After William Hartnell left Doctor Who, there was a lot of apprehension about whether or not the programme would work with someone else in the lead role. And one of the people most worried about this was Patrick Troughton; who came up with a solution to protect his dignity in case Doctor Who really wouldn't work without William Hartnell. One of Troughtons costume ideas for the Second Doctor was an Arabian Nights figure in blackface and a turban so that he would be less susceptible to typecasting and that, if the new season did flop, he would be less recognisable and not suffer as much professionally. Something thats certainly a lucky miss since, if it went ahead, it would mean that the Second Doctor's stories would be hard to find for a reason other than the BBC destroying most of them.
4. Recasting The Doctor A Year Early?
As well as a very unfortunate moment where a character uses a certain racial slur when playing eeny meeny miney mo, 1965s The Celestial Toymaker is notable for marking the first attempt to recast the Doctor. To facilitate William Hartnell going on holiday for a fortnight, his absence was written into the story with him becoming invisible in the first episode and pre-recorded dialogue being used during the episodes where he did not appear. Producer John Wiles wanted to use this plot point to write out Hartnell by having the Doctor played by a different actor when he became visible again but the BBCs head of serials Gerald Savoy firmly vetoed this idea, and Hartnell continued in the role for another year.
JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
