Frazer Hines

Frazer Hines
Born 22 September 1944
Horsforth, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Occupation Actor
Years active 1955–present
Television Doctor Who
Emmerdale
Spouse(s) Gemma Craven (1981–1984) (divorced)
Liz Hobbs (1994–2003) (divorced)
Website
www.frazerhines.com

Frazer Hines (born 22 September 1944) is an English actor best known for his roles as Jamie McCrimmon in Doctor Who and Joe Sugden in Emmerdale. Hines appeared in 117 episodes of the original series of Doctor Who; only the first four actors to play the Doctor appeared in more.[1] Hines was born in Horsforth in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Acting career

Hines attended Corona Theatre School while a young boy. By the age of 10, he had appeared in numerous feature films as minor characters. In 1957, he performed the role of a boy called Napoleon in a six-part television adaptation of John Buchan's 1922 novel Huntingtower. From 1957 and throughout the 1960s, he performed a steady stream of roles in various television series, such as Jan in The Silver Sword (1957–58), Tim Birch in Emergency Ward 10 (1963–64), and Roger Wain in Coronation Street (1965). With a well-established career in television, Hines appeared in feature films less frequently.

Doctor Who

Hines' Doctor Who debut came in 1966, after he was cast to play the part of Jamie McCrimmon, a companion of the Second Doctor (played by Patrick Troughton). Hines maintained his role from 1966 to 1969; he reprised it in the 20th anniversary serial The Five Doctors (1983), and again in The Two Doctors (1985).

In all, Hines performed in 117 episodes of Doctor Who—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 Doctor Who missing episodes were productions in which Hines had performed.

In 1968, his third year on the show, Hines released with Major Minor Records a novelty record titled Who's Doctor Who?. Esteemed songwriters Barry Mason and Les Reed composed the music and lyrics, but the record was a commercial failure. Hines later called it the only flop Mason and Reed ever wrote.

Frazer Hines and his fellow lead actors Patrick Troughton and Wendy Padbury collectively decided that the workload of Doctor Who was exhausting them, and that they would soon depart from the show. Frazer was the first to openly announce his intent 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 as well. The three actors remained with the show until the conclusion of the final series six 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 also said 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 fetching in a kilt) as the inspiration for setting her first novel, Outlander, in 18th-century Scotland, and for naming the novel's male protagonist "Jamie".[2] (However, 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, so she did not learn Frazer Hines' name until several years after Outlander was published.)[2]

Emmerdale

After his three-year stint 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.

Other work

Until 2007, Hines was the only still-living Second Doctor companion actor not to act 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 installment 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.[3] 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 (Although it was revealed at the conclusion of the trilogy that this Jamie was a duplicate rather than the original). 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.

Hines also appeared in Peter Kay's Comic Relief video of 2007, as one of the many guests dancing to Kay's Brian Potter and Matt Lucas' Andy Pipkin to the song I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers.

Hines has been cast in a forthcoming episode of the television adaptation of Outlander, the novel which he inadvertently inspired.[4] Hines will play Sir Gordon Fletcher, an English prison warden, in an episode due to air in 2015.[4]

Personal life

Hines at one time dated Liza Goddard and Pamela Franklin. He has been twice married, first to Irish actress Gemma Craven from 1981 to 1984, and second to waterskiing champion Liz Hobbs (with whom he lived in Coddington, Nottinghamshire) from 1994 to 2003.

Boxtree, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers, published Hines' autobiography in 1996. This work, titled Films, Farms and Fillies, first appeared in a paperback edition. 13 years later, in December 2009, Telos Publishing released a revised hardcover edition, titled Hines Sight.

In July 2010, Hines disclosed that he suffered from colorectal cancer for eleven years, explaining that he kept his illness a secret for fear of professional alienation. Since his recovery, Hines has openly promoted cancer awareness through Cancer Research and the Bobby Moore Cancer Foundation.

Hines later toured Northern England in a one-person show about his career.

Selected filmography

References

  1. ↑ "Doctor Who on the Internet Movie Database". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gabaldon, Diana. "FAQ: About the Books". DianaGabaldon.com. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  3. ↑ I-CON. "Frazer Hines Interview".
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ross, Robyn (19 August 2014). "Exclusive: Doctor Who Alum to Guest-Star on Outlander". TV Guide. Retrieved 20 August 2014.

External links