Doctor Who
Hines auditioned for the part of Ben Jackson in Doctor Who in 1966 but was unsuccessful. 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.
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.
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.
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. 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. 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."
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. 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.
