Patrick Troughton

[MacNimon]

As with Hartnell, DoG have run an article on Troughton. You'll find it here:

Patrick Toughton

The same questions for Troughton as Hartnell. What do you think of his characterisation of the Doctor? How important/successful do you think he was? Are you familiar with anything else from his career outside of the series? And how big an influence was he on the series and/or the character of the Doctor as the series continued through the decades?

[MacNimon]

While Troughton is probably my least favourite of the first four Doctors (and I think that's simply because there's so few stories of his remaining to watch, and I get easily bored watching the same stuff too often; it's not his actual performances that I don't like), he's still miles ahead of most of those who followed. He, along with the production team of the time, probably had the hardest job of anyone who followed Hartnell. Once the decision had been made to make him a totally different character rather than just a younger, rejuvinated version of Hartnell, then Troughton obviously had one heck of a job on his hands to convince the audience that this stranger was still the same character they had come to love over the past 3 years or so. As it states in the article, Troughton was the one who had to learn how to replace the irreplaceable; in the case of the later actors in the role it was simply expected; but Troughton was the one who had to successfully prove that it could be done, wasn't he?

To answer my own questions: I'll have to point out another comment from the article regarding the first one - that of his character being misrepresernted as 'the funny one' in the multi-Doctor stories; I always remembered his performance in The Three Doctors since my childhood, and until I watched The Krotons in 1981 I always thought this was how his Doctor was all the time. But it was a much more serious Doctor which we saw in Troughtons regular stories, wasn't it, with just a touch of that humour which was later brought to the forefront? He was a likeable character all the same, and sadly that can't be said about all his successors. Of course he was a huge success in the role; the simple fact that the series is still running today is testament to that fact. Perhaps it was his versatility which helped him be such a success...he's one of those actors I was always aware of popping up in various tv series over the years but never in any starring role. And his influence has been felt ever since, with most of the Doctors citing Troughton as an influence and particularly Smith's current Doctor seemingly very Troughton-esque. And how many of those same actors have cited Trougton's 3 years as being the 'perfect' length of time to play the character?

I loved one other comment in that article..."This is another key thing we learned from Patrick Troughton, that it was tremendous fun to wind up Jon Pertwee." I've read comments from people who knew Pertwee that he was "utterly humourless" and like many comedians/entertainers he spent all his spare time analysing jokes and wondering why this one worked and that one didn't. I've no idea if the "humourless" comment is accurate or not, but the everything else just sounds like a true professional being, well, professional! But obviously if he was too serious he may have been setting himself up for a wind-up...

[SiHart]

Patrick Troughton of course did the brilliant thing of actually suceeding in the role. In that way he was wonderful casting because it would have been so easy to get it wrong. If he hadn't have done so well, we wouldn't be here now.

His Doctor is a slippery one to describe. He's not the clown his later appearances made him out to be- there's a darker streak of manipulation within him that is often overlooked. He's just as devious and manipulative of his companions and enemies as the 7th Doctor is later on. And yet he's always likeable and is a Doctor you'd want to travel with.

[Larry]

continuing a popular show after you've axed you're leading actor and replacing him with some one else playing the same role is a huge gamble. Had the BBC, got it wrong and chosen the wrong man the Doctor Who might very well of faded into obscurity and be vaguely remembered as some quaint sci fi show from the early 1960's. I think it says a lot for Pat's abbilities as an actor that he was able to pull it off and convince us that this was the same man but at the same time being some one completely different.