Statistics


On This Day (USA) - 27 July



Daleks in Manhattan premiered on SyFy (East Coast Feed) in 2007 at 9:00pm EDT

Doctor Who Prom (2008): Concert Performance premiered on BBC Radio 3 in 2008 at 11:00am BST

The Instant Gardener premiered on BBC One in 2015 at 3:45pm BST

The team transform a Manchester back garden into a time travel-themed dream space for Doctor Who fan Shirley.


 Birthdays
Nigel Plaskitt will be 74 - credited as Unstoffe in The Ribos Operation

Nigel Plaskitt is a British actor, puppeteer, producer, and both stage and television director.

His voice and puppetry talents have appeared on television shows such as Pipkins, Spitting Image and Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet. He has also contributed to films, such as Muppet Treasure Island and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Plaskitt appeared in the Doctor Who sci-fi serial The Ribos Operation.

He has also been involved with in the British Theatre, staging the UK tour of Doctor Dolittle, resident puppet consultant on the West End production of Avenue Q, and director of several shows (including Spitting Image colleague Louise Gold's cabaret act).


Graham Simpson will be 78 - credited as Hiker in Image of the Fendahl

Graham Simpson played the Hiker in the Doctor Who story Image of the Fendahl.

Worked on ShoestringThe Dick Francis Thriller: The Racing GameThe BitchBlakes 7Rogue's RockSadie, It's Cold OutsideJusticeBarlowWarshipFull HouseZ CarsThe Man OutsideThe Regiment


Matthew Robinson will be 80 - 2 credits, including Director for Resurrection of the Daleks

Matthew Robinson  is a British film & television executive producer, producer, director and writer.

He directed two Doctor Who adventures broadcast in 1984 and 1985 (Resurrection of the Daleks and Attack of the Cybermen) 

Robinson was lead director of BBC1's soap opera EastEnders when it launched in 1985. His early casting included Dennis Watts (Dirty Den), Pauline Fowler, Dot Cotton, Nick Cotton, Ian Beale, Charlie Cotton, Tony Carpenter.

From 1989 to 95 Robinson set up, produced and directed the teenage soap opera Byker Grove. He cast Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly as teenage heroes P.J. and Duncan and in 1993 launched their post-Byker Grove careers. Now known as Ant & Dec they are the UK's foremost light entertainment act.

In 1998 Robinson was appointed EastEnders' Executive Producer. During his reign EastEnders won the BAFTA for "Best Soap" in consecutive years 1999 & 2000 and many other awards.

In May 2003, Robinson left the UK for Cambodia to devise and produce a HIV health-related TV drama. The 100 episodes of Taste of Life - broadcast on the main entertainment channel, TV5, repeated on the state channel TVK - were financed by the British Government through DFID managed by the BBC World Service Trust. In 2006, after Taste of Life ended its run, he set up a film production company, Khmer Mekong Films, KMF, operating from Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.


Dinny Powell (died 2023 aged 90) would be 92 - 4 credits, including Stunt Man in Colony In Space

Stunt performer who worked on Doctor Who in the Pertwee years.

Worked on many films including the Bond series. 


Harry Towb (died 2009 aged 83) would be 99 - 3 credits, including McDermott in Terror of the Autons

Harry Towb was a Northern Irish actor. He appeared twice in Doctor Who and is most famous for being eaten by a plastic chair in Terror or the Autons.

Towb attended the Finiston School and Technical College, Belfast. He then appeared on stage with a touring theatre company in Ireland, in Repertory Theatre in England and in London's West End, where he had a role in the musical adaptation of Bar Mitzvah Boy. He also appeared in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum at the National Theatre in 2004.

He made numerous appearances on UK television including The Avengers, "Callan" Casualty, The Bill, Minder, Heartbeat and others. His film appearances include Above Us the Waves (1955), The Blue Max (1966), Prudence and the Pill (1968), Patton (1970) and Lamb (1985). In December 2008, Towb appeared in two episodes of the BBC soap opera EastEnders as David, Janine Butcher's fiancee. 

Harry Towb was also a regular presenter on the BBC Schools' programme You and Me featuring with Cosmo and Dibs.

Harry Towb was married to the actress Diana Hoddinott for 44 years until his death. He died at his home in London from complications due to cancer. 


 Deaths
Tony Dow (died 2022 aged 77) - credited as Visual Effects Producer for The TV Movie

Tony Dow  is an American film producerdirector and sculptor, and a television child actor of the 1950s and 1960s.

Dow is best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which ran in primetimefrom 1957 to 1963. Dow played Wallace "Wally" Cleaver, the elder son of June (Barbara Billingsley) and Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont), and the brother of Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver(Jerry Mathers).

Dow was the visual effects supervisor for the 1996 TV Movie


Geoffrey Hughes (died 2012 aged 68) - credited as Popplewick in The Trial of a Time Lord (The Ultimate Foe)

Geoffrey Hughes, was an English actor, best known for playing Eddie Yeats in the soap opera Coronation Street and Onslow in the sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.

He played Mr Popplewick in the 1986 Doctor Who story Trial of a Time Lord.

Among his many other appearances on television are: An Arrow for Little Audrey; The Saint; Shadows of Fear; Z-Cars; Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased); Flying Lady; Making Out; Coasting; Spender; and Boon. He played 'Trinculo' in an all filmed version of The Tempest for the BBC and 'Squire Clodpoll' in Good Friday 1663, one of Channel Four's new avant-garde operas. His comedy appearances on TV include The Likely Lads, Please Sir!, Dad's Army, Curry and Chips The Upper Hand and the character of Onslow in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.

Hughes's film credits include: Smashing Time; Till Death Us Do Part; The Bofors Gun; The Virgin Soldiers; Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall; Carry On At Your Convenience; and TV films: Needle and The Man from the Peru. He was also the voice of Paul McCartney in the Beatles' cartoon film Yellow Submarine.