#whostory: roundup

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Frazer Hines

It is arguable who exactly is the longest running companion is, but by episode count, it is Frazer Hines' Jamie McCrimmon, who appears in 113 episodes, for almost the entirety of the second Doctor's run. As such Hines' character is one of the most popular of the show's classic era. Although not the last to be introduced, Hines remains the shows most recent companion from history.

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Jon Pertwee

The action hero Doctor. Jon Pertwee played the Doctor in what is ultimately an era with a very different kind of story. Despite its differences, the UNIT era still feels like Doctor Who because Jon Pertwee still feels like the Doctor, a morally righteous hypocrite. Could the UNIT era have worked nearly as well with anyone else playing the Doctor?

Perhaps Pertwee’s biggest influence on the character is their dress sense, or perhaps lack thereof. Although it was originally a joke, it was Pertwee showing up to the producers office in what would become the third Doctor’s signature ruffled shirt, velvet jacket, and cape that would be the impetus for not only his clothing choices, but several future Doctors as well.

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Paddy Russell

Paddy Russell was a lesser known Doctor Who director, working on four stories in the first, third, and fourth Doctor eras. She was the first woman to direct for Doctor Who with the Massacre. Her later work on Doctor Who is also very well regarded.

propaganda

directed some of the best classic who stories, pyramids of mars, horror of fang rock, invasion of the dinosaurs, her directing is great, wish she were better known (anonymous)

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - William Russell

William Russell played Ian Chesterton, part of the original TARDIS team. Alongside Jacqueline Hill's Barbara Wright, Ian was much more the protagonist of the show than the Doctor was in the early days, despite not playing the title character, Russell was Doctor Who's leading man.

Interestingly, unlike Hill and Ford's characters, the kind of companion Russell played, that of the action man doing the more physical things on behalf of the Doctor would not survive in any meaningful way beyond the 60s, making the lasting iconicness of Russell's character particularly impressive.

In 2022 Russell broke the record for the longest gap between TV appearances of the same character when he once again played Ian Chesterton in The Power of the Doctor

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - John Lucarotti

John Lucarotti wrote three serials for the first Doctor, Marco Polo, The Aztecs, and the Massacre, all well regarded historicals with a more serious tone.

propaganda

The single greatest historical writer of the classic series. In an era where historicals were either comedies or one dimensional takes, he wrote nuanced stories exploring unfairly demonized settings. Looking purely at his scripts (because the filmed-products suffered from wiping and racist casting), he brought us the Doctor developing a personal connection with an elderly Aztec woman, Kublai Khan as a reform-minded administrator and genuine human being, the Mongols as tolerant and progressive, and the Aztecs as master builders. In “The Massacre,” he pioneered the Doctor-lite genre, leaving Steven to fend for himself in an unfamiliar past while mounting an unflinching look at the paranoia, corruption, and ambiguity of religious upheaval and social strife. Lucarotti wrote complex, mature historical dramas at the dawn of Doctor Who. (anonymous)

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Sean Carlsen

Sean Carlsen has dozens of credits in Doctor Who audios, most of them as Time Lord character Narvin.

propaganda

narvinnarvinnarvin also that one policeman in the christmas invasion - this man does not get enough recognition and please please Erasure is so sweet how he talks to Leela. the inflections he uses voice wise is so amusing and I also love how much of a fan he is of doctor who himself. also he says things in character on twitter sometimes which is fun (anonymous)

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Matt Smith

As the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith was the face of the show during one of its biggest transitions, that being the first time since the revival where practically the entire production team changed. There was a lot riding on getting the audience on board with Smith's Doctor as soon as possible, and get on board they did.

Smith would remain the Doctor for the 50th anniversary in which many of the biggest storylines of the revival were wrapped up.

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Marnal Gate

Marnal Gate (pseudonym) created this website which extensively covers the history of the Time Lords and Gallifrey. It clearly represents a massive amount of work and an incredible dedication to Doctor Who

propaganda

this quote from the homepage: "The best thing to come out of creating this website was meeting the woman who became my wife!" (anonymous)

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - India Fisher

India Fisher played one of, if not the, most popular companions in Doctor Who, Charley Pollard. Appearing in dozens of audios, you can see the influence of Fisher's character on many of the companions we've been introduced to since.

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Michael Grade

Michael Grade hated Doctor Who so much that he's blamed for the shows cancellation even though he wasn't working for the BBC at the time. In 2002, 13 years after Survival, and a year before the shows return was announced Grade appeared on Room 101 and named Doctor Who as one of the things he hated more than anything else, using the dodgy myrka costume from Warriors of the Deep as evidence. Just unfair of him.

In terms of his actual actions, he was controller of BBC one from 1984 to 87, and was the one to put the show on hiatus for 18 months between seasons 22 and 23, before getting JNT to fire Colin Baker. He may not have been the one to actually kill Classic Who, but boy did he want to.

Grade ultimately did come around on the show following its revival, or rather he could see the quality in the completely reworked production.

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Peter Brachacki

Designer for An Unearthly Child, Peter Brachacki had a huge influence on the show going forward as he designed the original console room, which did not see any truly significant change for all of Classic Who, and TARDIS prop, which of course is still a police box to this day.

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Andrew Cartmel

Andrew Cartmel was Classic Who's final script editor, working on the show for the entirety of the McCoy era. While it never came to fruition on TV, Cartmel came up with what is known as the Cartmel Masterplan, a new more mysterious backstory for the Doctor, these ideas were later used by the Virgin New Adventures.

Cartmel would continue to write for Doctor Who in the form of novels and comics during the wilderness years and beyond, most recently for the twelfth Doctor comics in 2016.

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - John Nathan Turner

From Tom Baker's final season to the Classic era's defacto cancellation Doctor Who had the same producer in JNT. JNT oversaw some awful years for the show behind the scenes with BBC higher-ups constantly having it in their sights for cancellation for the final five seasons.

Before becoming producer, JNT had worked on the production side of Doctor Who on and off for about a decade, and after its end he returned to Doctor Who for the final time for the 30th anniversary special minisode Dimensions in Time.

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Pat Gorman

Pat Gorman was a background actor who appeared in over 70 Doctor Who serials from the late into the early 80s, sometimes unrecognisable as a member of the species of the week, and often uncredited.

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Chris Chibnall

In 2018 Chris Chibnall took over as showrunner, introducing the first female Doctor as played by Jodie Whittaker, and heading the show during some horrendously difficult times in its production.

Chibnall wrote for both the RTD and Moffat eras before becoming showrunner, notably taking a leading role on the first two series of Torchwood, and is a lifelong fan, with one notorious example of him taking part in every fan's favourite activity, complaining about Doctor Who, on a talk show in 1986.

propaganda

invented gay people and sapphics <3 (anonymous)

[companion-showdown]

Whostory - Richard Martin

Richard Martin was the director of the Daleks first few appearances, the first three episodes of The Daleks, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and The Chase.