Surviving Footage of William Hartnell Interview (circa. 1967) 

If any Dr Who fans fancy seeing William Hartnell in a couple of great movies, I can recommend 'The Way Ahead' which can be found free on RU-vid and where he plays a no-nonsense and initially intimidating sergant who earns the respect of his men, and Hell Drivers, where he plays a complete scumbag in charge of a hilariously dangerous haulage company.

Now this is an interview. No bullshit, no sales pitches, just an actor being his authentic self without giving a shit about what people think of him. The real William Hartnell didn't have the charm of the First Doctor but the poor guy was typecast as basically himself for a long time. When he finally had a chance to do something different, he jumped at it and excelled. According to William Russel AKA Ian Chesterton, Hartnell deliberately flubbed some of his lines, presumably to differentiate the Doctor from his other characters as well as convey that he was "wearing a bit thin" (I love that Steven Moffat repeats that line with John Hurt 47 years later). When you see the First Doctor get bubbly and excited you can just disconnect him from the grumpy, short tempered guy who played him.

I recall when given the option to leave Doctor Who, he said that he would rather stay "for the children." What a champion.

I have TREMENDOUS appreciation for William Hartnell. Doing Doctor Who 48 weeks a year must have been a nightmare for the entire team.

It's unbelievable that he's only 59/60 years old in this. People aged very differently back then.

While it may well have been true, I don't think it fair to paint Hartnell as a "grump". He was a good man who had been through some hard things in his life. And I absolutely resonate and appreciate his "no nonsense/get the hell out of my face" attitude. I understand from stories that he could be difficult to work with sometimes. But I also absolutely believe that his original companions, especially, those actors loved Bill. I'm glad that Patrick Troughton came along, because he's my 2nd fav. Doctor. And if they hadn't been forced to come up with the "regeneration" idea, Who wouldn't have lasted, and I'd have never gotten my TOP favorite, Pertwee. But it also saddens me that Hartnell was basically forced to step down from a role he reportedly enjoyed, because of his declining health/memory. I love that he personally recommended Troughton to replace him. But I'm sure it still broke his heart, and was more than a bit humbling/humiliating to be told he was getting too old/sick to play the role he basically created. So I'm sure he was a bit bitter/raw about that, and plus I'm sure people wouldn't stop asking him about Who, which I'm sure could get very annoying.

It's so interesting how it reminds me of Christopher Ecclestons take on the show once it was done (even though we all know the circumstances for that were very different). No bullshit, no lip service, being in the state of mind that progresses their careers so as to not get typecast. Both love their craft and approached it with the seriousness such a thing demands. Absolute respect.

RIP William Hartnell (January 8, 1908 - April 23, 1975), aged 67 You will be remembered as a legend.

It just shows how much of a performance he was putting on as the doctor. A lot of people probably assumed he was just an old man being an old man.

I can’t blame him for being irritated at this interviewer. When he says pantomime isn’t his future, the interviewer immediately assumes that Hartnell “lacks” some sort of skill for doing pantomime, when he’s clearly saying the opposite… he’s too overqualified as an actor to make a living in pantomime. And of course he’s right, pantomime isn’t the “legitimate” theatre, it’s just a lark.

The very last second of this film, he gives us a great smile! A shame that shot couldn't have been held a little longer.

It's astonishing. And painful, and desperately sad. But still somehow awe-inspiring.

You can still see glimmers of the Doctor in Bill's replies.

A cross between the Wizard of Oz and Santa Claus might be the best description of the First Doctor, and most of the following ones too!

William Hartnell was extremely talented. (he was also very modest) He always used to come across as rather too serious. (mind you - many actors did in those days) He was extremely good-looking; women fancied him.(I did!) He looked much older when doing Dr. Who; one because of the make-up they used (because he was supposed to be an old man in the series) the other his health - he wasn’t old, though being in your fifties (for those young babes of today) you were knocking on a bit! He could pretty much do anything. Very underestimated as an actor. See some of his old movies. I think someone once called him ‘sexy’ when he was younger - but he didn’t like it!

now *THIS* is an interview.

I think no matter how much I enjoyed playing a role, if I kept getting asked the same questions about it, I'd get a little grumpy too--especially if a) I'd been asked to leave before I was ready, b) the show I'd starred in for three years was doing perfectly well without me, despite my misgivings about its direction, and c) I was trying to put it behind me and move on to something else. Fascinating footage; thanks for posting!

"Would you ever consider returning to the roll of The Doctor?" "No. They've replaced me with a clown, and who knows who they'll cast after him? Probably some sort of dandy type character I shouldn't wonder. No, I wouldn't come back to all that nonsense."

This footage was shot in Taunton, Somerset for BBC Points West I believe, whilst he was coming to the end of his pantomime run in January 1967. There was actually an earlier interview he did the previous month for BBC Look East while he was in Ipswich, Suffolk for the tour. However, for some unknown reason the team has since disposed of the footage.

He is saying that the legitimate theater and the variety theater are two different skillsets, which is correct. They were adjacent worlds, and he was a guest of the performers who specialized in variety. If you say that television requires different skills than movies or the stage, that is not an insult. If you say that comedy and tragedy are not the same, there is no insult. Being able to "code switch" back and forth between acting dialects is a very nice display of skill.

Gosh Bill was straight talking no nonsense

What a grumpy bugger eh. Love it. Never thought David Bradley captured the 1st Dr well, no Mmms & ahhs and Chesterfields lines. Thanks for uploading this.

Now THIS, this right here, is very interesting indeed.

I didn't realize how skinny he was until I watched The Romans.

This is amazing footage of Hartnell . Thank you so much for posting this golden piece of film !

You can see where an Adventure in Space and Time got their inspiration from certain lines: "the Wizard of Oz mixed with Father Christmas" "talk turkey"

Wow. He’s so skinny. This is priceless 😊. I’m sure after 3 years he was bitter he was asked to leave. Plus the show was so new he couldn’t care less. Little did he know it’s still on 60 years later.

What a lovely accent he has when he's not laying on the RP (as they all did).

Great interview. Good questions, especially the oone about pantomime. As an actor, one uses all physical and vocal abilities to get the job done. Pantomime is restrictive in that it limits the actor's arsenal of things they can use, and this might not be up Hartnell's tree. Playing the Doctor might have been a reflection of Hartnell himself to a degree. A big "what if..", playing mind games, would have been to imagine someone like Ecclestone playing the first Doctor, and Hartnell playing the War Doctor. Switching Tom Baker and Matt Smith's Doctors is also an interesting mind exercise. But Hartnell was the perfect choice for the role he played.

In some ways he does sound a little bitter about his time in Doctor who even though he had said many times that it was the best time of the life, which I would imagine is down to him still feeling a little upset that he was in a way forced out of the show due to his own poor health which must have hurt him a lot. Much as I'm sure he was fine with someone else coming along and playing the doctor I imagine it must have been at least a little upsetting to see someone else playing a role in a show that you once had and loved doing, as well the fact that anytime the media talked to you they only ever wanted to talk about Doctor who

Bill didn't take any crap!

Very disrespectful interviewer to Mr Hartnell .

Fascinating. Thanks

THIS IS TERRIFIC! THANK YOU!

Great find!

Bloody hell, I'd have got annoyed at that interviewer as well. Seems he didn't like Hartnell and wanted to provoke him. Perhaps there'd been a curt exchange before the cameras started rolling but in any case the interviewer was tremendously disrespectful.

The sad thing is how he talks about how he will make a success at something else. My understanding, from his granddaughters biography of him, this pantomime was the last work he did in the theatre. She says he wasn’t great in this panto and forgot lines. But it didn’t matter because the kids in the audience loved him. He was still Dr Who as far as they were concerned and they loved every moment. But it was far away from his best work. He had but a few roles afterwards, making one-off appearances in other series, and he never had another major role until his brief and final performance in The Three Doctors.

Watch William Hartnell in Brighton rock , Some actor.

He must be in a dressing room. Looks like he is putting a little makeup on. I love the way he sounds and talks.

Love this❤

This is awesome

This interview right here is why I find the idea that Hartnell would be angry with Chibnall for the Timeless Child so ridiculous. Does this sound like a man who would care, even in the slightest, what Doctor Who was doing with its story and lore decades after his death? I think not.

16mm footage he shot in 1972 for The Three Doctors would be nice to see...

He has that alien quality doesn't he in this interview.

What excellent casting.

Glad he was able to shake it off.

So he's 59 here, which I am now. I always thought he looked much older than his actual age in Dr. Who. Maybe it's just the way they made him up, and the way his character was supposed to act.

I dont think he appeared grumpy. He seemed very honest and articulate

Hartnell: I don't like anything blue or sidiaous or suggestive.... Torchwood: *coughs*

Worth chasing down the old B-movie "Hell Drivers." It stars Hartnell and a very young Sean Connery.

Very good actor . I think he is bitter about Dr who here though as he loved the program but his poor health meant he could no longer continue in the role

I had no idea he was that thin

He was only 67 years old when he passed away

A adventure of space and time was great

Pertwee said the same of the Daleks.

Blimey! Interview footage with William Hartnell is like gold dust. We see a man that comes across as natural and not like a lot of fellow actors: pretentious and lofty. If only the remaining part of the interview could be found. I agree with other comments about the interviewer - he was being quite disrespectful and provocative toward William Hartnell.

Interesting

William Hartnell was in the first cary on film

0:38….SPOILERS…. As of 2022, he has yet to shake it off or make as success of something else.

I'm hardly as successful a performer as he, but I do know that work is work. Far better to work than sit at home waiting for better tomorrow to be granted him. There's a very closed mind there. So closed off to learning an new experiences. He's so afraid of being typecast in something he he thinks will pigeonhole him that he's pigeonholed himself. Though he doesn't know he has only 10 years left, he's still holding on to hopes of the past as his today runs through his fingers. I think that's a function of the social class distinction having yet to fall apart. He's trying to play by rules he hasn't realized are dying. I am only guessing, but the great war may have hurt his family, and the uncertainty of WWII had the profound effect of making him want to play it safe. It hurts to watch him do it to himself. Thank for sharing this!

I can see why Peter Cushing was cast in the movies. They look a lot alike.

William Hartnell is the original doctor who you might say because with out William Hartnell you might no have a doctor for Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee and tom baker and Peter Davidson and Colin baker and Sylvester mcocoy and Paul Mcgann and Christopher Elston and David Tennant and matt Smith and Peter cpolid and Jodi Whittier and any another actor so well done William Hartnell

From the comments, I learned he was forced to leave the show due to health. I always figured the producers came up with the regeneration concept from the beginning of the series, so they could replace any actor who felt he owned the role and started to demand more money. It would have always been a threat to the actor to not cause trouble or he could easily be replaced. I'm an American and have seen some of the installments, but aren't completely familiar with the series. Since the Dalek appears to have a toilet plunger for one arm and the inside of a paint roller for the other, it always seemed to me the Doctor should follow the distribution of these items to shutdown the Dalek production facility.

When was this footage uncovered?

He gives off John Lydon vibes. Is it just me?

I have to say - I never imagined him doing his own eyeliner…..

GIVEN THAT THERE REALLY ARE TWO STORIES...AS TO WHY WILLIAM HARTNELL LEFT DOCTOR WHO.....1... the ill health story......and 2.. the was awkward to work with ....story.............well.. watching this.....i tend to go along with the latter....!!!!!! Mark Gatiss...was torn on this issue too....in his dramatisation....in 2013.....so he went with BOTH versions..............in this film.... my suspicions of his personality.....being the reason.....remain strong,..still.................

0:01

We spoke our minds 50 year ago, now people are offended if you say ‘BOO’, to loudly, Bill is being perfectly normal here…

If anybody is only from the UK and may not know who I am talking about. Hartnell is a real life version of Archie Bunker. A grumpy, dissatisfied, nationalistic Biggot who had dreams that didn’t really come true(be as famous as Sir Laurence Olivier).

If he thinks pantomime is beneath him then why is he doing it ?!? Grumpy old sod 😂

So you telling me Hartnell put on a voice to play the first doctor?

I don't understand how he was able to do pantomime, which is supposed to be very strenuous for an actor, when he was in such poor health.

呃呃总是没时间不然我就把老版dw也看了😭老版博士都认不全，好他妈失败

What happened to William Hartnell's Doctor Who thanks to Chris Chibnall has totally disrespected the cannon of the series. Thus far the Jodie Whitaker era has been the Woke low that hopefully will not be repeated. Log live Doctor Who.

Loved him in everything... The way ahead/Immortal battalion he was BRILLIANT as regular army...❤❤❤

Wonder what he would think of Ncuti Gatwa doubt he'd be too pleased apparently he was a bit of a racist