William Hartnell portrayed the first incarnation of the Doctor from An Unearthly Child (23 November 1963) at the beginning of the series , right through to the end of The Tenth Planet (1966) Born in St Pancras, London, on 8 January 1908, and a former jockey's apprentice, he first appeared on stage in 1924 and appeared in films from the early '30s onwards. He could play both light leads and character roles. He came to notice playing the firm sergeant in The Way Ahead (d. Carol Reed, 1944), which led to a brief period as leading man in the crime dramas Murder in Reverse? (d. Montgomery Tully, 1945) and Appointment with Crime (d. John Harlow, 1946), as well as playing the title role in the political morality film The Agitator (d. Harlow, 1945). In 1957 Hartnell appeared on television in the Army Game (a series that also featured Charlie Hawtrey & Bernard Bresslaw. In the show he played Sergeant Major Bullimore who was a very aggressive character, often barking orders and being pretty unpopular. When Hartnell left the series he went to Pinewood to record the first of the Carry On films and found himself playing an almost identical character. In Carry On Sergeant we do occasionally get to see a soft side to Hartnell with some great scenes, especially the first of the film whilst discussing his retirement from the army. In 1961 Hartnell was persuaded to return to the Army Game for a further season, but by now he was getting stuck in the roles of what he described as "Bastard Roles". Bearing this in mind Hartnell asked his agent to try and find him some character parts. This led to a part in the film This Sporting Life. It was a role that finally moved away from the bullies, and ultimately led to him becoming best known as an irascible time-traveler with a blue police box, since through this film he was cast in the BBC TV series Doctor Who. Hartnell was the first person to play the Doctor and made the show very popular during the sixties. He was convinced the show would run for at least five years, despite the fact it was only originally commissioned for thirteen weeks. During his time on the show he became a hero to thousands of children and so was bitterly disappointed when he was forced to retire from the show due to a combination of ill health (he suffered from arteriosclerosis) and disputes with the new producer. On 23rd April 1975 it was announced that Hartnell had died in his sleep.

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Patrick Troughton portrayed the second incarnation of the Doctor from the beginning of The Power of the Daleks (1966) through the end of The War Games (1969). He also appeared in The Five Doctors (1983) and The Two Doctors (1985). Only a small number of his episodes exist. Most of these are out on video. Patrick George Troughton was born on the 25th March 1920 He is probably best known as the second incarnation of The Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, which he did from 1966 until 1969. He was also seen in the movie Jason & the Argonauts, in The Box of Delights, and as Father Brennen in the movie The Omen (1976). In 1983, Troughton was asked by then-series producer John Nathan-Turner to appear in the 20th anniversary story The Five Doctors. Troughton agreed, and also went along with Nathan-Turner to appear on behalf of the series at conventions the world over. Apprehensive at first, Troughton was later so delighted at the prospect of appearing in support of the show that he readily agreed to appear one more time as the Doctor with Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor in The Two Doctors (1985). Troughton's health was never that robust and late in his life he flatly refused to accept his doctor's advice that he had developed a serious heart condition through overwork and stress. He suffered two major heart attacks in 1978 and 1984 which knocked him out of acting for several months both times. Following each of these attacks, his doctor's warnings were again ignored as Troughton committed himself to a heavy TV and film schedule. Troughton also continued to smoke heavily and declined to commit himself to any real physical exercise despite his worsening health and his early death was predicted as an inevitable consequence by his doctors. Troughton suffered his final, fatal, heart attack at 7:25 AM, the next day, 28th March, 1987, just after he had ordered his breakfast from the hotel staff. According to the paramedics who were called, Troughton died before he even fell back on his bed. He was 67 years old. Patrick Troughton's Doctor always seemed to leave everything to the last minute, and then have to make snap decisions and rush about to try and get everything done in time to save the day. This was part of the second Doctor's charm

A Beginners Guide to The TARDIS from the BBC website. just so you know The Evil of the Daleks one of the many lost second doctor episodes The Regeneration Team the reclaiming of 'lost' Doctor episodes The Script for The Evil of the Daleks this is one of many scripts to be found on this great website The Second Doctor a very good fan-based website, with lots of information available Virtual TARDIS you'll need the Shockwave plug-in to view this from the BBC website