DWAS Honours William HartnellBookmark and Share

Sunday, 14 October 2018 - Reported by Marcus
Jessica Carney
Jessica Carney



The Doctor Who Appreciation Society, DWAS, has honoured the actor who played the first Doctor, William Hartnell, by producing a Blue Plaque marking his work in Film and Television.

The plaque was unveiled in a ceremony at Ealing Studios by Jessica Carney, Granddaughter of William Hartnell, who attended with her mother, William Hartnell's daughter Anne Carney and her brother Paul Carney.

Jessica Carney is the author of a book on the life of her Grandfather. She said Hartnell would have been delighted with the recognition.
I think he would be so thrilled, so overwhelmed at the thought of someone putting up a blue plaque to his work. The thought that Doctor Who is still so successful today would have thrilled him. The fans were so excited and involved with it. Whole school classes wrote to him about Doctor Who. It just captured everyone's imagination and clearly still means a lot to an awful lot of people.

This would have meant everything to him.
The ceremony was attended the surviving members of the very first TARDIS crew, Carole Ann Ford who played Susan and William Russell, who played Ian. Other guests included actor Julian Glover, who worked with Hartnell in The Crusade, Michael Imison who directed him in The Ark, Timothy Coombe who worked with Hartnell as a Production Assistant and actor Frank Williams who worked with Hartnell in the ITV comedy The Army Game.

Former Companion Peter Purves was unable to attend but sent a message.
His iconic performance as the original Doctor Who is where his real legacy lies. The lasting appeal of Doctor Who is today is because of what he and his original companions created in 1963. The conventions and wide world audiences for the show would never have taken place were it not for the originality and quirkiness he brought to the original concept. This plaque is the perfect way to remember a wonderful actor
William Hartnell worked at Ealing studios on two feature films, The Goose Steps Out and The Bells Go Down. It was here that 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

Paul Carney, Anne Carney, Jessica Carney


William Russell, Carole Ann Ford






The Doctor Who Appreciation Society, has previously marked the achievements of third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, with a blue heritage plaque at the New Wimbledon Theatre in London and first producer Verity Lambert with a plaque at at London's Riverside studios.