The First Doctor was the first incarnation of the Time Lord known as the Doctor. Most accounts of him were drawn from a period of time close to the end of this incarnation's life. In the beginning this incarnation was selfish, and thought he was superior in a way compared to other species, in these cases, Humans. In time, he changed his opinion about other species and opened the doors to many humans as companions. He met his end whilst battling the Cyberman for the first time on Earth; having finally been forced to Regenerate into his second body due to exhaustion and a loss of strength to maintain his ancient body.
Biography
Early life
Childhood
- Much information about the early life of the First Doctor is contradictory. This is due to his backstory being revised over 40+ years of TV and spin-off stories. If canon even exists in relation to Doctor Who, then the early life of the Doctor is one of its most contentious issues.
The Doctor was born on Gallifrey, home planet of the Time Lords. He was born "at the sign of crossed computers". (DW: The Creature from the Pit)
One account states that the Doctor was Loomed into the House of Lungbarrow, and that he was a genetic reincarnation of the Other. (NA: Lungbarrow) However the Doctor was known to have had parents (DW: The Sound of Drums) and the Doctor's father was called Ulysses. (PDA: The Infinity Doctors) His mother may have been a human called Penelope Gate (EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles) and the Doctor once backed this up by claiming that he was half-human. (DW: Doctor Who) However he later said that it was a ruse with chameleon arch used to fool his foe the Master. (IDW: The Forgotten)
The Doctor lived in the House of Lungbarrow which was located on the side of a mountain. (DW: The Time Monster, NA: Lungbarrow) He grew up in the house along with his Cousins, who were produced by the Looms and also with his brother, Irving Braxiatel. (NA: Lungbarrow, BNA: Tears of the Oracle)
In his childhood, the Doctor once watched a meteor storm on Gallifrey with his father. (DW: Doctor Who) At the age of eight, the Doctor stared into the Untempered Schism as part of a Time Lord initiation rite, he reacted by running away. (DW: The Sound of Drums)
The Doctor and his friend the Master used to play in the Master's fathers estates. (DW: The End of Time) The Doctor and the Master were bullied as children and the Doctor found himself forced to kill the bully in order to save his friend's life. He was later confronted by Death, who insisted he become her disciple. The Doctor refused and instead suggested Death make the Master her champion instead, to which she agreed. (BFA: Master)
Academic career
As his companion, Romana would later note, the Doctor did not have an impressive career at school. (DW: The Ribos Operation) He attended the Time Lord Academy, and was a member of the Prydonian Chapter (DW: The Deadly Assassin) When he was 90 he visited the Medusa Cascade. The Doctor described himself as "just a kid" then. (DW: The Stolen Earth)
One account states that at the Time Lord Academy, the Doctor belonged to a clique of ten young Time Lords with the collective name of the Deca, a group which included Koschei, later known as the Master, and Ushas, later known as the Rani, among others. (PDA: Divided Loyalties) The Doctor spent "centuries" at the Academy. (DWM: Mortal Beloved)
Family life
At various times, the Doctor indicated that he had at one point had a family. (DW: The Tomb of the Cybermen)
The Doctor was a father at one point in his life (DW: Fear Her), of both "sons and daughters". (PDA: The Eleventh Tiger) The Doctor had three known grandchildren, Susan Foreman, John and Gillian. (DW: An Unearthly Child, TVC: The Klepton Parasites)
Exile
At some point the Doctor broke the Time Lords' law on non-interference in the time line and/or culture of an alien race.[source needed] Rather than face his punishment, he stole an outdated and possibly run-down Type 40 TARDIS and fled Gallifrey, taking with him the Hand of Omega and his granddaughter, Susan. (NA: Lungbarrow)
After several adventures through time, in which he met Henry VIII and visited the period of the French revolution, among other things, the Doctor eventually settled in 20th century London. For five months, Susan and the Doctor lived in 1963 London to enable Susan to complete her education and so that the Doctor could build missing components for the TARDIS out of 20th century earth equivalents. (DW: An Unearthly Child) During this time, he was also finding a hiding place for the Hand of Omega. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)
By this time, a Dalek had already discovered him. The Doctor's seventh incarnation also appeared in his past self's life on a mission from the White Guardian, to steal the TARDIS Instruction Manual. (DWM: Time & Time Again)
Meeting Ian and Barbara
The Doctor and Susan stayed in 1963 London. Whilst Susan attended Coal Hill School, they lived at 76 Totter's Lane. Two of Susan's teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, followed her home and confronted the Doctor. After they entered the TARDIS, the Doctor kidnapped them, so that they wouldn't tell anyone about him and Susan. Together, they all arrived in 100,000 BC. Susan began to take the teachers' side over the Doctor's, irritating him. The TARDIS experienced a fault at this point in both its chameleon circuit and it's ability to indicate their space/time coordinates. As the Doctor set about determining when and where they were, he lit a pipe and was suddenly knocked unconscious. Kidnapped by a tribesman named Kal, the Doctor was brought to the Tribe of Gum. Susan, Ian and Barbara managed to save the Doctor, but not before Za caught them and placed them all in the Cave of Skulls. The Doctor thanked Old Mother when she freed them, but became quite miserable whilst trekking through the Forest of Fear. When Za was wounded by a Tiger, the Doctor initially refused to help him, and may have even considered killing him so that the rest of the travellers wouldn't slow their escape trying to help Za. They were all recaptured and placed back in the Cave. He tricked Kal into revealing that Kal had killed the Old Mother. The Doctor helped Ian with an escape plan to get back to the TARDIS. As they did so, Za fought and killed Kal. (DW: An Unearthly Child)
Further adventures
The Doctor soon realised Ian and Barbara bore him no threat, but being unable to accurately pilot the TARDIS, he was unable to immediately return them to their original place and time. When the TARDIS landed on Skaro, he sabotaged it in order to study the planet more closely, a decision he later regretted. This led him to his first contact with the race called the Daleks. The Doctor assisted the Thals in their attack on the Dalek city. (DW: The Daleks)
Over the next few months, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan experienced a number of adventures that took them to different planets (DW: The Keys of Marinus, The Sensorites), and to different periods in Earth's history. (DW: Marco Polo, The Aztecs, The Reign of Terror)
The Doctor and his companions also travelled into Earth's future; in London during the time of the 22nd century Dalek invasion, Susan met David Campbell, a young resistance fighter against the Daleks. Realizing she would be better off not facing the dangers of travel, and recognizing she was no longer a child, the Doctor reluctantly left her behind. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) Although he later reunited with her briefly for an adventure on Gallifrey (DW: The Five Doctors), he would continue to regret this decision for centuries to come. (IDW: The Forgotten)
Soon after leaving Susan, the Doctor gained a new companion in Vicki Pallister, who immediately became a surrogate for Susan. (DW: The Rescue) The Doctor and his companions continued to explore alien worlds and Earth's past. On one occasion they landed on Xeros, only to find their future selves exhibits in display cases. They then began trying to avoid this version of the future. The Doctor was taken by the Moroks to be prepared for the exhibit but he was rescued by Ian. They were recaptured but the Xerons rebelled and freed them. Thus they prevented their own future. (DW: The Space Museum)
Following another encounter with the Daleks, the Doctor successfully programmed a Dalek Time Machine back to Ian and Barbara's home era, and they took their leave, around the same time he gained another new companion in Steven Taylor. (DW: The Chase)
While his relationship with Vicki remained warm, the Doctor's relationship with Steven tended to be stressed at times. After Vicki's departure, a young woman from ancient Earth named Katarina joined the Doctor and Steven. (DW: The Myth Makers)
Soon after, the Doctor entered into an epic struggle against the Daleks that saw the deaths of two of his companions, Katarina and Space Agent Sara Kingdom. (DW: The Daleks' Master Plan) This, and other factors, added additional strain to his relationship with Steven, who angrily left the TARDIS briefly following a subsequent bloody adventure. (DW: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve) Steven almost immediately relented however, and with new companion Dodo Chaplet, the Doctor and his companions continued their travels, encountering Humans from the far future (DW: The Ark), the Celestial Toymaker (DW: The Celestial Toymaker) and even famous characters from the American Wild West. (DW: The Gunfighters)
Steven eventually left the Doctor, albeit on better terms (DW: The Savages) and soon after the Doctor was forced to leave an injured Dodo on modern-day Earth, where he picked up what would be the final companions of his first incarnation, Polly Wright and Ben Jackson. (DW: The War Machines)
His travels eventually led him to Earth in the late 20th century, and his first encounter with the Cybermen, but not all was well with the Doctor. (DW: The Tenth Planet)
Regeneration
With his ancient body wearing thin, the increasingly frail Doctor foolishly matched wits with the dreaded Cybermen for the first time, an encounter which physically drained the Time Lord. Hurrying back to the TARDIS he collapsed and before the astonished eyes of his companions, regenerated for the first time, transforming him into a fresh new man
- For a list of First Doctor stories in the order in which he experienced them, see First Doctor - Timeline.
Personality
A mysterious character, the Doctor progressed from selfish anti-hero to a more noble figure, defending truth and the innocent. He was by turns casually disdainful yet formally gracious. He was easily exhausted while walking, yet almost gleeful during a physical confrontation and was seemingly wise yet prone to mistakes borne of arrogance and rash judgment.
During this phase in his life, the Doctor was irascible, a brilliant but often short-tempered scientist. He refused to bend his knee to the Kublai Khan, giving rheumatic knees as the reason. (DW: Marco Polo). He would get particularly snappish with those who doubted the TARDIS could actually travel through space and time. He had no problem hitting a Viking when his own life was threatened. (DW: An Unearthly Child, The Time Meddler)
At first he had a particularly selfish and duplicitous attitude. Having contempt for mere Humans, he regarded them as primitives. He abducted Barbara and Ian against their will and set the TARDIS console to shock Ian into unconsciousness. Arguably, he even contemplated killing the mortally wounded Za so that he would not slow down the Doctor's party. (DW: An Unearthly Child) The Doctor also deliberately removed the TARDIS' fluid link so that he would have an excuse to explore the Dalek City on Skaro. (DW: The Daleks) He was frequently sarcastic. (DW: The Time Meddler, The Chase) He stated his belief that there was a reason for everything in the universe. (DW: The Chase)
As time went on, however, he displayed great wisdom and a kind heart. Perhaps due to his age, he seemed more frail than his later incarnations. He also appeared somewhat absent-minded, but this may have been exaggerated to make his enemies underestimate him. The Doctor would, when pressed, resort to fisticuffs with an effectiveness which belied his age. (DW: The Romans, The Crusade, The Chase) He claimed that a professional wrestler, the Mountain Mauler of Montana, had taught him some effective moves. (DW: The Romans)
The Doctor comforted Vicki when she began to consider herself a problem. When she told him her fears that he would leave her, he told her she knew him better than that. (DW: The Crusade)
At other times, however, the Doctor revealed age-related vulnerabilities. For example, he suffered from rheumatism that flared up if he was exposed to cold. (DW: The Space Museum)
He once stated "I have the directional instinct of a homing pigeon". (DW: The Chase)
Unlike his successors, he was often as reliant upon his companions as they were upon him, many times it was Ian or Steven who saved the day. Nonetheless, the first incarnation possessed an aura of power and intelligence which was impossible to ignore.
He often returned to Earth at various times in its history, apparently motivated by historical curiosity rather than a desire to preserve it against alien invaders. On his voyages to other planets, he was again motivated as much by curiosity as by a desire to help them.
It is notable that all of his future incarnations had a noticeably profound respect for the first incarnation, so much so that they dared not question his judgment. The Time Lords used this to their advantage when the second and third incarnations were found to be incapable of working together. Even the first incarnation's presence on the TARDIS' monitor gave off enough authoritative aura to convince the second and third to work in harmony. (DW: The Three Doctors)
The Doctor again showed his position of authority over his future selves by deducing the truth about Rassilon's gift of immortality before the others and taking action without their input or objections. (DW: The Five Doctors)
Habits and quirks
The First Doctor punctuated his speech with, "Hmmmm...?", exasperated sighs and snorts and the occasional mangled phrase or word. He would address young women as "child" and younger men as "my boy", or in Ian's case by his name. However, he found it difficult, or pretended to find it difficult, to remember Ian's surname. He later used Ian's surname frequently when addressing him. (DW: The Keys of Marinus) The TARDIS required expert piloting and guidance by the Doctor. Its systems often broke down, including the navigational systems. This, combined with the fact the TARDIS was designed for six pilots, (DW: Journey's End) would explain the difficulty the Doctor encountered in returning to 1963 London in order to return Ian and Barbara to their lives. The Doctor consulted a small handbook. The Doctor never even hinted at the nature of his own origins, other than to state that he and the Monk originated on the same world and to hint that Susan and himself were exiles from the same place and time. (DW: An Unearthly Child)
Mysteries and discrepancies
- One account explains that the Doctor rescued Larna, a young Time Lady from the Doctor's own time, whom he later called Susan. (RT: Birth of a Renegade) However, another account states that the Doctor had gone back in time to the Dark Times of Gallifrey to pick up both the Other's granddaughter and the Hand of Omega from that time period. (NA: Lungbarrow) The majority of accounts, however, support the notion that the Doctor had once been a father, and that Susan is his actual biological granddaughter.
- This incarnation of the Doctor seemed unfamiliar with the Daleks, and demonstrated eagerness to explore their homeworld Skaro. (DW: The Daleks) However, he revealed in a later incarnation that he had already, by this time, hidden away the Hand of Omega on 1963 Earth, as part of an ongoing plan to defeat them. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)
- His hiding the Hand of Omega was never said to be directly related to the Daleks, it was only said that the seventh incarnation knew that is what the Daleks were after, but not that he had known as such to begin with.
Other matters
- This Doctor is one of only two incarnations ever known to smoke (DW: An Unearthly Child) The other is the Eighth Doctor. (EDA: Halflife)
- When the Doctor, Vicki Pallister, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton were being chased by the Daleks through time, he claimed to have built the TARDIS. (DW: The Chase) This statement stands in stark contrast with later incarnations and Time Lord authorities who claimed that the TARDIS was "borrowed" and "stolen" respectively. (EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles, DW: Planet of the Dead) It has also been suggested that the TARDIS was grown, rather than built. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen, The Impossible Planet)
- Susan had made the claim that she coined the acronym TARDIS (DW: An Unearthly Child) leading to the possibility that the Doctor was somehow involved with the development of the TARDIS. The eighth incarnation revealed that he had made various additions to the TARDIS to replace the need for a direct symbiotic link to control the TARDIS and thus make it harder for the Time Lords to find him, suggesting that, while the Doctor did not build the TARDIS from the beginning, he made significant alterations to it after it came into his possession. (EDA: The Taking of Planet 5)
- Since TARDIS coral grows, it is possible that the Doctor grew the TARDIS, built the components to control it and later stole it from the Time Lords.
- The computer WOTAN referred to the Doctor as "Doctor Who". Exactly why the computer would give the Doctor this name when he is never referred to as such is unknown. (DW: The War Machines)
- See separate article.
- The matter of this incarnation's age and how long this incarnation lived was unclear, although Susan once called him an adolescent, by Time Lord standards. (CC: Here There Be Monsters)
- See separate article.
- At one point the Doctor has his photograph taken and is issued a library card, which is destined to be mistaken for psychic paper by his eleventh incarnation. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
- Technically, this Doctor's first encounter with the Cybermen took place on the Death Zone on Gallifrey, where he encountered a small group of them in the tower. (DW: The Five Doctors)
Appearance
In his later life, the Doctor had shoulder length, greyish-white hair. He had piercing brown eyes. The Doctor affected a slightly eccentric Edwardian dress sense, wearing a frock coat and tartan trousers. Occasionally he wore an Astrakhan, (DW: An Unearthly Child, The Tenth Planet) or a Panama hat. (DW: The Chase, The Daleks' Master Plan) He also sometimes wore a cape. (DW: Planet of Giants, The War Machines). He also used a smoking pipe on at least one occasion. (DW: An Unearthly Child)
Like his fifth incarnation, he sometimes used half-moon reading glasses, (DW: The Time Meddler, The Daleks' Master Plan, The War Machines) although a later incarnation would call into question whether he actually needed them. (DW: Time Crash) He also occasionally employed a walking stick (DW: The Five Doctors) which sometimes made an effective weapon. (DW: The Rescue, The Chase) He also wore a blue signet ring which had special, if ill-defined, powers. (DW: The Web Planet, The Daleks' Master Plan, The Power of the Daleks) On one occasion, the ring appeared to both facilitate hypnotism and protect the Doctor from electrical shock. (DW: The War Machines) On one occasion, he did not wear his ring, and wore fingerless gloves on his hands. (DW: The Five Doctors)
When adventuring in Earth's past, this incarnation of the Doctor, in contrast with most that followed, sometimes made significant changes to his wardrobe, in an attempt to blend in with the local population. (DW: The Romans, The Reign of Terror, The Crusade) However, he usually made at least a token alteration to his "standard" outfit wherever he went in Earth's past, as when he wore a cowboy hat in 19th century Arizona. (DW: The Gunfighters) More rarely, he would gladly accept the vestments of extraterrestrial societies, as when he proudly wore the ceremonial garb of the Elders. (DW: The Savages)
Behind the scenes
Casting
Actors considered for the role of "Doctor Who", as he was then known, included Geoffrey Bayldon, Cyril Cusack, Hugh David and Alan Webb. Leslie French was also considered for the role.[1] William Hartnell had, up until that point, mainly played small-time thugs and other unsympathetic parts in crime films and humourless military men in comedies. Producer Verity Lambert was inspired to ask him to accept the role after seeing him in his well-known role in This Sporting Life, which convinced her that he could play a tough, yet shaded and sympathetic character.
When the time came for the First Doctor to appear in the 1983 Children in Need anniversary special DW: The Five Doctors, actor Richard Hurndall was hired to play the role, standing in for William Hartnell, who had died in the mid-1970s. A clip of Hartnell as the Doctor from The Dalek Invasion of Earth preceded the opening titles, and Hartnell's name appeared amongst those of his fellow Doctors in the end credits.