NARRATIVES / AESTHETICS / CRITICISM WHO’S IN CHARGE?: CHANGING CHARACTER AGENCY IN EARLY DOCTOR WHO RICHARD HEWETT Name Richard Hewett be regarded as the ‘hero’ of the narrative, as this role was Academic centre University of Salford, UK often better fulfilled by his human companions, initially E-mail address
[email protected] represented by teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), who provided a ready KEYWORDS point of identification for viewers. This situation changed Doctor Who; character agency; production context; significantly during Hartnell’s tenure, but the shifts in television narrative. agency that occurred were so radical as to seem almost ad hoc, reflecting industry pressures that typified television drama of the time. The extent to which these changes ABSTRACT were influenced by the programme’s rapid turnaround This article investigates the impact of production process are examined here via a combination of textual analysis upon character agency in early Doctor Who, focusing on and historical production research, before being briefly the period between 1963 and 1966, during which time contrasted with the modern version of Doctor Who, William Hartnell starred as the Doctor. As originally starring Jodie Whittaker, whose production context conceived by Sydney Newman, Verity Lambert and David allows for more considered development of long-term Whitaker, it is debatable to what extent the Doctor could character arcs. 05 SERIES VOLUME VI, Nº 1, SUMMER 2020: 05-16 DOI https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2421-454X/9805 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TV SERIAL NARRATIVES ISSN 2421-454X NARRATIVES / AESTHETICS / CRITICISM > RICHARD HEWETT WHO’S IN CHARGE?: CHANGING CHARACTER AGENCY IN EARLY DOCTOR WHO 1.