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Welcome to Day Three of Popwrapped’s rundown of the past Time Lords who have enchanted us Whovians for the last 50 years.
When Patrick Troughton announced that his time in the TARDIS was coming to the end, the stars seemed to align and the first ‘fanboy’ actor to play the Time Lord arrived on TV screens way back in 1970.
Jon Pertwee, who was already a household name thanks to his appearances on the BBC hit radio show The Navy Lark, became the Third Doctor and played the role from 1970 – 1974. Pertwee asked his agent to put his name forward, only to discover that he was second choice for the role, after Ron Moody of Olivier fame. His portrayal of the Doctor was groundbreaking in a number of ways. First of all, Pertwee’s Doctor was the first to be shown in colour. All of Hartnell and Troughton’s episodes were shown in black and white, so the regeneration into the technicolour “Dandy Doctor” would have been a thing of wonder for viewers back in 1970. Interestingly we never saw the actual regeneration into Pertwee, another first for the show.
When we first meet our third Time Lord, he has been exiled to 20th century earth as a punishment by the Time Lord Council, and the only mode of transportation he has is “Bessie” the canary yellow roadster. Whilst exiled on Earth, the Doctor began working for the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, better known as UNIT, as a scientific advisor. This is mentioned when David Tennant’s Doctor is reunited with UNIT in “The Sontaran Stratagem” where we discover that he is still on the staff of UNIT.
Photo courtesy of BBCThe Third Doctor was a more physical presence than the previous incarnations and wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty with his fondness for martial arts. Even though he is exiled to Earth against his will, once the exile is lifted, the Third Doctor still returned to help UNIT when required.
Interestingly, UNIT is not the only lasting threads of Whovian folklore that was created during the time of Pertwee’s “Dandy Doctor.” Everyone knows of The Doctor’s fondness for his human companions, however it was in 1973 we were introduced to an intrepid young journalist Sarah Jane Smith (played by the dearly missed Elizabeth Sladen). Sarah Jane went on to become the longest serving companion as she travelled with the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Tenth Doctor and even met the newest incarnation of the Time Lord in Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor.
Photo courtesy of BBCJust as Pertwee’s Third Doctor introduced us to his longest serving companion, we were also introduced to his longest serving nemesis, in the shape of Roger Delgado’s renegade Time Lord The Master. The Master first appeared in 1971 however he was last seen playing a part in the regeneration of the Tenth Doctor. We were also introduced to the Sontarans and the Autons during our time with The Third Doctor both of whom have since reappeared in the ‘New Who’ era, in fact the Autons were the first enemies Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor battled in “Rose”.
We said goodbye to our “Dandy Doctor” in the 1974 episode “Planet of the Spiders” when he regenerated into the scarf wearing Tom Baker, and in that regeneration I feel we said goodbye to the best doctor from the ‘Classic Who’ era. However, I have a feeling that his spirit may make an appearance in Peter Capaldi’s new Twelfth Doctor, as Capaldi has always reminded me of Pertwee, but time will tell.
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