In the lead up to the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who on November 23, I shall be posting an article on each Doctor every four weeks. Today, I have a look at the First Doctor, played by William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966.

Believe it or not, but the Doctor was originally an unlikeable character. His first appearance it ‘An Unearthly Child’ portrayed him as an arrogant, selfish, distrustful and grumpy old man. He abducted two of his granddaughter’s schoolteachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, attempted to kill a caveman so he could get to the TARDIS, and vented his anger at Ian for stopping him from committing the act.

The Doctor’s unlikeable personality traits were emphasised further in the next two serials, ‘The Daleks’ and ‘The Edge of Destruction’. In the former, he selfishly sabotaged a TARDIS fluid link so he could investigate the dalek city, subsequently exposing him and his companions to deadly radiation. In the latter, he coldly blamed Ian and Barbara for the frightful occurrences that plagued theTARDIS, and even threatened to have them thrown out of the ship. However, it soon transpired that the ‘fast return switch’ had become stuck, and once that fault was rectified, he apologised to the schoolteachers for his behaviour.

This marked the emergence of a more likable persona, and his many faults were slowly toned down. He was still arrogant, but now respected and trusted Ian and Barbara, willing to place his life in their hands.Throughout their journeys together, the original TARDIS team formed a very close friendship.

This friendship was disrupted somewhat with the departure of Susan, the Doctor’s beloved granddaughter. Having landed on 22nd Century Earth and subsequently leading a successful resistance movement against the dalek rulers, he chose to leave Susan behind to settle down with David Campbell, a resistance fighter with whom she had fallen in love. This decision affected the Doctor profoundly, though he made efforts to hide his emotions from Ian and Barbara. However, the full impact of Susan’s departure was somewhat offset when theTARDIS arrived on the planet Dido. There the trio found Vicki, an orphaned survivorof a spaceship crash. The young girl reminded the Doctor of his granddaughter, and he subsequently invited her to join him, Ian and Barbara on their travels. This was a milestone for the character, as it now showed that the Doctor enjoyed the company of others on his travels through the fourth dimension.

Another emotional blow to the Doctor would be made when Ian and Barbara decided to return to their own era in a dalek time machine. The Doctor was initally staunch in his refusal to help them achieve their goal, with hisc haracter seemingly regressing back to his personality at the beginning of the show. Eventually, though, it turned out that the Doctor was simply sad to see them go, and was concerned for their safety, as they had a “fifty-fifty chance” of making it home. This marked the pinnacle of the Doctor’s character development, as he now realised how much he had valued the company of the two people he initially kidnapped and distrusted, and that he had mellowed enough to respect their decision, not believing himself to be above them.

The First Doctor would continue to travel for some time, picking up new companions, some of whom left, some of whom died. He even met a fellow Time Lord, the Monk, a trickster who was planning to disrupt the Battleof Hastings by arming King Harold with atomic weapons. Eventually, though, the Doctor’s travels led him to Antarctica in the latter half of the twentieth century, where he first encountered the Cybermen. By this time, though, the Doctor was seemingly becoming inceasingly absent minded and was starting to look unhealthily frail. The situation worsened under the influence of Mondas, the Cybermen’s home planet, which was absorbing energy from Earth and its inhabitants. This energy loss forced the Doctor to rest for most of the events, leaving it up to others to save the day. After the Cyber Invasion was successfully defeated, the Doctor and his then companions, Ben and Polly, quietly returned to the TARDIS. It was there that the Doctor regenerated for the first time, bringing an end to the first era of a television phenomenon.

The First Doctor exhibited many qualities throughout his tenure. Initially an immensely unlikeable character, he quickly mellowed into a grandfatherly figure, a person who trusted and valued his friends. He was an authority figure, very much in charge of a situation. The Doctor loved his granddaughter very much, and was profoundly affected by her departure, but found some consolation when Vicki joined the crew.

William Hartnell’s interpretation of the multi-layered character insured the show’s continuation for many years, giving it the popularity it needed to survive. Without him or his amazing portrayl of the character, the show simply wouldn’t be around today.