Happy Birthday to the brilliant, the original, William Hartnell!

Doctor Who, the first Doctor BBC)

William Hartnell would be 110 this year. We look back on the First Doctor in Doctor Who’s lifetime.

It’s exciting, and almost fitting, that William Hartnell’s birthday would be so soon after Christmas. Fans are talking more about the First Doctor than they would at any other time, both new and old. While many people say that Twice Upon a Time is now their favorite First Doctor story, there are many others. Specifically, ones that made William Hartnell amazing enough to jumpstart what would be the fifty-year show.

As almost every Who fan knows, William Hartnell ushered in a quiet new show named Doctor Who one night in 1960. No one would know what the show would become fifty years later. This is all because of Hartnell’s amazing performance, ushering in a new kind of show.

As a Doctor, he was quite different than the Doctor’s today. Not at all silly or funny as we’ve seen in the New Series, or even later Doctors in the Classic episodes. Many say that he was a bit meaner or colder, but there are also episodes that show how kind-hearted he was towards his companions.

The First Doctor was first and foremost a grandfather. His first companion was Susan, his granddaughter. He had many other companions who traveled with him until he regenerated in The Tenth Planet. Even though the episode is lost, many people consider it their favorite Hartnell episode.

54 years from Hartnell’s first episode, the First Doctor returned to the screen in Twice Upon a Time. This episode largely celebrated the original Doctor as he contemplated his first regeneration. David Bradley honored Hartnell’s Doctor by playing his own version of the actor’s character. The episode succeeded, in many people’s eyes, in honoring the late actor and First Doctor.