10 Doctor Who Characters More Important Than You Realised

Earl Cameron was the second Black actor to have a speaking role in Doctor Who. Given that this was in 1966 – three years after the show first started – it's a slightly uncomfortable statistic. It's made even worse by the fact that Doctor Who's first Black actor with a speaking role – Elroy Josephs in The Smugglers – is a superstitious and idiotic henchman.

Thankfully, Earl Cameron had a much more impactful part to play, especially given the timing of his Doctor Who appearance as astronaut Glyn Williams in The Tenth Planet.

When the serial started in October 1966, Star Trek: The Original Series had been airing for a month in the States. Famously, Star Trek featured Nichelle Nichols as a hugely positive role model for African American viewers, because the character of Lieutenant Nyota Uhura proved that "they made it" into space.

Star Trek wouldn't air on UK screens until after Patrick Troughton departed the role of the Doctor in 1969. However, Glyn Williams was also a hugely positive portrayal of a heroic Black space hero, who's tragically killed while trying to escape the gravitational pull of Mondas.

Despite Williams' tragic end, it's a subtly progressive bit of casting that represents a glimmer of hope for the future of humanity.