First Doctor

The Doctor

The First Doctor
Doctor Who character
William Hartnell as the First Doctor
First regular appearance	An Unearthly Child (1963)
Last regular appearance	The Tenth Planet (1966)
Introduced by	Verity Lambert (1963) John Nathan-Turner (1983) Steven Moffat (2017)
Portrayed by	William Hartnell (1963–1966, 1972–1973) Richard Hurndall (1983) David Bradley (2017, 2022)
Succeeded by	Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor)
Information
Tenure	23 November 1963 – 29 October 1966
No of series	4
Appearances	29 stories (134 episodes)
Companions	Susan Foreman Ian Chesterton Barbara Wright Vicki Steven Taylor Katarina Sara Kingdom Dodo Chaplet Polly Ben Jackson
Chronology	Season 1 (1963–1964) Season 2 (1964–1965) Season 3 (1965–1966) Season 4 (1966) Season 10 (1972–1973) Season 20 (1983) Series 10 (2017) Specials (2022)

The First Doctor is the original incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell in the first three series from 1963 to 1966 and the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors from 1972 to 1973. The character would occasionally appear 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 2022 Thirteenth Doctor episode "The Power of the Doctor", the latter previously having portrayed Hartnell himself in the 2013 biopic An Adventure in Space and Time.

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 left the series due to his increasingly bad health, consequently extending the series' life into the following century, with Hartnell being succeeded by the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton).

Hartnell's portrayal of the character was initially a stubborn and abrasive old man who was distrustful of humans, but ultimately mellowed out into a more compassionate, 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.