
William Russell
Biography
William Russell Enoch (19 November 1924–3 June 2024) was an English actor. He achieved prominence in 1956 when he took the title role in the ITV television series The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956–1957). In 1963, he became part of the original lead cast of BBC1's Doctor Who, playing the role of schoolteacher Ian Chesterton opposite William Hartnell from the show's first episode until 1965. Russell's film roles include parts in The Man Who Never Was (1956), The Great Escape (1963) and Superman (1978). On television, he notably appeared as Ted Sullivan in Coronation Street in 1992. In recent years, Russell has maintained his association with Doctor Who; he returned to the show in 2022, making a cameo appearance as Ian in "The Power of the Doctor", 57 years after the character's last television appearance. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Also Known As
Movie Appearances

The Great Escape
as Sorren
1963

Malta Story
as Officer at Prison
1953

Above Us the Waves
as Ramsey
1955

The Affair
as Dr. Hastings
1995

One Good Turn
as Alec Bigley
1955

Henry V at Shakespeare's Globe
as King Charles VI of France / Bishop of Ely / Sir Thomas Erpingham
1997

The Saint's Return
as Keith Merton
1953

Dead Man's Kit
as Senior Officer
1980

The Big Chance
as Bill Anderson
1957

Executive Order
2022

Doctor Who: The Daleks in Colour
as Ian Chesterton (archive footage)
2023

Return to Sender
as Mike Cochran
1963

Intimate Relations
as Michael
1953

Terror
as Lord Garrick
1979

The Share Out
as Mike Stafford
1962

The Doctors: The William Hartnell Years
2017

Doctor Who: The Aztecs
as Ian Chesterton
1964
Little Girls Don't
as Daddy
1981

The Adventures of Hal 5
1957

They Who Dare
as Lieutenant Poole
1954
TV Appearances

Heartbeat
as Gabriel Firth
1992

Robin of Sherwood
as The Duke of Gloucester
1984
The Hanged Man
as Peter Kroger
1975

Dr. Finlay's Casebook
1962

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
as Sir Lancelot du Lac
1956

Van der Valk
as Rokin
1972

Disraeli
as Wyndham Lewis
1978
Sunday-Night Play
as Colonel Friedrich Eilers, Leader of a Fighter Squadron
1960
Nicholas Nickleby
as Nicholas Nickleby
1957
Breaking Point
1966

Father Brown
as Reverend Wilfred Bohun
1974

Doctor Who: Lost in Time
as Ian
1965