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News William Russell broke a Guinness World Record!

The Nth Doctor

The Nth Doctor

Wanderer in the Fourth Dimension
Premium Member
I'm surprised this wasn't reported sooner but per the Radio Times, William Russell broke the Guinness World Record for the longest time between televised appearances playing the same character with the period of 57 years and 120 days!

The previous record belonged to Coronation Street actor Philip Lowrie for playing Dennis Tanner after 43 years.

This almost makes up for not getting to see Ian meet The Eleventh Doctor for that sharp contrast in age differences swapping, which I had been so desperate to see.
 
Mr Awe said:
he should've been invited to return at some earlier point.
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Ian was originally going to be in Mawdryn Undead but William Russell had a scheduling conflict preventing him from appearing so the episode was rewritten for the Brigadier instead.

But yes, I agree they had plenty of other opportunity to bring him back well before now, even taking Mawdryn into account. A cameo in Day of the Doctor would have been perfect, but alas.

Another fun fact, William Russell is the last of the original Doctor Who cast to make an appearance on the show in color. William Hartnell appeared in The Three Doctors, Jacqueline Hill in Meglos (though as a different character) and Carole Ann Ford in The Five Doctors.
 
I'm glad he got to show up one more time. It was cool seeing a few more companions in the episode including him, even as just a silent cameo at the end of the episode.
 
The Wormhole said:
But yes, I agree they had plenty of other opportunity to bring him back well before now, even taking Mawdryn into account. A cameo in Day of the Doctor would have been perfect, but alas.
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I would have LOVED the contrast of the young Matt Smith with the elder William Russell.

Or, at the end of Power of the Doctor, he asked about the Doctor being a woman. Imagine if instead he had met her at some point.
 
Its to RTD's and Moffat's shame that he hadn't appeared in NuWho prior (especially Moffat, who could have had him cameo in the 50th with much grace and actual lines/presence). So points to Chibnall for this little cameo.
 
Hell, I would have been content with at least a mention to him. In dialogue, I mean, I know he was on the sign as School Governor or whatever in Day of the Doctor. I always though a fun bit in The Caretaker could have been:
Doctor: I may need to have a word with Mr. Chatterton about this.
Clara: Do you mean Mr. Chesterton?
Doctor: I know what I said!
 
Hope the OP won't mind me asking, (and it was indeed great to see Ian once again), but I have heard that William Russell is not well. Granted, at age 98 "well" is relative. I believe that Sophie Aldred may have said he was suffering from dementia. Does anyone know? If the OP objects, please message me and I will remove my question.

Sir Rhosis
 
Mr Awe said:
When Clara was teaching at the Coal Hill School, I thought for sure that Ian would appear at some point.
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Absolutely. Any of the several Coal Hill School "appearances" in series 8 could have had a cameo, even if Ian was just an advisor by then.
 
Sir Rhosis said:
Hope the OP won't mind me asking, (and it was indeed great to see Ian once again), but I have heard that William Russell is not well. Granted, at age 98 "well" is relative. I believe that Sophie Aldred may have said he was suffering from dementia. Does anyone know? If the OP objects, please message me and I will remove my question.

Sir Rhosis
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I haven't heard that but I haven't not heard that either.

I'm out of the loop these days but is he still making Big Finish audios?
 
Seeing Ian with any future Doctor would have been awesome...


kirk55555 said:
I'm glad he got to show up one more time. It was cool seeing a few more companions in the episode including him, even as just a silent cameo at the end of the episode.
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Ian did say "She?"

Definitely leave the audience wanting more (in a good way).

Also, Ian being there puts the kibosh to all the fanfics claiming he and Barbara didn't age because they huffed tardis gas or whatever the claim was... ("Class" showed a placard of Barbara in the wall of dead teachers anyway...) Of course, that scene also begged the question of how Mel returned, but it's nice to see her returned. Definitely wanted to know more, but the whole of the scene in of itself was a marvelous coda.


Emperor-Tiberius said:
Its to RTD's and Moffat's shame that he hadn't appeared in NuWho prior (especially Moffat, who could have had him cameo in the 50th with much grace and actual lines/presence). So points to Chibnall for this little cameo.
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Moffat could have had Susan back, as series 10 was teasing it when a photo and a scene or two. Chibnall did a much better job at writing the Hartnell/First Doctor too; Chib's era was less than perfect, but he didn't treat the past Doctors as caricatures.

Another pondering: RTD rightly had to keep some distance between the classic era and any new one; the show needed time to develop itself - it's for the best that Spock returned in season 5 of TNG, but I digress: The 1996 Doctor Who movie tried to modernize with Americanisms with big chases and big budget and big tongue kissing and stuff, but it was also latched to the classic era too strongly. RTD did it right; keeping things separate and slowly rolling references in and unobtrusively. RTD also had a better airdate than opposite America's most loved show of the time circa 1996 too.
 
Qonundrum said:
Also, Ian being there puts the kibosh to all the fanfics claiming he and Barbara didn't age because they huffed tardis gas or whatever the claim was...
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It was a rumour expressed by Sarah Jane Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures episode "Death of the Doctor", written by RTD, that Ian and Barbara hadn't aged since the '60s. I'm glad it was ignored here.
 
That line in SJA about Ian and Barbara not aging was just meant to be a meta reference about the fact that to many fans, they haven't aged because we're all used to seeing them as they were in the 1960s due to watching and still watching their episodes of Doctor Who rather than literally meaning they stopped aging. Though if one wanted to interpret it literally and try to reconcile it with an obviously aged Ian seen in Power of the Doctor, I guess you could just hand-wave it as they visited modern day (or, at least some point prior to 2010 when that episode aired) during their travels with the First Doctor and someone saw and recognized them and mistakenly assumed they'd never aged rather than knowing it was their younger selves travelling ahead.
 
Unionized Elf said:
That line in SJA about Ian and Barbara not aging was just meant to be a meta reference about the fact that to many fans, they haven't aged because we're all used to seeing them as they were in the 1960s due to watching and still watching their episodes of Doctor Who rather than literally meaning they stopped aging.
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It was both. The latter is the only Watsonian explanation; it wasn't a fourth-wall break.
 
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