DWAS Plans to Honour Hartnell

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society, DWAS has won permission to honour the man who played the First Doctor, William Hartnell, with a blue heritage plaque.

The plaque is to be placed at Ealing Studios in West London, the place where the first dramatic filming for Doctor Who took place. The shot, filmed on Thursday 19th September 1963, was from the very end of episode one, when the TARDIS is seen having landed in prehistoric times, being overlooked by the shadow of a human.

Ealing Studios were often used throughout the 1960's for filming insets for Doctor Who, which required complicated setups or rapid cutting, and which were not possible to achieve in the electronic studios where stories were recorded 'as live'

Before the plaque can be made DWAS needs to raise the funds to do so. In the past, fans have supported the Society’s heritage plaques for Verity Lambert at Riverside Studios in 2014, due to reopen in 2019 and for Jon Pertwee at New Wimbledon Theatre in 2016.

In the coming weeks, the society will announce a number of ways that people can join in. The plan is that everyone who wants to take part in the fundraising will be able to do so without the need to part with large sums of cash.

Every fan who helps raise funds will be able to enter a competition to win tickets to the unveiling which will take place in the company of friends, colleagues, and family.

Updates on the project can be found on the DWAS website and on Facebook.