Ian Chesterton

Doctorwhocharacter


name=Ian
series=Doctor Who
affiliation=First Doctor
race=Human
planet=Earth
era=1963
start= An Unearthly Child
finish= The Chase
portrayed=William Russell
Roy Castle (film)

Ian Chesterton is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series "Doctor Who" and a companion of the First Doctor. He was played in the series 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.

Character history

Ian Chesterton is a science teacher at the Coal Hill School and works with Barbara Wright, a history teacher. One of their students, Susan Foreman, the granddaughter of the Doctor, shows unusually advanced knowledge of science and history. Attempting to solve the mystery of this "unearthly child," Ian and Barbara follow Susan back home to a junkyard, where they hear her voice coming from what appears to be a police box. When they investigate further, they discover that the police box exterior hides the much larger interior of a time machine known as the TARDIS, and are whisked away on an adventure in time and space with the Doctor and Susan.

Ian provides the series with an action-oriented figure, able to perform the physical tasks that the elderly Doctor can not. His concern, above all, is for the safety of the TARDIS crew, and in the early stories he often takes issue with the Doctor's habit of placing the group in harm's way just to satisfy his own curiosity. The chemistry between Barbara and himself is also evident, although the nature of their relationship is never made explicit in the television series.

Ian shows a surprising breadth of skills throughout his tenure with the Doctor. He manages to create fire ("An Unearthly Child"), rides a horse, knows how to fight with swords ("The Romans") and is knowledgeable about pressure points that can paralyze an opponent ("The Aztecs"). He is also fiercely protective of Barbara, going on a lone mission to rescue her from Saracens in "The Crusade". In that story, he is also knighted by King Richard I of England as "Sir Ian of Jaffa," although presumably he would be unable to use that title in his own time. After many travels, Ian and Barbara eventually use 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.

Appearances in other media

The novelisation of "The Daleks" by David Whitaker is written in first person from Ian Chesterton's perspective, and changes his initial meeting with the Doctor, Susan, and Barbara to a car accident involving the two ladies. The TARDIS then arrives on Skaro rather than prehistoric earth, with the story continuing much as the TV serial from then on. In this version, Ian is a chemist returning from an unsuccessful job interview, but his character is otherwise unchanged.

In the film adaptation "Dr. Who and the Daleks", Ian Chesterton is the boyfriend of Barbara, granddaughter of Dr. Who. Rather than the man of action from the TV series, this Ian is a clumsy idiot who manages to survive more through luck than any degree of competence. In "Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD", the character of Ian is replaced by Tom Campbell, who performs much the same role as Ian in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth".

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 this book, they have a young son named John. Many of the novels mention a 1980s pop star named Johnny Chester or Johnny Chess, intended to be the same character. Chess is idolised by the Seventh Doctor's companion Ace and has apparently been romantically involved with the Fifth Doctor's companion Tegan.

List of appearances

Television

;Season 1
*"An Unearthly Child"
*"The Daleks"
*"The Edge of Destruction"
*"Marco Polo"
*"The Keys of Marinus"
*"The Aztecs"
*"The Sensorites"
*"The Reign of Terror";Season 2
*"Planet of Giants"
*"The Dalek Invasion of Earth"
*"The Rescue"
*"The Romans"
*"The Web Planet"
*"The Crusade"
*"The Space Museum"
*"The Chase"

Films

*"Dr. Who and the Daleks"

Video

*"The Crusade" VHS release (specially filmed segments)

Audio dramas

;"Doctor Who Unbound" series
*"Deadline"

Novels

;Virgin Missing Adventures
*"Venusian Lullaby" by Paul Leonard
*"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Christopher Bulis
*"The Plotters" by Gareth Roberts

;Past Doctor Adventures
*"The Face of the Enemy" by David A. McIntee
*"The Witch Hunters" by Steve Lyons
*"City at World's End" by Christopher Bulis
*"Byzantium!" by Keith Topping
*"The Eleventh Tiger" by David A. McIntee
*"The Time Travellers" by Simon Guerrier
*"Matrix" by Mike Tucker & Robert Perry

hort stories

*"Brief Encounter" by David Bishop ("Doctor Who Magazine" #169)
*"The Book of Shadows" by Jim Mortimore ("Decalog")
*"The Nine-Day Queen" by Matt Jones ("")
*"The Last Days" by Evan Pritchard (Rebecca Levene) ("Short Trips")
*"Romans Cutaway" by David A. McIntee ("More Short Trips")
*"Nothing at the End of the Lane (3 Parts)" by Daniel O'Mahony ("Short Trips and Sidesteps")
*"The True and Indisputable Facts in the Case of the Ram’s Skull" by Mark Michalowski ("")
*"The Splintered Gate" by Justin Richards ("")
*"Distance" by Tara Samms ("Short Trips: Companions")
*"Mire and Clay" by Gareth Wigmore ("")
*"The Thief of Sherwood" by Jonathan Morris ("")
*"White Man's Burden" by John Binns ("Short Trips: Past Tense")
*"Every Day" by Stephen Fewell ("")
*"The Duke’s Folly" by Gareth Wigmore ("")
*"Set in Stone" by Charles Auchterlonie and John Isles ("")
*"The Ruins of Time" by Philip Purser-Hallard ("")
*"Tell Me You Love Me" by Scott Matthewman ("")

Comics

*"A Religious Experience" by Warwick Gray and Colin Andrew ("Doctor Who Yearbook 1994")

External links

* [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Ian_Chesterton Ian Chesterton] at [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/ "The TARDIS Index File" website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/companions/page3.shtml Ian Chesterton on the BBC's "Doctor Who" website]