History Characters / DoctorWhoFirstDoctor

->'''Played by:''' Creator/WilliamHartnell (1963–66, 1973); Richard Hurndall (1983); Creator/DavidBradley (2017)

* ArchEnemy: The Daleks were his most recurrent foe, first appearing in his (and the show's) second serial and quickly becoming staples of his era, to the point where [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan the longest ever Classic Series serial]] (discounting the season-wide "The Trial of a Time Lord", which was produced as four interconnected serials) was a "First Doctor vs. the Daleks" story.

Ironically, despite Creator/WilliamHartnell's departure giving way to [[TheNthDoctor a trope]] decidedly meant to avoid TheOtherDarrin, the First Doctor has been the subject of it ''twice'' throughout the show -- first by Richard Hurndall for [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors "The Five Doctors"]] (as Hartnell died in 1975), and then David Bradley for [[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime "Twice Upon a Time"]] (as Hurndall died in 1984). Consequently, the First Doctor is the only one to be traditionally recast in the TV series (discounting Creator/SylvesterMcCoy {{Fake Shemp}}ing for Creator/ColinBaker in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E1TimeAndTheRani "Time and the Rani"]]), though various soundalikes appeared in Big Finish's audio dramas to play other Doctors whose original actors were either unavailable, uninterested, or dead. At 75, Bradley is the oldest actor to play the Doctor onscreen[[note]]unless you count 83 year old Tom Baker in the reconstruction of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]][[/note]], breaking the short-lived record of 73 year old Sir John Hurt in 2013.

* ArchEnemy: The Daleks and the Celestial Toymaker.

* FutureMeScaresMe: ''Daughter of the Gods'' sees him briefly opposed to the Second Doctor when they meet in an accidentally-created alternate timeline where Katarina never died on Kembel, as the Second Doctor reveals that Katarina is destined to die while the First has grown attached to her after spending three months acting as her mentor.
** A more PlayedForLaughs version occurs when he meets the [[Characters/DoctorWhoTenthDoctor Tenth Doctor]], who’s behavior makes him consider never regenerating to avoid becoming him.

** He's heard saying that he will not change at the end of "The Doctor Falls", echoing how the Twelfth Doctor is refusing to regenerate. He initially finds the Twelfth Doctor to be an irritating man, but ultimately comes to respect him as his successor.
** Despite his irritation with his second and third incarnations, he seems to like his fifth, and tells him "My future's in good hands" in "The Five Doctors".

* {{Flanderization}}: In "Twice Upon a Time", his occasional chauvinism is turned UpToEleven, where he can't go five minutes without saying something offensive, much to Twelve's irrigation and embarrassment; the novelisation implies that he’s doing so deliberately just to annoy Twelve simply because he dislikes him.

* NiceHat: For headgear, he would wear an Astrakhan, or a white Panama hat.

After growing up to be an elderly man and grandfather, the First Doctor had many ailments and eventually began losing the fight to retain his health. His biological clock set off the process to renew him. Scared of what he knew to be his first regeneration and the inevitable change to come, his path crossed with the Twelfth Doctor, who also needed to regenerate. After a look at past, present, and future, the Doctors parted ways and respectively regenerated. The First Doctor managed to get Ben and Polly inside the TARDIS as it went into flight, and the Doctor changed before their bewildered eyes into a whole new man.

After growing up to be an elderly man and grandfather, the First Doctor had many ailments and eventually began losing the fight to retain his health. His biological clock began the process to renew him. Scared of what he knew to be his first regeneration and the inevitable change to come, his path crossed with the Twelfth Doctor, who also needed to regenerate. After a look at past, present, and future, the Doctors parted ways and respectively regenerated. The First Doctor managed to get Ben and Polly inside the TARDIS as it went into flight, and the Doctor changed before their bewildered eyes into a whole new man.

After growing up to be an elderly man, the First Doctor had many ailments and eventually began losing the fight to retain his health. Scared of what he knew to be his first incarnarion, his path crossed with the Twelfth Doctor, who also needed to regenerate. After a look at past, present, and future, the Doctors parted ways and respectively regenerated. The First Doctor managed to get Ben and Polly inside the TARDIS as it went into flight, and the Doctor changed before their bewildered eyes into a whole new man.

* AntiHero: He's a grumpy old man who kidnaps and deceives his companions, and has to be forced, manipulated or at least asked before he will help. His worst moment was probably threatening to throw Ian and Barbara out the TARDIS in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E3TheEdgeOfDestruction The Edge of Destruction]]", something that could easily have killed them. Of course, he does get better due to the influence of his granddaughter and her teachers who he eventually returns home.

* {{Blooper}}: Hartnell was well-known for flubbing his lines, the occasional malapropism, and having his castmates gently prompt him. This was partially due to his advancing age and memory problems, and had to kept since in the early years the show was shot "as live" because editing was expensive. Contrary to legend, though, they're not ''all'' mistakes - in his later seasons scriptwriters started to include them in scripts, making them a character element.

* CharacterDevelopment: The first time we ever see the Doctor, he's arrogant, selfish, and prefers to take the easy (even cowardly) way out if it saves him. His evolution over the first three serials is an important point in the script as he becomes the heroic Doctor we know and love. The Twelfth Doctor says that it was when he went to Skaro for the first time that he realised what it meant to be the Doctor: "The Doctor was not the Daleks".

* DotingGrandparent: To Susan.

* FutureMeScaresMe: As the primordial Doctor, he goes back and forth if he likes the newer additions down the line or wants to stay as he is out of dread. One also loves taking charge of the Doctors and acting as their mediator toward specific goals, considering himself TheLeader.

'''Ian:''' No Doctor, only Boyle's Law.\\

* TheLeader: Whenever the Doctors get pulled out of time and team up, One is usually the one to take charge by virtue of being the first and sheer personality -- he can usually put an end to any petty squabbling the others - i.e. Two and Three - get into.

* TheMillstone: In Season 1, he spends most of his time getting the party into trouble that Ian or Barbara are then obliged to get them out of.

* NotDistractedByTheSexy: When he wanders onto a Hollywood shoot and is immediately mistaken for the history consultant, he is asked by the director what he thinks of the [[BedlahBabe scantily-clad Arabian princess]]' costume. His response? To tell her she looks ridiculous and order her to "Put some more clothes on, child".
* PapaWolf: He was protective of Vicki and Dodo, as they reminded him of Susan

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: The line in the show about "This is a madhouse. It's all full of Arabs!" may or may not have been in the script; it's hard to tell with Hartnell sometimes. There's also the time he told Tegan to fetch him, the Fifth Doctor and his granddaughter some refreshment and his interactions with Bill Potts in "Twice Upon a Time".

* UnscrupulousHero: He's devoted to his grandaughter and is disgusted by villains like the Daleks but aside from that his morals are loose at best, with his flaws ranging from pride and paranoia to outright moral cowardice in trying to abandon Barbara to die on Skaro rather than risk further exposure to radiation, as well as Ian and Barbara becoming his companions only after he trapped them within the TARDIS against their will. By the conclusion of the first three stories he gets over this.

* WhatAreRecords: Inverted. When the Twelfth Doctor put the Sonic Sunglasses on his head he promptly and befuddlely asks "What's 'Browser History'?"--a term audiences in the 2010s would be imminently familiar with, but would have no meaning back in the 1960s when the original First Doctor was on television.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: He claims he left Gallifrey because he was bored. The Twelfth Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E11HeavenSent Heaven Sent]]" confirms that this was a lie. He left because he was scared. What he was scared of however we don't know...yet. [[note]] ''AudioPlay/{{Gallifrey}}'' has it that the then current Lord President wanted him and Susan assassinated as a way to test his new assassin - Irving Braxiatel (the Doctor's brother). But ''somebody'' warned them in time, so they were able to accquire a TARDIS and escape. And ''then'' the President met an unfortunate accident before he could check if they had been taken out. It was most certainly an accident as confirmed by an impartial inquiry. Brax would know. He made sure he would be the one to lead it.[[/note]]

* NoodleIncident: Whatever drove him to leave Gallifrey in a stolen TARDIS and take Susan with him. An old classmate Runcible says he was "expelled" due to a "scandal". When the Time Lords catch up to him in his second incarnation, they're more mad he's been breaking their non-interference law than anything else. [[note]] Different stories, if taken all together, imply some wonderfully cryptic things. The Creator/BigFinish {{Audioplay/Gallifrey}} Series suggests that he was forced to flee after the President issued an assassination order ('burn edict') against him. Fortunately for him, the would-be assassin was Braxiatel, who is heavily implied (as in, he obviously is, but they've never outright ''said'' it) to be the Doctor's big brother; Brax warns the Doctor so he can flee, and then assassinates the president instead! In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]] the Doctor says he once stole the (same?) President's daughter - he certainly ran away from Gallifrey with his ''grand''-daughter, whose parents we know absolutely nothing about. And of course, when he left he took [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks the ancient Gallifreyan superweapon that made them the Time Lords]] with him. And we still don't actually know ''why''.[[/note]]

As he was never intended to be the "first" Doctor, there is novelty in watching him [[CharacterizationMarchesOn develop]] into ''the'' Doctor as he's known today.

The First Doctor is unique that he's been the subject of TheOtherDarrin ''twice'' throughout the show -- first by Richard Hurndall for [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors "The Five Doctors"]], and then David Bradley for [[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime "Twice Upon a Time"]]. Bradley at 75 is the oldest actor to play the Doctor onscreen[[note]]unless you count 83 year old Tom Baker in the reconstruction of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]][[/note]], breaking the short-lived record of 73 year old Sir John Hurt in 2013.

* ArtefactName: [[spoiler:"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]" famously proposed that the "First" Doctor was not actually the first and that at least eight incarnations preceded him. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]" wouldn't just confirm that those faces were Doctors before the "First" Doctor, there were ''even more'' incarnations before those.]]

* ArtifactName: [[spoiler:"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]" famously proposed that the "First" Doctor was not actually the first and that at least eight incarnations preceded him. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]" wouldn't just confirm that those faces were Doctors before the "First" Doctor, there were ''even more'' incarnations before those.]]

* ArtefactName: [[spoiler:"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]" famously proposed that the "First" Doctor was not actually the first and that at least eight incarnations preceded him. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]" wouldn't just confirm that those faces were Doctors before the "First" Doctor, there were ''even more'' incarnations before those.]]

* IdenticalStranger: This Doctor shared a resemblance with the Abbot of Amboise, the right-hand man of the Cardinal of Lorraine and a major player in a conspiracy to discredit the Huguenots (Protestants). Hartnell played the role as a lark, but it set the stage for more doppelgangers in the future. (See: [[Creator/PatrickTroughton Ramon]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E4TheEnemyOfTheWorld Salamander]], [[Creator/ColinBaker Col.]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E1ArcOfInfinity Maxil]], and [[Creator/PeterCapaldi Caec]][[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E2TheFiresOfPompeii ilius]] and [[Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth John Frobisher]].)

* {{Jerkass}}: Even after he stopped being the TokenEvilTeammate and TookALevelInKindness he still isn't someone most people would willingly hang around with, being rude and unbelievably condescending to everyone as his default setting, and occasionally even racist. Ian, Barbara, Steven and Ben all express severe irritation with his behaviour not infrequently. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold His hearts are in the right place]] and his love of his companions (especially [[NotLoveInterest Ian and Barbara]]) is staggeringly intense and meaninginful, but his companions only really figure that out because the circumstances of his travel have it so that they ''can't'' leave his company.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He was an unreadable, guarded figure who was, at first, slow to trust newcomers who learnt of him, but once his trust had been earned, he would show another side of himself as a staunch anti-authoritarian with a mischievous streak.

* AntiHero: He's a grumpy old man who kidnaps and deceives his companions, and has to be forced, manipulated or at least asked before he will help. His worst moment was probably threatening to throw Ian and Barbara out the TARDIS in "The Edge of Destruction", something that could easily have killed them. Of course, he does get better due to the influence of his granddaughter and her teachers who he eventually returns home.

* ArtifactName: [[spoiler:"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]" famously proposed that the "First" Doctor was not actually the first and that at least eight incarnations preceded him. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]" wouldn't just confirm that those faces were Doctors before the "First" Doctor, there were ''even more'' incarnations before those.]]

[[Characters/DoctorWhoClassicSeriesCompanions Classic Series Companions]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoK9 K9]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoRomana Romana]]) | '''Revival Series Companions''' ([[Characters/DoctorWhoRoseTyler Rose Tyler]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoJackHarkness Captain Jack Harkness]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoRiverSong River Song]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoClaraOswald Clara Oswald]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoOtherSupportingCast Other Supporting Cast]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoThePaternosterGang The Paternoster Gang]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoUNITStaff UNIT Staff]]\\

[[Characters/DoctorWhoClassicSeriesCompanions Classic Series Companions]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoK9 K9]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoRomana Romana]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoRevivalSeriesCompanions Revival Series Companions]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoRoseTyler Rose Tyler]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoJackHarkness Captain Jack Harkness]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoRiverSong River Song]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoClaraOswald Clara Oswald]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoTeamTARDIS Team TARDIS]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoOtherSupportingCast Other Supporting Cast]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoThePaternosterGang The Paternoster Gang]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoUNITStaff UNIT Staff]]\\

-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/WilliamRussell (2013–present); Creator/PeterPurves (2014–present); David Bradley (2017–present); Stephen Noonan (2022-present)

-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/WilliamRussell (2013–present); Creator/PeterPurves (2014–present); David Bradley (2017–present)

->'''Voiced by:''' David Coker (1997); John Guilor (2013); Creator/DavidBradley (2020)

The first known incarnation, the [[HighClassGlass monocled]], wild-eyed [[TheEndIsNigh portent of doom.]] Introduced as a [[NobleFugitive fugitive]] with an air of mystery about him, One was a [[PunyEarthlings merry misanthrope]] with [[TheTrickster a mischievous side]], who loved manipulating people and playing games with their lives. His moral compass had long since deteriorated before leaving home, which raises the question of what could have possibly happened to him there...

* FingerlessGloves: He wears them twice -- in "The Five Doctors" (they were a substitute for the iconic ring, since the production team couldn't find a reasonable replica of the prop) and in "Twice Upon a Time".

->'''Played by:''' Creator/WilliamHartnell (1963–66, 1973); Richard Hurndall (1983); Michael Jones (2014)[[note]](as a boy in "Listen")[[/note]]; Creator/DavidBradley (2017)

* AbusiveParent: It was said about him as a child that he'd have to join the army, because his parents/guardians/caretakers thought he would never be able to go to the Academy and become a Time Lord.
** When Yaz remarks that the situation with Ryan's dad is 'complicated', the Thirteenth Doctor absentmindedly murmurs 'Dads are' though she adds 'so I've heard' before Yaz can respond.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild The Empty Child]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E4Listen Listen]]" imply that as a child, he was not well-liked among the other children. When a character makes a passing remark about whether he knew what it was like to be "the only child left outside", the Ninth Doctor replied he ''did''.

* BrilliantButLazy:
** His old teacher Borusa tells the Fourth Doctor that he was a ''nightmare'' to teach during the academy days.
** It's mentioned that the Master got a higher degree in Cosmic Science than him, which the Third Doctor passes off with a "I was a late bloomer."
** Romana I mentioned that he got through the Academy with 51% on his ''second'' attempt.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: He claims he left Gallifrey because he was bored. The Twelfth Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E11HeavenSent Heaven Sent]]" confirms that this was a lie. He left because he was scared. What he was scared of however we don't know...yet. [[note]] ''AudioPlay/{{Gallifrey}}'' has it that the then current Lord President wanted him and Susan assassinated as a way to test his new assassin - Irving Braxiatel (the Doctor's brother). But ''somebody'' warned them in time, so they were able to accquire a TARDIS and escape. And ''then'' the President met an unfortunate accident before he could check if they had been taken out. It was most certainly an accident as confirmed by an impartial inquiry. Brax would know. He made sure he would be the one to lead it.[[/note]]

* LonelyRichKid: When Madame de Pompadour gets a look inside the mind of the Tenth Doctor she sees a "lonely little boy". When we actually see the First Doctor as a child, he's hiding in a barn crying himself to sleep.
* LoveAtFirstSight: According to the TARDIS herself, he said she was "the most beautiful thing (he'd) ever seen" when he first stole her.

* NoodleIncident: Whatever drove him to leave Gallifrey in a stolen TARDIS and take Susan with him. An old classmate Runcible says he was "expelled" due to a "scandal". When the Time Lords catch up to him in his second incarnation, they're more mad he's been breaking their non-interference law than anything else. [[note]] Different stories, if taken all together, imply some wonderfully cryptic things. The Creator/BigFinish {{Audioplay/Gallifrey}} Series suggests that he was forced to flee after the President issued an assassination order ('burn edict') against him. Fortunately for him, the would-be assassin was Braxiatel, who is heavily implied (as in, he obviously is, but they've never outright ''said'' it) to be the Doctor's big brother; Brax warns the Doctor so he can flee, and then assassinates the president instead! In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]] the Doctor says he once stole the (same?) President's daughter - he certainly ran away from Gallifrey with his ''grand''-daughter, whose parents we know absolutely nothing about. And of course, when he left he took [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks the ancient Gallifreyan superweapon that made them the Time Lords]] with him. And we still don't actually know ''why''.[[/note]]

* TheUnfavourite: As a child, he was told he wouldn't be able to go to the Academy and become a full Time Lord.

!! Tropes associated with the Virgin New Adventures
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Flashbacks in ''Lungbarrow'' reveal the circumstances under which the Doctor originally left Gallifrey, which include him being disowned by the head of his family and most of his Cousins dismissing him to the point that a replacement for him was generated, and evidence emerges suggesting that he killed the head of the House (although [[spoiler:an investigation by the Seventh Doctor reveals that he was framed by his old rival]]).

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Flashbacks in ''Divided Loyalties'' reveals that the Doctor’s first trip off Gallifrey saw one of his oldest friends being possessed by an ancient entity and another was kept as a permanent prisoner by that same entity despite the Doctor’s efforts to save them.

-> '''Voiced by:''' Joe Bassett[[note]]As a child in "Master"[[/note]] (2003); Creator/WilliamRussell (2013–present); Creator/PeterPurves (2014–present); David Bradley (2017–prsent)

* CainAndAbel: ''AudioPlay/{{Gallifrey}}'' goes into detail about his past with Braxiatel. In [[ConsummateLiar true Brax style]], nothing is made ''completely'' explicit, but the long and short of it is that Braxiatel was ordered by President Pandad VII to assassinate the Doctor, and instead gave him a chance to steal a TARDIS and escape the planet.
* DealWithTheDevil: As revealed in "Master", [[spoiler: he once murdered a boy to save the Master's life, when they were both very young children. While sleeping that night, he made a deal with Death (appearing to him in a dream), selling out his friend and transferring his deed and his memories to the Master instead. He never realised what had happened]].

* MeasuringTheMarigolds: Back on Gallifrey, he once wrote a paper dissecting the concept of love on a neurological level, proving that the whole idea is nothing but chemicals. His teacher gave him a rubbish grade and told him he'd missed the point.
** This makes the Third Doctor's tale about his past on Gallifrey in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E5TheTimeMonster The Time Monster]]" more insightful. One learned how to see the beauty in life and not the cold logic or dreariness on a black day when he discovered an old man sitting under a tree on a mountain named K'anpo Rimpoche. This man showed him the "daisiest daisy" he ever saw and he realized that things he once took for face value could be vibrant and beautiful upon closer inspection.

* AntiHero: He's a grumpy old man who kidnaps and deceives his companions, and has to be forced, manipulated or at least asked before he will help. His worst moment was probably threatening to throw Ian and Barbara out the TARDIS in "The Edge of Destruction", something that could easily have killed them. Of course, he does get better due to the influence of his Granddaughter and her teachers who he eventually returns home.