Following up on my video about the American Classic Doctor Who experience, it’s time to look at the mystery that was Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor in the 1980s.
If you were watching Doctor Who on PBS in the US back then, the Second Doctor was practically a ghost. Because so many of his episodes were lost, we only got a handful of unrepresentative stories—or worse, we met him during multi-Doctor specials like The Three Doctors and The Two Doctors, which gave us an inaccurate view of his character. We were flying blind, missing the gentle, quirky Doctor that UK fans grew up with.
In this video, I talk about the bizarre way American fans were introduced to the Second Doctor, how those few scattered episodes shaped our low expectations, and how the surprise 1992 broadcast of The Tomb of the Cybermen changed everything.
Were you watching in the US when Tomb of the Cybermen finally aired, or did you have to rely on the Target novelizations to understand the Second Doctor? Let me know in the comments.
#DoctorWho #SecondDoctor #PatrickTroughton #ClassicWho #DoctorWhoHistory
Watch the Doctor Who: Classic channel! Travel in the TARDIS with full episodes dating back to the Doctor’s first incarnation on SloppBoxx.Com.
What was your experience with the Second Doctor?
Watching dear Pat from start to finish. He was also a mate of my art tutor at college, James Broom Lynne. I can well imagine those two swapping bawdy stories over a pint in the local pub. To be honest, Pat was my very favourite Doctor. I was thrilled when he turned up again twice. He also played the Punch and Judy Man, Cole Hawlings in the BBC adaptation of John Masefield’s The Box Of Delights. A villainous priest in The Feathered Serpent and The Duke Of Norfolk in The Six Wives of Henry VIII. I followed his career until his sad passing at a convention in Georgia in 1987. He was the character actor that could be called upon to assume so many varied roles from a dodgy handyman to everyone’s favourite uncle and was a quiet and unassuming gentleman off-screen and a well-read philosopher who, as I said, enjoyed a pint. He was also The Second Doctor. Without him, there would have been no continuation of the series and it would have disappeared in 1966. I still have comics from the period. The series was drawn by John Canning and appeared in Polystyle Publication’s TV Comic. It is extremely sad that the BBC treated his era to the most deletions. Some have been recreated using the original sound and animation, but you see a representation, not the subtleties of Pat’s performance.
It sounds like you might have a few stories to tell.
I watched The Six Wives of Henry VIII when it played on PBS in the ’70s, though I didn’t know him at the time, and don’t remember him in it. I saw him in a lot of his earlier films, but again, don’t remember him in them. I do remember him Jason and the Argonauts, Scars of Dracula, and The Omen.
@MatthewMFoster Have you seen The Box of Delights yet? That role is practically The Doctor : Vol: 2, although really quite different in character. Mind you, so is each incarnation of The Doctor himselves.
The Time Of The Doctor is Steven Moffat’s tribute to The Box of Delights.
@josefschiltz2192 No, I hadn’t even heard of it before. Just looked it up and it looks like something I need to see.
@MatthewMFoster Definitely! It’s late Pat. About 1983 or so. It’s after his appearance in The Five Doctors.
Just looked it up. 1984.
I remember watching the whole Second Doctor Era when it was first broadcast. Troughton’s last season is not one of the best seasons of the Second Doctor.
Patrick passed away a few miles away from where I live. I think of him every time I see the hotel. ❤
Isn’t there some rumor that his ghost haunts the hotel?
@derekp308 yes. There have been reports of people seeing him. Smiling. He’s also been seen at the springer opera house, a short walk from the hotel, a place famous for actors spirits….allegedly. ❤❤❤
Great video. I vaguely remember autumn 1986 when WTTW Chicago ran those five Troughtons. We also had Jeremy Bentham‘s brief episode descriptions in Peter Hainings’ coffee table books. My first was the Seeds of Death VHS.
I cordially disagree with your take on his personality in the anniversary stories. From my POV he was as consistent in The Dominators as he was in The Three Doctors. Still, YMMV, to each their own, etc. While I disagree I have add you are indeed well-informed. Good video overall.
First, thank you for making a Doctor Who fan video that has been put together with intelligence, thoughtfulness, and some research.
This isn’t intended to be a rebuttal, but just a further comment that might interest you. My experience as a UK Doctor Who fan in his fifties is that my exposure to Troughtont was pretty similar to what you describe. However, the difference was really that we had the books. I could never understand the disconnection between the gentle, mercurial figure we read about in the Target books, compared to the man we saw in The Three Doctors. Another thing that affected me was that photographs of Patrick Troughton generally show his face in repose, which always looks like he is scowling. Having seen his Doctor more, I realised that isn’t the case, but it was my perception from those early production stills.
I had missed it the first time the Pertwee era was in syndication. A Baltimore station had it but I couldn’t pull it in very well. I was lucky that I had a couple DC stations that showed Who and also MPT carried it. At first, they played Tom’s first series over and over and then the second over and over and over. THEN, they got to the third and we were off. But when they got to Sixie, I went away to school and didn’t see Who for a while. So most of my Who sources were books. The Peter Haining 20th hardcover in particular was very helpful. Also the Programme Guides. As for the Targets, my first were actually Pinnacles acquired BEFORE I had any reference books and it was very strange for the first 3 because I didn’t know who Jo Grant was or why the Doctor didn’t have his scarf. Granted, Sarah was in the third one but Tom wasn’t. I figured it out after a while. As for Troughton, I didn’t see much of him until the DVDs. I’m very fond of him but I wasn’t fond of the stories, initially. I think he and Frazer and Wendy are wonderful together. As for Victoria stories, I’ve only seen Tomb and various bits and bobs. I’m going through them pretty much in American DVD release order so a lot of the ones they have completed animations for, I simply haven’t seen in their entirety yet. I quite enjoyed The Invasion and I really liked The War Games. It may be padded but it also moved along at a good clip. I would love it if they would do a collection box set for Troughton but he’s going to be the most difficult to do since his stories got hit the hardest by the wipes. Troughton does the one thing you have to do as the Doctor and that is have fun. If I’m only talking about the actor, then yes, he’s up there. But I think you have to factor in the quality of the stories as well. And unfortunately too many are still missing. But I’m a huge fan of the little moments of business that Patrick and Frazer threw in. My next two are the Special Edition of The Seeds of Death which was not bad and The Krotons which I have not seen but I’m looking forward to it. Bob Holmes’ first script can’t be a total disaster. Can it? The only one I’m not really looking forward to is The Underwater Menace but maybe it has some redeeming value. Maybe? 😉