#williamhartnelledit

Happy 108th Birthday, William Hartnell! (January 8, 1908 - April 23, 1975)

“It all goes back to the success of Bill Hartnell as the Doctor, I should imagine, and we always got on well. He would get very annoyed with the way things were done if he thought they were being done the wrong way, but he cared so much about the programme and I think it showed.”

–Jacqueline Hill

Billy was especially thorough in working out his character and the way he would relate to the rest of us. He worked as a great professional, ironing out the smallest of details and embellishing where possible. He tried to understand the TARDIS as far as he could and he devised a way of operating all the switches to keep continuity. He thought of little touches, like always getting my name wrong, and he was keen to develop a kind of protective friendship with Barbara, coupled with a rivalry between the Doctor and Ian. We formed a very happy little group. Billy wasn’t at all like the Doctor off-set, he was just a very professional actor who did his job in his own way.