Richard Franklin, who played UNIT’s Captain Mike Yates in Doctor Who, has passed away, aged 87.

The actor passed away in his sleep after fighting a long-term illness on Christmas Day morning 2023. Yes, it has taken longer than it should have done to report his passing, but obituaries are funny things, especially for those people we really care about. Acknowledging someone important isn’t part of our physical world anymore is, of course, gutting, but more than that, with obituaries, you have the task of making something worthy of someone special. How do you sum up a life in a few paragraphs? How do you close a chapter with a simple news item?

Because the thing about Mike Yates, and about Richard Franklin, is that he was fantastic.

Yates was such a well-rounded, interesting, compelling, and watchable character that he feels like he’s been in more serials than he actually has been. He debuted in Terror of the Autons — often, it’s often said, introduced to the show as a potential love interest for new companion, Jo Grant (Katy Manning); a love that never came to be, though there was always a flirtation and magnetism echoing between them. Yates was in a number of much-loved stories including The Claws of Axos, The Dæmons, and The Green Death, in which he hides a pain behind his eyes as he’s forced to say goodbye to Jo as she gets engaged to someone else.

After that, Yates’ journey twists into something unseen on Doctor Who before: he becomes the betrayer, someone whose ideals are manipulated so much that he apparently turns against UNIT. In Invasion of the Dinosaurs, however, he still remains true to his friends, including the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney), Benton (John Levene), and the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee), trying to make sure they wouldn’t get hurt.

Sadly, his betrayal means he’s dismissed from UNIT, so the next time we see him, he’s trying to find himself at a retreat in Planet of the Spiders. He’s still fighting the good fight — he’s just no longer a captain. He calls in UNIT, seemingly not bothered by their animosity towards him: all that matters to Mike is that good triumphs. In some ways, then, Mike was the only member of UNIT, at least in the Third Doctor era, who was truly allowed to grow, to become more than solely the soldier.

The last time we see Franklin in Doctor Who properly was The Five Doctors, playing a phantom in the Tower of Rassilon — not the real Mike, but it was good to see our old captain again nonetheless.

But Franklin wasn’t finished with Doctor Who, of course; he even appeared in audio adventures, including Big Finish’s The Third Doctor Adventures and UNIT: Assembled. He even met the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) in Paul Magrs’ The Nest Cottage Chronicles, i.e. Hornets’ Nest, Demon Quest, and Serpent Crest.

He loved playing Mike so much that he even wrote a novel about Yates: The Killing Stone, which sadly was never published, it having presumably been written for Target’s defunct The Companions of Doctor Who range. He even wrote, directed, and appeared in Recall UNIT at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1984. He was, it’s clear to see, a very talented man and we were lucky to have him as part of our Doctor Who universe.

Richard’s acting break came in the soap, Crossroads, in 1969, playing Joe Townsend, which followed his training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where he won the Jenny Laird prize, awarded for “achievement in a thankless role” (and named after the actress who’d star as Neska in Planet of the Spiders). Franklin joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1963 and spent a short period in the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

He’d go on to play Denis Rigg in another soap, Emmerdale, with more TV and film roles including in Blake’s 7, Dixon of Dock Green, The First Days of Spring, Twilight of the Gods, and the Star Wars movie, Rogue One.

Franklin was also deeply religious, converting from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism later in life, as well as being politically minded — indeed, he stood as a parliamentary candidate during several general elections, founded the Silent Majority Party, and wrote Forest Wisdom: Radical Reform of Democracy and the Welfare State.

I met him a number of years ago at a Doctor Who convention. I was a little anxious about this meeting — I always loved Mike Yates, so meeting the actor behind the character was somewhat intimidating — but I shouldn’t have been: despite the place being crowded, the queue stretching out behind me, he was warm and friendly, shaking my hand and giving me time; he seemed a bit amazed that he should be such a draw for fans.

But perhaps that was the magic of Mike Yates and of Richard Franklin. He had that warmth, that twinkle in his eye, and I’m not sure he ever appreciated just how good he really was.

Goodbye, Captain. We shall miss you.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of Richard’s family and friends.

It’s with great sadness that we report the passing of acting legend, Michael Gambon, who has died at the age of 82.

Of course, Gambon’s credits are extensive, but Doctor Who fans will know him for playing Kazran Sardick in A Christmas Carol (2010).

He left school without any qualifications as he hated it there, but he fell in love with acting and created a CV full of fictional credits; he sent this to theatre impresario, Micheál Mac Liammóir, who ran the Gate Theatre in Dublin, and it landed Michael his first role playing “Second Gentleman” in Othello. He soon impressed Laurence Olivier, and was taken on in a number of roles for the National Theatre Company, initially at the Old Vic. Not long after, he joined the Birmingham Repertory Company, and played th title roles in his beloved Othello, as well as Macbeth and Coriolanus.

Olivier further gave Gambon his first film role, also Othello, with Maggie Smith and Derek Jacobi. This led to an immense number of acting roles for Gambon, on TV, film, and in the theatre, including Tales of the Unexpected, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Gosford Park, Lucan, Churchill’s Secret, The King’s Speech, A View from the Bridge, Toys, Maigret, Layer Cake, Skylight, Dad’s Army, Joe’s Palace, Cranford, and one of his best-known roles, the lead in The Singing Detective. And younger fans will likely recognise him as the voice of Uncle Pastuzo in the Paddington films.

Many, however, will known Gambon for playing Hogwarts headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, in the Harry Potter movies.

He received three Olivier Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four BAFTA Awards, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999.

In 2010, he played Kazran in A Christmas Carol, opposite Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor. It was a wonderful role, and played beautifully by Michael. It’s certainly my favourite Christmas episode, against some tough competition, and Gambon’s performance, harsh yet sensitive, fearful and tearful, quiet and utterly commanding, is a key component in why A Christmas Carol is so special. It’s sad, then, that he said in 2015:

“I wasn’t very good. No, I wasn’t very good! I tried hard, but I couldn’t quite get it.”

Nonetheless, he said this in his typical self-deprecating, joking manner, and he said that it was “great fun”, especially noting that he loved acting with Matt Smith.

There’s a lot of excellent acting in the episode, including when Kazran goes to hit his younger self, only to realise that he risks turning into his father, then instead starts crying. Perhaps my favourite bit, though, comes earlier on, the first time Kazran is on the back foot — this incredible presence, master of his domain (in fact, the whole town), talks quietly to the Doctor, who says, “There’s a portrait on the wall behind me. Looks like you, but it’s too old, so it’s your father. All the chairs are angled away from it. Daddy’s been dead for twenty years, but you still can’t get comfortable where he can see you. There’s a Christmas tree in the painting, but none in this house, on Christmas Eve. You’re scared of him, and you’re scared of being like him, and good for you, you’re not like him, not really. Do you know why?”

Then, Gambon delivers this faltering, almost scared reply. A single word, laden with all the fears of his years: “Why?”

“Because you didn’t hit the boy,” the Doctor replies. “Merry Christmas, Mister Sardick.”

The Doctor Who world has lost one of its best guest actors, and the entire entertainment industry one of its brightest stars.

And it’s testament to the power of storytelling, of Doctor Who, of Gambon, that I’m sure I’ll think of A Christmas Carol, and of Michael, every time we’re halfway out of the dark.

Our thoughts go to his family and friends.

A casual glance at a Doctor Who episode guide could suggest that Chris Boucher wrote just three stories for the Fourth Doctor in 1977. But simple facts like that won’t explain why – despite his limited contributions – Chris Boucher is held in such high regard by Doctor Who fans.

He never wrote a Dalek, Cyberman, or Master story, a regeneration or multi-Doctor adventure. His greatest legacy in series terms is the creation of the companion, Leela. Who, let’s not forget, had one of the hardest jobs to do: following on from the beloved Sarah Jane Smith.

What he did write were three cracking and very different adventures: The Face of Evil, a high-concept sci-fi fable about the consequences of past actions; The Robots of Death, a claustrophobic whodunnit in space with the creepiest droids ever released on screen; and Image of the Fendahl, a disturbing folk horror tale riffing on two Nigel Kneale classics, Quatermass and the Pit and The Stone Tape (while managing to be innovative and original in its own right). You can’t fault the sparkling scripts, ideas, and characterisations in any of these but Fendahl is rather let down by some badly realised monsters.

No slouch at the old script writing stakes himself, it was Robert Holmes who spotted Boucher’s potential, not only by asking him to quickly write a follow-up to The Face of Evil but also suggesting him as a script editor for the BBC’s new blockbuster adult sci-fi series, Blake’s 7.

It was that recommendation which possibly robbed Doctor Who of more scripts from Boucher. Not only did he polish Terry Nation’s drafts into riveting television in Blake’s 7‘s first series, he basically became the lead creative from series two onwards. This was a programme that consistently commanded a prime-time audience of nine million viewers. And a genre programme too, not a cop show or soap opera.

While he did his best to bring many of the other scripts to the same standard, there is always a particular quality, characterisation, and plot with a Boucher original Blake’s 7 adventure. And he was a master not only with the season finales (something Doctor Who didn’t do at the time, but would adopt later); he also gave lead characters their moments to shine, often playing them against type.

City at the Edge of the World gave cowardly Vila (Michael Keating) the opportunity to be a hero and get the girl. Cynical action hero and all-round know-it-all Avon (Paul Darrow) was seen to be vulnerable when double-crossed in Rumours of Death. The chief villain Travis (Brian Croucher) is depicted as a more sympathetic and complex character in Trial. Even the more idealistic hero Roj Blake (Gareth Thomas) is darker and less predictably ‘good’ in the series’ final episode, Blake. If you have a BritBox subscription and want a flavour of how brilliant Blake’s 7 can be, just pick a Boucher-penned episode and you won’t be disappointed.

Unfortunately, when Blake’s 7 ended and Boucher was freer to write for Doctor Who, it was after John-Nathan Turner had decided not to use scriptwriters who had written for the programme before he became producer. Which is a huge shame, as a Boucher script or two would have been very welcome to liven up the Fifth Doctor’s tenure.

I’ve seen it erroneously reported (even today) that Chris Boucher’s only original sci-fi series, Star Cops, was suggested as an alternative to Doctor Who. It clearly wasn’t. It’s a very adult series (in theme and approach) that was broadcast at 8.30 on Monday nights on BBC Two in 1987.

Star Cops isn’t widely known, and is seen as a bit of a disappointment in its ratings and because it only lasted one series. But, despite some odd casting choices, below-par production values, and a frankly terrible theme tune (I’ve got it on 12-inch vinyl), Boucher’s scripts and vision shine through. He also created a small personal computer called Box, which basically acts like a smart speaker three decades before they were invented. Clever chap.

But he didn’t entirely leave Doctor Who behind. The brilliantly-imagined civilisation depicted in Robots of Death spawned its own audio series, Kaldor City (2001-2012). He also returned to the sparkling pairing he created with the Fourth Doctor and Leela in a series of original novels for the BBC’s Past Doctor Adventures: Last Man Running, Corpse Marker, Psi-ence Fiction, and Match of the Day. Beyond Who, he made significant contributions to police and detective shows such as Shoestring, Juliet Bravo, Bergerac, and The Bill.

On a very sad note, this now means that no Doctor Who writers from the 1960s and 1970s now survive. But we still have Chris Boucher’s three outstanding (and perfectly formed) TV Doctor Who stories to treasure.

We’ll leave you with Boucher’s own words in this typically witty exchange from the Blake’s 7 episode, City at the Edge of the World:

Avon: Do you want me to threaten you?

Tarrant: Why not? I haven’t had a good laugh in ages.

Avon: Sensible. You could die laughing.

Our thoughts to Chris’ family and friends.

It is with a real sense of sadness at the Doctor Who Companion that we learnt that the wonderful Bernard Cribbins has died, aged 93. To sum up his 80-year career – he left school at 13 to become an assistant stage manager and started acting – on stage, screen, radio and music in a few paragraphs would be an impossible task.

His talent spans some of the greatest British cultural achievements over the last century including voicing the Wombles (1973-75), a memorable guest starring role in Fawlty Towers (1975), a regular and prolific reader for the BBC series Jackanory, diverse movie roles in the Carry On series, Albert Perks in The Railway Children (1970), and barman Felix Forsythe in Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy (1972). In the 1960s, he also had a successful parallel singing career releasing novelty records including The Hole in the Ground and Right Said Fred.

Of course, he was also much loved in the Doctor Who world, first in the 1966 film Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966), playing Tom Campbell. (I went to see the film just a few weeks ago at the cinema with my kids, and it still captivates the young imagination.) But just when that seemed a footnote in a long and successful career, he featured as a cameo as Wilfred Mott in the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, watched by more than 13 million viewers. Such was his impact in the small role, when a replacement was needed for the character of Geoff Noble after actor Howard Attfield sadly died, Bernard was welcomed back as Wilf, revealed to be Donna’s grandad, for much of Series 4 of the revived show.

It’s hard to describe the impact that Bernard had in that series, but with commanding performances by the leads – David Tennant and Catherine Tate – he managed to not only hold his own, but elevate the character to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them. So much so that when arguably the most popular Doctor of all time bowed out in two festive specials – The End of Time Parts One and Two – Wilf was chosen as the Tenth Doctor’s final companion. In fact, the Doctor chose Wilf’s life over his own. Quite a journey from a brief appearance manning a newspaper stand two years before.

What Bernard Cribbins brought to the role was humour, genuine pathos, determination, passion, and buckets of charisma. He lit up the screen in every scene he appeared and the Doctor Who universe, where Wilf is one of thousands of characters, is truly enhanced by his presence. Defying the absurd notion that young actors should be companions, Wilf was taken to the hearts of millions of people young and old in his late 70s and 80s.

His character became so dear that I even wrote a short story featuring him in the DWC’s 2021 Annual, which you can still download for free now.

And, whisper it, we may not have seen the last of Wilfred ‘Wilf’ Mott…

For me, I have a special memory of the great man. On Sunday 12 May 1996, I took my mother to our local arts centre, the Riverhouse Barn in Walton-on-Thames to see An Evening with Bernard Cribbins. He was a patron of the Riverhouse at the time, living nearby. I am not sure quite what I was expecting. But Bernard in his gentle and friendly way took us on a tour of his incredible career to that point, a mixture of jokes, tall tales, and anecdotes. It culminated in performances of his aforementioned greatest hits and questions from the audience. Sadly, I was too timid to ask about his ’60s encounter with the Daleks, but it was a delight just to be there in the room with a legend.

He made a return appearance at the Riverhouse, 22 years later. Sadly, I couldn’t make it. But my friend and fellow Doctor Who fan – and founder of the Doctor Who Fan Orchestra – the very talented Stephen Alexander was. And he was given the chance to perform with Mr Cribbins…

‘When I watched Bernard Cribbins bring to life one of my favourite Doctor Who characters, I never dreamed that I’d get to meet him, let alone work with him one day. But in 2018, I got an email from the Riverhouse Barn Arts Centre, where Bernard was set to do another of his popular appearances.

‘They wanted to know if I would be willing to accompany him on the piano while he sang one or more of his famous songs. Of course, I leapt at the chance. There was initially talk of doing Hole in the Ground and Right Said Fred – so I practised both – but I was then told that Bernard had decided he did not want to sing the latter, as the timing of the song was, “a bit too complicated for [his] old brain now”.

‘So Hole in the Ground it was. I turned up early to have a rehearsal with Bernard before the show, and honestly, he was everything I had expected and more. The twinkle in his eye as he asked if the ‘nubile ladies’ he had requested were going to be there.

‘Getting to perform with Bernard and support this entertainment legend was wonderful and surreal, but the highlight for me was sitting in the green room with him and his wife, listening to his many tales and his irreverent wit, which never seemed to switch off. 

‘Though Bernard had said he would not sing Right Said Fred, the producer did ask me privately if I would play a little bit of it as exit music for Bernard at the end of the show. This I did, but Bernard, thinking I was spontaneously playing it for him to sing to, shot me a look of amused annoyance, sang it pretty much perfectly (ably supported by the audience), and then promptly whacked me with his papers as he left the stage. 

‘He brought joy to generations and will be fondly remembered to say the least.’

Bernard Joseph Cribbins OBE (29th December 1928 – 27th July 2022), we salute you.

It’s with great sadness that we have to report the passing of David Warner.

Warner is perhaps best known to Doctor Who fans for playing Professor Grisenko in the 2013 episode, Cold War, in which he displayed wit, courage, and, above all, warmth.

It’s no great surprise, then, that he has been on the wishlists of many fans as the Doctor-we-never-got. It’s even less of a surprise, then, that he has played the Doctor — albeit the so-called Unbound Doctor for Big Finish, a parallel incarnation of the Time Lord who first appeared in 2003’s Sympathy for the Devil. This Doctor was brought back for Masters of War, plus numerous other productions, including The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, acting with his partner, Lisa Bowerman.

Unbelievably, it was only yesterday that we reported Christopher Eccleston’s enthusiasm for a 60th anniversary project with Warner.

David passed away on Sunday 24th July 2022, as confirmed in a statement from his family:

Over the past 18 months, he approached his diagnosis with characteristic grace and dignity,

He will be missed hugely by us, his family, and friends, and remembered as a kind-hearted, generous, and compassionate man, partner, and father, whose legacy of extraordinary work has touched the lives of so many over the years.

David Warner was born in Manchester in July 1941. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and made his professional debut came at the Royal Court Theatre, in their 1962 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company the following year. His association with the Bard meant he played the lead in Hamlet, Richard II, and, in many adaptations, King Lear. That included for Big Finish.

His credits are extensive, and a mere glance means some obvious highlights stand out, including Titanic, The Thirty Nine Steps, Mary Poppins Returns, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Mad Dogs, The Secret of Crickley Hall, Penny Dreadful, Inside No. 9, and Ripper Street.

And then you see the list of sci-fi/fantasy credits to his name too! Those include Tron, Gargoyles, Men in Black: The Series, The Omen, Biker Mice from Mars, Batman: The Animated Series, Iron Man (The Animated Series), Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather, and, perhaps most notably, numerous Star Trek appearances, including The Next Generation, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

I met Warner a few years ago, and what a lovely chap he was. Sure, I asked him about Doctor Who, but my focus was actually on another role of his, one maybe largely forgotten but which played an important part in my childhood: he played Dr Herbert Landon in 12 episodes of Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the 1990s. Landon wasn’t a nice man. In his first appearance, a two-episode story co-starring the X-Men, he lied to his peers and tried to wipe out mutantkind. It all goes wrong and he’s left in a monstrous state. And that leads him into the vice-like grip of the Kingpin, for whom he works for the rest of the show.

It’s one of the most important programmes in my life. That and X-Men: The Animated Series introduced me to Marvel and I fell in love with storytelling. I think it’s fair to say that, without it, without Marvel and how I was introduced to reading (thanks, too, to my parents for encouraging this at every turn)… I’m not sure I’d be a writer.

So yes, Warner’s character was part of the rich fabric of my childhood. I told him how important the animation is to me; in turn, he was encouraging and stressed how important stories and the people who want to tell them are. He was also pleased to see the picture of Herbert Landon I took to get signed; “you do these voiceovers, but you don’t really see how it turns out, what that character looks like actually in the show”, he enthused.

Thanks, David, for being so wonderful.

Warner is survived by his partner, Lisa Bowerman; his son, Luke; and daughter-in-law, Sarah. Our thoughts go to his family and friends.

The actress Ann Davies has died, aged 87. Ann was best known to Doctor Who fans for her performance as Jenny in 1964’s The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Jenny was a resistance fighter hardened by many years’ experience of fighting the Daleks, and her coldness contrasted with the warmth of Barbara and Susan. With Barbara, Jenny journeyed to Bedfordshire and regained some of her humanity; she was betrayed to the Daleks by an old crone and her daughter for a few tins of food and some oranges and became a slave worker in the Bedfordshire mine. Ann had to dye her hair blonde for the part so that she would not be mistaken for the dark haired Barbara or Susan; filming on location for the story, she wore a balaclava to hide her natural hair colour.

Ann was married to Richard Briers, who also appeared in Doctor Who as the Chief Caretaker in Paradise Towers (1987). She met Briers at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1956. Working as an actor and stage manager, she took pity on the lean and hungry newcomer to the company, cooked him meals and married him within eight months. They remained married for over 50 years and always tried to get work together: they both appeared in Major Barbara (1958), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1990-91), and Spike (2001). They had two daughters, Kate and Lucy. Lucy is also an actress and appeared with her parents in Spike. Ann had two grandchildren.

Ann enjoyed a successful career as an actress, appearing in many television programmes (including Z Cars, Poldark, EastEnders, The Bill, and Ever Decreasing Circles – the latter playing opposite her husband) and films, including several directed by Kenneth Branagh and again co-starring Briers. Richard pre-deceased Ann in 2013.

Our thoughts are with Ann’s family and friends.

The actress June Brown has died at the age of 95.

June Brown was perhaps best known to Doctor Who fans as Eleanor of Wessex in the 1973 story The Time Warrior. This, the first story of Pertwee’s final season, introduced both the Sontarans and Sarah Jane Smith. Wary of Doctor Who being used sneakily to teach children history – which he believed had been one of its initial aims when the series was created – writer Robert Holmes agreed to Terrance Dicks’ request to set the story in the past, on condition that he didn’t feature any real people from history. Thus Eleanor of Wessex was born.

June Brown delighted fans with her imperious performance as Eleanor, a minor aristocrat light years away from her most famous role, the Cockney Dot Cotton in EastEnders, which she played for over 30 years.

June Brown was born in Suffolk in 1927, the daughter of Louisa, a milliner, and Harry, a businessman who went bust investing money in German banks before the Second World War. She had four siblings. Academically able, she studied at the Ipswich High School and served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service.

It was in the WRNS that June discovered the joys of acting and she subsequently trained at the Old Vic Theatre School in London. She spent many years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing major roles including Lady Macbeth and Hedda Gabler. She made dozens of appearances on television, notably as Violet Leyton, the mother of Gemma Jones’s character Louisa in The Duchess of Duke Street (BBC, 1976-7), which also featured Lalla Ward (in a pre-Doctor Who role) as Lottie, Violet’s granddaughter. June Brown was best known to British audiences for her role in EastEnders as Dot Cotton, which she played from 1985 (the year the series was created) until 1993, returning to the programme from 1997 until 2020.

June Brown was married twice. Her first husband, the actor John Garley, suffered from depression and took his own life in 1957. In 1958, she married the actor Robert Arnold. Their marriage lasted 45 years and they had six children. Robert Arnold pre-deceased her in 2003

June, an avid supporter of her local special needs school for physically handicapped children, was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for her services to acting and to charity in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. After her death, Stephen Fry tweeted:

“June Brown, amongst all her other wonderful human qualities and achievements, will be remembered as a tireless and fearless LGBT ally – especially during the dark days of HIV/AIDS…”

June Brown, born 16th February 1927; died 3rd April, 2022.

Our thoughts go to her family and friends.

It’s with great sadness that the DWC has to report the death of another great actor – Lynda Baron, who passed away earlier this month.

Baron was born on the 24th March 1939 in Lancashire, and was called Lillian Ridgway. She had originally trained as a dancer at The Royal Academy of Dance; she would take this love of dance and singing with her into repertory theatre and West End Venues. She got her first professional stage role at the age of 16, when she featured in a pantomime at the Liverpool Empire.

Stage work remained wonderfully present throughout her career, starring alongside actors like Orlando Bloom, Tim Healy, and Zoe Wanamaker. In 1987, she made a musical debut with a role in Follies, and performed roles in a number of big theatres around the UK.

Baron talked to The Sunday Post on her early work on stage:

“I went into rep then and learned so much about acting. It was hard work because you were constantly doing one drama, rehearsing the next one and learning the lines of the one after that. It was a great education and I am so glad to have gone through that. It was certainly a start and I have been quite busy ever since. You get your lulls in work and that makes you all the more grateful when the next job comes along and all the more determined to give it your best.”

Her first on-screen role came in 1962 in an episode of The Rag Tag and she quickly found herself in a number of film roles throughout the sixties and early seventies. Her first film role was in The Small World of Sammy Lee which led to thrillers like Hide and Seek and Universal Solider. She also featured in the underrated 1971 Hammer Horror film, Hands of the Ripper as Long Liz.

Other films included the final entry in the Carry On franchise, Carry On Columbus; Colour Me Kubrick; and 2006’s Scoop, where she starred alongside Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson. Her final film role came out in 2020: the comedy-drama, Dream Horse.

But Baron was more well known for her roles on the small screen. She featured as guest characters in shows like Crossroads, Last of the Summer Wine, Coronation Street, Dinnerladies, The Bill, Casualty, Citizen Khan, and Father Brown.

She was perhaps best known though for her roles in Open All Hours as Nurse Gladys, a role she returned to when the show relaunched in 2013, and then as Auntie Mable in the Come Outside, the latter of which she featured alongside Pippin the Dog (who got into a number of misadventures), which is still considered one of the most popular children’s shows and enjoyed regular re-runs until around 2012. She also appeared a number of times in EastEnders as Linda Clarke from 2006 to 2016.

Lynda Baron said of her role in Open All Hours:

“Working with Ronnie Barker and David Jason was unbelievable – two great actors in a brilliantly scripted sitcom. There was never a day when we did not have a great laugh ourselves and that carried on when Still Open All Hours became a series.”

In 2011, she was even nominated for a BAFTA in her role in The Road to Coronation Street, which was a documentary film about the creation of the iconic soap opera. She played Violet Carson, who would play Ena Sharples in the series.

Baron also appeared a number of times in Doctor Who, first as the singer of the iconic, or slightly irritating, soundtrack for The Gunfighters, then finally in person as Captain Wrack in Enlightenment, pitting her Eternal wits against Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor. She would make her last Doctor Who appearance as store worker, Val, in the Matt Smith story, Closing Time; although she didn’t get any scenes with the Cybermen, she enjoyed a lot of screen-time with Matt Smith and James Corden.

I think many Doctor Who fans will remember her most in her role as Captain Wrack. It’s a story where she is delightfully evil and slightly OTT but nonetheless a magnetic malevolent presence on screen. Of course, she is defeated but she does make the role incredibly memorable and makes the story more watchable than it would have probably been otherwise.

In her personal life, Baron married Cyril Smith, a hairdresser and music impresario in 1962 but the marriage was to be short lived and they divorced soon after. In 1966, she married John M. Lee and the pair enjoyed a long and happy marriage.

Lee died in 2001 but they had two children together and they remained together until his death. She too is survived by her children, Sarah and Morgan.

Our thoughts to her family and friends.

It’s with great sadness that the Doctor Who Companion has to report the death of the last 1960s Doctor Who writer, Henry Lincoln.

Lincoln was responsible for giving us some of the most enduring characters and monsters from the 1960s, some of whom have survived into the modern series, as well as doing some extraordinary work in real life.

Lincoln was born in London on the 12th February 1930. Lincoln, then under the surname Soskin, studied acting under RADA and went on to have an acting career for the best part of 20 years, beginning in the mid-1950s, playing guest roles in a number of shows including the 1960s staples, The Avengers, Public Eye, The Saint, and The Champions. While it’s clear he enjoyed acting, it was in the 1960s that he turned his hand and heart to writing.

Forming a writing partnership with Mervyn Haisman, the pair would be commissioned to write the six part Doctor Who story, The Abominable Snowmen. That story went down so well at the BBC that a follow up story was immediately ordered. This second story, The Web of Fear, would see the robotic Yeti return as well as their creator, The Great Intelligence but the action, rather than being set in Tibet, would be set in modern-day London, with much of it taking place in the London Underground.

Steven Moffat brought the Intelligence back to trouble the Eleventh Doctor in 2012 and 2013, though the Yeti were replaced by the Whisper Men. It wasn’t the only creation of Lincoln’s that would prove popular enough to come back: a year after The Web of Fear, Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart would make a return, though having been promoted to Brigadier in The Invasion, laying the groundwork for the revolutionary 1970 season and introducing UNIT.

With two hugely popular stories under their belt, the BBC were keen for the pair to return to write a further story, though The Dominators would prove much less popular. What was supposed to be a six-episode story was shortened to five and there were ensuing copyright issues with the Quarks and a comic strip they featured in. This caused a rift between the writing team and the BBC; Lincoln and Haisman would leave the company and their names were removed from the finished story, with the pseudonym, Norman Ashby, being used instead.

Also in 1968, the pair would write for Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee, a script which would become the 1968 horror movie, Curse of the Crimson Alter. Based off a H.P. Lovecraft short story, it would be the final movie appearance for Karloff. The movie also featured Doctor Who actors, Mark Eden (Marco Polo) and Michael Gough (The Celestial Toymaker).

When holidaying in France in 1969, Lincoln read a lot of books on the subject of the Knights Templar and The Holy Grail. While this wouldn’t be reading material for many on holiday, it formed the backbone of what became the most prolific period in his career, something that fascinated him until his recent passing.

In the 1970s he would present the BBC’s Chronicle series, which looked at the subject of the Holy Grail and would present a further two editions of the show on the same topic across the decade. He then penned the controversial 1982 bestseller, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. Co-written with Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent, the book would later form the inspiration for the Dan Brown epic, The Da Vinci Code. This wouldn’t be his only meeting with missing treasure; he would handle the topic in the 1990s for the series The Secret.

In later life, he settled in France and specialised as a writer, historian, and filmmaker on the subjects of ancient myths and legends, codes, and patterns, and based himself in Rennes-Le-Chateau, giving visitors guides on the village’s ancient secrets. In 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Knighthood in the Militia Templi Scotia Order for his work in Sacred Geometry and Templar history.

Lincoln was also the last of the 1960s writers on Doctor Who to pass away, following Donald Tosh’s death in 2019. His work is fascinating and it’s hard to believe that someone whose life-long fascination with a topic as big as The Holy Grail started out in Doctor Who.

For many fans, The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear are up there as ‘The Holy Grail’ of Doctor Who stories. They have certainly had a lasting impact, with characters from both having featured in the modern series and its spin-offs in some way and continued to be played in audio and in novel form. Henry Lincoln’s legacy on Doctor Who will always be remembered.

Our thoughts go to his family and friends.

It’s with sadness that we have to report the passing of Stewart Bevan, who played Clifford Jones, in The Green Death.

Bevan has always held a special place in the Doctor Who fandom thanks to his character being one of the most memorable things in the brilliant story, The Green Death. Professor Clifford Jones also goes on to marry Jo Grant; we see their engagement in the same story which sees Katy Manning bow out of the series.

But Doctor Who was far from the first thing Bevan had featured in, having been acting in film, TV, and theatre since 1966. His first role was in a television series called The Troubleshooters, followed by a number of film roles including To Sir, With Love; Burke and Hare; and Steptoe and Son Ride Again.

Notable later film roles include 1976’s House of Mortal Sin and 2005’s Chromophobia. His last film role was in 2009’s The Scouting Book For Boys. One film he starred in — 1975’s The Ghoul — featured other Doctor Who royalty including Peter Cushing and John Hurt. Don Henderson and Ian McCulloch also starred alongside him.

Bevan also featured in a number of television series normally as a guest actor — shows that include, Secret Army, Shoestring, Blake’s 7, The Onedin Line, The Gentle Touch, Casualty, The Bill, Silent Witness, and Brookside. His final television appearance was in 2005 in The Brief.

As well as his role in Doctor Who, he was also best known for playing Ray Oswell in Emmerdale, despite only appearing in eight episodes.

But where did his love of acting come from? Born in Wales on 10th March 1948, and growing up in Southall, Middlesex, he found work in a menswear store. It was there that a window-dresser told him that his local amateur dramatics group was looking for members and Bevan decided to go with him. His time with the group saw him win a best actor award for his performance as Alec, the lead in Still Life.

He later enrolled in the Corona Theatre School and became friends with fellow actor, Michael Des Barres. The pair both auditioned for To Sir, With Love and got their first on-screen roles.

He also shared a special relationship with Katy Manning, having got engaged to her just before work began on The Green Death. But unfortunately the pair separated just one year later. However, they remained close friends.

This friendship meant that The Green Death wasn’t his only brush with Doctor Who. He worked alongside Katy Manning in a couple of Big Finish audios, meeting her character Iris Wildthyme as Inspector Nettles, and then playing BOSS, his old enemy in a Torchwood sequel, The Green Life.

He return to the role of Clifford Jones in two trailers for the Doctor Who Collection sets, facing off against the giant maggots for Season 10 and meeting the Autons for Season 8; in both of these he co-starred with Katy Manning playing Jo Jones.

Manning took to social media to express her love and sorrow on the passing of her friend. She wrote:

“He was the love in my life for many years on and off screen and our wonderful friendship continued to the end, the most beautiful man, poet, actor, screenwriter, husband and father”

Bevan’s passing will no doubt leave a big hole in the Third Doctor’s era, and he seemed he was just as popular as any of the main characters from that series. He is survived by his two daughters, Carol and Wendy Bevan.

Our thoughts go to his family and friends.