The classic Doctor Who series has recently been revived after a significant absence to much acclaim and to a whole new audience. This Doctor Who review reflects on all the actors who have played Doctor Who and their impact on the series. William Hartnell was my first doctor, though in truth as I was only a few years old, I barely remember him, although the mystery of his granddaughter Susan has never been properly explored. Clearly Time Lords have children, yet this aspect of their past has, until recently, been conveniently ignored through-out the programme’s history.

Perhaps the new producer could address this in forthcoming episodes, just as Russell T Davies has let slip that the Doctor 'had' a brother and we now know the Doctor has a cloned daughter. Patrick Troughton was my first real doctor. I can remember him regenerating and thinking ‘wow’. Looking back, the special effects were clumsy and poor, but as an awestruck 4 year old, I could barely wait for the next season to commence.

Patrick really engaged me in the series. Quirky, irreverent and mischievous, his character had so much more appeal than the rather scary and austere William Hartnell. The writers had also come into their own. Perhaps released from their mental confines by the necessary regeneration experience, they began to explore the Doctor Who universe in greater depth and with more imagination. By the time of Patrick’s departure, Doctor Who had been around for most of my aware life, and the thought of yet another doctor was spectacularly unappealing, even if it did herald the advent of colour television.

Clearly with an eye to budgetary constraints, the production team ditched the expensive ‘alien’ sets and confined the Doctor to Earth by way of punishment and our first real glimpse of the new doctor was when he stumbled from the Tardis on Earth. Oh dear, this was never going to work. I didn’t like Jon Pertwee already. No I was never going to watch it again, ‘my’ doctor had gone and long before the advent or even dreams of video or DVD, was never coming back. (Although in truth he did in the Three Doctors, The Five Doctors and the disappointing Two Doctors, But then hey, that’s the nature of the Time Lord’s Universe.)

No, this new Dandy was clearly no replacement for my quirky, hobbit like Doctor. But then again, I did rather like the Earth bound episodes, never having been fully convinced by the alien planet, or rather quarry, stuff. No, this time, they could concentrate on the scripts rather than sets, and some of the stories were remarkably good. So good in fact that I rather liked this new approach, and even more so with the arrival of Katy Manning and Sarah Jane Smith, two companions who added depth and dimension to the new series as it evolved. I also rather enjoyed U.N.I.T. although Torchwood has now evolved as a worthy UK based successor, and at least now U.N.I.T. is formally recognised again thanks to the Sontarans. Cont/...