Moderator's Note: This is Mike's original Ian summary:

Ian could have been a complete load, a la Harry Sullivan, but thanks to William Russell's performance, Ian actually acheived some prescence. I found him very believable as a teacher and as an Aztec warrior. Russell was also good at giving Hartnell his cues without being too obvious.

The novelization of "The War Games" suggests that, after his return to Earth, Ian became an important figure in the Ministry of Science. I don't see how. He was missing for over 18 months without any explanation. Wouldn't that look bad on your record?

The writers were smart to keep any hint of romance between Ian and Barbara to a minimum, other than the odd flirtation scene at the beginning of "The Romans."



'Face of the Enemy' claims that Ian got the job because someone high up knew he'd been travelling with the Doctor. General Kramer in 'Vampire Science' says that they like to collect people connected with the Doctor.

Or maybe Ian was just lying about his job to whoever wrote 'The War Games' - like he did to the author of 'Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks'.

I hated Vampire Science. It was a truly terrible book. I now refuse to touch the BBC novels. Bring back Virgin!

You can't judge the whole series by one book, Edje.

I didn't think William Russell was that great of an actor, to be honest. One prejudice I had against the character was that he was more the hero than the Doctor.

They used Russell for the physical action because of Hartnell's age. It was almost inevitable Russell would be seen as the action man.

I don't mind Ian being the action man - it's his (and Susan's and Barbara's) role as the conscience of the group that worries me. If you decide on an old, frail, bad-tempered hero you might at least give him some moral authority to justify his leadership.

Are you sure it the novelisation of The War Games and not The War Machines?

Isn't Ian the human conscience, while the Doctor brings in the perspective of an alien?

I rather like Ian. As an adult male, if I were thrown into weird space-time situations as Ian was, I wouldn't be surprised if I reacted the same way Ian did. The first Doctor had the habit of often exploring very dangerous planets. Somebody had to be around and say "Doctor, I don't mind the whole mind expanding bit and discovering new cultures, but we also have a teenage girl along for the ride as well as another schoolteacher who may not have gamble on having such adventures. Certainly, I didn't." Remember, the Doctor is alien and not quite used to us humans during his first body. Somebody had to remind the Doctor that we only die once, not twelve times.

The Doctor might then have said "Well, you shouldn't have pushed your way into the ship, now should you young man, hmmmmm?

Well, then Ian would've have said, "Hey, I thought is a was Police Box, not some Time and Relative Dimensions in Space contraption."
As it was, once Ian and Barbara were in, they were kidnapped by the Doctor almost immediately. If I were Ian, I would be just a little upset (actually really pissed off) with the situation.

Lunier--you're describing exactly how Ian behaved from "An Unearthly Child" to "The Edge of Destruction." Once he learned more about the Doctor, he became a bit more trusting.

Yeah, he did chill out later on. You don't think it was Helsinki Syndrome?

I've seen references to a lot of plays written by a Willy Russell? Are he and William Russell the same person or not? I'm not sure, given William Russell's real name is Russell Enoch.

Chris- AFAIK, no.

Didn't Ian smoke in the novelisation of The Daleks? Or at least crave a cigarette?

I wouldn't be surprised. It seems the majority of Brits (at least when I was there) smoked.

Come to think of it, that is where I picked up the habit.

When were you in Britain, Luiner? Nowadays most of
us are definitely non-smokers, though that doesn't
stop us getting other people's filthy smoke blown
in our faces at bus-stops.

Chris, you don't want to take any notice of that
Daleks novelisation. It also claims that Ian is
some kind of real scientist, and that he and
Barbara are in love.

Wonder why David Whitaker did that? Made Ian a scientist, I mean?

I was there from '75 to '83, Emily. Left when I was 18. Pretty much grew up there.

In 'The Great Escape' (made in 1963), William Russell plays one of the British prisoners in the PoW camp. And he speaks and behaves exactly like Ian... Except that he smokes a pipe!

The one thing I have wondered is this:was Ian's
last name of Chesterton meant as a reference to
the English writer and Catholic apologist
G.K.Chesterton?

Apparently, William Russell has now succumbed to Companion Chronicle syndrome, & has narrated one of the 2 "Companion Chronicles" audios, released next month...
"Transit of Venus", is from the few details on Big Finish's website, is a 1st Doctor adventure, & set in historical times (the 18th Century ?).

An excellent idea - he must be ancient by now, best to squeeze a few audios out of him before he croaks.

Re: Emily's last post
True, Emily, though given that Carole Ann Ford had already done a Companion Chronicle (Here There Be Monsters) could there be a Ian/Susan Companion Chronicle, in the near future, voiced by William & Carole, possibly set pre-Unearthly Child...?

Huh. Guess the 'He hasn't aged' thing is gonna preclude William Russell making an appearance in the new series...Well, it would have been awkward without inconsiderately-dead Jacqueline Hill anyway, I suppose. And if he couldn't even turn up for Mawdryn Undead and save the poor Brig from the indignity of becoming a maths teacher, he probably wouldn't have done it anyway. (HAS he done DVD commentaries? Conventions? ANYTHING except that narration for, um, I think it was the Crusades video?)

It's entirely possible he may actually have a life.

A LIFE? What the hell would he want one of THOSE for?

TARDIS Eruditorum: Ian is 'essentially a middle-aged ex-soldier' - I was about to scream BLASPHEMY! when I realised that...he IS, isn't he. Never mind that he's not remotely middle-aged (come to think of it, how old IS he supposed to be? Mid-20s? Early 30s?) and has shown no signs of being in the army (though he'll no doubt have to have done National Service...*Checks TARDIS Wiki* Aha! There's plenty about him being a private in the British Army - but ONLY in the novels. So THAT doesn't count.) But, let's face it, Ian IS considerably more military-minded than some UNIT soldiers I could mention (well, long-haired tree-hugging Mike Yates, anyway).

Reign of Terror:

Let me get this straight. From his prison window, Ian sees Barbara and Susan being hauled off for execution. He then sees the keys left in his cell door. He carefully extracts the correct one and then settles down for a nice meal before eventually (HOURS later?) deciding that now might be a convenient time to escape. He then searches around for some stranger so he can deliver a message from his dying cellmate.

I'm sorry, I've always had the impression that Ian actually GAVE A •••• whether Barbara and Susan lived or died. Obviously I was sore mistaken.

I'd say he was in denial (or serenely sure after they'd survived so many misadventures that they'd escape the Guillotine) except that his greeting to Barbara is 'I thought you were - this is great!' Ian SO thought they were goners.

Mind you, in his defence - he does look cute in that ruffled shirt.

William Russell, at 89, is the oldest living Companion.

Apparently both he and Carole Ann Ford have cameos in the documentary movie about the beginnings of Doctor Who. Kind of fitting, since they're the last two surviving cast members of An Unearthly Child.

The Daleks:

'I've tried everything I know' (to persuade the Thals to help them) says Ian. BEFORE taking the principled stand that 'I will not ask the Thals to sacrifice themselves for us.' Before, um, destroying the Thals' deepest-held beliefs to force 'em all to risk their lives to help the TARDIS crew get their carelessly-mislaid fluid link back.

And whilst he's defying Barbara's you're-condemning-us-all-to-death claims, he's being ridiculously NICE to the Doctor who's got them all in this mess in the first place:

'I'm afraid my little trick has rather rebounded on me. Hmm! what you might call tempting provenance, Chesterman.' 'Well, don't worry about it now Doctor, it's happened' 'Well, at least you're not vindictive.' - so GET vindictive!! Especially when your future bride is blaming YOU instead of HIM for this entire fiasco!

The whole 8th series takes place in Coal Hill, the Doctor parks his TARDIS in Coal Hill, he took a Coal Hill class on a field trip through the fairytale forest of Trafalgar Square, Ian is the Governor of Coal Hill, and not only has this professor of unusual intelligence not made a cameo, but he shows no sign of noticing the Doctor's unique brand of mischief in his school. Its a plot hole large enough to drive a Steven Moffat through

In practical terms, he CAN'T make a cameo, can he. SJA: Death of the Doctor assured us that Ian Chesterton hasn't aged a day since he left the TARDIS whereas William Russell...has.

And if he DOES put two and two together...maybe Ian just decided to let the Doctor sort out his own messes in future. If he knows ANYTHING he'll probably know that 'his' Doctor has moved on to become considerably more effective (and attractive) characters who can cope with alien invasions and even BLOODY STUPID MAGIC FORESTS without him and Barbara disrupting their hard-won 'normal' (if immortal) lives to rush to the aid of the total git who spent YEARS hanging round Southern England in the 1970s (or was it the 80s) without once looking them up.

And if he DOES put two and two together...maybe Ian just decided to let the Doctor sort out his own messes in future.

Ian knows very well the sort of trouble the Doctor brings with him. Had he known about his presence at Coal Hill, he would have done his best to have him removed to protect the students. At the very least, he would have sought him out to find out EXACTLY what he was up to.

Ian knows very well the sort of trouble the Doctor brings with him.

Not necessarily. Ian's only encountered the Doctor in modern-day Earth once*, where the Doc was living quietly and peacefully for FIVE MONTHS without bringing any alien monstrosities down on anyone's head (if we ignore the Time and Relative novella, the Destiny of the Doctor CD, etc). Plus even when he dragged those interfering schoolteachers off round time and space, they had months of trekking round medieval China and suchlike without encountering any monsters. Ian would be considerably less paranoid about the whole bringing-death-in-his-wake thing than any subsequent Companion.

*Obviously Planet of the Giants doesn't count.

About Time: 'Ever the man-about-town, Ian keeps his tie on even when he's inside a bomb that's being dropped down a mine' - well, what would be the point of taking it off THEN?

'Note the sensitive way the theme of mental disturbance is introduced by Ian saying, of the Doctor, "don't you think he's going a little..." (does school playground "spazz" gesture)' - look, he's from the 60s. His attitudes towards mental illness(/being an ancient alien) are as nothing compared to his attitudes towards WOMEN. (And, no doubt, BLACK PEOPLE, had he ever had the misfortune to encounter such a creature.)

Lawrence and Tat surely realize that this was fifty years ago. Back then, one could get away with writing characters like that.

Today it's unacceptable, and rightfully so.

I was flipping the channels last night and came across the second half of 'The Great Escape' from 1963, and just a few minutes in I saw a very familiar face and heard him speak! I had no idea that William Russell was in such a blockbuster!
He even wore a big overcoat like he did in 'An Unearthly Child'!
And just to give you an idea of the star power in the movie...

Steve McQueen
James Garner
Richard Attenborough
Charles Bronson
Donald Pleasence
James Coburn
David McCallum

The Chase:

'You haven't much faith in Ian's infallible self-reservation, have you' the Doctor tells Barbara. Interesting. The greatest survivor in universal history is accusing IAN CHESTERTON of being obsessed with saving his own skin? Personally, I'd've put Ian right up there with Harry Sullivan as Companion Most Likely To Sacrifice Himself For A Member Of The Fair Sex.

Of course, the fact is, Ian DID 'accidentally' acquire a dose of immortality somehow...

And then there's the time he stood watching all the Thals walk into an ambush...

'Barbara, could I have your cardigan?' 'AGAIN?' - who says there are no good lines in The Chase...?

At some point, I want to hear Capaldi's Doctor talk about the Brigadier, "He was a good friend of mine. He used to be a soldier. Then he retired and became a maths teacher... And suddenly I feel like I owe someone a big apology..."

I think you'll have to wait for a regeneration. Capaldi's not gonna admit that his BFF (not to mention the only person in the universe who's ever been his boss) was a SOLIDER.

Anyway, he ought to be a lot more apologetic about the Cyberman stuff than the maths-teacher stuff, appalling as it was...

Before Doctor Who, William Russell did s series called The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, in which he played the title role.

I watched one episode of that show last night, called Roman Wall.

In that episode, Lancelot is asked by a king to investigate the disappearance of said king's daughter. According to the king, his daughter had been kidnapped by the ghosts of Roman soldiers.

When Lancelot gets to the Roman wall in question, he finds not ghosts, but a Roman town, still inhabited by Romans, descendants of those that remained when the Romans left Britain, more then a century before. Said Romans are convinced that the Roman Legions will one day return to re-establish Roman rule over Britain.

Lancelot finds the missing princess, but finds that she's happy to stay with the Romans, having fallen in love with the son of the Roman ruler.

Despite some backstabbing from the advisor of the Roman ruler, everything is sorted out. The Romans decide to re-establish contact with the outside world, and the princess is free to marry the Roman ruler's son (after being able to tell her father that she's okay).

A pretty good show, IMO.

Oh, so they kept THAT did they, whilst they were GENOCIDING Who...

so they kept THAT did they, whilst they were GENOCIDING Who...

Yes, because the Sir Lancelot series was an ITV show, not a BBC one.

ITV kept all their shows?

DAMMIT.

No, they didn't. The regional ITVs (Thames, Granada, Central, Yorkshire and etc.) junked a lot of stuff too.

Of course, the Sir Lancelot series has American money and a network (NBC, which secured the U.S. broadcast rights) behind it. That might have helped.

It was fun to see William Russell pre-Doctor Who, IMO.

Basically anything made on film has a good chance of surviving because it was produced at least in part with an eye on overseas sales*. Most of the BBC's output was made on tape for domestic consumption - exceptions being American and Canadian co-productions like 'The Third Man' - so wasn't retained; but this is also true of ITV's domestic output. It looks like so much more ITV stuff survived because the film series had a longer shelf life at home as well and those are the ones that stick in the imagination.

And while we might bemoan this as misfortune, the fact that Doctor Who was such a big overseas seller is one of the reasons that so much of it still survives. A lot is missing, but it's actually one of the better-preserved BBC drama series of the period.

* The holy grail at the time of 'Lancelot' being the first major ITV success story, 'The Adventures of Robin Hood', which was a big hit in the US - ironically given that it was largely made by black-listed American communists in exile** - which is why so much of indy telly's more memorable output until the spy boom of the early 1960s involved tights, swordfights and castles in various interchangeable historical periods. 'Lancelot's USP was that it was made in colour, about a decade before anyone owned a colour set, which was probably more an impediment rather than a boon but meant that Who could still afford William Russell a few years later.

Anyway, this is where 'The Time Meddler' comes from, but the definitive BBC take on their rival's output is 'Ericcson the Viking', in which Tony Hancock becomes the star of a poverty row adventure series whose title sequence involves him "nipping through the woods" while Belisha beacons show up in the foreground.

** 'Doctor Who's equivalent would seem to be the number of ex-pat Hungarians and anti-Apartheid South Africans it had on the books in the 1960s.

My favourite ITV regional franchise story is this:

---

quote:

Thames/LWT were showing something like Super Cup football from Africa in the late-night/overnight slot, so one chap got some beers in and invited his mates round to watch the game.
However, he lived in Royston in Hertfordshire, which is served by Anglia, and he hadn't checked this. Come 11.40 that evening, and instead of the match starting he and his pals saw... the epilogue on Anglia, followed by the station closing down for the night.
They were not too pleased...

---

I think that Sir Lancelot was William Russell's first regular TV job.

Lancelot's USP was that it was made in colour, about a decade before anyone owned a colour set

BLESS!

It was probably made in colour because it had American money, and a network, involved in the production.

Doctor Who Broke A Guinness World Record with William Russell stepping back in as Ian:
https://screenrant.com/doctor-who-ian-chesterton-william-russell-world-record/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=Echobox-SR-FB-P&utm_medium=Social-Distribution&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3XGTdBdRTp5Z1Un6OXg-RTXD_ixawYc08pj671jyUBoENOBGstW43cImc#Echobox=1666766485

What a hilariously inaccurate article.

Which doesn't alter the fact that IAN ROCKS!

Take THAT, Alpha Centuri!

Congratulation to William Russell for 98 years of not dying.

Normally such things are an exquisite agony to me (EIGHT BILLION PEOPLE! That's seven billion more than this planet can sustain! Why can't people just DIE any more! And also STOP HAVING BABIES!) but in THIS case it's an ENTIRELY different matter obviously, and I look forward to Ian encountering Ncuti sometime...

Or Ian encountering Ruby

In fact I can see a family resemblance, she could be his granddaughter.

In what way is the article inaccurate?

Oh gods - I've got to read it AGAIN?

'The special episode was Jodie Whittaker’s final appearance as the Doctor'

Highly unlikely, and what's more, it had DAMNED WELL BETTER NOT BE.

'throughout Doctor Who’s 60-year history'

59.

'Russell’s role as the Doctor’s first true companion'

Um, Susan! Barbara!

'The previous record was held by Phillip Lowrie as Dennis Tanner, after a 43-year gap on Coronation Street'

Ah. I assumed that was inaccurate but Alpha Centuri was also 43 years, maybe this stupid-Lesser-Programmed-person pipped it by a few weeks or something.

'combining the first companion with the latest companions shows how Doctor Who has developed its stories, technologies, and reputation.'

Ooh! How?

'Ian is completely surprised that the Doctor is now female.'

What, THAT'S stories, technologies, and reputation?

'his surprise is also linked to him expecting the other companions to all be talking about William Hartnell’s Doctor'

Not if you believe the novels.

'It’s revival in 2009'

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Also, misuse of apostrophe in 'it's'.)

'deepened audience's connections with the Doctor and their true companions'

This 'true companions' thing is getting deeply weird.

'Using the 60th-anniversary special to bring Ian back'

Not just inaccuracies but DOUBLING-DOWN on 'em...

Did you click on the 'true companion' link in the article?

Oh! No I didn't.

Pah!

YET MORE ammunition for the original article's inaccuracy, given that THIS claims Susan not Ian was One's True Companion.

Why can't the stupid people just ADMIT Five n'Six simply HAD no True Companion?

And turning to the audios whilst ignoring the novels is just stupid. Eight HAS no True Companion but if he DID it would sure as hell be Fitz not Lucie bleedin' Miller.

Could anything BE more desperate than claiming WAR-CARDINAL OLLISTRA is War's True Companion?

'It would be criminal to suggest that anyone other than Rose Tyler could be the true companion to David Tennant's Tenth Doctor' - Well guess I'm a criminal then cos Donna totally WAS Ten's True Companion. As was Rose, of course, but I'm pretty sure most of that abject misery at the end of Journey's End was for Donna not Rose...

'Because Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor only lasted a single season, Rose would be his favored companion by default.' - It's not 'by default' it's because Rose was unprecedentedly wonderful and he was in love with her and no one beats CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS by DEFAULT.

And as for GRAHAM being JODIE!'s True Companion...(I mean, we the viewers all love, er, tolerate him best, OBVIOUSLY, but he ditched her for RYAN! Whereas the Doc was so crazy about Yaz she compared her to RIVER SONG for heaven's sake.)

Buying into their premise that each Doctor has a true companion and then attempting to argue within that framework might not have been the wisest strategy.

Well, it's undeniably true that there ARE Companions the Doctor loves. And Companions s/he merely tolerates.

Emily - "Why can't the stupid people just ADMIT Five n'Six simply HAD no True Companion?"

I have an image of Tegan and Peri pointing at themselves, screaming, "Uh, helllooooo?!?!?!?"

I don't think TEGAN would ever claim she n'the Doc had a beautiful, tender, special rapport. I've seen Doctors view a DESTROYED GALLIFREY with less horror on their faces than Davison's when Tegan cheerily announced she was rejoining him and Tom even made an Aunt Vanessa joke as bad as the Master's.

And as for Peri - the man tried to strangle her, I mean, LITERALLY TO STRANGLE HER.

Then I don't understand what the term 'true companion' means.
Tegan was with the Fifth Doctor from his regeneration to his last couple of stories-- nearly all 3 years of his series.
And frankly, when I think of the Sixth Doctor, I only think of Peri, not Mel. Yes, there was the whole strangling thing (which I feel is WORSE than the Coat OR the 10-second acid bath scene), but by the time of the Trial's episodes, he'd mellowed and seemed to like her more.

Oh, wait, I re-read above. Does it mean a companion the Doctor had feelings for? In that case, I'd agree with you, more or less.
I thought this was about a companion that's most closely associated with their Doctor.

From doctorwhonews.net; It's official-- the Guinness World Records people have noticed a teacher from Coal Hill School...

"Guinness World Records have confirmed that Doctor Who has earned another entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Since the screening of The Power of the Doctor last month, the record for the longest gap between TV appearances of an actor playing a television character is now held by William Russell, for his portrayal of First Doctor companion Ian Chesterton.
Russell played Chesterton in the first episode of Doctor Who in 1963. He stayed with the series for two years, appearing in 77 episodes. His last appearance was in The Planet of Decision, the final episode of The Chase, broadcast on the 26th June 1965.
Although the character has been mentioned in the series since then, Ian has not actually appeared in the series until he was seen in the last few minutes of The Power of the Doctor, screened on 23rd October 2022.
The gap between appearances is therefore 57 years 120 days.
The previous record holder was Philip Lowrie who returned to the role of Dennis Tanner in Coronation Street after 43 years."

Impressive.

Happy birthday to William Russell (yesterday from where I stand) who is now a whopping 99 years old.