Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

For many Patrick Troughton will always be remembered as the second actor to take up the role of the second incarnation of The Doctor from the long running British science fiction serial, Doctor Who, for a multitude he will be fondly thought of as Father Brennan, the man who warned Gregory Peck’s Robert Thorn that his son, Damien was the Antichrist in The Omen, and a whole host, an absolute embarrassment of riches of roles he was able to portray with a searing honesty in television, film, theatre, and radio; but to Michael Troughton, himself an actor of excellent repute, he was always first and foremost, a dad.

To write a biography about someone that was so beloved and be perfectly frank about the devastation you must have felt, not only sharing him with fans and the nation at large, but with another family, and finding solace in your appreciation of him as a human being is a monumental task and one to whom many could have faltered in their pursuit of presenting a truth, and of praising a life well lived.

In Patrick Troughton: The Biography (Anniversary Edition: 2015) the complexity of writing such a responsible and insightful profile, a memoir of a story that’s not quite your own, is one framed with sincerity by Michael Troughton and with a deep affection that understands that the more complicated a person is, the need for exactness in the personal relationship must show, and it is with regard to the author that the difficulty of expression is precise, memorable, honest, accountable, and charming in equal measure.

Throughout the biography what comes across most is admiration, perhaps mostly for the actor rather than the dad, but both facets of the man are explored, and it is with little wonder that a singular truth makes itself known, that to be an exceptional father, to be a fantastic man, and be well regarded by all is almost an impossibility, but to attempt in some ways to be the best version, despite the foibles, the fierce weakness and temptations that come our way…after we cannot be all things to all, but we can leave a huge mark on the memories of those we meet and we can only hope it is marked with respect and hope.

We no longer live in a time when true heroes are created by the actions of others, but in a life given such importance, from surviving a U-boat attack on the ship he was sailing back to England from after a summer of theatre as a young boy, being part of the war effort and rising through the ranks of the Royal Navy, and then putting an extraordinary amount of effort in becoming one of the most reliable and well-regarded actors of his generation, that is the kind of life that the Boys-Own adventure books were all about, and with a tremendous array of photographs from a private collection, a forward and afterwords by the esteemed Frazer Hines and Colin Baker respectively, what comes across in subtle but fulsome style is just how revered Patrick Troughton was, and remains to be by those who knew him, by those who adored him as an actor, and for the most part as a father.

Michael Troughton’s painstaking work in capturing the exactness of his father is be congratulated, a touching, moving, and in the end heartbreakingly loyal affecting tale of love and drama, and one that any fan of the actor will surely wish to read.

Ian D. Hall