Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
It’s time to talk about how I view Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. Of course, Patrick Troughton had the challenge of taking over from William Hartnell as the Doctor. He did well with the take-over. ‘Doctor Who’ wouldn’t be where it is today without Patrick Troughton. 🙂
The concept of regeneration was introduced as soon as it was decided to transform William Hartnell into Patrick Troughton at the end of ‘The Tenth Planet’ leading into ‘The Power of the Daleks’. It’s very intriguing how Patrick Troughton played the character differently compared to William Hartnell.
Patrick Troughton didn’t copy what William Hartnell did. Since the Second Doctor isn’t portrayed as the old man like the First Doctor was, he was allowed to be active and energetic. Initially, the Second Doctor was portrayed as a clown figure. As time went on, he was taken more seriously by audiences.
The idea of the Doctor adopting a clownish persona to hide a deeply fierce intelligence is something that appeals to writers who write the Doctor, whether it’d be in the TV series, audios, comics and books. It’s thanks to Patrick Troughton’s portrayal of the Doctor on how that aspect has come about.
Patrick Troughton’s Doctor had his fair share of companions, including Anneke Wills as Polly and Michael Craze as Ben, who were there with him at the beginning. Frazer Hines as Jamie has been the Second Doctor’s constant companion, having starred in all but one of Patrick Troughton’s TV stories.
Deborah Watling as Victoria soon appeared alongside Patrick Troughton’s Doctor and Frazer Hines’ Jamie and became a worthy companion to them in Season 5. The same goes for Wendy Padbury as Zoe, who appeared alongside Patrick Troughton as the Doctor and Frazer Hines as Jamie in Season 6.
I’m fond of the Second Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ and have written stories featuring that era to prove that, including ‘Brain and Heart’ and the ‘Zorbius’ story ‘The Deepening Rain’. I’ve also enjoyed the Big Finish audios that feature the Second Doctor era, including ‘Prison in Space’ and ‘Daughter of the Gods’.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
Patrick Troughton’s era, even with how successful Troughton was for the fans in making the notion of regenerating the role popular enough, may have been greatly challenged by the coinciding years for Star Trek. But there were still some pivotally great stories like The Tomb Of The Cybermen, The Web Of Fear and The War Games. Knowing from Babelcolour’s The Almost Doctors of other actors, including Brian Blessed and Valentine Dyall, who were considered to refresh the role, it’s clear that Sydney Newman’s optimism on a specifically new persona for the Doctor was brave enough to take certain chances. Thankfully it was Troughton that made the best impression. Thank you too, Tim, for your reflection of the 2nd Doctor.
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Patrick Troughton’s era of ‘Doctor Who’. Glad you enjoyed my reflection on the Second Doctor era. I’m amazed that ‘Doctor Who’ has kept going with different actors playing the character and giving their own take on the time-travelling alien. I’m glad Patrick Troughton made the Second Doctor his own character and many actors have followed in his footsteps as well as William Hartnell’s since then.
Many thanks for your comments.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
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