First Doctor

The First Doctor is the original incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates; as a result, the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes. The concept of regeneration, initially referred to as a "renewal," was introduced when Hartnell needed to leave the series, due to his increasingly bad health, and consequently has extended the life of the show for many years. Hartnell's portrayal of the character was initially a stubborn and abrasive old man who was distrustful of humans, but he mellowed out into a much friendlier, grandfatherly figure who adored his travels with his companions. The First Doctor's original companions were his granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) and her schoolteachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill). In later episodes, he travelled alongside 25th-century orphan Vicki (Maureen O'Brien), space pilot Steven Taylor (Peter Purves), Trojan handmaiden Katarina (Adrienne Hill), and sixties flower child Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane). His final on-screen companions were the working class sailor Ben Jackson (Michael Craze) and the sophisticated socialite Polly (Anneke Wills). Of the 134 episodes Hartnell appeared in as a regular, 44 are missing. Hartnell reprised the role once, in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors (1972–1973). The character occasionally appeared in the series after Hartnell's death, most prominently as portrayed by Richard Hurndall in the 1983 multi-doctor special The Five Doctors, and as portrayed by David Bradley in the 2017 Twelfth Doctor episodes "The Doctor Falls" and "Twice Upon a Time" and in the Thirteenth Doctor episode "The Power of the Doctor" in 2022.