With the new series of Doctor Who starting in less than two weeks now, I thought I’d revive a post I made on another forum about ages of the actors. Was talking to a friend of mine who asked me how old David Tennant was (he’ll be 37 on April 18th), and it reminded me of this. I did some research as to how old all the lead actors were when they started in their role on the show, and did some comparisons.

Mostly useless information, I admit, but I tend to do things like this. Especially about Doctor Who. This post only for the hardcore nutters. :)

Here’s the ages they were when their respective times in the show started. I am not breaking it down to days. That’s just too stupid. I’m also not counting Colin Baker’s appearance as Cmdr Maxil or Lalla Ward as Princess Astra, those are different characters. The companions are listed by which Doctor they started with, not ended with.

Doctors:

William Hartnell: 55 years, 10 months
Patrick Troughton: 46 years, 7 months
Jon Pertwee: 50 years, 5 months
Tom Baker: 40 years, 5 months
Peter Davison: 29 years, 11 months
Colin Baker: 40 years, 10 months
Sylvester McCoy: 44 years, 1 month
Paul McGann: 36 years, 7 months
Christopher Eccelston: 41 years, 1 month
David Tennant: 34 years, 2 months

Companions:

Doctor #1:

Carole Anne Ford (Susan): 23 years, 5 months
William Russell (Ian): 39 years, 1 month
Jacqueline Hill (Barbara): 33 years, 11 months, died Feb 18, 1993
Maureen O’Brien (Vicki): 22 years, 5 months
Peter Purves (Steven): 26 years, 4 months
Adrienne Hill (Katarina): Unknown birthdate, died Oct 6, 1997
Jean Marsh (Sara): 31 years, 1 month
Jackie Lane (Dodo): 18 years, 8 months
Michael Craze (Ben): 23 years, 5 months, died Dec 8, 1998
Anneke Wills (Polly): 24 years, 4 months

Doctor #2:

Frazier Hines (Jamey): 23 years, 3 months
Deborah Watling (Victoria): 19 years, 5 months
Wendy Padbury (Zoe): 20 years, 4 months

Doctor #3:

Caroline John (Liz): Unknown birthdate
Katy Manning (Jo): 21 years, 3 months
Elizabeth Sladen (Sarah): 24 years, 10 months, died Apr 19, 2011

Doctor #4:

Ian Marter (Harry): 30 years, 2 months, died Oct 28, 1986
Louise Jameson (Leela): 25 years, 9 months
Mary Tamm (Romana I): 28 years, 5 months
Lalla Ward (Romana II): 28 years, 3 months
Matthew Waterhouse (Adric): 18 years, 11 months
Sarah Sutton (Nyssa): 19 years, 11 months
Janet Fielding (Teegan): 24 years, ?? months

Doctor #5:

Mark Strickson (Turlough): 22 years, ?? months
Nicola Bryant (Peri): 21 years, 4 months

Doctor #6:

Bonnie Langford (Mel): 22 years, 4 months

Doctor #7:

Sophie Aldred (Ace): 25 years, 3 months

Doctor #8:

Daphne Ashbrook (Grace): 33 years, 4 months
Yee Jee Tso (Chang Lee): 21 years, 2 months

Doctor #9:

Billie Piper (Rose): 22 years, 6 months
Bruno Langley (Adam): 22 years, 1 month
John Barrowman (Jack): 38 years, 2 months

Doctor #10:

Noel Clark (Mickey): 30 years, 5 months
Freema Agyeman (Martha): 28 years, ?? months
Catherine Tate (Donna): 38 years, 2 months

Others:

John Leeson (K9): 34 years, 7 months
David Brierly (K9): 43 years, ? months
Gerald Flood (Kamelion): 55 years, 11 months

Notes:

1. I counted Mickey with Doctor #10, as he wasn’t a “traveling companion” until that point. It’s the same reason I haven’t counted characters like Jackie Tyler, or the Brigadier, as they weren’t traveling companions, just support characters. It’s a fine line I know. I also realize I condtradict that by the use of Grace & Change Lee from the 1996 movie, but if you didn’t count them, Doc 8 would have NO companions, and that’s not right, either.
2. Some of the companions have ?? as months, as their birth month was not given, just a year, and a couple have totally unknown birthdates. I listed ’em anyway, but with as much info as I could get.
3. I debated what to do about using “Others” are they were merely voiceovers, and weren’t on screen. But I put the info in there for the heck of it. The actor who voiced Kamelion would be the oldest “companion”, but since these characters were robots, I’m not sure if that should count.

Oldest/Youngest:

The youngest overall companion was Jackie Lane, Doctor #1’s Dodo Chaplet at 18 years 8 months. The second youngest, and youngest male companion was Matthew Waterhouse; Adric. He was 18 years, 11 months. The oldest was William Russell, one of the original companions (Ian) at 39 years 1 month.
Older than the Doctor:

1) There’s only one companion (discounting Kamelion) who was older than their Doctor at the time of their taking the role. That was Catherine Tate. She was 38 years 2 months old when she appeared in “Doomsday”, and David Tennant was 35 years, 3 months at the time of “Doomsday”‘s airing.

2) John Barrowman was 38 years 2 months when he first appeared in the Doctor 9 story “The Empty Child”. At that point he was younger than Christopher Eccelston. However, when he reappeared in Utopia with David Tennant’s Doctor, that changed. At the time of the airing of Utopia, Barrowman was 40 years, 3 months. Tennant was at that time 36 years, 2 months.

I’m such a dork.