Ian Chesterton

[Peri-Peri]

Ian Chesterton was one of Susan Foreman's teachers at Coal Hill School, London. He was intrigued by her advanced scientific knowledge, and in talking with another of her teachers, Barbara Wright, found that he was not the only person who had noticed the strange knowledge of this pupil. One evening, as school was finishing, Ian and Barbara decided to follow Susan home. They were concerned about her, and curious. When they saw Susan enter I.M. Foreman's junkyard in Totter's Lane, the two school teachers became more concerned for her safety. Following her inside the yard, the two discovered a police box sitting incongruously among the junk. When they discovered that Susan was inside, they barged their way in and Ian discovered something he could not believe.

Ian provides the series with an action-oriented figure, able to perform the physical tasks that the elderly Doctor can not. His concern, above all, is for the safety of the TARDIS crew, and in the early stories he often takes issue with the Doctor's habit of placing the group in harm's way just to satisfy his own curiosity. The chemistry between Barbara and himself is also evident, although the nature of their relationship is never made explicit in the television series.

Ian shows a surprising breadth of skills throughout his tenure with the Doctor. He manages to create fire, rides a horse, knows how to fight with swords and is knowledgeable about pressure points that can paralyze an opponent. He is also fiercely protective of Barbara, going on a lone mission to rescue her from Saracens in The Crusade. In that story, he is also knighted by King Richard I of England as "Sir Ian of Jaffa". After many travels, Ian and Barbara eventually use a Dalek time machine to get home, albeit two years after their disappearance.

[Saber]

I like Ian but I never took to him in this story. I don't know what it is, I just think he wasn't written in a particularly likable way. From the next story onwards I think he is fine, but he doesn't work for me in this one.

[Oh-Wise-One]

I think Ian comes off quite aggressively in this story but much like the Doctor it becomes quite toned down later on.

[Peri-Peri]

I think Ian comes off quite aggressively in this story but much like the Doctor it becomes quite toned down later on.

I wouldn't say he came off overly aggressive in this. In the opening episode he was concerned for the welfare of Susan and in the later episodes he was defending himself and the others which he does in a lot of stories. I wouldn't say he acted any differently here.

[Tardis-Console]

One of the things I really like about Ian, and I'm not sure if it was deliberate or not, was that you always got the feeling he could turn at any minute. He was a nice, solid guy with good manners and a good sense of humour, but there always seemed that risk that he might turn around and thump you in the face at any minute. There were so many times when he looked like he wanted to clobber the Doctor or some of the characters around him in various stories. I liked that. It made him sort of unpredictable.

[Tardis-Console]

One of the things I really like about Ian, and I'm not sure if it was deliberate or not, was that you always got the feeling he could turn at any minute. He was a nice, solid guy with good manners and a good sense of humour, but there always seemed that risk that he might turn around and thump you in the face at any minute. There were so many times when he looked like he wanted to clobber the Doctor or some of the characters around him in various stories. I liked that. It made him sort of unpredictable.

[Kovarians-Eye-Patch]

One of the things I really like about Ian, and I'm not sure if it was deliberate or not, was that you always got the feeling he could turn at any minute. He was a nice, solid guy with good manners and a good sense of humour, but there always seemed that risk that he might turn around and thump you in the face at any minute. There were so many times when he looked like he wanted to clobber the Doctor or some of the characters around him in various stories. I liked that. It made him sort of unpredictable.

I read that and it was like a perfect description of how I see Matt Smith in the role. Though he is less likely to get violent that Ian was.

[Exterminate]

One of the things I really like about Ian, and I'm not sure if it was deliberate or not, was that you always got the feeling he could turn at any minute. He was a nice, solid guy with good manners and a good sense of humour, but there always seemed that risk that he might turn around and thump you in the face at any minute. There were so many times when he looked like he wanted to clobber the Doctor or some of the characters around him in various stories. I liked that. It made him sort of unpredictable.

I think this is true of Ian in the first4 or 5 stories but after that I think he mellows a lot and is given less opportunity to stand up and defend. He's a good character but he began (to me, at least) to feel a bit like a spare part towards the end of his time on the show.

[Nyki]

In the original conception, the proto-Ian was actually the hero of the show, with the proto-Doctor as a curious sidekick.  Although that had changed by the time they started making it, there's still an element of Ian as leader, which declined as the Doctor took centre stage more.

I wouldn't put Ian as one of the great companions (unlike Barbara) but I liked the way he was much more a match for the Doctor than most of the later companions.

[Aneurin]

In the original conception, the proto-Ian was actually the hero of the show, with the proto-Doctor as a curious sidekick.  Although that had changed by the time they started making it, there's still an element of Ian as leader, which declined as the Doctor took centre stage more.

There is an extra on one of the DVDs where they talk about that and I think in the first few stories it's a lot more obvious. It felt more of an ensemble show that one lead and his friends.