"I received the call for Doctor Who not long after I returned from filming The Raven and the Terror [1] with Roger [Corman]. And to be blunt, I was not sure at the time....whether or not I should take on such a role. I knew Irene from a television show that she had been developing, so I trusted her instincts and I went to have lunch with them. It was quite a spread really, and I got a good impression of all of them. Verity described the role of Doctor Who as a gruff and mysterious figure who through his travels would change and adapt to become a kinder and gentler person. They assured me that a bulk of the action would be taken up by younger stars, and that it was a show that was aimed towards the children. My own child was twenty by that point but I could not help wondering about leaving a good impression for the children to come. [2] I have made peace with Frankenstein being my legacy, but I would like it if the children of today would remember me for being Doctor Who more. I said yes, aware that I could be making a terrible mistake."
-Interview with Boris Karloff, February 19th 1968, with a local enthusiast
"Contrary to popular opinion, Irene and I got along very well for the most part. [3] I resent, though that is a strong word, the accusation that if two women disagree with each other and have passionate arguments about where the story is going, it somehow proves that we're inherently emotional creatures. David [Whittaker] and Terry [Nation] tore strips off each other on a daily basis and you never see them getting questioned. [4] I wanted William, but I was perfectly happy with Boris and have remained so despite the best efforts of other people to say otherwise.
We'd had some issues gathering the rest of the cast together, and we were still running through ideas as we went along.. I wanted William Russell for Ian and I'd loved Jacqueline Hill for the part we'd come to write as 'female teacher'. Because we'd gone back and forth on what her name was before we finally settled on McGovern. [5] In the case of Barbara, it was a matter of Sydney and Irene preferring Phyllida for the role. Jacqueline decided to retire a year or two later, she seemed comfortable with her decision. [6] And one of the issues with William was that our dates kept being pushed back, every time we'd chat to him we'd have to give him an alternate date to start filming. We parted amicably and I was very happy with who we ended up getting.." [7]
-Verity Lambert, on the commentary of Beyond the Sun, recorded January 1st 2000.
It was the cold equations that led to Julian Glover getting the role of Ian Chesterton. Boris Karloff was seventy five when he filmed the first season and would be seventy-six by the time it actually aired (In a spooky co-incidence, on his birthday no less!), on top of which he suffered with
emphysema, supposedly only having half of a lung working throughout. When auditions opened up for Chesterton, Glover went along as something of a dare to himself. "I'd not done much science fiction before," he confessed to a crowd at 2018's Millennium Con to much laughter, "And I'd wanted to see if I can push myself a little. Ian's a lot more straight lace than a lot of the ones I'd go on to do, but I still like him, the gallant old swine! And of course I got to do some historical acting too which was a nice surprise."
Phyllida Law was cast as Barbara McGovern, in what was later termed as something of a watershed moment for female characters in science fiction. [8] "I never thought of it myself, but looking back I've been rather surprised at how well Barbara was treated as a character. I was quite insistent that she'd make sure to prick the ego of Julian or Boris if they ever got particularly haughty, and the writers obliged me more than I expected. I was very much more comfortable in the historicals, but Boris was there to walk me through some of the trickier stuff in the science fiction. He was rather a dab hand at dealing with what we had to say."
Despite attempts to weaken the character, the exotic and off-kilter role of Suzanne [9] was kept as intended in the original screenplays and performed with passionate intensity by Sara Kestelman, just about to turn nineteen when she got the role, "Oh they were always trying to slip some little correction in to make her more human. I was young at the time, and I remembered being a child and watching the television's attempt to understand what children were like and shaking my head at how wrong they got it. They'd not give me much to do other than scream as something grabbed my leg so they let me improvise what I was doing between scenes, I wanted to give the impression of curiosity in all things, so I'd wander around and pick something up and look it over. I really like the episode with...."
Extracts from The Book of Who, a Companion Guide to 60 Years of Doctor Who, March 1st, 2023.
Interviewer: And what was Boris like during the filming?
Julian: A true gentleman. [The others nod and offer agreement] I mean no disrespect to anyone who did it after us, but it would have been very easy for him to dismiss it all as tripe and to give the bare minimum. He may or may not have thought the former but there was never a question of the latter. Every time he came on set he was always ready to greet us, ready to work with us, always ready to adapt to a new situation. He'd struggle a little with excessive improvisation which, well, not to name names-- [10]
Sara: My ears are burning!
Julian: --but there is someone here who can attest to that. But he never blew up at anyone, he handled it all very gracefully. And he was always willing to talk and to chat afterwards, to go down the pub and work with the crew. He brought his wife Evelyn a couple of times and she too was lovely, you could tell he was devoted to her. I'll admit that much of my own behaviour now that I've entered this particular stage of my career has been an attempt to maintain the level of dignity that he maintained throughout the production.
Phyllida: I'll agree with that. To be frank, most of us were at that time jobbing actors, with no particular claim to fame. He'd worked with so many people but he told us all these stories with such candour and lack of an ego that we all felt like we knew them ourselves. And he kept the most heroic stories to himself, that he'd raised more money than the American government to provide to victims of some disaster or another in the 1910's, before he'd even been famous! [11] He was remarkable, truly so.
Sara: And there was the fact that he was struggling through the series at all. It often fell to me, given my character, to provide some assistance on some of the worst shooting days. He was very grateful, a lot of the scenes where he seems to be lagging are actually real due to how bad his health was. They tried a lot of things of course, lowering the console down so he could pilot while in a chair [12], making the cane part of his costume, etc, etc.
Extracts from A Roundtable Conference, Doctor Who at 40, November 12th 2003.
To create an accurate First Doctor costume for all your cosplaying needs, you require:
-Dark blue Victorian frock coat, must include notch-lapels.
-A tan woollen cardigan
-Checked cotton shirt with collar buttoned down.
-Old fashioned brown tie.
-Brown suspenders.
-Black cap-toe shoes.
-A pair of eyeglasses, attached to golden chain around neck.
-A solid standard black walking stick.
-Optional but highly recommended, a black travelling cloak if going for a specific era.
A rare colourized photograph of Karloff in his costume, awaiting the emergence of the Great Animus. [13]
Extract from the blog 'Dress to Impress, A Fan's Guide to Cosplaying'
NEXT TIME: FINISHED BEFORE WE EVEN STARTED.
[1] As per OTL.
[2[ Karloff was well known for dressing up as Santa for a Baltimore hospital for disabled children and infamously held up filming of the original Frankenstein quite a bit for fear of hurting the child actress whom the monster was supposed to kill (by accident, of course).
[3] The two women would gain a working relationship during the seventies, only for it to be ruined and a professional rivalry form between the two that supposedly cost Lambert's G.B.H an award that Irene was judging over. Here, though not best buddies and friends, the two are amiable enough to talk to each other and are generally more peaceful as a result of getting to know each other during the production process.
[4] A combination of events that we'll get to during the production notes lead to an even worse relationship between the two men than in OTL. No small feat.
[5] As per OTL, Wright was the settled name for the character during the later stages of the audition, to add a little flavour I have it changed back
[6] Per OTL, Hill retired after Doctor Who to take care of her child. IITL, she remains a recognizable jobbing actress until her retirement.
[7] OTL's Lambert had one and only one pick for Ian in the form of Russell. A Russell without Hill would be interesting but also a little boring to write. Hence forth he recieves better offers when contracts are negotiated and he decides to drop out. Not to fear though, we shall not see the last of William Russell.
[8] Law did audition in OTL.
[9] As specified in the original casting notes for the story, an attempt is made here to keep her on the path planned for her.
[10] During the production of The Raven, Peter Lorre improvised a lot and made Karloff uncomfortable, for he'd memorized the script and decided to stick with it. It's less prominent here because of how minimal Suzanne's actions are but even so.
[11] A very real story which I recommend reading about!
[12] Two TARDIS consoles are used, one for Karloff and one for the others, signal between the changing of the two is an increase in the tempo of the time rotor.
[13] In reality a shot of Karloff from the excellent film Targets. In OTL, the original plan was for Hartnell to where a normal suit from the sixties which was later retrofitted into the more familiar outfit. I've tried to draw a happy medium betwixt the two. The list of items that make out the outfit and the picture itself can be found here for those curious:
https://bamfstyle.com/2020/10/29/karloff-tweed-targets/
