The Hartnell Years VHS cover photo ID

[James Morris-Wyatt]

Hello, everyone,

I’ve been trying to identify the photo of William Hartnell used on the cover of the "The Hartnell Years" VHS tape, but all my efforts so far simply go in circles. (I extract the photo from a picture of the cover, and Google Lens simply redirects me to the VHS again, or to the Alamy listing for the picture that lists the date as either 2010 [clearly impossible] or 1963 [plausible but potentially just dating it to the start of the show as a whole].)

Does anyone else here have any firmer details on the source of that photo, or is that just one of the ones that can’t be identified timewise? (Even just the story being made at the time would suffice in a pinch.)

Oh, and the deadline for the information is 08:54 this Saturday morning. Apologies for the short notice, but this element of the larger project only occurred to me this morning in the first place!

[Richard Bignell]

It's a BBC photograph taken by Douglas Playle from the original character photocall, which was done on 20 September 1963 in the mock-up sets for An Unearthly Child.

[tom rogers]

Dang, Richard! 👍👍👍

[James Morris-Wyatt]

I was expecting a fairly fast reply, but not quite that fast, Richard! 🤣

Thanks, that was very useful. That must be the least-used of those photos, surely? The others are used so often they sometimes appear as the default photos for the characters themselves!

[Richard Bignell]

Nov 21, 2024 8:09:03 GMT James Morris-Wyatt said:

I was expecting a fairly fast reply, but not quite that fast, Richard! 🤣

Thanks, that was very useful. That must be the least-used of those photos, surely? The others are used so often they sometimes appear as the default photos for the characters themselves!

No problem, James.

For such an awful photo of Hartnell, it's actually been used quite a bit over the years. For a whole generation of fans who bought the first issue of Doctor Who Weekly back in 1979, it was one of the first photos of Hartnell they presented.

[davetudor]

Nov 21, 2024 10:45:56 GMT Richard Bignell said:

For such an awful photo of Hartnell, it's actually been used quite a bit over the years. 

It even appeared in the programme itself! 

[John Green]

o/t, but seems odd for the Weekly to list Pickwick Papers as one of his major film roles, but Wot? no This Sporting Life?

[tom rogers]

Nov 21, 2024 10:45:56 GMT Richard Bignell said:

For such an awful photo of Hartnell, it's actually been used quite a bit over the years. For a whole generation of fans who bought the first issue of Doctor Who Weekly back in 1979, it was one of the first photos of Hartnell they presented.

Richard: It’s not such a bad shot but I get where you’re coming from on that photo. That image is iconic, now, and for precisely the reason you state. To be honest, I always thought it hinted at the “secret side” of Hartnell’s Doctor. Sort of a confident, sideways glance that gives a glimpse of what is really going on in that head behind the “old man” facade.