William Hartnell Trailers
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William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975), also known as Billy Hartnell or Bill Hartnell, was an English actor. Hartnell played the first incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, from 1963 to 1966. He was also known for his roles as Sergeant Grimshaw, the title character of the first Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant in 1958, and Company Sergeant Major Percy Bullimore in the sitcom The Army Game from 1957 until 1958, and again in 1960.
Hartnell entered the theatre in 1925 working under Frank Benson as a general stagehand. He appeared in numerous Shakespearian plays, including The Merchant of Venice (1926), Julius Caesar (1926), As You Like It (1926), Hamlet (1926), The Tempest (1926) and Macbeth (1926). He also appeared in She Stoops to Conquer (1926), School for Scandal (1926) and Good Morning, Bill (1927), before performing in Miss Elizabeth's Prisoner (1928). This play was written by Robert Neilson Stephens and E. Lyall Swete. It featured the actress Heather McIntyre, whom he married during the following year. His first of more than sixty film appearances was in Say It With Music (1932).
Hartnell continued to play comic characters until he was cast in the robust role of Sergeant Ned Fletcher in The Way Ahead (1944). From then on his career was defined by playing mainly policemen, soldiers, and thugs.
Hartnell's performance in This Sporting Life was noted by Verity Lambert, the producer who was setting up a new science-fiction television series for the BBC entitled Doctor Who; and, mainly on the strength of that performance, Lambert offered him the title role.
Most Popular William Hartnell Trailers
Total trailers found: 125
25 August 1953
A trip to the theatre changes a meek bank clerk's life, as he undergoes hypnosis and leaves without being woken up.
16 November 1943
A crime reporter begins to investigate the disappearance of his bosses wife who had witnessed a murder.
24 May 1949
A prison governor deals with a variety of different prisoners, including a charming murderer.
27 February 1947
The story of a harbor signalman who retrieves a suitcase full of money after witnessing a murder, fails to report it to the police, and finds himself the object of murderous and mercenary interest.
17 July 1959
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid.
05 January 1937
Farewell Again is a multiplotted British comedy/drama about soldiers on leave and the people they've left.
23 November 2013
In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London's National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion.
11 January 1943
Frantic farce involving a neglected wife, a stolen diamond and four identical briefcases.
22 August 1949
Set in a German theatre after the Second World War, two British soldiers are holding a disparate and hostile band of refugees in this theatre, prior to returning them to their homelands.
01 December 1959
Two reporters are held hostage in old castle, by thief, looking for jewels, that he had buried, after robbing a local house.
09 April 1956
An apartment handyman is unusually attached to a pair of boilers he names "Mavis" and "Ethel."
20 May 1963
A clerical error leads to the appointment of a left-leaning small-town priest to a rich village, where he immediately horrifies his snobby parishioners by appointing a dustman and a black man as vicar's wardens and throwing open the vicarage to the sprawling, disreputable Smith family, who have just been evicted from their caravan site.
03 March 2008
A look at the subtle (and not so subtle!) links to the show's past and future contained within the story of The Five Doctors.
24 January 1945
The Agitator is a 1945 British drama film directed by John Harlow and starring William Hartnell, Mary Morris and John Laurie.
23 January 2012
The tricks of putting together a television drama show 'as live' are discussed by vision mixer Clive Doig.
01 February 1960
Dickie Dreadnought is the boxing-mad nephew of pious clergyman Reverend Sydney Mullet. To mollify his disapproving uncle, Dickie embarks on an elaborate plan to keep his budding boxing career a secret, with he and his tough-talking promoter Wally Burton both pretending to be devout 'men of the cloth'.
01 January 1958
A car salesman and suspected safecracker Miles saves his fiancee Sue from those who would kidnap her.
26 February 1966
The TARDIS materialises in Paris in the year 1572 and the Doctor decides to visit the famous apothecary Charles Preslin.
23 July 1957
An ex-con trying to go clean ends up working for a crooked trucking company owner who encourages competion amongst his drivers.
14 September 1955
A Victorian-era murder mystery about a parlour maid who discovers that her employer may have killed his first wife.
25 December 2017
As the Twelfth Doctor nears regeneration, he stumbles on his first incarnation, also refusing to change.
26 March 1966
The Doctor and his companions Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet arrive some ten million years into the future, on board a generation starship which is carrying the last of humanity away from an Earth that is about to fall into the Sun.
29 December 1998
Documentary commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 'Carry On' comedy film series. Archive clips and out-takes are mixed with interviews with the cast.
16 May 1964
The TARDIS arrives on the planet Marinus on an island of glass surrounded by a sea of acid. The travellers are forced by the elderly Arbitan to retrieve four of the five operating keys to a machine called the Conscience of Marinus, of which he is the keeper.
07 February 1963
In early 1960s Northern England, Frank Machin is mean, tough and ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team run by local employer Weaver.
23 June 1963
A British policeman (John Gregson) tries to find a rich man's (Alec Clunes) son before a kidnapper's (Robert Shaw) time bomb blows.
29 June 1942
The story of flyer Amy Johnson the girl from Yorkshire who won the hearts of the British public in the 1930s with her record-breaking solo flights around the world.
01 February 1964
The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Susan, Barbara, and Ian to the planet Skaro where they meet two indigenous races — the Daleks, malicious mutant creatures encased in armoured travel machines, and the Thals, beautiful humanoids with pacifist principles.
16 July 1966
The TARDIS arrives in London in 1966 and the First Doctor and Dodo visit the Post Office Tower. There they meet Professor Brett, whose revolutionary new computer WOTAN (Will Operating Thought ANalogue) can actually think for itself and is shortly to be linked up to other major computers around the world — a project overseen by civil servant Sir Charles Summer.
13 November 1965
In the year 4000, the Daleks conspire to conquer the Solar System. Their scheme involves treachery at the highest levels and a weapon capable of destroying the very fabric of time.
31 May 2025
Belinda Chandra has been kidnapped by robots, faced a terrifying god and a creature of pure evil on her travels with the Doctor.
13 June 1964
The TARDIS materialises inside an Aztec tomb. Outside it, the Doctor and his companions soon discover that Mexico in the 15th century is a bloodthirsty and dangerous place.
12 September 1964
The TARDIS materialises not far from Paris in 1794 — one of the bloodiest years following the French Revolution of 1789.
25 December 2015
It’s Christmas Day on a remote human colony and the Doctor is hiding from Christmas Carols and Comedy Antlers.
24 July 1965
In England, 1066, the Doctor confronts a mysterious Monk who is attempting to change history.
21 September 2009
Designer Raymond Cusick recalls his work on The Keys of Marinus, and discusses the challenges that this story held, with its weekly changes of location and inventive set-pieces.
04 April 1964
The TARDIS crew lands in the Himalayas of Cathay in 1289, their ship badly damaged, and are picked up by Marco Polo's caravan on its way along the fabled Silk Road to see the Emperor Kublai Khan.
29 October 1966
The Doctor's TARDIS lands at the Snowcap space tracking station in Antarctica in December 1986. A routine space mission starts going wrong.
01 August 1964
The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan arrive in the TARDIS on board a spaceship. Their initial concern is for the ship's human crew, who are suffering from telepathic interference from the Sensorites, but Susan communicates with the Sensorites and finds the aliens fear an attack by the humans and are just defending themselves.
09 January 1948
Centring on the activities of a gang of assorted criminals and, in particular, their leader – a vicious young hoodlum known as "Pinkie" – the film's main thematic concern is the criminal underbelly evident in inter-war Brighton.
03 December 1952
An English clergyman's neglect of his grown children, in his zeal to tend to his parishioners, comes to the surface at a Christmas family gathering.
26 August 2013
Doctor Who returns to the Proms to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the popular BBC series. As well as showcasing Murray Gold’s music from the past eight years, the concert also journeys back to the early days of Doctor Who and the groundbreaking work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
26 June 1965
The Doctor and his companions are pursued through time and space by the Daleks on the desert planet Aridius and beyond.
06 February 1965
The TARDIS crew take up residence near Rome in 64AD, where Ian and Barbara are kidnapped by slave traders, and the Doctor's imitation of Maximus Pettulian sees him taken to the court of Emperor Nero where he inadvertently plays a part in deciding the course of history.
14 November 1964
When the TARDIS malfunctions, it and its travellers land on Earth at the size of insects. They uncover a murderous plot involving a new insecticide, but how can they stop the crime in their miniaturised condition?
01 October 1966
The TARDIS arrives on the coast of seventeenth century Cornwall — much to the astonishment of Polly and Ben.
06 November 1965
When the TARDIS arrives on the plains of Asia Minor not far from the besieged city of Troy, the Doctor is hailed by Achilles as the mighty god Zeus and taken to the Greek camp.
24 November 1952
An underhand solicitor receives threatening notes, and the police are called in to protect him.
20 March 1965
On the planet Vortis, the Doctor and his companions aid the butterfly-like Menoptra in their battle against the parasitic Animus and its mind-controlled minions, the ant-like Zarbi.
09 January 1965
On the planet Dido, the Doctor, Ian and Barbara meet two survivors from a crashed spaceship who are terrorised by the monster Koquillion.
14 November 1952
The Pickwick Club sends Mr. Pickwick and a group of friends to travel across England and to report back on the interesting things they find.
21 May 1966
Arriving in the town of Tombstone, the First Doctor finds himself involved with gunmen out to kill Doc Holliday.
15 February 1964
In this completely TARDIS-based story, the crew find themselves and their ship acting very strangely indeed.
24 January 1976
Mad scientist Mehendri Solon is building a body from spare parts to house the disembodied brain of the evil Time Lord Morbius.
09 June 1944
A mismatched collection of conscripted civilians find training tough under Lieutenant Jim Perry and Sergeant Ned Fletcher when they are called up to replace an infantry battalion that had suffered casualties at Dunkirk.
17 February 2009
A look at the making of 'The Rescue' featuring members of the original cast and crew. Featured on th"
15 May 1965
On the planet Xeros, the TARDIS crew discover their own future selves frozen in time as exhibits in a galactic museum and must avert this potential future.
22 January 1972
Guerillas time-jump back from the 22nd century to assassinate Sir Reginald Styles - a diplomat working for World Peace, The Doctor discovers they are from a future where the Daleks have invaded the Earth (Following wars precipitated by Styles's destruction at the peace conference).
23 November 1963
Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton, two humble teachers during 1963, discover a genius student's grandfather, simply known as "the Doctor", and his police box time machine.
01 December 1938
“Shorty” Matthews having recently been released from prison visits his girlfriend in London only to discover her murdered.
