Ian Chesterton
|
|
Ian Chesterton is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and a companion of the First Doctor. He was originally played by William Russell, and was one of the members of the programme's very first regular cast, appearing in the bulk of the first two seasons from 1963 to 1965. In a film adaptation of one of the serials, Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965), he was played by Roy Castle, but with a very different personality and backstory.
The original Ian was a science teacher at the Coal Hill School and worked with Barbara Wright, a history teacher. One of their students was Susan Foreman, the granddaughter of the Doctor, who showed unusually advanced knowledge of science and history. Attempting to solve the mystery of the "unearthly child", Chesterton and Wright followed Susan back home to a junkyard, where they heard her voice coming from what appeared to be a police box. When they investigated further, they discovered that the police box exterior hid the much larger interior of a time machine known as the TARDIS, and were whisked away on an adventure in time and space with the Doctor and Susan.
Ian provided the series with an action-oriented figure, able to do the physical tasks that the elderly Doctor was not up to. His concern, above all, was for the safety of the TARDIS crew, and in the early stories he often took issue with the Doctor's habit of placing them in harm's way just to satisfy his own curiosity. The chemistry between Barbara and himself was also evident, although the nature of their relationship was never made explicit in the television series.
Ian showed a surprising breadth of skills through his tenure with the Doctor. He managed to create fire in 100,000 BC, rode a horse, knew how to sword fight (The Romans) and was knowledgeable about pressure points that could paralyze an opponent (The Aztecs). He was also fiercely protective of Barbara, going on a lone mission to rescue her from Saracens in The Crusade. In that story, he was also knighted by King Richard I of England, although presumably he would be unable to use that title in his own time. After many travels, they eventually used a Dalek time machine to get home, albeit two years after their disappearance and presumably with much explaining to do to their friends and families.
The character of Ian was intended by the production team to return for a guest appearance in the 1983 Doctor Who story Mawdryn Undead, but this plan fell through when Russell proved to be unavailable. However, in 1999 Russell did return to the part for the BBC Worldwide video release of The Crusade, two of the four episodes of which are missing from the archives. Russell provided linking narration between the existing episodes in character as an aged Ian Chesterton reminiscing about the events of the story.
Since 1994, the character has also appeared in various novels from Virgin Publishing and BBC Books, set between televised adventures during his particular era of the programme. One BBC Books novel, The Face of the Enemy by David A. McIntee (1998), picks up the story of Ian and Barbara, now married to each other, in the early 1970s. In 2005, Russell acted in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio play The Game, opposite Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, but playing a character other than Ian Chesterton.