William Russell

Acting

William Russell

Born November 19, 1924 · Sunderland, County Durham, England, UK

Died June 3, 2024 · aged 99

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. Russ…

Known For

The Great EscapeThe Great Escape · 1963
The Great Escape
★ 7.91963
MovieAdventureDrama
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.
SupermanSuperman · 1978
Superman
★ 7.21978
MovieScience FictionAction
Mild-mannered Clark Kent works as a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside his crush, Lois Lane. Clark must summon his superhero alter-ego when the nefarious Lex Luthor launches a plan to take over the world.
Above Us the WavesAbove Us the Waves · 1955
Above Us the Waves
★ 6.11955
MovieWar
In World War II, the greatest threat to the British navy is the German battleship Tirpitz. While anchored in a Norwegian fjord, it is impossible to attack by conventional means, so a plan is hatched for a special commando unit to attack it, using midget submarines to plant underwater explosives.
The Man Who Never WasThe Man Who Never Was · 1956
The Man Who Never Was
★ 7.01956
MovieThrillerWar
The true story of a British effort to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a British officer and outfitted with faked papers showing that the Allies were intending to invade occupied Greece. His body is put into the sea where it will ultimately drift ashore and the papers be passed along to German Intelligence.
An Adventure in Space and TimeAn Adventure in Space and Time · 2013
An Adventure in Space and Time
★ 7.72013
MovieDrama
Actor William Hartnell felt trapped by a succession of hard-man roles while wannabe producer Verity Lambert was frustrated by the TV industry's glass ceiling. Both of them were to find unlikely hope and unexpected challenges in the form of a Saturday tea-time drama. Allied with a team of unusual but brilliant people, they went on to create the longest running science fiction series ever made.
They Who DareThey Who Dare · 1954
They Who Dare
★ 5.91954
MovieWar
In Greece during the war a small group of British commandoes and patriots land on an island with orders to attack two airfields from which the Luftwaffe is threatening allied forces in Egypt. The island is crawling with troops, and even moving by night the men soon run into trouble.
Death WatchDeath Watch · 1980
Death Watch
★ 6.41980
MovieDramaScience Fiction
In a future world where the disease has been finally defeated and everything can be sold, even the crude spectacle of death, the rare case of a dying woman becomes the morbid theme of a revolutionary reality show, broadcast through the curious eyes of a peculiar camera.
Doctor Who: The ChaseDoctor Who: The Chase · 1965
Doctor Who: The Chase
★ 6.91965
MovieScience FictionDrama
The Doctor and his companions are pursued through time and space by the Daleks on the desert planet Aridius and beyond.

Filmography

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Doctor Who: The Daleks in ColourDoctor Who: The Daleks in Colour · 2023
Doctor Who: The Daleks in Colour
★ 6.62023
MovieScience FictionDrama
The very first crew of the TARDIS land in a petrified forest on an alien planet. Determined to explore, the Doctor leads his companions into the metal city, where they discover danger at every corner and what will become his deadliest enemy... the mutant Daleks. It's time to encounter the Daleks once again, but this time in a way you've never seen them before. Originally transmitted in December 1963 to February 1964, the seven original episodes of the first Dalek story have received a cosmic makeover, dazzlingly colourised and woven together into a 75-minute blockbuster with brand-new sound and a brand-new score created by Mark Ayres. The Daleks has been gloriously updated, whilst ensuring the original story remains as thrilling as it was in 1963.

Ian Chesterton (archive footage)

StrangersStrangers · 1978
Strangers
★ 7.21978
SeriesCrimeDrama
Strangers is a 1978–82 ITV police procedural created and principally written by Murray Smith, based on characters created by Kenneth Royce in his novel series and subsequent 1977–78 television adaptation The XYY Man. Don Henderson and Dennis Blanch reprise their roles, respectively, of Detective Sergeant (DS) George Bulman and Detective Constable (DC) Derek Willis. A group of police officers are brought together from across the country to the north of England. There, the fact that they're not well-known gives them the advantage to infiltrate where a more familiar local detective could not. Despite being based around a comparatively small team of detectives, a regular feature in its early years is that few episodes feature the entire team, with most using just two or three regulars in any major role.

Bamford Harker