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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
Hello – here are the Hadoke headlines for July 2018, which is going to be a rather hectic month for me. I hope you’re enjoying the sun and whichever sport floats your boat. I am still gigging regularly at The Comedy Store and XS Malarkey until around mid July (I’m not back at the 99…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Robin Phillips, who played Altos in 1964’s The Key’s Of Marinus, has died at the age of 73. A friend of the director, John Gorrie, he was brought aboard to assist the TARDIS crew as they struggled to complete a task (discovering the whereabouts of s series of hidden micro-keys) which they had to compete without…