Mark Harrison | On 30, Jan 2023

Offering 626 Doctor Who episodes broadcast between 1963 and 1996, BritBox is bigger on the inside. If you’ve watched all of the new series already, then why not join us as we turn on the TARDIS randomiser for a monthly primer on the adventures of the first eight Doctors…

In the context of Doctor Who, there’s no show without Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. Played by William Russell and Jacqueline Hill, the Coal Hill School teachers are the Doctor’s first human companions in the series, whisked away on an adventure with an old man and his granddaughter, both aliens, and teaching both of them as much as they learn along the way.

With history and science as the pillars of what was conceived as an educational teatime adventure series, it makes total sense that two of the main audience viewpoint characters are teachers in those subjects. Later writings about the show have waxed lyrical about how Ian, the science teacher, has become lost in history, while Barbara, the history teacher, is captured by science, which is a lovely way of looking at it. And counter to the mad, misremembered “no hanky-panky in the TARDIS” edict by Doctor Who producers of the 1980s, there’s a lovely chemistry between the pair as well – at worst, they seem fond of each other.

But throughout the early years of the programme, the First Doctor’s arc is one of mellowing, becoming less selfish and starting the mission that’s carried the show for 60 years and counting. In-universe, that begins with Ian and Barbara’s influence so, this month, we’re looking at some of their best stories in the show’s first two seasons, from 1963 to 1965.

An Unearthly Child (Season 1, 1963)

“I know that free movement in time and space is a scientific dream I don’t expect to find solved in a junkyard.”

Let’s start at the very beginning – the first-ever episode of Doctor Who is a terrifically imaginative play about two teachers following their unusual student to her given address and embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. While the serial almost falls at the first hurdle in its dubious historical take on the Stone Age, Russell and Hill absolutely sell that magical introduction, and their characters provide counterpoints to William Hartnell’s Doctor’s alien morality right from the off.

The Aztecs (Season 1, 1964)

“There will be no sacrifice this afternoon, Doctor. Or ever again.”

Often billed as an early high point for Doctor Who, this serial has Barbara learn the lesson that becomes more and more integral to the show as it’s gone on: time can be rewritten, but history must remain intact. So, when the history teacher is mistaken for the goddess Yetaxa in 15th-century Mexico, her well-intentioned bid to save an entire leads to a whole heap of trouble. The Aztecs is a massively influential story and a decisive development for Barbara and the TARDIS crew.

Planet of Giants (Season 2, 1964)

“I wonder what sort of a world could produce an insect that size.”

In a madly inventive start to the second season, Planet of Giants shows the fallout of opening the TARDIS doors while in transit – specifically, its passengers’ relative dimensions shrink upon landing in a normal Earth garden. Our inch-high heroes not only have to fight off “giant” insects, but also witness corporate corruption and murder from their ludicrously small vantage point. This one was shortened from four to three episodes during production and the pacing still feels a little slow, but its ground-level intrigue is a hoot.

The Rescue (Season 2, 1965)

“You can’t expect him to say goodbye to Susan and then forget about her the next minute.”

Immediately after Susan departs in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, we get a tightly-plotted two-parter about the fallout – the Doctor seems more interested in napping in the ship than exploring the planet Dido, initially leaving Ian and Barbara to go out on their own. They find outer-space castaway Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) eagerly awaiting rescue, while murderous alien Koquillion stalks around her crashed spaceship. This has one of the nastiest villains of the early serials, but aside from the memorable Shyamalan-esque plot twist, it reconfigures the show with Ian and Barbara as more experienced companions.

The Romans (Season 2, 1965)

“I thought the whole idea of us coming here was that we should all have a nice rest.”

Following on directly from a hilarious cliffhanger at the end of The Rescue, Vicki’s first adventure in time and space coincides with Ian and Barbara deciding to have a Roman holiday in 64AD. They have a lovely time for a month until they’re kidnapped by slave traders, forcing Ian to do his Gladiator thing and Barbara to fend off the amorous advances of Emperor Nero (Derek Francis). Incoming script editor Dennis Spooner makes his mark with a wickedly funny serial and mints the camp, comedic “celebrity historical” story that has continued up until the revival.

The Chase (Season 2, 1965)

“London, 1965!”

Ian and Barbara are in the first three Dalek serials and this third adventure sees the pepper pots hell-bent on chasing the TARDIS through history. The six-part run-around culminates in the teachers returning to their own time while they’ve got the chance. Not so long after Susan left, this is the end of the show’s original companion line-up and Hartnell, Russell, and Hill play the bittersweet parting magnificently. The First Doctor learned well from them, but for Ian and Barbara, The Chase was over.

Other trip

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It would be remiss of us not to mention The Web Planet (Season 2, 1965), whether honourably or dishonourably. Faced with ropey effects and creature costumes, Russell gives a BAFTA-worthy straight face while witnessing a character death that’s not so much poignant as hilarious, whereas Hill’s off-camera corpsing at one unconvincing effect made it all the way into the finished serial. Ambitious to the last, this isn’t a highlight of Classic Who by any means, but it’s fun if you’re in the mood.

As the only person who appears in both the first and the most recent episodes of Doctor Who, William Russell recently scored the Guinness World Record for longest gap between appearances by an actor as the same character in a TV show. His cameo as Ian in Jodie Whittaker’s swansong, The Power Of The Doctor came 57 years and 119 days after the final episode of The Chase.

On the other hand, Jacqueline Hill sadly never reprised her role as Barbara before she passed away in 1993, but she did guest-star in Doctor Who as another character. She played Tigellan priestess Lexa, in 1980’s Fourth Doctor serial Meglos (Season 18) and as squandered comebacks go, it’s a bit like if Billie Piper had randomly played the no-wi-fi mum in 2019’s Resolution.

Finally, if you haven’t watched An Adventure in Space and Time, Mark Gatiss’ 2013 biography of Doctor Who’s early days, that’s also currently available on BritBox and it’s well worth a watch. Starring alongside David Bradley as William Hartnell, Jamie Glover plays William Russell and Jemma Powell plays Jacqueline Hill.

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