Jacqueline Hill was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 actress known for her role as Barbara Wright

Barbara Wright (Doctor Who)

Barbara Wright is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and a companion of the First Doctor. She was one of the programme's very first regulars and appeared in the bulk of its first two seasons from 1963–65, played by Jacqueline Hill. In the film version...

 in the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 television series Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

. As the history teacher of the Doctor's

Doctor (Doctor Who)

The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....

 granddaughter, Susan Foreman

Susan Foreman

Susan Foreman is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The granddaughter and original companion of the First Doctor, she was played by actress Carole Ann Ford from 1963 to 1964, in the show's first season and the first two stories of the second season...

, Barbara Wright was the first of the companions

Companion (Doctor Who)

In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...

 to appear in the show in 1963, with Hill speaking the series' first words. She continued to play the role for nearly two years, leaving the show in 1965, at the same time as her fellow 'companion' William Russell

William Russell (actor)

William Russell is an English actor, mainly known for his television work. He was born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.-Doctor Who:...

 who played Ian Chesterton

Ian Chesterton

Ian Chesterton is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and a companion of the First Doctor. He was played in the series by William Russell, and was one of the members of the programme's very first regular cast, appearing in the bulk of the first two...

. Hill returned for an appearance in the 1980 Doctor Who story Meglos

Meglos

* Working titles for this story included The Golden Pentangle and The Last Zolfa-Thuran.* This is one of only two multi-part stories to feature all credited cast members in all episodes, the other being The Edge of Destruction....

, as the priestess Lexa.

Hill trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...

 and made her stage debut in London's West End in The Shrike

The Shrike (film)

The Shrike is a 1955 film based on the Joseph Kramm's play, The Shrike. José Ferrer directed and starred in Ketti Frings' screenplay adaptation.-Characters and story:...

. Many more roles followed, including, on television, Shop Window, Fabian of the Yard

Fabian of the Yard

Fabian of the Yard was a British police procedural television series based on the real-life memoirs of Scotland Yard detective Robert Fabian, made by the BBC and broadcast between November 1954 and February 1956. It is considered the earliest police procedural to be made for British TV, sharing...

and An Enemy of the People

An Enemy of the People

An Enemy of the People is an 1882 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen wrote it in response to the public outcry against his play Ghosts, which at that time was considered scandalous...

. In 1958 she married the director Alvin Rakoff

Alvin Rakoff

Alvin Rakoff is a Canadian film and television director who has spent the bulk of his career in England and directed more than 100 high profile television plays, as well as a dozen feature films and numerous stage productions...

, having the previous year appeared in his BBC adaptation of Rod Serling

Rod Serling

Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...

's American television play Requiem for a Heavyweight

Requiem for a Heavyweight

Requiem for a Heavyweight was a teleplay written by Rod Serling and produced for the live television show Playhouse 90 on 11 October 1956. Six years later, it was adapted as a 1962 feature film starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney....

. That production had starred former bit-part actor Sean Connery

Sean Connery

Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...

, who had been cast by Rakoff at Hill's suggestion, as she felt he would be popular with female viewers.

Hill was asked to play Barbara Wright in Doctor Who after she and producer Verity Lambert

Verity Lambert

Verity Ann Lambert, OBE was an English television and film producer. She is best known as the founding producer of the science-fiction series Doctor Who, a programme which has become a part of British popular culture, and for her association with Thames Television...

, whom she knew socially, discussed the role at a party. Soon after leaving the series in 1965 she gave up acting to raise a family, daughter Sasha and son John. Hill resumed her career in 1979 and gained further TV credits in, amongst other programmes, Tales of the Unexpected

Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)

Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. Filming began in 1978.The series was an anthology of different tales...

and as Lady Capulet in the BBC Television Shakespeare

BBC Television Shakespeare

The BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985.-Origins:...

 version of Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...

in 1978.

Jacqueline Hill died of cancer in 1993.

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