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On This Day (USA) - 22 March



The Space Pirates: Episode Three premiered on BBC One in 1969 at 5:15pm BST, watched by 6.40 million viewers.

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe join Clancey aboard his ship which is being pursued. Clancey takes them to the planet Ta which they discover is the base of operations for the pirates.


Genesis of the Daleks: Part Three premiered on BBC One in 1975 at 5:30pm BST, watched by 8.50 million viewers.

The Doctor informs the Kaled government of Davros's experiments and they move to shut down the bunker. But Davros is one step ahead and prepares to take drastic action.


Time-Flight: Part One premiered on BBC One (Not Wales) in 1982 at 6:57pm GMT, watched by 10.00 million viewers.

The Twin Dilemma: Part One premiered on BBC One in 1984 at 6:41pm GMT, watched by 7.60 million viewers.

Death Comes To Time: The Child (pt 3) premiered on BBC Online in 2002 at 12:00pm GMT

 Birthdays
Mary Tamm (died 2012 aged 62) would be 74 - 24 credits, including Romana in The Ribos Operation

Mary Tamm  was best known for playing the character of Romana opposite Tom Baker as the Doctor, during The Key to Time season.

Born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, she was the daughter of Estonian refugees. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and then acted with the Birmingham Repertory Company. Stage roles included Amanda in Private Lives and Beverly in Abigail's Party. Film and television roles followed, including Tales That Witness Madness, two appearances in Coronation Street, The Odessa File, and the film version of The Likely Lads. 

She joined Doctor Who in the role of Romanadvoratrelundar, aka Romana (or Fred!), alongsideTom Baker as the Doctor for the sixteenth year of the show, which revolved around the search for the Key to Time. During the run she has the chance to play another character in the form of the identical Princess Strella in The Androids of Tara (not to mention android versions of both!). She only played the role of Romana for one year, citing that the character could not develop any further from its 'traditional' companion role, with The Armageddon Factor's guest actress Lalla Ward continuing the character from the following story.

Post-Doctor Who, Tamm continued her TV career with a recurring role as Jill Fraser in The Assassination Run and The Treachery Game, Jennifer Reynoldston in The Hello Goodbye Man, Yvonne Edwards in Paradise Heights and a stint in Brookside as Penny Crosbie. Other guest appearances included Casualty, Holby City, Jonathan Creek, Crime Traveller,Heartbeat, and adding EastEnders to her CV as Orlanda in 2009. She was due to play a judge in the film Far Out Far In but illness forestalled that role.

Though departing from Doctor Who in 1979, Tamm continued her association with the show through the audio plays of Big Finish, reprising Romana for the Companion Chronicle The Stealers from Saiph in 2009. This was followed by Ferril's Folly and Tales from the Vault in 2011. She is also set to feature posthumously alongside Tom Baker once more, with the pair starring in the second series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, due to be released from January 2013.

The first volume of her autobiography First Generation (Fantom Films) was published in 2009.  

She died aged 62, after a long battle with cancer.


Jonathan James Moore (died 2005 aged 59) would be 78 - credited as Producer for Pirate Radio 4 for Slipback(Misc)

Jonathan Moore was a producer and later Head of Light Entertainment at the BBC, before leaving in 1999.

Obituaries: Guardian, Independent


Jeremy Clyde will be 83 - 3 credits, including Lord Braye in Fourth Doctor - The Syndicate Masterplan: Volume 1(BF)

Jeremy Clyde is an English actor and musician.

During the 1960s, he was one-half of the folk duo Chad & Jeremy.

He has enjoyed a long television acting career and continues to appear regularly, usually playing upper-middle-class or aristocratic characters


Richard Easton (died 2019 aged 86) would be 91 - credited as Captain Stapley in Time-Flight

Richard Easton is a Canadian actor. 

He is best known in for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial The Brothers.

He played Captain Stapley in the 1982 Doctor Who story Time-Flight.

He has had television guest appearances on L.A. Law, Frasier, and Ed and made a guest appearance in the second season of Boardwalk Empire.

Between 2005 and 2011, he has appeared as Benjamin Franklin in a series of commercials and videos about Freemasonry, produced for the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts A.F. & A.M..


 Deaths
Bill McGuffie (died 1987 aged 59) - credited as Composer for Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.(Aaru)

Bill McGuffie was a highly experienced pianist who went on to become a film composer and conductor. He also made several television appearances before this, most notably in Softly, Softly as a pub pianist.

When he was about 16 years old Billy came down from Scotland to London to join the Teddy Foster Band which was playing in London. It was his first professional job.

As well as conducting many film scores he also wrote several of his own and is most remembered for his music for the movie Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, based on the television series Doctor Who and starring Peter Cushing. He also provided the music for the cult horror film The Asphyx in 1973.

Bill performed on many occasions with Benny Goodman outfits when Benny toured in Europe. He can be heard playing with the Benny Goodman Sextet recorded live in Copenhagen in 1972. His playing added much to the Goodman bands and small groups and continued the tradition of musical and inventive pianists playing alongside Benny.

Bill McGuffie was voted Britain's top pianist in 1953, 1954 and 1955. He won an Ivor Novello Award in 1960 for his composition 'Sweet September' and a Song Writers' Guild Badge of Merit in 1980. Bill McGuffie started a charity in aid of autistic children called The Niner Club, relating to his lost finger.

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