Who was Who?
So, which actors did play the role of Doctor Who?
Here is a list of all those 12 actors, and some information about their encounters with the Daleks, which have (so far) appeared as the TV Time Lord; leaving out the actor Peter Cushing, who only played the role in the 2 movies and John Hurt who appeared as the Forgotten Doctor.
Doctor Who began in November 1963, although we did not meet the Daleks until December of that year; and seven actors were picked to play the Doctor before the show was dropped in 1989. Following this a TV movie was made in 1996 – starring Paul McGann, but this was only a one off and he did not make any more. Then the TV series returned in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston in the lead role. David Tennant took over the same year, but he has decided to leave the show in 2010 when he is to be replaced by an even younger actor, Matt Smith.
Just how many more incarnations of the Time Lord are likely to happen is anyone's guess, as the Doctor surely can't regenerate for ever?
1. William Hartnell (1963-1966)
First seen on British television on Saturday the 21st December, 1963; the Daleks appeared in a Doctor Who story called "The Dead Planet". This was with the late, sadly missed actor William Hartnell playing the role of the Doctor's 1st incarnation from 1963-66. Their second outing was a story transmitted on 21st November 1964 called "Daleks Invasion of Earth" (a.k.a. Worlds End). Then came a third story called "The Space Museum" on the 24th April 1965. The 4th story, also in May 65, was called "The Chase" (a.k.a. The Executioners) which I thought perhaps the best for its era. A story called "Mission to the Unknown" followed on the 9th October 1965 (I didn't know it then, but that was my wife's 5th birthday ); with the final story of the Hartnell era coming out on 12th November 1965 which was "The Daleks Masterplan" (a.k.a. The Nightmare Begins).
2. Patrick Troughton (1966-1969)
Next came Doctor Who number 2, Patrick Troughton 1966-69. Dalek story 7 was called "The Power of the Daleks" shown on 5th November 1966. Story 8 was "The Evil of the Daleks" on 20th May 1967, and lasted until the 1st July (Dr. Who stories ran an average 4-6 weeks in those days). Next came a story called "The War Games" from 19th April to 12th June 1969. Patrick is also now dead and sadly missed.
3. Jon Pertwee (1970-1974)
Doctor number 3 was Jon Pertwee 1970-74. His first encounter with the Daleks was in a story called "The Day of the Daleks" shown on 1st January 1972, followed by "Frontier in Space" 24th February 1973. Then came story 12, "Planet of the Daleks" on the 7th April 1973; and after which this web site is affectionately named. Story 13 was one called "Death to the Daleks" on the 23rd February 1974. This takes us round to our next Doctor. Shame we cannot regenerate our dear departed actors who did such a great job playing the Doctor, as Jon also is sadly no longer alive.
4. Tom Baker (1974-1981)
Doctor Who number 4, and perhaps my own personal favourite of them all, was Tom Baker 1974-80. Strangely enough, Tom only actually had 2 meetings with the Daleks. The first was a story called "Genesis of the Daleks" on the 8th March 1975, and here we all had our first encounter with the chief scientist of the Kaled race (Kaled being an anogram of Dalek you'll notice) the inventor and creator of the Dalek war machine, Davros (although the real life creator is of course, Terry Nation). Four actors have played Davros to my knowledge, these were Terry Molloy, Michael Wisher, David Gooderson and most recently Julian Bleach who played the role very well. Following the "Genesis" story, there was a long gap before the next one, which was called "Destiny of the Daleks" screened on 1st September 1979. Tom Baker wanted to continue in the role of Dr. Who, but for some reason he was axed by the BBC.
5. Peter Davison (1982-1984)
Next came Doctor number 5, Peter Davison 1980-84. Again he only had 2 stories incorporating the Daleks. "The Five Doctors" done on 25th November 1983 was one which used all the actors from the previous incarnations (except for William Hartnell, who had sadly died in 1975 aged 67) he was replaced with the late Richard Hurndall as Doctor 1; and will be remembered for being a piece of classic Dr. Who! The 17th story was called "Resurrection of the Daleks" from the 8th February 1984.
6. Colin Baker (1984-1986)
Doctor 6 was Colin Baker 1984-87. He had just one meeting with the Daleks in a story called "Revelation of the Daleks" screened on 23rd March 1985.
7. Sylvester McCoy (1987-1996)
Doctor number 7 came in the guise of Sylvester McCoy 1987-89. It was in the story "Remembrance of the Daleks" that we saw our first levitation of a Dalek in 1988, and Davros as the Emperor Dalek. The story included a civil war between renegade Daleks and the Imperial Dalek forces. This was the last anyone was to see the Daleks on Doctor Who until their more recent appearances in the 21st Century.
8. Paul McGann (1996)
The only actor to have appeared in the role just one time, Paul did the made for TV movie.
9. Christopher Eccleston (2005)
The Daleks went missing from our TV screens after their demise from the Hand of Omega in the story "Remembrance of the Daleks", and did not re-emerge until 2005, when a lone Dalek was found trapped in an underground private museum in Utah. The Doctor involved in this particular meeting with his old enemy was played by Christopher Eccleston, who with his travelling companion Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper encountered this Dalek in a story called, quite simply "Dalek" screened on May 1st 2005.
Later the pair were to meet up with a huge army of Daleks in a 2 part story called "Bad Wolf", in which the Dalek Emperor is making Daleks out of humans, and a massive Dalek invasion fleet is poised to invade Earth and take it for their own planet. Of course, as always the plan is foiled once again by the Doctor; or to be more accurate, by Rose, as she links her mind to the spirit of the TARDIS and with this power, she unleashes it upon the Daleks and makes them cease to exist. They were to return later though and meet the 10th Doctor.
10. David Tennant (2005-2010)
David appeared as the 10th Doctor and encountered the Daleks in the stories Army of Ghosts and Doomsday, followed by Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks. Finally moving on to Stolen Earth and Journey's End, where the Doctor is actually killed by a Dalek but then regenerates from his severed hand with the aid of his female companion, Donna Noble. In these last two stories the Doctor once more meets up with his old adversary Davros, who is onboard the Dalek Crucible spaceship.
11. Matt Smith (2010 – ?)
Appeared in the role of "The Doctor" in Spring 2010.
12. Peter Capaldi (2014 - Present Day)
Peter is an excellent choice for the Doctor, although some of the stories written for him have not been what I call classic Doctor Who; but so far series 9 is proving to be rather good.
John Hurt - The Rogue Doctor
John took on the role of the rogue or forgotten Doctor who was the main cause of the Time Wars between the Daleks and the Time Lords of Gallifrey. Strictly speaking, he was in fact the 9th Doctor, but did not appear until much more recently, around 2014/15.
