Frazer Hines

Hines' Doctor Who debut came in 1966, when he was cast to play the part of Jamie McCrimmon, the companion of the Second Doctor (played by Patrick Troughton). Originally intended as a one-off guest character, Jamie joined the regular cast and appeared in the series from 1966 to 1969. Hines reprised the role in a cameo in the 20th anniversary serial The Five Doctors (1983) and as a guest star in The Two Doctors (1985). Hines would appear in 117 episodes of Doctor Who in all[5]—more than any other "companion" actor in the history of the series. The only actors appearing in more episodes are those who played the first four Doctors. Many of the episodes featuring Jamie no longer exist in the BBC's collection.[6]

In 1968, during his third year on the show, Hines released with Major Minor Records the novelty record "Who's Dr. Who?" Esteemed songwriters Barry Mason and Les Reed composed the music and lyrics, but the record was a commercial failure. Hines would later call it the only flop Mason and Reed ever wrote.[7]

Frazer Hines and his fellow lead actors Patrick Troughton and Wendy Padbury (who played the Doctor's other companion Zoe Heriot) decided collectively that the workload of Doctor Who was exhausting them. Frazer was the first of the three to announce his intention to leave. Troughton asked him to stay a few more months, to the end of the sixth series, as this was when Troughton planned to relinquish his role. The three actors remained with the show until the conclusion of the final Season 6 serial The War Games (1969). In a documentary about Patrick Troughton, Hines reported that they all left with smiles on their faces, feeling that their job was done and that it was well done. Frazer attested that he remained in contact with Troughton afterward.

Author Diana Gabaldon credits watching Frazer Hines in the Doctor Who serial The War Games (and finding him attractive in a kilt) as the inspiration for her first novel, Outlander, a time travel story let in 18th century Scotland. Consequently, she named the novel's male protagonist Jamie.[8] She says that the character's surname, Fraser, is a coincidence, as the PBS station on which she watched Doctor Who habitually cut off the episode's credits. She did not learn Hines' name until several years after Outlander was published.[8]

Deborah Watling and Frazer Hines at a Doctor Who 50th Anniversary event

Up until 2007, Hines was the only surviving Second Doctor companion actor not to have acted in a Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio play. (The others have played characters other than their television roles.) In November 2007, he starred as Jamie in Helicon Prime, the second instalment in Season 2 of Big Finish's Companion Chronicles. Since then he has appeared in many more Companion Chronicles, where his uncanny ability to mimic Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor has been welcomed by fans of the show.[9] Hines has also recorded linking narration for many Second Doctor serials which no longer exist in video form; the soundtracks, along with Hines' narration, have been released on CD by BBC Audio. He also appeared in an audio trilogy with Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor as an older Jamie. In 2013, Hines portrayed both Jamie and the Second Doctor in the Big Finish audio play The Light at the End, produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.

After his tenure as Jamie in Doctor Who, Hines resumed the life of a jobbing actor until 1972, when he was cast in the soap opera Emmerdale Farm as Joe Sugden, a role he played until 1994. In between making episodes of Emmerdale, as it was renamed in 1989, he has continued a career in the theatre and made occasional appearances in other TV shows. He stated in a 2019 interview “I left Emmerdale because I got sick of going to work when it was dark and coming home when it was dark. I’d just got married and owned a stud farm, and so I said I would leave. He stated he was asked back to the show the following year but refused and was later killed off."