Who Birthday: Mary Tamm

Mary Tamm was born in Bradford in 1950 and began her acting career on the stage in the early seventies. Her first television work came in 1973 when she appeared in Coronation Street and The Donati Conspiracy. Tamm also moved into movies the following year, starring alongside Jon Voight and fellow Doctor Who actor Derek Jacobi in The Odessa File.

Tamm continued to work regularly through the 1970s in both film and television, notably in the big screen version of The Likely Lads. She made her first appearance in Doctor Who in 1978 as Romana in The Armageddon Factor, the first part in The Key to Time series arc. A strong, charismatic and elegant presence from her first appearance Tamm’s short spell on the show brought a new dynamic in the Tardis. As a fellow Gallifreyan the character of Romana was a departure from many previous companions in her ability to at times match and sometimes even better the Doctor’s intelligence and it was the promise of a more equal relationship that overcame Tamm’s initial reluctance to take on the part. While in her view the character quickly reverted to a more stereotypical Doctor’s assistant role by the end of the series, resulting in a fast departure from the show, she certainly held her own in the early episodes. The dialogue sparkles between Tamm and Tom Baker’s Doctor and she is a dignified and impressive figure throughout. Possibly her most impressive performance comes in the fourth serial in The Key to Time, The Androids of Tara where she takes on the role of not only Romana, but also Princess Strella and their android duplicates. She gives subtly contrasting performances and is a key component to an excellent often underrated story.

After leaving Doctor Who Tamm worked on a variety of different television shows adding to her early appearance in Coronation Street with roles in Brookside, Doctors, Holby City, The Bill, Heartbeat and in her final television work, Eastenders. In 2005 she returned to the world of Doctor Who, playing Pandora in the second series of the Big Finish spin-off audios Gallifrey. Tamm’s ability to work was limited in the last couple of years as she battled cancer, but she was able to return to the character of Romana by appearing in all seven episodes of the second season of Tom Baker Big Finish audiobooks. Sadly Tamm lost her fight against cancer in July 2012 at the tragically young age of 62. The audiobooks currently being released by Big Finish are a fitting tribute to a wonderful actress and a sadly missed member of the Doctor Who family.

Who Birthday: Ian Stuart Black

Ian Stuart Black had a long, successful and varied career as a writer, enjoying success as a novelist, playwright and screenwriter for both television and film. One of his earliest credits came for the screenplay of the 1953 film, The Limping Man starring Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Phillips and Moira Lister, the original female member of the cast of Hancock’s Half-Hour. He contributed to a number of television shows throughout the 1950s most regularly Fabian of the Yard and in an early move towards science-fiction H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man.

In 1960 he was involved in the creation of the hit television series Danger Man, contributing a number of scripts and filling the role of Executive Producer. The High Bright Sun, the most successful of his nine novels was published in 1962 and two years later he completed the script for the movie, starring Dirk Bogarde.

In total he contributed three scripts to Doctor Who, The Savages, The War Machines and The Macra Terror. Black was offered the chance to write for the show after he approached the producers offering his services. His first story, The Savages saw Peter Purves leave the show and his final contribution to the series, The Macra Terror gave us one of the few monsters to have so far made a return to the show in the new run. However, his greatest contribution to the series came with the script for The War Machines. Pat Dunlop had originally been intended to write the script for the serial, but when he was unable to complete it, Black stepped in to fill the void. Following the brief of script editor Gerry Davis and scientific advisor Kit Pedler to create a more contemporary science based show, Black’s script set the template for the next few years of Doctor Who. While the script is far from perfect, set in contemporary London and with the Doctor being aided by a large military presence, it is a direct influence on many of the Unit stories that would follow, particularly The Invasion. For that reason alone Ian Stuart Black should be remembered as having made a singnificant contribution to the show.

Black worked solidly throughout the rest of his career across a variety of different media receiving his final writing credit in 1991. He died in 1997 aged 82.

Who Birthday: Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams is arguably the most famous writer to have ever been associated with Doctor Who thanks to the massive success of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. His time on the show was relatively brief, spanning just a couple of years, but he nonetheless made an indelible mark on the history of Doctor Who.

Adams studied English Literature at St John’s College, Cambridge in the early seventies, where he was eventually accepted into the famous Cambridge Footlights at the second attempt in 1973. He contributed to a number of comedy revue shows and after leaving university formed a writing relationship with Monty Python’s Graham Chapman. Though this led to him making occasional contributions to Python the relationship ultimately was unsuccessful with the majority of their projects never seeing the light of day. This led to a lengthy fallow period for Adams with only occasional contributions to various BBC radio shows.

Things changed for Adams when the BBC commissioned the first radio series of his most famous work The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The series first aired in 1978 and following it’s success he was given a position as a radio producer for the BBC. He stayed for just six months before he was offered the script editing job on Doctor Who. The second series of the radio show was broadcast in 1980 and the first novels in the five-part ‘trilogy’ were also published in 1979 and 1980 respectively.

Adams was first commissioned to write for Doctor Who after submitting the then unmade original script of Hitchhikers to the makers of the show. A fan of the show from childhood, he was asked to write the second part of the 1978 ‘Key to Time’ series. The Pirate Planet is unmistakably Adams, filled with his own unique sense of humour and featuring a number of larger than life characters, it also recycles a number of lines from his Hitchhikers script, which at that stage he was unaware would ever be produced.

On the back of the success of his script and his clear love for the show he was recommended by outgoing script editor Anthony Read as a potential successor, despite his relative inexperience. After such a long period of inactivity Adams jumped at the chance of regular work and he accepted the role of script editor for season 17. Very quickly after accepting the position however, Hitchhikers became an incredible success and Adams found himself trying to combine his Doctor Who duties with writing radio, novel and the TV versions of his own creation. Given Adams’ famously chaotic and at times seemingly reluctant approach to writing it isn’t surprising that he felt only able to stay with Doctor Who for one series. Despite the pressure he suddenly found himself under little elements of Adams’ style are evident throughout the five completed episodes of his tenure. Undoubtedly his greatest contribution to the show though came when script problems forced him to pen the second serial of the season himself. City of Death is a remarkable piece of writing, often topping polls of the best Doctor Who serials ever and reportedly shown to the new shows creators by Russell T. Davies as an example of how he wanted the series to move forward. The script is full of wit and charm and the dialogue is almost endlessly quotable. While it benefits from a location shoot in Paris and a fine cast on top form it is Adam’s script which is the star performer. Sadly Adams’ final contribution to Doctor Who, Shada was never completed due to strikes at the BBC, but the sections that were made indicate another wonderful piece of work.

As well as his work on the wonderful Hitchhikers Guide series which would make Adams a millionaire he also produced the fantastic The Meaning of Liff book alongside John Lloyd (the book was recently the subject of a lovely radio4 show on its 30th anniversary) and The Dirk Gently novels, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, which again exhibited Adams’ talent for recycling by using elements of his Shada script. The Dirk Gently stories have also subsequently been turned into both radio and television series by the BBC. Sadly Adams died tragically early in 2001 aged just 49 robbing us of one of British comedies greatest writers. It’s testament to his huge talent that he is still held in such high esteem by both his contemporaries and the public at large. Today would have been his 61st birthday.

Additional birthday mentions should go to John Barrowman, Alex Kingston and director Graeme Harper. So many birthdays today, so little time to write!

 

 

 

Who Birthday: Brian Hayles

Brian Hayles was one of the most prolific writers in the early era of Doctor Who producing scripts for each of the first three Doctors. Like many of his contemporaries Hayles’ first writing credit came thanks to Z-Cars and he progressed through various television writing jobs in the early sixties before making his Doctor Who debut in 1966.

His first contribution to Doctor Who came with the original script to the William Hartnell adventure The Celestial Toymaker although the serial went through a number of fairly dramatic alterations. After originally submitting the story Hayles was unavailable to complete any re-writes and so Donald Tosh the then script editor took over its development, however Tosh then left his position and was replaced by Gerry Davis. He made further changes to the script and when Tosh was unhappy with them he asked for his name to be removed from the credits. With Davis unable to be credited as both script editor and writer, Hayles took the writing credit again despite his original script having been changed to such a large degree.

Hayles’ second script for the show was a more straight-forward affair. The Smugglers would be Hartnell’s penultimate serial as the Doctor and sees the Tardis crew arrive in seventeenth century Cornwall. To bring Hayles’ script to life, The Smugglers would be the first Doctor Who serial to be assigned a major location shoot. Sadly the whole of The Smugglers has been lost and with only one episode of The Celestial Toymaker surviving and two episodes of The Ice Warriors also missing Hayles’  contribution to the early years of the show is sometimes forgotten due a lack of available stories.

However, with the creation of The Ice Warriors in their eponymous debut serial, Hayles guaranteed his place in Doctor Who history. The Martian villains would appear in all three of Hayles’ further Who serials and remain an incredibly popular creation (they are set to make their return in the next few weeks in the new series). His final work on Doctor Who, The Curse of Peladon and its sequel The Monster of Peladon gained Hayles a reputation as a writer of stories with strong political links. ‘Curse’ with its storyline of Peladon awaiting acceptance to the Galactic Federation was a direct comparison with the UK’s entrance into the EC. ‘Monster’ was an even more obvious take on the miner’s strike and both are worthy attempts to link Doctor Who with the prevailing political issues of the time.

Hayles’ Doctor Who connection wasn’t quite over with the final broadcast of his shows as he went on to novelise both The Curse of Peladon and The Ice Warriors for the terrific Target range of books. He continued his writing career through the seventies producing scripts for The Archers and also the BBC science-fiction show Doomwatch, created by ex-Who alumni Gerry Davis and Kit Pedler. Hayles completed the script for the movie Arabian Adventure, which starred amongst others Peter Cushing in 1978 shortly before his sad death at the age of just 47. Today would have been Hayles’ 82nd birthday.

Who Birthday: John Woodnutt

John Woodnutt was an incredibly familiar face throughout my childhood thanks to programmes as diverse as the excellent ITV adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster and the children’s gameshow Knightmare where he played Sit Watkyn Bassett and Merlin and Mogdren respectively. A talented and versatile actor he also made no less than four different appearances in Doctor Who spread over eleven years delivering a set of brilliantly diverse performances.

After starting out on the stage aged just 18, Woodnutt received his first major television work in 1956 and he went on to work consistently throughout his career in shows such as, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, Z-Cars and The Tomorrow People. Woodnutt also made appearances in comedy shows Paul Merton: The Series and Harry Enfield and Chums.

His first appearance in Doctor Who came in 1970 in Jon Pertwee’s debut serial as the Doctor, Spearhead From Space. He played the part of Hibbert, managing director of a plastics factory taken over by the Nestene. Woodnutt gives a classy performance as he portrays a man desperately fighting to regain control of his own mind, eventually winning the battle, but losing his life in the process. The subtlety of Woodnutt’s performances in Who stand out and it is wonderful to see how he takes some potentially difficult characters and makes them utterly believable throughout.

His second appearance in Who would come in another Pertwee serial, Frontier in Space. Though Woodnutt is unrecognisable in the elaborate, but brilliant costume of the Draconian Emperor his ability as an actor still shines through in his short time on screen. There is a dignity to the Emperor that is impressive and helped to make the Draconians some of Jon Pertwee’s favourite characters from his time as the Doctor. Possibly Woodnutt’s best role came in 1975’s Terror of the Zygons after Tom Baker had taken over the role of the Doctor. Playing the duel roles of the Duke of Forgill and Zygon leader Broton. The Zygons had the ability to morph into their captive’s human form and playing the Zygon imitation of the Duke offered a real challenge and once again it is the subtlety of his performance that is so impressive. He alters his character only slightly when flipping between the human and the Zygon and as a result he manages to create a far more sinister and scary villain that if he had overplayed it. Woodnutt made one final appearance in Doctor Who, this time in 1981, again alongside Tom Baker in the supporting role of Seron in The Keeper of Traken. Though a less demanding role he nonetheless brought his customary excellence to the part.

Having appeared in four different Doctor Who serials in fairly major parts John Woodnutt stands alongside the likes of Bernard Horsfall and Philip Madoc as amongst the actors to have had the biggest impact on the series without having a continuing role. All four of his performances were fantastic and his death in 2006, aged 81 brought to an end a distinguished acting career. In 1995 Woodnutt gave an interview to TV Zone Magazine where he talked about his career and in particular his work on Doctor Who, “I loved it. I’m delighted there are so many Doctor Who associations and I go to conventions up and down the country. I’m fascinated by the interest and enthusiasm being shown by people who couldn’t possibly have seen the originals, who have been introduced to it by videos. It really does hold a special place in my heart.” Today Woodnutt would have been 89.

Who Birthday: Roger Delgado

It was the production team of Barry Letts and Terrence Dicks who originally came up with the idea of the character of the Master. They felt that the Doctor’s relationship with the Brigadier had begun to resemble that of Holmes and Watson, it was therefore a logical step to find the Doctor his Moriarty. When the idea for the character had formed, Letts immediately suggested Delgado for the role, having worked with him previously. It would prove to be an inspired piece of casting as Delgado made the role his own and made the Master one of the most popular figures in the show’s history.

Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto was born in Whitechapel in 1918. His diverse background, his mother was Belgian and his father Spanish, meant that in his early acting career he was often cast in foreign parts or perhaps reflecting the culture of the time, the role of the villain. During the sixties he appeared in a host of successful British TV shows such as, The Champions, The Avengers, Danger Man, The Saint and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) alongside his regular stage work.

His role in Doctor Who began with the broadcast of Terror of the Autons in 1971, a genuinely scary story in which Delgado made a remarkable instant impact in the show. Within the story he showed an amazing ability to switch from charming and charismatic to darkly terrifying, a skill that would remain throughout Delgado’s time on the show. He is instantly a captivating presence on screen and the success of the character is based largely around the fact that Delgado makes the villain so easily likable. After his debut performance the Master would go on to appear in all four of the remaining serials in season eight a decision that Dicks and Letts would later regret for making the reveal of the villain too predictable. Nonetheless, what the shows lost in mystery they more than made up for as Delgado’s skill as an actor and popularity with the rest of the cast shining through as he developed a terrific rapport with the other members of the regular acting team.

Delgado went on to make three further appearances as the Master, twice in season nine in The Sea Devils and The Time Monster and once more the following year in Frontier in Space. However, despite the characters appearances in the show becoming less frequent, Delgado found that he wasn’t being offered parts due to people believing he was still tied up by Doctor Who. He therefore asked Dicks and Letts if they could kill the character off and plans were made to do just that in Jon Pertwee’s final serial. Sadly, whilst filming Bell of Tibet in Turkey the car Delgado was travelling in crashed into a ravine and he was killed at the tragically young age of 55.

Delgado’s skill as an actor and his wonderful characterisation of the Master ensured that the character remained incredibly popular and of course he would live on in the series in various guises. Actors of the calibre of Anthony Ainley, Derek Jacobi and John Simm have all brought their own interpretations of the role, but for many, myself included, Delgado’s Master has never been bettered and will remain definitive. He was a hugely popular member of a particularly close Doctor Who ensemble and remains much missed, though never forgotten. He would have been 95 today.

Who Birthday: Gerry Davis

As script editor between 1966-67 the contribution that Gerry Davis made to Doctor Who shouldn’t be understated. Beginning with the final episode of the William Hartnell serial The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve and lasting until the third episode of the Patrick Troughton serial The Evil of the Daleks, his tenure in the role covered arguably the biggest change in the shows history, with the first recasting of the main actor and his contribution to this decision alone makes him a key figure in creating the formula for the show, which has allowed it to last into its 50th year.

Davis was born in 1930 and spent much of the early part of his writing career in Canada and Italy, whilst also contributing an episode of Coronation Street in 1960. However, his big break came in 1965 when he was asked to take on the role of a script editor at the BBC, being given the position on Doctor Who the following year. It was a turbulent time in the shows history, with a lead actor in failing health, viewing figures starting to dip and his predecessor as script editor and the previous producer resigning in frustration over production difficulties. Davis’ first major contribution to the show came when he was forced into some hasty re-writes of the script for The Celestial Toymaker, originally a Brian Hayles script that had undergone various different changes from both Donald Tosh, Davis’ predecessor and former producer John Wiles. Davis’ changes included a change in emphasis to the story, away from the Doctor and towards the companions and was brought about chiefly to save money after the previous serial had overspent, a common problem for the series over the years.

However, Davis’ influence over the show wouldn’t really be felt until later in the third season, when the shows commissioned by the previous producer and script editor had played out and he could fully stamp his own vision on the show. Both he and new producer Innes Lloyd were against the idea of writing any more historical adventures. They had originally considered dropping the Donald Cotton script for The Gunfighters, but eventually relented and the show was made. It would go on to record the lowest ratings of any Doctor Who serial to date (don’t let that put you off, it’s great, watch it!) and only strengthened their resolve to create more science based stories. This change in emphasis was signified just two stories later with the Ian Stuart Black penned serial The War Machines. It represented the new men’s desire to bring Doctor Who to more contemporary settings and was also the first story to be influenced by the show’s new scientific adviser, Kit Peddler, who Davis had appointed as part of his desire to give the show a more genuine scientific base.

The biggest shift in the show would clearly be at the beginning of the following season when producer Lloyd managed to persuade BBC that it was time for Hartnell to leave the show. His health was continuing to deteriorate and although he had enjoyed a far greater working relationship with Lloyd and Davis than with their predecessors it was still felt that a change was required. Hartnell’s final story was The Tenth Planet, co-written by Pedler and Davis himself. It was Davis’ idea that the Doctor should be able to die and return with a new body (the term regeneration was yet to be used), an idea that ultimately secured the short-term future of the show. The necessity of such an idea was thrown into sharp focus, when Davis had to hastily re-write episode 3 of the serial as Hartnell fell ill with bronchitis.

The Tenth Planet also saw the creation of one of the most popular and famous monsters in the show’s history, the cybermen. In partnership with Peddler, Davis fleshed out his scientific advisor’s original idea, producing one of the most iconic creations in Doctor Who, monsters that continue to entertain and scare in equal measure since the show was rebooted. The Cybermen would appear once more during Davis’ tenure, in the Peddler story The Moonbase, gaining the highest viewing figures of any Troughton serial.

Davis continued in his role for all but the final four episodes of Troughton’s first season as the Doctor. Overseeing an improvement in both viewing figures and audience appreciation ratings. The move towards more scientifically based stories continued although the series did include one pure historical, The Highlanders, ironically almost entirely written by Davis, after original writer Elwyn Jones had been unable to complete the project. His vision of a Doctor Who with a stronger science fiction element and more contemporary and future set stories would be carried on and developed for the rest of the sixties by concurrent producers and script editors. When Innes Lloyd left his role as producer, Davis was offered the chance to replace him, but instead made the decision to concentrate on his writing career, also leaving his role with Doctor Who mid-way through the final serial of season four, The Evil of the Daleks.

Davis continued his writing partnership with Peddler, including contributing the first serial of season five of Doctor Who, the iconic Tomb of the Cybermen. With Peddler, he would go on to create the BBC sci-fi drama Doomwatch, which also included regular Who contributors Terence Dudley, Louis Marks and Brian Hayles amongst it’s writers. Davis made a brief return to Who in 1975, producing the original scripts for the Tom Baker story Revenge of the Cybermen, though it was largely re-written by Robert Holmes.

In 1989 Davis was reported to have made an unsuccessful attempt alongside Terry Nation to gain the rights for Doctor Who with the plan to produce a new series of the show predominantly aimed at the American market. Davis sadly died in 1991 (he would have been 83 today) before he could see Doctor Who revived on screen and the cybermen he helped create return to terrorise a new generation of young Who fans, but his name on the credits is just a small indication of the huge contribution he made to not only the show’s history, but it’s enduring appeal.

Who Birthday: Graeme Garden

Graeme Garden has been one of the most respected comedy performers in Britain for over forty years. Like so many of his comedy contemporaries he made his first impact as a member of the Cambridge Footlights, making his mark as part of a large group of intelligent comedians following in the footsteps of the likes of Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller and rubbing shoulders with the Monty Python team. After contributing to a number of comedy shows as a writer in the 1960s he rose to fame as a member of The Goodies alongside Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie. The show ran for 12 years and attracted millions of viewers and won the team a number of awards.

Even before the television success of The Goodies Garden had been a regular voice on BBC radio. I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again the comedy sketch show that included John Cleese amongst it’s cast ran for nine years and spawned the spin-off ‘antidote’ to panel games I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue. The show first broadcast in 1972 after Garden suggested creating an unscripted show and recently completed it’s 58th series with his wit and intelligence still remaining a constant highlight.

So now onto Doctor Who. It’s entirely possible that you may have missed Garden’s contribution to Who, having never appeared in the television version. Instead you would need to be familiar with the wonderful Big Finish Audiobooks that have been produced since 1999. Garden made his Who debut in 2002 in the seventh Doctor adventure Bang-Bang-a-Boom playing Professor Ivor Fassbinder, before making a second appearance in 2008 as Geoffrey Vantage in eighth Doctor serial Max Warp. More significant however, have been his regular appearances, again in the Paul McGann eighth Doctor series after being given the challenge of reintroducing the character of The Meddling Monk. The comedian and Carry On star Peter Butterworth had originally played The Monk in two William Hartnell serials, The Time Meddler and The Daleks Masterplan in 1965/66. Butterworth’s character was the first other Time Lord to be shown in the series (though the name Time Lord was still someway off) and received his name as a result of his penchant for meddling with the course of history. At the end of Butterworth’s final appearance, Hartnell’s Doctor left him stranded, unable to work his TARDIS on a distant, desolate planet and he never appeared on our screens again.

Fortunately for fans of the character like myself Barnaby Edwards’ 2010 Big Finish serial The Book Of Kells saw Garden take up the role and he would make three further appearances in the series, in the second part of The Resurrection of Mars and the final two regular series McGann stories Lucie Miller and To The Death.

Following Butterworth’s portrayal was always going to be a challenge, but Garden’s performance is wonderful, channelling his predecessor’s bumbling comic nature, but thanks to some darker tones in the scripts (particularly To The Death, which stands as one of the blackest in Doctor Who history), adding an extra edge of dejection and remorse, making it possible to empathise with a character that could easily have been unsympathetic. This is partly due to Garden’s own natural likability (I have it on good authority from none other than Barnaby Edwards himself that he is not only a brilliant actor and consummate professional, but a lovely bloke too. God bless Twitter and it’s ability to let me speak to such nice people), but also his subtlety as an actor. The Big Finish audios always come highly recommended by me, but the final series of McGann stories are of a particularly high standard and this is in no small part due to the re-introduction of The Monk and Garden’s performances.

So happy birthday Graeme Garden, 70 today. Thank you for bringing The Meddling Monk back to us.