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William Russell
Russell pictured inBlighty, 1953
Born	William Russell Enoch (1924-11-19)19 November 1924 Sunderland,County Durham, England
Died	3 June 2024(2024-06-03) (aged 99) Gospel Oak,Camden,Greater London, England[1]
Other names	Russell Enoch
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1949–2022
Notable work	Doctor Who The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
Spouses	Balbina Gutierrez ​ ​ (m. 1953, divorced)​ Etheline Lewis ​ (m. 1984)​
Children	4, includingAlfred Enoch

William Russell Enoch (19 November 1924 – 3 June 2024) was an English actor who performed as bothRussell Enoch andWilliam Russell. His career on stage and screen spanned over seven decades and he first achieved prominence in the title role of the television seriesThe Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956–1957). In 1963, he was in the original lead cast ofBBC1'sDoctor Who, playing the role of schoolteacherIan Chesterton from the show'sfirst episode until 1965.

Russell's film roles include parts inThe Man Who Never Was (1956),The Great Escape (1963) andSuperman (1978). On television, he appeared asTed Sullivan inCoronation Street in 1992. In his later years, he continued his association withDoctor Who and returned as Ian for a 2022 cameo in "The Power of the Doctor", 57 years after the character left, which won him aGuinness World Record for the longest gap between TV appearances.

William Russell Enoch was born on 19 November 1924 inSunderland, County Durham,^[2] to Eva Compston (née Pile) and Alfred James Enoch. He was educated atWolverhampton Grammar School andOxford University and became interested in acting at an early age.^[3] He was involved in organising entertainment during hisnational service in theRoyal Air Force and then, after university, went into repertory theatre.

In 1963, Russell was cast inDoctor Who as science teacherIan Chesterton,the Doctor's first malecompanion, appearing in all episodes of the first two seasons of the programme except the last four.

Russell was one of the four original cast members ofDoctor Who, starring oppositeWilliam Hartnell as theFirst Doctor,Jacqueline Hill asBarbara Wright,Carole Ann Ford asSusan Foreman and laterMaureen O'Brien asVicki. His first involvement in the series took form in the pilot episode (not transmitted until 1991), which was later reshot and broadcast as the first episode ofAn Unearthly Child, the programme's first serial. He eventually departed, alongside Hill, in "The Planet of Decision", the final episode ofThe Chase, which served as the penultimate story of thesecond season.

It was intended that Russell would reprise the role of Ian in the 1983 serialMawdryn Undead alongsidePeter Davison as theFifth Doctor for thetwentieth season. Scheduling conflicts left him unavailable.^[4]

After leavingCoronation Street in 1992, Russell had maintained his association withDoctor Who, having lent his voice as a narrator to several of theaudiobook releases of thelost 1960s episodes. He appeared inThe Game, one of thecontinuingDoctor Who audio stories produced byBig Finish Productions. He also recorded readings for some of the CD audio adaptations ofDoctor Who story novelisations originally published byTarget Books.

In 1999, Russell returned to the role of Ian for the VHS release ofThe Crusade, of which "The Knight of Jaffa" and "The Warlords", the second and fourth episodes, respectively, are lost. He recorded several in-character scenes to camera, which helped to bridge the gaps between the existing episodes.

Russell also contributed to theDoctor Who DVD range, having participated in severalaudio commentaries and on-screen interviews since 2002.

In 2013, the BBC producedAn Adventure in Space and Time, adocudrama depicting the creation and early days ofDoctor Who, as part of the programme's fiftieth anniversary celebrations. Russell was a character in the drama and was portrayed by actorJamie Glover.^[5] Russell himself had a cameo role, playing a BBCCommissionaire named Harry.^[6]

The same year, Russell portrayed both Ian and the First Doctor in the Big Finish audio playThe Light at the End, produced to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary; aged 88, he became the oldest person to portray the Doctor,^[7] a record he held until March 2023, whenTom Baker portrayed theFourth Doctor in the Big Finish audio seriesThe Fourth Doctor Adventures at the age of 89.

Russell made a cameo appearance as Ian in the2022 special "The Power of the Doctor".^[8] With this, his final role, he won aGuinness World Record for the longest gap between TV appearances.^[9]

In 1953, Russell married Balbina Gutierrez. The couple had three children but later divorced.^[10]

In 1984, he married his second wife, Etheline Margareth Lewis,^[11] aBarbadian Brazilian doctor.^[12] Their son,Alfred Enoch, was born in 1988. Enoch subsequently became an actor as well, best known for playingDean Thomas in theHarry Potter film series andWes Gibbins in the television seriesHow to Get Away with Murder. They performed together in the 2020 movieExecutive Order.

Russell died at his home frompneumonia on 3 June 2024, aged 99.^[13][14]

Russell appeared in British films from 1950 onward, appearing in well-known productions such asThey Who Dare (1954),One Good Turn (1955),The Man Who Never Was (1956) andThe Great Escape (1963). He later played minor roles inTerror (1978),Superman (1978) andDeath Watch (1979).

Russell's big break was the title role inThe Adventures of Sir Lancelot on ITV in 1956, which for sale to the American NBC network became the first UK television series to be shot in colour. He acted in many plays and TV series includingDisraeli,Testament of Youth andCoronation Street (as Ted Sullivan, the short-lived second husband ofRita Sullivan). He had a small part in an episode ofThe Black Adder, as a late replacement forWilfrid Brambell, who became impatient with delays to his scene and left the set before shooting it. He was theDuke of Gloucester in theRobin of Sherwood episode, "The Pretender", and Lanscombe in a 2005Agatha Christie's Poirot episode, "After the Funeral".

• William Russell atIMDb
• William Russell discography atDiscogs

• 1924 births
• 2024 deaths
• 20th-century English male actors
• Royal Air Force airmen
• Military personnel from Sunderland
• 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
• 21st-century English male actors
• Audiobook narrators
• Deaths from pneumonia in England
• English male film actors
• English male stage actors
• English male television actors
• Male actors from Sunderland
• People educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School

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