The original you might say...

Remembering William Hartnell today.

It was on the 23rd of April 1975 that William Hartnell passed away in hospital after a long illness - one which had caused him to relinquish the role which made him famous and which brought him great joy as well as upset.

The joy was in securing a role which finally took him away from tough guy parts, like gangsters and army sergeants, and brought him a whole new generation of younger fans. The upset was in seeing his new happy family being diminished year on year as fellow cast and crew members decided to move on and leave the show, becoming a revolving door of supporting actors and behind the scenes personnel. The loss of Verity Lambert as producer hit him particularly hard, and he never really settled with any of her replacements.

This coincided with the onset of the illness - arteriosclerosis - which was eventually to take his life, 50 years ago today, at the age of only 67.

A perfectionist in everything he did, the difficulties in learning lines caused him great distress, which he often took out on other people. This, and some of his socio-political views, made him a controversial figure as a man.

Hartnell never played the First Doctor. All that regeneration business was three years in the future when he took on the role of the Doctor. And that's all he ever was - simply the Doctor. The original you can say.

Without him none of the next 61 years of the series would ever have happened. We have a lot to thank him for, which nascent fandom wasn't really able to do in his own lifetime. My life would certainly have been a lot different without the series he helped forge.

Having just moved house, I've inherited a fancy big TV, and started watching the series again in its entirety from An Unearthly Child onwards. I have just reached The Reign of Terror, which includes some marvellous stuff from Hartnell, such as the TARDIS scene in the opening episode and the roadworks gang sequence in the second - both allowing him to exercise his comedic talents (it should be recalled that, as Billy Hartnell, he featured in many humorous British 'quickies' before becoming typecast as tough guys).

I shall certainly be watching more tonight, and remembering William Hartnell - the Doctor.