Doctor Who: The Smugglers

William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975), also known as Billy Hartnell or Bill Hartnell, was an English actor. Hartnell played the first incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, from 1963 to 1966. He was also known for his roles as Sergeant Grimshaw, the title character of the first Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant in 1958, and Company Sergeant Major Percy Bullimore in the sitcom The Army Game from 1957 until 1958, and again in 1960. Hartnell entered the theatre in 1925 working under Frank Benson as a general stagehand. He appeared in numerous Shakespearian plays, including The Merchant of Venice (1926), Julius Caesar (1926), As You Like It (1926), Hamlet (1926), The Tempest (1926) and Macbeth (1926). He also appeared in She Stoops to Conquer (1926), School for Scandal (1926) and Good Morning, Bill (1927), before performing in Miss Elizabeth's Prisoner (1928). This play was written by Robert Neilson Stephens and E. Lyall Swete. It featured the actress Heather McIntyre, whom he married during the following year. His first of more than sixty film appearances was in Say It With Music (1932). Hartnell continued to play comic characters until he was cast in the robust role of Sergeant Ned Fletcher in The Way Ahead (1944). From then on his career was defined by playing mainly policemen, soldiers, and thugs. Hartnell's performance in This Sporting Life was noted by Verity Lambert, the producer who was setting up a new science-fiction television series for the BBC entitled Doctor Who; and, mainly on the strength of that performance, Lambert offered him the title role.

Anneke Wills is a British actress famous for playing Polly, the swinging sixties companion to the first and second Doctor in Doctor Who from 1966 to 1967. Other roles include Evelyn in the ITC drama The Strange Report (1969-1970) and guest appearances in The Avengers and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Film roles include Anne in Some People (1962) and Angela in The Pleasure Girls (1965). From 1962 to 1979 she was married to Michael Gough but has subsequently twice remarried. The father of her first child was Anthony Newley, who left her for Joan Collins. In 1970 Wills effectively gave up acting to be a full time mum. Following her divorce from Gough, she left the UK in 1980 and lived in various places in the 16 years afterwards, including in Laos, Vietnam and India in the early 1980s, in the USA from 1983–1986, and in Canada from 1986–1996. She returned to live in the UK in 1996 and is a popular figure on the Doctor Who convention circuit. She has returned sporadically to acting for Doctor Who themed productions and has published three volumes of her memoirs: Self Portrait (2007), Naked (2009), and In Focus (2012).

Michael Craze was a British actor noted for his role of Ben Jackson, a companion of the Doctor, in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He played the part from 1966 to 1967 alongside both William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton

George Alphonsus Cooper was born in Leeds in 1925. After training as an electrical engineer and architect he was called up for National Service, working for the Royal Artillery in India. During that period he became interested in performing and on his discharge joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in Manchester. To avoid confusion with American actor George Cooper he used his middle initial in his stage name. His first appearance on television was in 1946. Over the next fifty years, he was a regular on the screen developing a career out of portraying slightly bumbling authoritarian characters. In 1964, he won a recurring role in ITV's Coronation Street playing businessman Willie Piggott who famously tried to bribe Ken Barlow to give his son Brian a pass on his tech exam. He had regular roles in Z-Cars and Dixon of Dock Green. In 1960, he appeared in the West End play Billy Liar playing the father of the title character, later reprising the role in the 1973 television series. He appeared in comedies such as Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, Sykes and Mind Your Language. In 1985, he took on the role of no-nonsense caretaker Eric Griffiths in the incredibly successful children's drama Grange Hill, playing the role for seven years and earning a place in the hearts of a generation of children. His last TV appearance was in a 1995 episode of Casualty. He died in a nursing home in Hampshire on 16th November, 2018.

John Ringham was born on February 10, 1928 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for V for Vendetta (2005), Just Good Friends (1983) and The River Flows East (1962). He died on October 20, 2008 in England, UK.