How Much Money Doctor Who's Biggest Stars Got Paid

12. William Hartnell

The First Doctor was something of an enigma when he landed on television screens in November 1963. We didn’t know who he was, whether he was human or alien, or the name of his home planet. That would all come later.

As he tells Ian and Barbara, “I don’t discuss my private life with strangers”. Quite right Doctor!

The same was true of the man who portrayed him, whose starting salary was never disclosed. However, according to the 1994 First Doctor Handbook, William Hartnell was earning £315 per episode by the end of his run. That's nearly £5,000 in today’s money.

It’s not an exact science as a First Doctor season could contain anywhere between 39 and 45 episodes, but on average, Hartnell’s fee for a season would've been around £13,000, or somewhere in the region of £200,000 in 2024. Since each season lasted roughly a year, his annual salary would've been about the same.

Not a bad start for the show’s first leading man – and, as we’ll see, not too far off his modern-day counterparts.