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Original Doctor Who star ponders ’emotional’ return

Original Doctor Who star ponders ’emotional’ return

A recent photo of Carole Ann Ford smiling at a BBC event marking the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who in 2023
Carole Ann Ford is the last surviving original cast member of Doctor Who

The last surviving cast member from the very first Doctor Who series said she would like to return to the show as the 60th anniversary of her final appearance approaches.

Carole Ann Ford, from Ilford, played Susan, granddaughter of the Doctor played by William Hartnell when the BBC show started in 1963. The character has been frequently mentioned in the recent series with Ncuti Gatwa.

During an appearance at Luton Comic Con, the actress said she wanted to return although she admitted it “would be very emotional.. very emotional”.

“I don’t know if I could survive the excitement actually, it would be intense beyond all intensity,” she said.

Actress Carol Ann Ford Who Played Companion Susan In Doctor, 56% OFF
Actress Carol Ann Ford Who Played Companion Susan In Doctor Who

The 84-year-old is the last member of the original cast following the death of William Russell in June.

She said: “It’s not just returning, it would bring back all the memories of William Russell and Jackie and Bill [William Hartnell] and various other people who aren’t with us anymore.

“I might be a little bit overcome and start blubbing.

“I keep being reminded I’m the last one standing and it’s not something I’m happy to hear.”

Sixties City - Doctor Who
Carole Anne Ford (Middle) with Jacqueline Hill (left) and William Russell (right) as the original TARDIS team.

She appeared as the granddaughter of the original Doctor, played by William Hartnell, but was left behind after a showdown with the Daleks set in Bedfordshire and broadcast on 26 December 1964.

At the time, the Doctor promised to return for her, but despite an appearance in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors, a story that would address the reunion between the characters is yet to take place.

“He said he’d come back and get me and never did. I’d give him a good telling off if I saw him again,” she said.

“I understand their dilemma, how difficult it must be to write for me. It has been 60 years since I was first in it.

“I’ve met Russell [T Davies] a few times and I absolutely adore him. He is the man that would be the boss man to say yes or no – so hopefully it’s going to be yes.”

Last year the character returned to screens in a newly colourised version of the 1963 episode, The Daleks, which was broadcast on BBC Four to mark the show’s 60th anniversary.

The actress encouraged fans to be vocal in their support of her return if there was any chance of her returning.

In an interview on BBC Three Counties Radio, she hinted that she had had “one or two” conversations about returning in the past.

“I’ve had many conversations about going back, maybe not with the right people, I don’t know,” she added.

When it was suggested her character could be recast, she joked: “They better not, I’d burn the studio down.”

Missing stories animations to continue, more Hartnell likely

Missing stories animations to continue, more Hartnell likely

Doctor Who Galaxy 4 William Hartnell

Plans are afoot for more animated revamps of missing episodes following the release of The Underwater Menace.

Good news for Doctor Who fans in the BBC sci-fi’s 60th anniversary year – more missing stories are set to receive the animation treatment.

Out of 253 episodes from the show’s first six years, 97 remain lost in their original form, due to the BBC’s policy of junking archive programming between 1967 and 1978.

As a result, numerous adventures of the First Doctor (played by William Hartnell) and the Second Doctor (played by Patrick Troughton) are either incomplete or missing in their entirety.

However, a number of these stories have been restored with new animated visuals accompanying the surviving soundtracks.

Speaking at a BFI screening of the latest animation, The Underwater Menace, executive producer Paul Hembury confirmed there are plans for more – indicating that the ambition is to complete the canon and cover off all of the missing stories.

“As long as there’s an audience out there who want to see them, then we will endeavour to continue,” Hembury said.

However, he cautioned:

“The DVD and Blu-ray market isn’t getting any bigger and it was a significant contributor to the financing that we used to make these, so it’s really incumbent upon us to say, ‘OK, if we’re going to be seeing less revenue from that source, we need to be able to replace it’ – and more, because our budgets have gone up pretty significantly. So we just need to be able to make it balance out.”

Despite confirming that at least one more animation is in the works, Hembury wouldn’t be drawn on which story was next on the slate, despite rumours that 1966 serial The Smugglers could be in the offing.

“I would love to be able to say yes – I can’t at this stage. We don’t have a five, 10-year plan to work through. We do them one at a time.  “In all truth, I don’t know whether we’ll ever get to a situation where we’ve done every one. [But] there is something coming.”

Polly, Ben and the Doctor in Doctor Who: The Smugglers
Polly, Ben and the Doctor in Doctor Who: The Smugglers

Hembury and The Underwater Menace animation director AnneMarie Walsh did however touch on how they decide which lost stories to animate, explaining that the selection process is “quite complicated” with the length of the stories, the quality of the surviving audio, and animated challenges posed by the story all being taken into account.

Of the 14 stories to be animated since 2006, 11 have been stories featuring Troughton’s Second Doctor, though Hembury and Walsh hinted that fans can expect more restorations featuring William Hartnell as the First Doctor in future.

“If we can keep going, then we will be a little more diverse in terms of the stories we select,” said Hembury.

“We weren’t necessarily trying to complete the [Troughton] series, but it made sense to do that as long as the sound was good enough and the stories made sense within the budgets we had and everything else,” added Walsh.

“But that doesn’t mean that we’re only going to do Troughton stories, or we’re going to do all the Troughton stories first. We are open to whatever makes sense.”

Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace is available on Blu-ray and DVD from 13th November.

Doctor Who stars pay tribute to Patrick Troughton at plaque unveiling

Doctor Who stars pay tribute to Patrick Troughton at plaque unveiling

Image - Patrick Troughton.jpg | Dr Who Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia
Patrick Troughton as The Doctor.

Legends of classic Doctor Who gathered to pay tribute to Patrick Troughton as a plaque was unveiled in his honour at his former school.

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society, the show’s longest-running fan club, collaborated with Mill Hill School in London to place the plaque at the school’s Patrick Troughton Theatre.

Sylvester McCoy, who played the Seventh Doctor, Sophie Aldred, who played Ace, and Frazer Hines, who played Jamie McCrimmon, were among those pictured in attendance to celebrate the actor, best known as the Second Doctor.

Carole Ann Ford (Susan), actors Hugh Frasers and Michael Jayston, and director Graeme Harper were also among those attending, alongside Troughton’s children Joanna and Michael.

McCoy shared a picture of himself with the plaque, tweeting: “Respect.”

Aldred shared a snap of herself and McCoy, referencing the show’s legacy and writing on Instagram: “Very lovely event celebrating Patrick Troughton, who I sadly never met, but to whom I owe this long career in Dr Who: Without his genius as Doctor no. 2, we wouldn’t still be going!”

Troughton took over from William Hartnell as the Doctor in 1966, leaving the series in 1969. He went on to reprise the role several times.

It’s said that Hartnell approved of the choice, saying: “There’s only one man in England who can take over, and that’s Patrick Troughton.”

The actor died in 1987 at the age of 67. Many of his episodes still remain missing from the BBC Archives.