Early career in Radio Times'', February 1948 After demobilisation, Troughton returned to the theatre. He worked with the
Amersham Repertory Company, the
Bristol Old Vic Company and a minor role as a pirate in Disney's
Treasure Island (1950), appearing only during the attack on the heroes' hut. Television, though, was his favourite medium. In 1953, he became the first actor to play the
folk hero Robin Hood on television, starring in six half-hour episodes broadcast from 17 March to 21 April on the
BBC, and titled simply
Robin Hood. Troughton would also make several appearances in
The Adventures of Robin Hood starring
Richard Greene. He appeared as the murderer Tyrrell in Olivier's film of
Richard III (1955). He was also Olivier's stand-in on the film and appears in many long shots as Richard. He voiced
Winston Smith in a 1965
BBC Home Service radio adaptation of
Nineteen Eighty-Four. Prior to
Doctor Who he appeared in numerous TV shows, including
The Count of Monte Cristo,
Ivanhoe,
Dial 999,
Danger Man,
Maigret,
Compact,
The Third Man,
Crane,
Detective,
Sherlock Holmes,
No Hiding Place,
The Saint,
Armchair Theatre,
The Wednesday Play,
Z-Cars,
Adam Adamant Lives! and
Softly, Softly. Troughton was offered the part of Johnny Ringo in the
Doctor Who story
The Gunfighters but turned it down.
Doctor Who during the filming of
The Abominable Snowmen In 1966,
Doctor Who producer
Innes Lloyd looked for a replacement for
William Hartnell in the series' lead role. The continued survival of the show depended on audiences accepting another actor in the role, despite the bold decision that the replacement would not be a Hartnell lookalike or soundalike. Lloyd later stated that Hartnell had approved of the choice, saying, "There's only one man in England who can take over, and that's Patrick Troughton". Lloyd chose Troughton because of his extensive and versatile experience as a
character actor. After he was cast, Troughton considered various ways to approach the role, to differentiate his portrayal from Hartnell's amiable-yet-tetchy
patriarch. Troughton's early thoughts about how he might play the Doctor included a "tough sea captain", and a piratical figure in blackface and turban.
Doctor Who creator
Sydney Newman suggested that the Doctor could be a "cosmic hobo" in the mould of
Charlie Chaplin, and this was the interpretation eventually chosen. Troughton was the first Doctor to have his face appear in the opening titles of the show. In one serial,
The Enemy of the World, Troughton played two parts: as the protagonist (The Doctor) and the antagonist (Salamander). During his time on the series, Troughton tended to shun publicity and rarely gave interviews. He told one interviewer, "I think acting is magic. If I tell you all about myself it will spoil it". Years later, he told another interviewer that his greatest concern was that too much publicity would limit his opportunities as a character actor after he left the role. In a rare interview with Ernest Thompson from
Radio Times, Troughton revealed that he "always liked dressing up, and would have been happy as a school teacher as children keep one young". Troughton was popular with both the production team and his co-stars. Producer Lloyd credited Troughton with a "leading actor's temperament. He was a father figure to the whole company and hence could embrace it and sweep it along with him". Troughton also gained a reputation on set as a practical joker. Many of the early episodes in which Troughton appeared were among
those discarded by the BBC. Troughton found
Doctor Whos schedule (at the time, 40 to 44 episodes per year) gruelling, and decided to leave the series in 1969, after three years in the role. This decision was also motivated in part by fear of being
typecast. in October 1986 Troughton returned to
Doctor Who three times after formally leaving the programme. The first of these occasions was in
The Three Doctors, the 1972–73 serial opening the programme's 10th series. In 1983, Troughton overcame some reluctance to reprise his role and agreed to appear in the 20th-anniversary special "
The Five Doctors" at the request of series producer
John Nathan-Turner. He also agreed to attend
Doctor Who conventions, including the show's 20th anniversary celebrations at
Longleat in 1983. He also appeared around the world with Nathan-Turner. Troughton enjoyed the return to the programme so much that he readily agreed to appear one more time as the
Second Doctor, with
Colin Baker's
Sixth Doctor in
The Two Doctors (1985). Reportedly, he also advised
Fifth Doctor actor
Peter Davison to limit his time in the role to three series to avoid
typecasting and the younger actor followed this advice. In 2013, the BBC commissioned a
docudrama about the early days of
Doctor Who, as part of the programme's fiftieth-anniversary celebrations. Troughton appears as a character in the production, called
An Adventure in Space and Time, portrayed by actor
Reece Shearsmith. In 2014's "
Robot of Sherwood", a still image of Troughton from 1953 appears among the future depictions of Robin Hood displayed by the
Twelfth Doctor to the outlaw.
Later career in a publicity still for the film
The Omen (1976) After Troughton left
Doctor Who in 1969, he appeared in various films and television roles. Film roles included Clove in
Scars of Dracula (1970),
Softly, Softly: Task Force,
Colditz,
Play for Today,
Z-Cars,
Special Branch, ''
Sutherland's Law, The Sweeney, Only When I Laugh (Series 2 Episode 9), Nanny and Minder'' (in a March 1984 episode titled "Windows", Season 4 Episode 9). He also portrayed Cole Hawlings in a
BBC Television dramatisation of the
John Masefield children's book
The Box of Delights (1984). playing a judge. Troughton's health was never completely robust due to heavy drinking and smoking (he had quit smoking in the 1960s, but the damage had already been done). Later in his life he refused to accept his doctor's advice after he had developed a serious heart condition through overwork and stress. He suffered two major heart attacks, one in 1979 and the other in 1984, both of which prevented him from working for several months afterwards. Following each of these attacks, his doctor's warnings were again ignored, as Troughton committed himself to a heavy TV and film schedule. Troughton featured in the 1974 11-part radio adaptation of
Evelyn Waugh's
Sword of Honour. In 1986, he was a regular in the first series of the
LWT sitcom
The Two of Us, and guested in an episode of
Super Gran in May 1987, which was the last role he filmed. His final television appearance was in the autumn of the same year in
Knights of God, which had been filmed two years earlier. Troughton also appeared in the first episode of
Central Independent Television's
Inspector Morse, entitled "The Dead of Jericho", which was originally transmitted on
ITV on 6 January 1987. ==Personal life==