Statistics


On This Day (USA) - 17 March



Frontier In Space: Episode Four premiered on BBC One in 1973 at 5:50pm GMT, watched by 7.10 million viewers.

The Doctor and Jo are the Master's prisoners. In a bid to escape, the Doctor makes a dangerous spacewalk.


Rose premiered on SyFy (East Coast Feed) in 2006 at 9:00pm EST, watched by 1.58 million viewers.

 Birthdays
Sam Watts was 42 - 27 credits, including Incidental Music for Secrets of the Stars(SJA)

Sam Watts is a composer working primarily in Film and Television.  He also composes for Radio, Theatre and Advertising as well as working as an Orchestrator and Arranger.

He composed incidental music for The Sarah Jane Adventures and Sarah Jane's Alien Files.

Sam  Wattswas born in Harrogate and brought up in a town called Wetherby in West Yorkshire, England. 

He started playing the piano at the age of five and singing at nine. He studied for a BA (Hons) in Music at the University of Nottingham and graduated in July 2003 with a First.

He moved to London in September 2003 to start working for the Film Composer George Fenton as his Music Assistant. His responsibilities included archiving, copying and research.

Sam became a freelance Composer in January 2006 and now lives in St Albans, Hertfordshire, with his partner. He works from his studio, Fourteen Studios, running Pro Tools, Logic and Sibelius Notation Software.


Jane Tranter was 61 - 26 credits, including Executive Producer for Immortal Sins(TW)

Graduating from King's College London with a degree in English Literature, Jane Tranter joined the BBC's radio drama department in 1985. In 1987 she moved into television, initially as a floor manager on programmes such as Eastenders and Bergerac, but soon promoted to an assistant script editor for the new show Casualty, and then script editor for the drama series Screen One/Screen Two.

In 1992 she moved to Carlton Television, working for Controller of Drama Tracy Hofman on the development of new drama for the channel and across the ITV channels; shows included Frank Stubbs Promotes and Bramwell.

She was wooed back to the BBC in 1997, becoming Head of Drama Serials. Dramas under her leadership included My Summer with Des, Warriors, and David Copperfield. Then in 2000 she was promoted to Controller of Drama Commissioning, becoming ultimately responsible for the BBC's entire drama output across all channels. Programmes during her time included Spooks, Waking the Dead, State of Play, and Bleak House, and also the change of her original show Casualty and its companion series Holby City into an all-year series, plus an expansion of Eastenders to four episodes a week.

In 2003 she worked alongside BBC1's Controller Lorraine Heggessey to recommision Doctor Who, working closely with the show's driving force Russell T Davies to bring the show back to television.

In 2006 she became Head of Fiction, a role that assumed responsibility for drama, comedy, films and international imports. (The role was ultimately considered too powerful and responsibilities broken up between relevant controllers after her departure).

In 2009 she moved to the United States to become Vice-President of Programming and Production for BBC Worldwide. Doctor Who's former executive producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner joined the organisation in 2010 and the three devised the return of Torchwood as a co-production with channel Starz, broadcast in 2011. Other productions have included Lives on Fire, Lovetown USA, and Da Vinci's Demons.

She is married to film-maker David Attwood, with twins Joseph and Madeleine born on Christmas Eve 2002 - leading to her taking maternity leave during the early development of the new series of Doctor Who!


Petra Markham was 77 - 2 credits, including Safiya in The Crusade

Petra Markham's career started in the 1960s, with her appearance in The Crusade one of her first roles. During the 1970s she appeared in shows like Albert and Victoria, Ace of Wands and After Julius, and has continued to work until the present day, including roles in Angels, Bergerac, The Bill, and Hotel Babylon. She played Rose Chapman in Eastenders. 

As well as television, she has appeared on stage in Recruiting Officer at the Lichfield Theatre, and The Doll's House at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and National Theatre (Workshop), and in film with The Lord's Prayer, Out of Depth, Felicia's Journey and Cemetery Junction.

She is a daughter of actor David Markham and writer Olive Dehn.


Nick Hewer was 80 - credited as Himself in The Power Of Three

Former PR impresario Nick Hewer began his career in the mid 1960s. Heading up his own company until its sale in 1997, Nick built an impressive client list featuring many British and international organisations. 

Nick first met Lord Sugar in 1983 when his PR firm was chosen to represent Amstrad. He was soon taking care of the tycoon’s profile across all business and personal dealings and went on to become a trusted ally and friend.

Nick's career has taken him all over the world and in his retirement he still pursues his lifelong passion for travel. He has often combined this with his benevolence, once driving a 20 year-old Renault 4L solo from London to Mongolia for charity and taking part in a Children in Need trek from Istanbul to Almaty in Kazakhstan.

As a patron of Hope and Homes for Children, Nick helps promote this British charity and has worked for them in Romania and Rwanda. He also has a home in France where he indulges his other passion - vintage tractors.

Information: BBC

Michael Napier-Brown (died 2016 aged 79) would have been 87 - credited as Arturo Villar in The War Games

Michael Napier-Brown began his career as a journalist in Bournemouth but after National Service became an actor, appearing in a number of television programmes in his career, which as well as Doctor Who included Ivanhoe, Secret Army, Dick Emery and Terry and June.

He was chief executive artistic director of Northampton's Theatre Royal for some 20 years until 1999 when it combined with the Derngate. He is also credited as the person who 'discovered' Gian Sammarco and Lindsey Stagg, the actor and actress who played Adrian and Pandora in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole.

The University of Northampton awarded him an honorary Master of Arts degree for his development work on the Theatre in Education programme.

 Deaths
Sandy McDonald (died 2016 aged 78) - 2 credits, including Footman in The Unicorn and the Wasp

Alexander "Sandy" McDonald is a Scottish retired minister. He served as a minister of the Church of Scotland, and was the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (1997-8).

Biography

McDonald was born in Bishopbriggs in 1937, the son of Jessie Helen Low and Alexander M. McDonald. He worked in the timber industry in the 1950s, prior to National Service in the Royal Air Force. He studied at the University of Glasgow before training for the ministry at Trinity College.

Following theological studies in the 1960s, his first position after completing his studies was in the rural Church of Scotland, in Longriggend, north Lanarkshire, he served as minister at St David's Parish Church, Bathgate (1968–1974), then at St Mark's Parish Church, Ralston (1974–1988) and then as General Secretary of the Church of Scotland's Board of Ministry until he retired in 2002. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1997–8. His formal title (following the end of his Moderatorial year) is The Very Reverend Dr Alexander McDonald.

Television career

In the early 1980s, he co-presented the Scottish Television religious magazine programme That's the Spirit! and was also interviewed on VIP, also an STV religious show. His role as Moderator of the Church of Scotland meant he was one of the public figures who led tributes to Princess Diana upon her death in 1997 in a BBC broadcast. In May 2008, he made a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Doctor Who episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp", playing the part of a footman alongside his son. They also appeared together on an episode of celebrity Ready Steady Cook. He was one of the interviewees for his son's Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards in 2015.

Personal life

McDonald was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2015. His wife Helen, daughter of former footballer Archie McLeod, died on 15 July 2007; they had a daughter, Karen, and two sons, Blair and David - the latter is better known as the actor David Tennant.

 

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


Michael Gough (died 2011 aged 94) - 2 credits, including Toymaker in The Celestial Toymaker

Michael Gough was best known to Doctor Who fans for his role as The Celestial Toymaker alongside the first Doctor, William Hartnell. He later appeared with fifth Doctor Peter Davison when he played the Doctor's old friend Hedin, in the 1982 story Arc of Infinity

Gough was born in Kuala Lumpa in either 1916 or 1915 - he never knew which. Despite the uncertainty about his year of birth, he holds the honour of being one of the longest-lived actors to have appeared in Doctor Who. His career was extraordinary. Between 1947 and 2000, he recorded at least one film per year, often more, in addition to a busy TV and stage career, which included tours with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Michael Gough's unstoppable film career began in the forties, with Androcles and the Lion, but it was his role as Nicholai in Anna Karenina that set in motion a prolific and distinguished movie career. By the early sixties he was well-known to TV viewers through such series as The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Count of Monte Christo, The Saint, ITV's Play of the Week and many more. 

After appearing in the title role of the 1965 Doctor Who story The Celestial Toymaker, Gough started to achieve a cult status among horror film fans, appearing in several notable productions from Hammer and Amicus, while continuing to be a regular face on British TV, with roles in The Avengers, Orlando, The Champions and Theatre 625, to name just a few. Throughout the seventies, he continued making several movies and TV series each year. Among the many classic series he appeared in during that decade are Colditz, The Protectors, Crown Court and Blake's 7. His career continued into the eighties with Brideshead Revisited, Smiley's People and a second appearance in Doctor Who - this time with the fifth Doctor, Peter Davison in Arc of Infinity

After a further decade of TV and film appearances, Gough found new adoration among a new generation of film-goers as Batman's butler, Alfred, in the new films in that franchise which began in 1989. His relentless work-rate continued during the 90s and into the 2000s, and he established a long friendship with director Tim Burton, appearing in Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and, in 2010, Alice in Wonderland.

Gough was married four times - his third wife being Doctor Who actor Anneke Wills. Wills had encountered him at various times during her life - firstly during a theatre trip with her mother in 1952 - but they first met formally, on the set of Candidate for Murder and the attraction was instant. Gough adopted Anneke's daughter Polly, and in 1965, their son Jasper was born. 

After his death, Wills said: "As his body was deteriorating this week, he said that he wanted to hang on for St Patrick's Day. And he did, just. In the end... there is only love."

(Tim Hirst)


Donald Baverstock (died 1995 aged 71) - credited as Controller of Programmes for BBC1 for The Creation of Doctor Who

Donald Baverstock (18 January 1924 – 17 March 1995) was a British television producer and executive, born in Cardiff, Wales. He initially worked for BBC Television in their Talks Department, where he was the Editor of the topical magazine programme Highlight and then co-devised and edited its more ambitious and better-remembered successor Tonight, which began in 1957.

Baverstock worked on Tonight until 1961, when he was promoted to be the BBC’s Assistant Controller of Programmes across the whole television service. He did not occupy this post for very long, however, as in early 1963 he succeeded his superior Stuart Hood to become the Controller of Programmes for BBC One, in anticipation of the launch of the station's companion BBC Two the following year. In the same year he requested Sydney Newman to develop a new Saturday evening show for BBC One which would become Doctor Who.

However, soon after the launch of BBC Two in 1964, Controller Michael Peacock quickly began to run into difficulties, and BBC Director-General Hugh Greene decided in 1965 that the two men would be better suited to running each other’s channels, and took the decision to swap them over.

However, Baverstock felt insulted that he was being asked to take what he saw as a demotion to the lesser channel, and refused to take up his new post, instead resigning from the BBC altogether. He subsequently became involved in the establishment of the ITV northern franchise holder Yorkshire Television, becoming the company's first Director of Programmes and overseeing the creation of popular hits such as the soap opera Emmerdale Farm (from 1972).Despite being ensconced in Yorkshire, Baverstock did attempt to returning to Wales and applied for the vacant post of Controller BBC Wales. Former colleague Leonard Miall claimed in Baverstock's obituary in the Independent newspaper that the BBC Governors who interviewed him were "put off" by his "casual behaviour". Another factor may have been that, although born in Wales, Baverstock, like most of his fellow-countrymen, did not speak Welsh - an attribute considered essential for anyone aspiring to become Controller, Wales.[1]

In 1957 Baverstock married Gillian Darrell Waters, elder daughter of British children's author Enid Blyton, at St James's Church, Piccadilly.

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