Frazer Hines

Early career and breakthrough

Hines made his debut in the film John and Julie (1955) as an extra in a crowd scene, Hines went on to have minor roles in Moby Dick, The Weapon and X the Unknown (all 1956). Hines' breakthrough role was in 1957 where he performed the role of Napoleon in a six-part television adaptation of John Buchan's 1922 novel Huntingtower. That same year, Hines appeared alongside Charlie Chaplin in the film A King in New York. 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). He appeared in a 1964 serial, Smuggler's Bay, with Patrick Troughton.^[6]

With a well-established career in television, Hines acted in feature films less frequently, but appeared in I Could Go On Singing (1963) with Judy Garland and he provided an uncredited voice for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967).^[7][8]

Doctor Who

Hines auditioned for the part of Ben Jackson in Doctor Who in 1966 but was unsuccessful.^[9] His debut came in the same year, 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.^[10]

Hines reprised the role in a cameo in the 20th anniversary special "The Five Doctors" (1983) and as a guest star in The Two Doctors (1985). Hines appeared in more episodes than any other "companion" actor in the history of the series, but many of the episodes featuring Jamie no longer exist in the BBC's collection. The only actors to have more credited appearances are the First and the Fourth Doctor.^[11]

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 later called it the only flop Mason and Reed ever wrote.^[12]

Hines, Troughton and Wendy Padbury (who played the Second Doctor's other companion, Zoe Heriot) all departed the show in 1969. At the advice of his agent, Hines was the first of the three to announce his intention to leave, though Troughton asked him to stay a few more months to the end of the sixth season, 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 serial The War Games (1969). Hines remained in contact with Troughton.

"My agent was advising me to leave. I was going to leave earlier – in fact there was a script written called 'The Laird of Lochinvar'," Hines told SciFiNow. "They were going to go to Scotland and he was going to fall in love with a Highland lass. I remember the Daily Sketch, front page news – JAMIE IS TO LEAVE DOCTOR WHO. Patrick read it and said, 'I'm leaving in six months' time, my contract ends, my wife's been saying I should be doing other stuff, wait for me,' so I stayed on till The War Games and left with Patrick. Then Padders [Wendy Padbury] said, 'I'm not going to stay with Jon Pertwee because I'll never get into shot! He's 6 foot 4 and I'm 4 foot 6!" We didn't want to leave! I still say that if my agent hadn't been nagging me, and [Troughton's] wife, we'd still be there now. You'd have to shoot us to get us out [of] the TARDIS. You'd never have heard of David Tennant or Christopher Eccleston because we'd still be there. We were having such a ball!"

Author Diana Gabaldon credits watching Hines in The War Games (and finding him attractive in a kilt) as the inspiration for her first novel, Outlander, a time travel story set in 18th century Scotland. Consequently, she named the novel's male protagonist Jamie.^[13] 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.^[13] In a 2018 interview with SciFiNow, Hines said: "When I was in Emmerdale I got this book, sent by Diana Gabaldon. She explained, saying, 'Dear Frazer, I watched you in this black and white TV show and I loved your legs and your kilt, and I went to church the next day and all I could think about was your legs and your kilt, and I've written this book.' I read it, and I took it to David Cunliffe, who was head of drama at Yorkshire TV. He said it was too expensive, so he didn't do it."^[10]

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.^[14] 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.

In 2023, he reprised his role as Jamie in the series Tales of the TARDIS.^[15]

Emmerdale

After his tenure as Jamie in Doctor Who, Hines appeared in several films such as The Last Valley and Zeppelin (both 1971), until 1972 when he was cast in the soap opera Emmerdale Farm as Joe Sugden,^[16] 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. Hines was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1992 after Michael Aspel surprised him during the filming of Emmerdale.^[17] 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. Despite his off-screen death, Hines confirmed that he would like to return to the soap.^[18]

After Emmerdale

Straight out of Emmerdale, in 1995 Hines toured the UK in a production of Doctor in the House with Vicki Michelle, Robin Askwith and Windsor Davies. In 1998, he starred as Inspector Lord in a touring production of Spider's Web. Hines appeared with Kate O'Mara in a tour of The Hollow later that year. Hines appeared in Peter Kay's Comic Relief video of 2007, as one of the many guests dancing to the song I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers. In 2011, he toured in the play Five Blue Haired Ladies Sitting on a Green Park Bench with Shirley Anne Field and Anita Harris. In 2014, Hines appeared in the film Two Days in the Smoke.^[19] He also appeared as Franklin D. Roosevelt in the stage musical Annie in 2014.^[20]

Hines was cast in an episode of the television adaptation of Outlander, which he had helped to inspire.^[21] In the May 2015 episode "Wentworth Prison", Hines portrayed Sir Fletcher Gordon, an English prison warden.^[21][22] Hines said: "When it came to pass that they were making a TV series, I said 'I've got to be in it!'. My agent said they were casting for Sir Fletcher Gordon, so I went to see the casting director – it wasn't a given, I had to go and read for the part. I'm glad I did."^[10]

From 2016 to 2017, Hines starred as Albert Blunderstone in the tour of the play Seriously Dead.^[23]

In 2019, Hines starred in an audio film of Up Pompeii!, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the series, appearing alongside original cast members including Madeline Smith and Tim Brooke-Taylor. Hines appeared as Sonny Troughton, a former criminal, in two episodes of Doctors in 2020^[24] and starred in the romantic-comedy film Lost at Christmas set in the Scottish Highlands later that same year.^[25]

Film

Television

Music videos

Selected Theatre