This one was a long time coming, as I had already visited the gentleman once. On that occasion he asked not to be recorded as he felt his voice was weak. We then chatted for 3 hours after which he said “Oh, we should have recorded that!” Still, it meant I got to visit him…
Because having each individual podcast listed is making my podcast page way too big I’m dismantling it but retaining the info here on my blog. There is a much better resource for this info, including links to all the charities, on Bog Finish’s page here. Thanks to Ian Atkins for doing such a sterling job…
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…
TOBY HADOKE’S WHO’S ROUND – EPISODE 158 In ghostlier times in a different science fiction classic. My latest Who’s Rounder as he is now. I was very excited about this one because I have always been very intrigued by the story of a guy who plays three very small roles (respectively Guard, Guard and Second…
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…
A new podcast… at last! The latest Who’s Round was actually conducted at the request of the interviewee. He has a special charity he would like to make you aware of. He has a heartfelt and moving story and highlights something most of us know nothing about but some of us could help with :…
WHO’S ROUND HITS A LANDMARK Russell T Davies It’s actually passed the landmark as I type this but I couldn’t not have a mention on my blog that we’ve arrived at edition 150 of my podcast of interviews with Doctor Who luminaries . It’s the last of my chats with the marvel that is Russell T Davies…
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…
RTD I think I had planned to end the who run of releases of Toby Hadoke’s Who’s Round with the extremely popular Russell T Davies interviews but they have been in the can for nearly two years and the timings meant that if give them to you now then Mr Davies would take us all the way…
Talking about on the hoof. Thanks to a good friend of mine who is in Emmerdale I had managed to line up an interview with the marvellous Lesley Dunlop (who is also in it). Great – Frontios, one of the last remaining stories on my list, was taken care of. Unfortunately, she suddenly got a truck…
Oh, I’m a bit behind (I’ve been posting about Psoriasis a lot instead as it has been Psoriasis Awareness Week so I hope you are now sufficiently aware!). Anyway, two new Who’s Rounds have come out. The first was recorded immediately after I had performed a Christmas comedy show with this particular fellow (with whom…
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…
I am a bit pleased with myself about this one. I had done a DVD documentary about this particular story which brought me into contact with many of its first cast. It would have been easy for me to call one of them. But the thing is, the interviews I had done were already in…
Neville Jason, the actor who played Prince Reynart in the 1978 Tom Baker story The Androids Of Tara has died. His good looks and bearing had an old fashioned and regal quality that made him perfect casting for the prince, a part that also required him to perform as an occasionally malfunctioning android. The serial is…
The accomplished and much loved Welsh character actor Richard Davies has died at the age of 89. Balding, with a gap tooth and distinctive accent he was best known for his appearances as Mr Price in the ITV sitcom Please Sir! (starring John Alderton). That said, and despite an ever detectable twinkle, he was an actor of…
Derek Ware, the stuntman who founded the agency HAVOC who provided much of the trademark action of the Jon Pertwee era, has died. His association with Doctor Who went back to the very first story, for which he arranged the fight between caveman Kal and Za, as well as doubling for actor Jeremy Young. He…
This isn’t the one you’ll be expecting if you listened to last week’s instalment which kicked off my chat with Mark Ayres. That’ll wend its way to your ears next time. We are reaching the end of the project of course so the countdown element is important – more important than my notes are legible…
Due to Big Finish having other audio fish to fry later in the week the latest edition is a tad early. Although I had vowed to avoid conventions as much as possible, reasoning that (a) it was cheating a little and (b) the interviewees would be a bit “Who”-ed out, I nonetheless couldn’t resist during…
Continuing the removal of the individual episode blurbs from the Podcast page and placing them here instead, for reasons of tidiness… Episode Eleven (2nd April 2013)The Keys Of Marinus Special What do you do if you get a Doctor Who story that doesn’t have a DVD Making Of and that not one, but four people involved with…
TOM BAKER ERA LIGHTING DESIGNER AND MUCH ADMIRED “GENIUS” PASSES AWAY AT HOME. Duncan Brown, the highly respected BBC studio lighting designer who worked on four Doctor Who stories has died – this news comes just after the airing of a new series episode that could be seen as a sequel to his very first credit…
Doctor Who is back on air tomorrow so it’s appropriate (though entirely coincidental and completely unplanned) that we talk to someone who works on the show even today and in a key capacity. A last minute technical problem meant that I had to hurriedly improvise so the sound isn’t great – but it has been hugely…
There was no way I was going to let Milton Johns be edited down to the usual half an hour or so – so he’s been given a two parter and this is the conclusion. What a gent he is – he later showed me around the Garrick Club, regaling me with glorious stories about…
If Carlsberg made Afternoons Designed Specifically For Toby then I suspect they would involve collar and tie, the Garrick Club and one of the finest character players ever to grace our screens : which he has done without ever sounding a duff note in over five decades. Here he talks about his three encounters with…
And so it’s part two of my interview with fantastic production designer Roger Murray-Leach whose work I have long admired: it was a real thrill to be able to talk to him about his work on the show and – of course – his illustrious career beyond time and space. His charity is Hope &…
A prime scalp in this week’s edition of Who’s Round: a very talented designer with an amazing career outside of the show and whose work on the series itself is of the highest quality. It’s a two parter and involves tales from a golden period in the Doctor Who’s history. He’s one I never thought…
Clifford Earl, who played the Station Sergeant in the Christmas Day 1965 episode of The Daleks’ Masterplan (The Feast Of Steven) and Major Branwell in 1968’s The Invasion opposite Patrick Troughton – both for director Douglas Camfield – has died at the age of 81. Better known in certain quarters of the outside world under…
Continuing my repositioning of the early Who’s Round blurbs from the Podcast page into the blog (because it was taking up a lot of space and has been superseded by the brilliant work of Ian Atkins at Big Finish – he has done a definitive list): Episode Six: Waris Hussein Only the first ever blooming director of…
This week’s Who’s Round continues my chat with George Gallaccio, whose career as a BBC producer after his days as Doctor Who’s production associate took in all sorts of classics including Bergerac, The Omega Factor and Miss Marple. He was also offered the top job on our beloved show and explains his reasons for not…
I am updating my website and as Big Finish* have now put up a handy alphabetical link of every Who’s Round episode and accompanied each one with the relevant charity link, I’m taking my incomplete list off my Podcast page. Instead of wasting them I shall post them here as they may be useful for wandering…