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A sequel of sorts
Book Review: Patrick Troughton - The Biography, by Michael Troughton
Quite a few years ago now I read a biography of William Hartnell, and Tom Baker's autobiography sits on the shelves awaiting me. But I felt I should read them in the right order, and therefore the gaps needed to be filled. It was one of those projects that got paused - and paused some more. So, 2020 was the ideal time for a relaunch.
Written by one of Troughton's sons, this is a decent account of an interesting life, from an early age destined for an acting career, diverted in World War II to service in the Royal Navy around the coasts of Britain, perhaps an odd decision after returning to the UK from the USA at the start of the war and being on a boat attacked as it approached the British Isles. Troughton started off in the theatre, but was drawn to radio and particularly television work in its early days, with quite a portfolio of character roles. Despite the long list, whenever he was out of work, it seems to have been a precarious financial situation, not helped by what would be described at the very least as an unconventional personal life with a second family that was somehow kept secret for many years. So in fact Patrick Troughton was comfortably middle-aged and a well-established actor when, after some uncertainty, he took the part of Doctor Who in 1966, a fact that I find very easy to overlook, probably because he just seems so much younger than William Hartnell. It's interesting to note that his preceding work included pieces with many other actors who had roles in Doctor Who, not just Hartnell, but also Roger Delgado and Frazer Hines among them. Afraid of becoming typecast, and often unenthused by thin stories and effects, he nonetheless succeeded in the role for three years, and as Colin Baker has said, if it wasn't for the second actor to play the part, none of the others would have either.
Returning for the 1973 anniversary story The Three Doctors, it seems his sparring with Jon Pertwee was not just to the camera. His fears of typecasting were of course unfounded, and a stream of further work continued right up until his death in 1987 (I recall one of his last appearances in the first episode of Inspector Morse). Returning again to the role of the Doctor in 1983 and 1985, he was persuaded to join the convention circuit (there seems to be a continuity glitch in this section of the book, as Ace's props would not have been auctioned in 1983); sadly he died while at a convention in the USA. Despite health problems, he had continued to over-work himself. This feels like a sincere attempt to document Troughton's life, inevitably with occasional sentimentality through the lens of a son to whom he was a "part-time father", but with a life like his, such an account could only be written by someone close to him.
Quite a few years ago now I read a biography of William Hartnell, and Tom Baker's autobiography sits on the shelves awaiting me. But I felt I should read them in the right order, and therefore the gaps needed to be filled. It was one of those projects that got paused - and paused some more. So, 2020 was the ideal time for a relaunch.
Written by one of Troughton's sons, this is a decent account of an interesting life, from an early age destined for an acting career, diverted in World War II to service in the Royal Navy around the coasts of Britain, perhaps an odd decision after returning to the UK from the USA at the start of the war and being on a boat attacked as it approached the British Isles. Troughton started off in the theatre, but was drawn to radio and particularly television work in its early days, with quite a portfolio of character roles. Despite the long list, whenever he was out of work, it seems to have been a precarious financial situation, not helped by what would be described at the very least as an unconventional personal life with a second family that was somehow kept secret for many years. So in fact Patrick Troughton was comfortably middle-aged and a well-established actor when, after some uncertainty, he took the part of Doctor Who in 1966, a fact that I find very easy to overlook, probably because he just seems so much younger than William Hartnell. It's interesting to note that his preceding work included pieces with many other actors who had roles in Doctor Who, not just Hartnell, but also Roger Delgado and Frazer Hines among them. Afraid of becoming typecast, and often unenthused by thin stories and effects, he nonetheless succeeded in the role for three years, and as Colin Baker has said, if it wasn't for the second actor to play the part, none of the others would have either.
Returning for the 1973 anniversary story The Three Doctors, it seems his sparring with Jon Pertwee was not just to the camera. His fears of typecasting were of course unfounded, and a stream of further work continued right up until his death in 1987 (I recall one of his last appearances in the first episode of Inspector Morse). Returning again to the role of the Doctor in 1983 and 1985, he was persuaded to join the convention circuit (there seems to be a continuity glitch in this section of the book, as Ace's props would not have been auctioned in 1983); sadly he died while at a convention in the USA. Despite health problems, he had continued to over-work himself. This feels like a sincere attempt to document Troughton's life, inevitably with occasional sentimentality through the lens of a son to whom he was a "part-time father", but with a life like his, such an account could only be written by someone close to him.
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Until David Tennant came along he was my favourite Doctor. Now I suppose he's my joint favourite.
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