Doctor Who Visual Effects Wizard Dies Aged 95: his work will be featured in forthcoming exhibition. Peter Day, one of the very first people to join the BBC visual effects department after its formation in the 1950s, has died at the age of 95. His work on Doctor Who included a number of classic series…
Doctor Who – In Memoriam 2021 This has become an annual tradition, my video remembering those talented individuals from the world of Doctor Who who left us this year. Please share it among friends whom you think may be interested…
Bernard Holley – a household face from decades on screen in Z-Cars, Doctor Who, Eureka and Jackanory – has passed away aged 81. Z-CARS, JACKANORY and DOCTOR WHO ACTOR BERNARD HOLLEY DIES AGED 81 Bernard Holley, who became a household name during his 277 episode stint as PC Newcombe in the ground breaking and popular…
Well there is plenty going on. Here is my latest news,. I hope you are all well: I have joined Coronation Street as a new character, Fergus Dunford, who has managed to escape the confines of Hadoke Towers, where I filmed his first scenes, and walk the cobbles (which Fergus patrols as traffic warden). You can see one of…
My tribute video to the great and good from Doctor Who who died in 2020. Throughout the year I put together a montage remembering those creatives – actors, writers, behind-the-scenes grafters – who have contributed to the legend that is Doctor Who but who have sadly passed away on the last 12 months. Its a…
Well, lockdown continues and we have to isolate as my partner is classed as “high risk” – she’s also susceptible to catching the virus (ba-boom, tish). I’m experimenting with Patreon and Ko-fi models to finance my work, which I am producing during lockdown. There will be a couple of podcasts, and I’m looking into various…
Hello. I hope you are well (and that really means something these days!). Here’s just a breakdown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find me during this frenzy of pestilence. XS Malarkey has got very creative in these trying times, and this virus hasn’t stopped us putting on our regular Tuesday shows. We’ve been…
As I have every year since 2014, I have made a video remembering those who have contributed to the world of Doctor Who who have passed away this year (or those who have died since 2014 but whose deaths only came to light in 2019). Please distribute a link to this to anyone you may…
With Stuart Maconie after recording Do The Right Thing. Tune in soon to hear if we did. In late November I recorded a special edition of the popular podcast Do The Right Thing with regulars Danielle Ward, Michael Legge and Margaret Cabourn-Smith. I was one guest, Stuart Maconie was the other, and a lot of fun…
In issue 537 of Doctor Who Magazine I had the opportunity to pay tribute to Pat Gorman. He was the ultimate I-Know-The-Face-But… performer – a familiar figure to TV watchers in the 60s, 70s and 80s, he gave you the nagging feeling that you’d seen him somewhere before. Probably because you had. He was a…
The Independent Talent Group. My new agent! HERE’S WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO AND WHERE I MIGHT BE LURKING OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS… First up … I’m delighted to announce that for writing work I will now be represented by the Independent Talent Group, an illustrious agency and no mistake. They represent Phoebe Waller-Bridge,…
LATEST UPDATES (April 2019) I seem to be doing a lot of podcast interviews at the moment. Here’s one I did about Target books and other things Doctor Who and career related. I’ve had the sad privilege of doing a couple of obituaries for the Guardian this month. One for Thunderbirds actor Shane Rimmer with whom…
Derrick Sherwin, one of the many Doctor Who luminaries to pass away this year. Remembering those from the world of Doctor Who who have passed away this year. Well, here I am, Maudlin McDoomyguts (thats my real name, but I had to change it because there was already one in Equity) with my annual List…
I’m having a quiet December writing a book and a script (and eating things I shouldn’t) and sadly my two latest plays, The Road and Going, Going, Goon have fallen off iPlayer so there’s not much to report bar… I was recently interviewed by Stuart Goldsmith for his Comedian’s Comedian podcast. I’m now replaying the…
I am still performing regularly at The Comedy Store (every second and last Sunday of the month), XS Malarkey (Tuesdays) and the 99 Club Leicester square (Wednesdays – but I have opted to do the gig fortnightly from now on). I can’t fit many other gigs in because… With Jonathan Keeble, John Hegley and Mark Heap…
I’m presenting the 7th Dimension again on BBC Radio 4 Extra for three weekends commencing on March 17th. There’s plenty of fabulous stuff for me to chat in between, including a Daphne du Maurier play with Maureen O’Brien and Dinsdale Landen and a horror story involving something being found during the digging of a tube…
From Sir John Hurt to Deborah Watling, via Trevor Martin and Victor Pemberton, and not forgetting Paddy Russell and Dudley Simpson, we lost a lot of Doctor Who luminaries last year. I have done a video commemorating those good people from the world of Doctor Who who passed away in 2017. I hope you like…
I’ve been so busy I’ve neglected this blog, so at least I can start doing monthly updates with general info. I hope some of what is below is useful: I’m delighted to announce that I have been commissioned to dramatise Nigel Kneale’s famous lost television play, The Road, for Radio 4. Transmission is not until late…
It’s tricky being an amateur researcher. I don’t kick doors in, nor do I follow up if someone forgets to email me back. So I do leave stones unturned, largely because I don’t want to annoy anyone. The ridiculous thing, of course, is that without exception all of the actors and production personnel I have…
Peter Thomas – actor from missing William Hartnell story The Savages – dies. Peter Thomas as Captain Edal in The Savages Peter Thomas, who played Captain Edal in The Savages, has died at the age of 80. He had worked with Christopher Barry prior to the making of the story and so was in the director’s mind…
EARLY DOCTOR WHO GUEST STAR DIES. Philip Bond as Ganatus in The Daleks The actor Philip Bond has died suddenly whilst on holiday on the island of Madeira. He was 82. He will be known to Doctor Who fans for his important guest role in the second ever story, The Daleks (1963/4). He played Ganatus,…
RODNEY BENNETT, classic Doctor Who director, has died. The director Rodney Bennett, who was behind three memorable early Tom Baker stories and whose work outside of the show included many classic dramas has died peacefully aged 81. Rodney Bennett at home in Bath in 2013 Bennett was brought on board at a time during which the…
Doctor Who In Memoriam Video 2016 At the end of the year I always do a video tribute to those people from the Doctor Who universe who have left us. I had trouble uploading this so it didn’t go up on New Year’s Eve as hoped. Anyway, it is here now, and I hope it…
TERENCE BAYLER I was very saddened to learn of the death of Terence Bayler. He was a fine actor: tall, handsome, with soulful eyes and a slight warble to his voice which could suggest plummy aristocracy or a hint of melancholy. He often played upper class toffs or British officers so I was shocked to discover,…
REG WHITEHEAD RIP – The First Cyberman dies, but his legacy encompasses more than his Doctor Who milestone… Reg Whitehead Reg Whitehead, the actor who played Krail, the Cyberman who explains their origins during episode two of The Tenth Planet (1966), has died at the age of 83. He played another Cyberman – Jarl – later…
SONIA MARKHAM RIP Sonia Markham Sonia Markham, who was the make-up supervisor of Doctor Who for the majority of the Hartnell era has died at the age of 78. Her connection with the show began early on when she was a make-up artist on The Sensorites (1964), assisting Jill Summers, and she continued in that…
Jon Rollason, who played Harold Chorley in the recently recovered Doctor Who story The Web of Fear, has died at the age of 84. Born in Birmingham in 1931, he enrolled at the Old Vic theatre school in London after completing his National Service. In interviews he claimed that his early work in the theatre…
Frances Pidgeon photographed by Ken Russell in 1956, the year she married Doctor Who director Lennie Mayne (© Topfoto) The actress Frances Pidgeon who appeared twice in Doctor Who has died at the age of 84. Her first role was an uncredited one, as the non speaking handmaiden of Queen Thalira in The Monster Of…
Here is how it works – if I haven’t been asked to do an obituary of someone for a paper I will try to do a good one here. Even if I have been asked, I still might blog about them, but giving a more personal or Doctor Who flavoured slant to the piece. I…
KENNETH GILBERT DIES AGED 84 Kenneth Gilbert as Richard Dunbar in The Seeds Of Doom. Kenneth Gilbert, who played World Ecology Bureau official Richard Dunbar in the Tom Baker classic The Seeds Of Doom (1976) has died at the age of 84. Prematurely grey and with distinguished granite features, he often played authority figures, although the…