Jacqueline Hill

Jacqueline Hill
Birth date:	17 December 1929
Death date:	18 February 1993
Work in the DWU
Main roles:	Barbara Wright
Main jobs:	Actor
Stories:	See Credits Section
Main time period active:	1963-1965, 1980
Career highlights
Notable non-DWU work:	Armchair Theatre, The Six Proud Walkers, Romeo & Juliet, Tales of the Unexpected
IMDb profile

Jacqueline Hill (born Grace Jacqueline Hill on 17 December 1929, died 18 February 1993) played Barbara Wright in Doctor Who from An Unearthly Child (including "The Pilot Episode") to The Chase. Hill has the distinction of being the first regular cast member of the series to actually appear on screen, as well as speaking the first line. She continued to play the role for nearly two years, leaving the show in 1965, but returning for an appearance in the 1980 Doctor Who story Meglos as the priestess Lexa.

Career

Hill trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made her stage debut in London's West End in The Shrike. Many roles followed, including, on television, Shop Window, Fabian of the Yard and An Enemy of the People. It was around this time that she married top director Alvin Rakoff, who cast her opposite Sean Connery in one of ABC TV's Armchair Theatre plays. She was asked to play Barbara Wright in Doctor Who after she and producer Verity Lambert, whom she knew socially, discussed the role at a party. (A popular myth which appears in some histories of the series and biographies of Ms. Hill is that she was "discovered" for the role based on work as a model in Paris, a career she never had.) Soon after leaving the series in 1965 she gave up acting to raise a family. She resumed her career in 1979 and gained further TV credits in, amongst other programmes, Tales of the Unexpected and as Lady Capulet in the BBC Television Shakespeare version of Romeo and Juliet in 1978.

Death

Jacqueline Hill died from cancer in 1993.

Legacy

The documentary Jacqueline Hill: A Life in Pictures celebrated Hill's life and career. This was released on the Meglos DVD and The Collection: Season 18 Blu-ray box set.

Jemma Powell portrayed Hill in Doctor Who's 50th anniversary docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time. This led to her recreating the role of Barbara Wright for Big Finish's The Early Adventures, The First Doctor Adventures and The Diary of River Song audio adventures.

Doctor Who credits

As Barbara Wright

• The Pilot Episode
• An Unearthly Child
• The Daleks
• The Edge of Destruction
• Marco Polo
• The Keys of Marinus
• The Aztecs
• The Sensorites
• The Reign of Terror
• Planet of Giants
• The Dalek Invasion of Earth
• The Rescue
• The Romans
• The Web Planet
• The Crusade
• The Space Museum
• The Chase

As Lexa

• Meglos

External links

• Jacqueline Hill at the Internet Movie Database