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Junkyard Bluebox

@junkyardbluebox / junkyardbluebox.tumblr.com

A Classic Doctor Who Blog. Pics, screencaps, fic recs, etc., referencing the 1st-8th Doctors and their companions. Submissions welcome. (and a big thanks to @leda74 for the name suggestion!)
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Ages of each actor in their first appearance as the Doctor:

  • John Hurt (War) 73
  • William Hartnell (First) 55
  • Peter Capaldi (Twelfth) 55
  • David Tennant (Fourteenth) 51
  • Jon Pertwee (Third) 50
  • Patrick Troughton (Second) 46
  • Sylvester McCoy (Seventh) 43
  • Colin Baker (Sixth) 40
  • Christopher Eccleston (Ninth) 40
  • Tom Baker (Fourth) 40
  • Paul McGann (Eighth) 36
  • Jodie Whittaker (Thirteenth) 35
  • David Tennant (Tenth) 34
  • Ncuti Gatwa (Fifteenth) 30
  • Peter Davison (Fifth) 29
  • Matt Smith (Eleventh) 26

The oldest actor to portray The Doctor was 73 and the youngest was 26.

The median age of Classic Who is 44 and New Who has a median age of 37.5

The average age overall is 42.

Also the new era contains both the oldest and youngest actor in the role.

I must admit now that I’m 27 the fact that Matt Smith was only 26 seems WILDLY young to me 😅

Even though when I was 12 I thought he was too young because in my head the Doctor had to be “old” (which meant over 30… I was a kid after all)

I remember being shocked back in 2014 when Capaldi was announced because they mentioned how he was the same age as Hartnell.

Though I should mention that Hartnell was playing an older character — with a wig and old fashioned clothes, other photos of him at the time make him look closer to his actual age (though still looking a bit older than what we’d expect since he was in poor health)

Patrick Troughton was actually a bigger shock to me as a teen, I was sure he was in his 50s when he did Doctor Who. Though I think that’s partly due to the deep lines around his mouth that made him look older

What also shocks me is how (relatively) young the first two Doctors died. 67 seems absurdly young these days when living to 80 (especially if you’re somewhat well off) is fairly common. What all the excessive smoking and drinking of the era did to so many people.

Smoking, drinking and possibly bad genes in some cases (not talking about any of them specifically, just of people in general). I remember back when Matt Smith was first announced as the Doctor and how he was the youngest to be cast in the role. Back then it wasn't such a big deal to me (and I was about 31 at the time) but now he seems like such a baby.

(though seeing as how I recently turned the age that Patrick Troughton was when he started as the Doctor I guess that makes sense... and just saying that makes me feel ancient XD)

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