On TV tonight (well, tomorrow morning)
Feb. 4th, 2006 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dcDr. Who was William Hartnell. Ignore all the johnny-come-latelies who have filled the rôle since he hung up his Tardis key. Without Hartnell’s stonking performance, no “Christmas Invasion”...
When he got the part, he had become fairly typecast as a sergeant-major type (as in Private’s Progress, The Army Game and Carry On Sergeant); even when he didn’t play an actual sergeant-major, his parts tended to be from the same sort of mould (Inspector Roberts in To Have and to Hold, Major Fowler in Heavens Above! — both 1963). It was his performance in quite a different part, though, which helped convince the production team who were working towards getting Doctor Who’s first episodes on the air that Hartnell could be the Doctor they were looking for. That part was a supporting character in This Sporting Life (also 1963), and his performance has been described as the performance of his career.
For anyone who is interested, This Sporting Life is on Channel 4 tonight (01:55–04:10; Video Plus 12618921). It’s no bundle of laughs, but this is the part which more than any other got him the rôle (the last part he ever played) for which he will always be remembered.
When he got the part, he had become fairly typecast as a sergeant-major type (as in Private’s Progress, The Army Game and Carry On Sergeant); even when he didn’t play an actual sergeant-major, his parts tended to be from the same sort of mould (Inspector Roberts in To Have and to Hold, Major Fowler in Heavens Above! — both 1963). It was his performance in quite a different part, though, which helped convince the production team who were working towards getting Doctor Who’s first episodes on the air that Hartnell could be the Doctor they were looking for. That part was a supporting character in This Sporting Life (also 1963), and his performance has been described as the performance of his career.
For anyone who is interested, This Sporting Life is on Channel 4 tonight (01:55–04:10; Video Plus 12618921). It’s no bundle of laughs, but this is the part which more than any other got him the rôle (the last part he ever played) for which he will always be remembered.