First Doctor

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The Doctor
The First Doctor
Portrayed by	William Hartnell
Tenure	1963–1966
First appearance	An Unearthly Child
Last appearance	The Tenth Planet (regular) The Three Doctors (played by William Hartnell) The Five Doctors (played by Richard Hurndall)
Number of series	4
Appearances	29 stories (134 episodes)
Companions	on television: Susan, Barbara, Ian, Vicki, Steven, Katarina, Sara, Dodo, Ben, Polly in spin-offs: John and Gillian
Related Articles
Preceding	none
Succeeding	Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton)
Series	Seasons 1 to 4

The First Doctor is the name given to the first incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell during his tenure from 1963 to 1966, and by Richard Hurndall in 1983, after Hartnell's death.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Personality 3 Story style 4 Later appearances 5 Other appearances 5.1 Audio drama 5.2 Novels 5.2.1 Virgin Missing Adventures 5.2.2 Past Doctor Adventures 5.2.3 Eighth Doctor Adventures 5.2.4 Telos Doctor Who novellas 5.3 Comics 5.3.1 TV Comic 5.3.2 TV Comic Specials 5.3.3 Doctor Who Magazine 5.3.4 Doctor Who Magazine Specials 5.4 Other Adventures 6 External links

[edit] Biography

Very little was known about the Doctor when the series began, save that he had a granddaughter, Susan Foreman, that they were from another time and another world, and that he had a time machine, the TARDIS, which was disguised as a police box and is bigger on the inside than on the outside. He and Susan were in exile as well, for unspecified reasons. It would not be until the Doctor's second incarnation that the name of the Doctor's people (the Time Lords) would be revealed, and the third before the name of his home planet (Gallifrey) was first spoken.

The series began with schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright investigating the mystery of Susan, a student who appeared to possess scientific and historical knowledge far beyond her years. Discovering the TARDIS in a scrapyard, they were involuntarily taken by the Doctor on a journey back to the year 100,000 BC, and spent two years adventuring through time and space with the Doctor.

It was during this incarnation that the Doctor would meet the Daleks and the Cybermen, races that would become his most implacable foes. The TARDIS crew also observed many historical events such as the Reign of Terror in revolutionary France, meeting Marco Polo in China and The Aztecs in Mexico. When Susan fell in love with the human resistance fighter David Campbell, the Doctor left her behind to allow her to build a life for herself on 22nd century Earth (The Dalek Invasion of Earth), although he promised to return someday. The TARDIS crew were soon joined by Vicki, whom they rescued from the planet Dido.

At the conclusion of a chase through time, Ian and Barbara used a Dalek time machine to go home (The Chase), and their place in the TARDIS was taken by a space pilot named Steven Taylor. Together, they met another member of the Doctor's race for the first time in the form of the Meddling Monk and had an adventure in Galaxy 4. During the siege of Troy, Vicki decided to leave the TARDIS to stay with Troilus. The Doctor and Steven were next briefly joined by Katarina and Sara Kingdom, but both were tragically killed during the events of The Daleks' Master Plan.

After narrowly missing the Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, the Doctor and Steven took on board a young girl named Dodo Chaplet. Dodo brought a cold virus to the far future, which nearly annihilated the humans and Monoids travelling on The Ark. One of the First Doctor's most deadly foes was the Celestial Toymaker, who forced him and his companions to play deadly games. Eventually, the Doctor managed to win the Trilogic Game allowing them all to escape the Toymaker's domain.

Eventually, Steven and Dodo left the Doctor as well, Steven remaining on an alien planet as a mediator (The Savages), and Dodo deciding to remain on Earth in 1966. The Doctor was then joined by Polly and Ben Jackson who would be the first companions to witness a most remarkable event.

The toll of years put strain on the Doctor's elderly frame. After defeating the Cybermen at the Antarctic Snowcap Station (The Tenth Planet), the Doctor collapsed inside the TARDIS, and before the astonished eyes of his then-companions Ben and Polly, his cells renewed themselves for the first time, giving him a completely new physical appearance and character — the Second Doctor.

[edit] Personality

From the beginning, the First Doctor was a mysterious figure. He appeared to be a frail old man, and yet was possessed of unexpected reserves of strength and will. He obviously held tremendous knowledge of scientific matters, and yet was unable to pilot his TARDIS time ship reliably. He was abrasive, patronising, and cantankerous towards his human travelling companions, yet shared a deep emotional bond with his granddaughter Susan. He also harboured a streak of ruthlessness, being willing to lie — and in one case attempt to kill — to achieve his goals. He distrusted his first two human companions, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who were forced on him, but over time as they shared adventures together, he grew closer to them and the TARDIS crew began to become almost a family unit.

Eventually, the Doctor began to enjoy his travels through time and space, taking people along for the ride and was always reluctant and sad to see them go, even when he knew it was for their own good. The Doctor's personality began to mellow around the time of the serial Marco Polo, and he began to become the more familiar grandfatherly figure that children loved. Despite his age, the Doctor was never conservative, and was always a bit of an anti-establishment figure, opposing tyranny and overreaching authority in all its forms.

It was also during this time that the Doctor first met what would become his most persistent adversaries — the Daleks and the Cybermen. It would be the latter encounter that would cost the First Doctor his life, as he was weakened by the energy drain from Mondas (in The Tenth Planet) and "renewed" himself by becoming the Second Doctor.

One quirk of the First Doctor was his tendency to become occasionally tongue-tied and stumble over words. (This was due to Hartnell's real-life tendency to forget or misspeak dialogue on the set; due to the series' tight production schedule, it was rarely possible to reshoot such scenes and dubbing the dialogue was usually not an option.)

[edit] Story style

The original First Doctor episodes had individual titles (see Season 1). This meant a problem as to the naming of the serials (which the episodes were still grouped in). See Doctor Who story title controversy for more information.

The programme was designed to be educational, so the stories were divided into two genres: historical (to teach about history) and futuristic (to teach about science), and in fact these two genres alternated with each other. However, by the end of the second season it became apparent that the futuristic stories were much more popular and the production team began to phase out the "historicals".

The debut of the Daleks in the second Doctor Who serial turned the programme from a children's series to a national phenomenon. It soon became a show that the whole family gathered to watch, with monsters that children viewed from between their fingers or from behind the sofa. Intelligent and witty scripts filled with far-out concepts compensated for the relatively low-budget and unsophisticated special effects, laying the foundation for decades of stories to come.

[edit] Later appearances

Despite the regeneration, television audiences would see the First Doctor on screen twice more (not counting flashbacks or charity specials like Dimensions in Time). In 1973, for the 10th anniversary of the programme, Hartnell appeared in The Three Doctors which also saw Patrick Troughton reprise his role as the Second Doctor. Due to failing health, however, Hartnell could not participate in any of the regular filming, and his scenes were shot separately at Ealing Studios (not his garden at home, as fan myth would have it).

Hartnell died soon after. In the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors, the role of the First Doctor was played by Richard Hurndall, although the episode began with a clip of Hartnell as the Doctor from The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Where the two specials fit in the First Doctor's chronology is unclear.

[edit] Other appearances

[edit] Audio drama

• Frostfire (an adventure related by the character Vicki)

[edit] Novels

[edit] Virgin Missing Adventures

• Venusian Lullaby by Paul Leonard
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Christopher Bulis
• The Empire of Glass by Andy Lane
• The Man in the Velvet Mask by Daniel O'Mahony
• The Plotters by Gareth Roberts

[edit] Past Doctor Adventures

• The Witch Hunters by Steve Lyons
• Salvation by Steve Lyons
• City at World's End by Christopher Bulis
• Bunker Soldiers by Martin Day
• Byzantium! by Keith Topping
• Ten Little Aliens by Stephen Cole
• The Eleventh Tiger by David A. McIntee
• The Time Travellers by Simon Guerrier

[edit] Eighth Doctor Adventures

• The Eight Doctors by Terrance Dicks

[edit] Telos Doctor Who novellas

• Time and Relative by Kim Newman
• Frayed by Tara Samms

[edit] Comics

[edit] TV Comic

• The Klepton Parasites
• The Therovian Quest
• The Hijackers of Thrax
• On the Web Planet
• The Gyros Injustice
• Challenge of the Piper
• Moon Landing
• Time in Reverse
• Lizardworld
• The Ordeals of Demeter
• Enter: The Go-Ray
• Shark Bait
• A Christmas Story
• The Didus Expedition
• Space Station Z-7
• Plague of the Black Scorpi
• The Trodos Tyranny
• The Secret of Gemino
• The Haunted Planet
• The Hunters of Zerox
• The Underwater Robot
• Return of the Trods
• The Galaxy Games
• The Experimenters

[edit] TV Comic Specials

• Prisoners of Gritog
• Guests of King Neptune
• The Gaze of the Gorgon

[edit] Doctor Who Magazine

• Food For Thought
• Operation Proteus

[edit] Doctor Who Magazine Specials

• A Religious Experience
• Are You Listening?

[edit] Other Adventures

• The Masters of Luxor by Anthony Coburn
• Campaign by Jim Mortimore

[edit] External links

• The First Doctor on the BBC's Doctor Who website
• First Doctor's theme music
• First Doctor title sequence
• Alan Kistler's Profile on the First Doctor

v • d • e The Doctors
First Doctor (William Hartnell) | Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton)
Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) | Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker)
Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) | Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker)
Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) | Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann)
Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) | Tenth Doctor (David Tennant)
Other Doctors
Cushing Doctor (Peter Cushing) | Shalka Doctor (Richard E. Grant)

v • d • e Companions of the First Doctor
Season 1								Season 2									Season 3										Season 4→
001	002	003	004	005	006	007	008	009	010	011	012	013	014	015	016	017	018	019	020	021	022	023	024	025	026	027	028	029
Susan										Vicki										Sara	Dodo
Ian																			Katarina							Ben→
Barbara																										Polly→
															Steven