941)*,
Flying Fortress
(1942),
They Flew Alone
(1942),
Suspect Person
(1942),
Sabotage at Sea
(1942),
The Peterville
Diamond
(1942),
The Goose Steps Out
(1942),
The Bells Go Down
(1943),
The Dark Tower
(1943),
Headline
(1943),
San
Demetrio London
(1943),
The Way Ahead
(1944),
The Agitator
(1945),
Strawberry Roan
(1945),
Murder in Reverse
(1945),
Appointment with Crime
(1946),
Temptation Harbour
(1947),
Odd Man Out
(1947),
Brighton Rock
(1947),
Escape
(1948),
Now Barabbas was a Robber
(1949),
The Lost People
(1949).

Double Confession
(1950),
The Dark Man
(1951),
The Magic Box
(1951),
The Ringer
(1952),
The Holly and the Ivy
(1952),
The Pickwick Papers
(1952),
Will Any Gentleman?
(1953),
Footsteps in the Fog
(1955),
Josephine and Men
(1955),
Doublecross
(1956),
Private’s Progress
(1956),
Tons of Trouble
(1956),
Yangtse Incident: the Story of HMS Amethyst
(1957),
Hell Drivers
(1957),
The Hypnotist
(1957),
Dates with Disaster
(1957),
On the Run
(1958),
Carry On Sergeant
(1958),
Shake Hands with the Devil
(1959),
The Mouse that Roared
(1959),
The Night We Dropped a Clanger
(1959),
Strictly Confidential
(1959), T
he Desperate Man
(1959).

And the Same to You
(1960),
Jackpot
(1960),
Piccadilly Third Stop
(1960),
Tomorrow at Ten
(1962),
This Sporting Life
(1963),
Heavens Above!
(1963),
To Have and to Hold
(1963),
The World Ten Times Over
(1963),
Tomorrow at Ten
(1964).

*uncredited and unconfirmed.

THEATRE:

The Merchant of Venice
(1926),
She Stoops to Conquer
(1926),
Julius Caesar
(1926),
As You Like It
(1926),
Hamlet
(1926),
The Tempest
(1926),
School for Scandal
(1926),
The Merchant of Venice
(1926),
Macbeth
(1926),
Good Morning, Bill
(1927),
Miss Elizabeth’s Prisoner
(1928),
Monsieur Beaucaire
(1928),
Hamlet
(1928),
School for Scandal
(1928),
The Merchant of Venice
(1928),
The Man Responsible
(1928),
The Lad
(1928),
Good Morning, Bill
(1928),
A Bill of Divorcement
(1928/9),
77 Park Lane
(1929).

The Ugly Duchess
(1930),
The Man Who Changed His Name
(1931),
The Young Idea
(1931),
The Man I Killed
(1932),
Too Good to be True
(1932),
Just Married
(1933),
While Parents Sleep
(1934),
Behold We Live
(1934),
Good Morning, Bill
(1934),
The Brontës
(1934),
Eliza Comes to Stay
(1934),
Counsellor at Law
(1934),
Apron Strings
(1934),
Pursuit of Happiness
(1934),
Nothing but the Truth
(1934),
Indoor Fireworks
(1934),
Lord Richard in the Pantry
(1935),
Mr Faintheart
(1935),
The Maitlands
(1935),
It Pays to Advertise
(1935),
The Ghost Train
(1935),
Charley’s Aunt
(1935),
White Cargo
(1935),
A Little Bit of Fluff
(1935),
The Ghost Train
(1936),
Someone at the Door
(1937),
Paganini
(1937),
Take it Easy
(1937),
Power & Glory
(1938),
Happy Returns
(1938),
The Second Man
(1939),
Faithfully Yours
(1939).

Nap Hand
(1940),
What Ann Brought Home
(1940),
Brighton Rock
(1943).

What Ann Brought Home
(1950),
Seagulls Over Sorrento
(1950
and
1954),
Treble Trouble
[aka
Home and Away
] (1955),
Ring for Cathy
(1956).

The Cupboard
(1961),
Puss in Boots
(1967),
Brothers and Sisters
(1968).

TV:

Douglas Fairbanks Jnr Presents
, ‘The Auction’, Season 3, Episode 28, 25 May 1955;
London Playhouse
, ‘The Inward Eye’, Season 1, Episode 7, 10 November 1955;
The Errol Flynn Theatre
, ‘The Red Geranium’, Season 1, Episode 13, 1955;
The Army Game
, Season 1, Episode 1, 19 June 1957, Season 2, Episode 3, 3 January 1958;
Probation Officer
, Season 1, Episode 28;
The Flying Doctor
, ‘The Changing Plain’, Season 1, Episode 9, 1959;
Dial 999
, ‘The Killing Job’, Season 1, Episode 1, 6 July 1958, ‘50,000 Hands’, Season 1, Episode 16, 1959.

Kraft Mystery Theatre
, ‘The Desperate Men’, Season 1, Episode 11, 23 August 1961;
Ghost Squad
, ‘High Wire’, Season 1, Episode 4, 30 September 1961;
The Plane Makers
, Season 1, Episode 15, 20 May 1963;
The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre
, ‘To Have and to Hold’, Season 4, Episode 9, July 1963;
Tomorrow at Ten
, 1964;
No Hiding Place
, ‘The Game’, Season 10, Episode 2, 23 March 1967;
Softly, Softly
, ‘Cause of Death’, Season 3, Episode 13, 4 January 1968;
Crime of Passion
, ‘Alain’, Season 1, Episode 6, 27 April 1970;
Doctor Who
, ‘The
Three Doctors’, Season 10, Story 6 (4 episodes, 30 December 1922, 6 January 1973, 13 January 1973, 20 January 1973).

WILLIAM HARTNELL’S DOCTOR WHO:

Season 1