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On This Day (USA) - 4 January



The Daleks: The Escape premiered on BBC One in 1964 at 5:15pm GMT, watched by 8.90 million viewers.

Fearful of a Thal attack, the Daleks force Susan to trick the Thals. Realising that the Daleks are planning an ambush, the four travellers try to escape and warn the Thals.


The Krotons: Episode Two premiered on BBC One in 1969 at 5:15pm BST, watched by 8.40 million viewers.
The Doctor and Zoe are tested by the Teaching Machines. Their score is high - and they are summoned by the dreaded Krotons . . .

Robot: Part Two premiered on BBC One in 1975 at 5:32pm GMT, watched by 10.70 million viewers.

Using the deadly disintegrator weapon, the robot steals the destructor codes. Harry Sullivan is sent to infiltrate Think Tank to discover the truth.


Castrovalva: Part One premiered on BBC One (England and Northern Ireland) in 1982 at 6:56pm GMT, watched by 9.10 million viewers.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: Part Four premiered on BBC One in 1989 at 7:37pm GMT, watched by 6.60 million viewers.

Scream of the Shalka: Episode Six premiered on BBC Red Button in 2004 at 7:30pm GMT

 Birthdays
Lenora Crichlow was 39 - 4 credits, including Cheen in Gridlock

Lenora Crichlow is a British actress best known for playing Annie in the fantasy drama Being Human.

Crichlow trained and worked with the YoungBlood Theatre Company. She made her first film appearance in the small-budget UK horror film Wilderness released in 2006, and the ITV police drama The Bill. 

Crichlow came to public prominence starring as Maria 'Sugar' Sweet in Channel 4's adaptation of the Julie Burchill novel Sugar Rush, which won the 2006 International Emmy Award in the 'Children And Young People' category.

She appeared in "Gridlock", a 2007 episode of Doctor Who, and BBC One's feature length drama Kiss of Death in 2008, starring alongside Danny Dyer. In March 2010, Lenora returned to the world of Doctor Who in the Audio release of Doctor Who: The Architects of History, playing a new character "Rachel."

In November 2009 she played the part of Alice in Collision, an ITV1 drama which ran over five consecutive nights.


Shayne Armstrong was 54 - 5 credits, including Writer for Regeneration(K-9)

Shayne Armstrong  co-wrote several episodes of K9.


Nick Rutter (died 2019 aged 73) would have been 78 - credited as Gond in The Krotons

Dr Nicholas Rutter was a Professor of Paediatric Medicine at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham.

He studied at Framlingham College after receiving a scholarship from from
Brandeston Hall. After leaving the College he
studied Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge and Medicine at St Thomas’s Hospital, London, qualifying as a doctor
in 1970.
After training posts in London, including the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, he went to Nottingham as a registrar in paediatrics. He joined the academic staff at the new medical school there as a lecturer and became a senior lecturer/consultant paediatrician in 1978.

As a paediatrician, he specialised in intensive care of the newborn, paediatric cardiology and general paediatric medicine.
As an academic he researched into the physiology of the full term and premature newborn, in particular the function of the newborn skin. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine (Cambridge) for this work. He was instrumental in developing the undergraduate teaching programme in paediatrics at Nottingham and started a postgraduate course.
In 1994 he was made Professor of Paediatric Medicine. For four years he was Admissions Dean for the Nottingham Medical School. He
is an honorary life member of the British Association of Perinatal Medicine and the Neonatal Society.

He retired in 2005, remaining an Emeritus Professor, and later also achieved an honours degree in Modern Languages with the Open University.


His only dalliance with acting came through living with a member of the production team of Doctor Who when at St Thomas, and played an extra in The Krotons to earn some cash.

Socially he was a bass chorister.

Details thanks to Old Framlinghams and Terry Boniface


Jim Norton was 86 - credited as Kennet in Scream of the Shalka(Misc)

Jim Norton (born 4 January 1938) is an Irish character actor.

Performances

Jim Norton has been acting for over forty years in theatre, television, and movies, and frequently plays clergymen, most notably Bishop Brennan in the sitcom Father Ted, as well as roles in The Sweeney (1977), Peak Practice (1993), Sunset Heights (1997), A Love Divided (1999), Rebus: Black and Blue (2000), Mad About Mambo (2000), Boxed "2003) and Jimmy's Hall (2014).

He starred as Finian McLonergan in the critically acclaimed New York City Center's 2009 production of Finian's Rainbow, and in October 2009, reprised the role in the Broadway revival at the St. James Theatre. His co-stars were Cheyenne Jackson (Woody) and Kate Baldwin (Sharon).

Television

As well as Bishop Brennan in Father Ted, he also played Albert Einstein in two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Norton appeared in an edition of the highly acclaimed 1970s British television drama series Colditz, as the librarian Lieutenant James Porteous. He appeared in two episodes of Van der Valk. On Babylon 5 he appeared in a number of roles including "Ombuds Wellington" in 1994 episodes "Grail" and "The Quality of Mercy"; a Narn ("Dust to Dust", 1996); and Dr. Lazarenn, a Markab doctor in "Confessions and Lamentations" (1995). In Fall of Eagles he played Alexander Kerensky.

He appeared as O'Brady in National Pelmet, the Series 2 opener of critically acclaimed drama Minder.

He has appeared in Agatha Christie's Poirot, Waking the Dead, Cheers, Frasier, Midsomer Murders, Maigret, Minder and Rumpole of the Bailey as "Fig Newton".

One of Norton's earlier UK television roles was as the timid Gardener in the first series of the long-running CITV children's series T-Bag, ('Wonders in Letterland').

He also played the role of Stan Laurel in the BBC drama Stan.

He appeared as the character Larry Joyce in the 2013 television drama Deception

Movies

He appeared in the 1969 epic film Alfred the Great as Thanet.

Norton played the part of "Pongo" in the screen version of Spike Milligan's war-time memoir 'Adolf Hitler. My Part in his Downfall.' In 1971 he played "Chris Cawsey" (aka "The Rat Man"), one of several villains in the controversial Sam Peckinpah movie Straw Dogs starring Dustin Hoffman. His character had a deviously infectious, deliberately irritating laugh that helped build tension throughout the film.(see external links)

He starred in the movie Memoirs of an Invisible Man alongside Chevy Chase in 1992.

He appeared in the 1992 Irish-made film Into the West.

He appeared in the comedy On the Nose as Patrick Cassidy, along with Dan Aykroyd and Robbie Coltrane, in 2001.

He appeared in a brief cameo in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002 as Mr. Mason.

He played an Irish immigrant in the 2005 Australian/UK co-production, The Oyster Farmer.

He played title role of Stan Laurel in the 2006 TV movie Stan, based on Neil Brand's radio play of the same name.

He played Herr Lizst in the 2008 holocaust film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

In 2011 he appeared as the character Old Mr Black in the film Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close directed by Stephen Daldry.

Norton appeared in the 2011 film Water for Elephants, in which he portrays a circus worker called "Camel" who befriends a character played by Robert Pattinson.

In 2012 he appeared as the character Tommy in a film short Homemade written by Matthew Roche and directed by Luke McManus.

Norton's most recent film credit is in the Ken Loach film Jimmy's Hall which was released in 2014.

Theatre

Norton has a longtime partnership with playwright Conor McPherson, having originated roles in 6 of his plays in Dublin, London and New York, and for which he has won both the Tony and Olivier Award. Norton played Jack in 'The Weir' (1997), Joe in 'Port Authority' (2001), Matthew in 'Come on Over' (2001), Richard in 'The Seafarer' (2006-7), Reverend Berkeley in 'The Veil' (2011), and Maurice in 'The Night Alive' (2013).

In 2004 he took part in the touring production of Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman.

In 2006/7 he appeared in Conor McPherson's The Seafarer at The National Theatre, and reprised the same role in the 2008 Broadway theatre production of the play.

In 2012, he performed as The Chairman in a Broadway adaptation of The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

In 2013/2014 he played Maurice in Conor McPherson's The Night Alive, a Donmar Warehouse production, transferred to the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York.

Norton is currently starring as Candy in the 2014 Broadway revival of John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' (alongside James Franco and fellow Irishman Chris O'Dowd) in the Longacre Theatre.

Audio work

Norton provided the voice for Major Kennet for the 2003 Doctor Who animated serial, Scream of the Shalka.

He has recorded the whole of James Joyce's Ulysses (with Marcella Riordan), Dubliners, Finnegans Wake (abridged with Marcella Riordan) and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for Naxos Records.

Thorndyke: Forensic Investigator: for BBC Radio 4 Extra 2011.

BBC Radio production of 'The Mustard Seed' by Nick Warburton

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson: BBC Radio 4 Extra, May 2012

Mr Deasy in Ulysses: BBC Radio 4 production for Bloomsday 16 June 2012

Narrator: The Stack, short story by Rose Tremain, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra, 24 September 2012.

Death in BBC Radio 4 production of Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, December 2014.

Biography from the wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA


Iain Cuthbertson (died 2009 aged 79) would have been 94 - credited as Garron in The Ribos Operation

Iain Cuthbertson  was a Scottish character actor

At 6' 4", he was known for his tall imposing build and also his distinctive "gravelly" heavily accented voice

Born and brought up in Glasgow, he was educated at Glasgow AcademyAberdeen Grammar and the University of Aberdeen (where he graduated with a MA Honours in French and Spanish). His first break as an actor was on radio while studying at Aberdeen University.

He spent two years national service in the Black Watch. His original wish was for a job in the Foreign Office, but he became a radio journalist with the BBC in Glagow.

Cuthbertson started acting at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre in 1958 and became General Manager and Director of Productions in 1962. Three years later he became Associate Director of London's Royal Court Theatre.

His most memorable television role was as the criminal and businessman Charlie Endell in both Budgie (London Weekend Television/ITV) with Adam Faith (1971–72) and its sequel Charles Endell, Esq (Scottish Television/ITV) in 1979.

Other roles include the lead in The Borderers (BBC, 1968-70), Tom Brown's Schooldays (BBC, 1971) (as Thomas Arnold), The Stone Tape (BBC, 1972), Sutherland's Law (BBC, 1973-76), Children of the Stones (HTV/ITV, 1977), and Danger UXB (Thames Television/ITV, 1979), The House With Green Shutters[5] (BBC, 1980). He appeared in the pilot episode of Rab C Nesbitt (1988) as a magistrate.

He suffered a crippling stroke in January 1982, which forced him to give up theatre for fear of forgetting his lines. He resumed television and film work, though, as his lines could be written on crib boards. His first role following his stroke was as the villainous Scunner Campbell in Super Gran (Tyne Tees Television/ITV, 1985). In 1989 he played the villain, Brett Savernake in the episode of Campion entitled "Sweet Danger".

Minor parts in ongoing series include appearances in Z-Cars (BBC), The Avengers (ABC/ITV), Inspector Morse (Central Television/ITV), Bulman (Granada Television/ITV), Ripping Yarns (BBC), The Duchess of Duke Street, Colonel Mannering in Adam Adamant Lives! story D For Destruction (1966) and Garron in the Doctor Who story The Ribos Operation. He also appeared in: Diamond Crack Diamond, The Onedin Line (BBC), Survivors (BBC), Scotch on the RocksBlack Beauty(London Weekend/ITV), The Ghosts of Motley Hall (Granada/ITV), Juliet Bravo (BBC), Casualty (BBC), The Mourning BroochCasting the Runes and McPhee the Mother and Me.

In film, he appeared as Charles Waterbury in The Railway Children.

Cuthbertson's first marriage, to Anne Kristen in 1964, was dissolved in 1988. He was survived by his second wife, Janet Smith.

From 1975 to 1978, he served as Rector of the University of Aberdeen. He listed his hobbies as sailing and fishing, and, after retiring, he lived in DalrympleAyrshire.

Biography from the Wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA


Jack Le White (died 1999 aged 86) would have been 112 - 2 credits, including Citizen in The Reign Of Terror

Jack Le White appeared in a number of programmes as an extra during his career, including as a judge in The Prisoner, Dixon of Dock Green, Colditz, Z Cars, Angels, Softly Softly, Juliet Bravo and The Bill.


 Deaths
Georgina Hale (died 2024 aged 80) - credited as Daisy K. in The Happiness Patrol

Georgina Hale is an award-winning English actress notable for many stage, film and television appearances. She is perhaps best known for her BAFTA-winning performance as Alma Mahler in the 1974 film, Mahler.

Hale appeared in rep at Canterbury, Windsor and Ipswich; then at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1967, where her parts included the title role in Gigi, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. At the Thorndike Theatre in Leatherhead in October 1975 she played Liza Doolittle in Pygmalion, followed by an acclaimed portrayal of Nina in Chekhov's The Seagull at the Derby Playhouse in July 1976, making her West End debut in the production when it transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre in August 1976.

Other roles included: Marie Caroline David in The Tribades (Hampstead, May 1978); Melanie in Boo Hoo (Open Space, July 1978); and Bobbi Michele in The Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Royal Exchange, Manchester, April 1979 - transferring to the Criterion Theatre in November 1979).

In 1981, Hale played the role of Josie in Nell Dunn�s play, Steaming, at the Comedy Theatre in London. Hale received a 1981 Best Comedy Performance Olivier Award nomination for her performance.

A year later in April 1982 she starred opposite Glenda Jackson in Summit Conference at the Lyric Theatre, playing Benito Mussolini's mistress Clara Petacci in a revival of Robert David MacDonald's play for the Glasgow Citizens Theatre.

Hale�s most notable film role is arguably that of Alma Mahler in Ken Russell�s Mahler (1974), a biopic of the Austrian composer and conductor, Gustav Mahler. Hale received the 1974 Most Promising Newcomer BAFTA Film Award for her performance.[7] Hale also made appearances in a number of Russell�s other films, with supporting roles in The Devils (1971), and The Boyfriend (1971), and cameo roles in Lisztomania (1975), Valentino (1977), and Treasure Island (1995).

Subsequent film appearances include supporting roles in Butley (1974), McVicar (1980), Castaway (1986), Preaching to the Perverted (1997), Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (2005), and Cockneys VS Zombies (2011).

Hale's television career spans five decades. Her first major television appearances were opposite Adam Faith in the ITV series, Budgie (1971�1972) and as Lili Dietrich in the miniseries The Strauss Family (1972). In 1975, Hale featured in two television plays written by Simon Gray. These were Plaintiffs and Defendants and Two Sundays, broadcast as part of the ITV series, Play for Today (1975).

In 1990, Hale succeeded Elizabeth Estensen in the eponymous role of T-Bag, the villainous, tea drinking sorceress in a succession of children�s adventure series produced by Thames Television. Hale played the role in four series and two Christmas specials broadcast between 1990-1992.

Other notable television appearances include guest starring roles in Upstairs, Downstairs (1975), Minder (1980), Hammer House of Horror (1980), One Foot in the Grave (1990), Murder Most Horrid (1994), The Bill (2002), Emmerdale (2006), and The Commander (2007).


Clifford Norgate (died 2024) - 2 credits, including Voice of the Nimon in The Horns of Nimon

Clifford Norgate voiced the Nimon in TV: The Horns of Nimon and the Generator in TV: The Leisure Hive.


Harry Fowler (died 2012 aged 85) - credited as Harry in Remembrance of the Daleks

Harry Fowler, MBE was an English actor in film and TV. Over a career lasting more than sixty years he made nearly 200 appearances on screen.

Fowler was born in Lam­beth, south Lon­don, on Decem­ber 10, 1926.

Fowler made his on-screen debut as Ern in the 1942 film Those Kids from Town, a propaganda piece about wartime evacuee children from London. This role was given to him after film company executives heard him speaking on the radio about his experiences in wartime London. After a screen test at Elstree studios, Fowler was given the part to star alongside George Cole

His early juvenile roles included Hue and Cry (1947), usually considered the first of the Ealing Comedies. Fowler later married Joan Dowling, one of his co-stars in the Ealing film. Dowling committed suicide in 1954.

During the Second World War he had been an aircraftman in the RAF, and played a cheerful cockney character with the same job in the film Angels One Five (1952),[3] a portrayal he used in other contexts, often with a humorous slant, mostly especially during his year in The Army Game (1959–60) TV series.

His familiar voice was regularly used for TV commercials. He was awarded an MBE in 1970, as part of Harold Wilson's Resignation Honours. In 1975, Fowler took the part of Eric Lee Fung, described as "a Chinese cockney spiv", in The Melting Pot, a sitcom written by Spike Milligan and Neil Shand. 


Joan Ellacott (died 2007 aged 86) - credited as Costume Designer for The Deadly Assassin

Joan Ellacott provided Costumes for the Doctor Who television serial The Deadly Assassin with James Acheson..

Also worked on Duel of Hearts, A Ghost in Monte Carlo, The Lady and the Highwayman, The Second Victory, The Black Tower, The Old Men at the Zoo, Bread or Blood, There Goes the Bride, Pride and Prejudice, Rebecca, Grange Hill, Anna Karenina, Where Adam Stood, BBC Play of the Month, Madame Bovary, Under Western Eyes, Shoulder to Shoulder, The Dragon's Opponent, Emma, Eyeless in Gaza, Roads to Freedom, The First Churchills, The Possessed, Vanity Fair, The Forsyte Saga, Thursday Theatre, A Stitch in Time, Carry on Jack, Carry on Cabby, The Iron Maiden, Nurse on Wheels, Bitter Harvest, In the Doghouse, Carry on Cruising, Twice Round the Daffodils, Raising the Wind, Watch Your Stern, Carry on Regardless, A Circle of Deception, Piccadilly Third Stop, The League of Gentlemen, Upstairs and Downstairs, The Captain's Table, Floods of Fear, Nor the Moon by Night, Violent Playground, Campbell's Kingdom, Across the Bridge, High Tide at Noon, Tiger in the Smoke, Jumping for Joy , All for Mary, Man of the Moment, Doctor at Sea, Up to His Neck, Mad About Men, Forbidden Cargo, Fast and Loose, Personal Affair, Top of the Form, The Long Memory, Curtain Up, Madame Louise, The Galloping Major, The Happiest Days of Your Life, Helter Skelter, Don't Ever Leave Me, Christopher Columbus, Portrait from Life, Snowbound, Easy Money, The Forsyte Saga, Theatre 625, No Kidding, Suddenly, Last Summer, Carry on Nurse, Carry on Sergeant, Above Us the Waves, To Dorothy a Son, The Kidnappers, Hammer the Toff, Salute the Toff, Appointment with Venus

She is the widow of Michael Mulcaster.