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…
(Far) Too Much Information Bonus Episode – now with pictures! If you enjoyed my podcast on the Class of ’63 – the schoolkid extras in Doctor’s Who‘s untransmitted pilot and the first episode of Doctor Who – then hopefully these accompanying images will be of interest. Pop to your podcast provider to enjoy the episode.…
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 how exciting! This month sees the launch of my Patreon page which can be found here. I’m using lockdown to be creative: I’m posting work-in-progress comedy, bits from my archive and, mostly, advance or exclusive editions of my new set of podcasts which come under the umbrella title Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels. There…
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…
Arnold Yarrow has had an amazing working life: he was script editor on Softly, Softly, and as part of an onscreen career that began in 1956 he had a stint as an actor in EastEnders (playing Mr Bloom – he later wrote for the series), was the President in The Andromeda Breakthrough, worked with Tommy Cooper,…
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…
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 gigging regularly at The Comedy Store and XS Malarkey (and the 99 Club, Leicester Square – this month the 22nd and 29th only) – I can’t fit any other gigs in because… Getting a bit tasty in Romeo and Juliet I will be playing Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet for Feelgood…
I’ve agreed a deadline with my publisher for the book I have been writing about Quatermass, which means I’ll be keeping my head down for a bit whilst I get the donkey work done on that. I have interviewed Toyah Wilcox, Jason Flemyng and Annabel Lanyon all within the space of a week! I’m on fire! There’s…
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…
My dramatisation of Nigel Kneale’s famous lost television play, The Road, for Radio 4 was recorded in Maida Vale at the beginning of February. The cast is phenomenal : Mark Gatiss, Adrian Scarborough, Hattie Morahan, Colin McFarlane, Susan Wokoma, Francis Magee and Ralph Ineson. It will be the Halloween Fright Night production for BBC Radio 4 on October…
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…
JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED After a few months off during which I have slept and stuff, Who’s Round is back… and it’s about time (etc etc). It’s certainly about time we had a Doctor. Most Doctors have been interviewed loads, so of course I have gone for one with a unique claim to the…
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,…
It’s been very actor heavy of late so it’s time to delve behind-the-scenes to an era rather under-represented in the Who’s Round lexicon : the 7th Doctor’s.So there are plenty of stories about that turbulent time on the show, the regular cast who were extremely popular with the crew, and making space and time against…
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…