Statistics


On This Day (USA) - 28 July



Dead of Night premiered on BBC One in 2011 at 9:02pm BST, watched by 5.49 million viewers.
Science fiction drama. Torchwood goes on the run, and finds a new enemy. But as they launch a raid on PhiCorp headquarters, Jack must confront the mysterious Oswald Danes.

 Birthdays
Ian D Tootle (died 2022 aged 67) would be 70 - 2 credits, including Assistant Floor Manager for Mawdryn Undead

Ian Tootle was Assistant Floor Manager for the stories Mawdryn Undead and Enlightenment.

Also appeared in Our Friends in the NorthThe ChoirSpenderWoof!BoonBird of Prey 2SpyshipJuliet BravoScarf Jack


Kenny McBain (died 1989 aged 42) would be 78 - credited as Director for The Horns of Nimon

Kenny McBain was a Scottish TV director and producer who was born on 28 July 1946 and died on 22 April 1989.

He is perhaps best known as a producer on Inspector Morse, though he had also worked in that capacity on Boon and Grange Hill.

His directorial credits include the Doctor Who story The Horns of Nimon (1979), episodes of Coronation Street and the Omega Factor episode Double Vision.

McBain, a gifted musician, attended Hutcheson's Grammar school in Glasgow and won a place to study music at Harvard University, deciding eventually to concentrate on drama. His name can be found on the 'wall of fame' at BAFTA headquarters in Piccadilly, London, having been nominated for a BAFTA award for his work on Morse.


Richard Hartley will be 80 - credited as Incidental Music for The Trial of a Time Lord (Mindwarp)

Richard Hartley  is a British composer.

His work is extensive and varied, including musical arrangement for theatre and many scores for television and film. In the 1970s he began a long association with Richard O'Brien. Hartley was originally part of the four-piece band for the Rocky Horror Show. He went on to arrange the score for the London Stage show. He then went on to provide arrangements for the film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and its follow-up Shock Treatment, and worked with O'Brien on another, as yet unproduced, sequel, Revenge of the Old Queen.

In the 1980s, Hartley worked primarily in television, including providing the music for the 1986 Doctor Who story Mindwarp. However, he also composed for film, including the score for the film Sheena, for which Hartley was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award, the 1983 film The Return of Captain Invincible, and the film Bad Blood. However, one of his lesser known works is the music for The Fifth Dimension, a dark ride at Chessington World of Adventures.

In the 1990s he provided the score for many films including Princess Caraboo, Victory, Rogue Trader, The Secret Rapture, An Awfully Big Adventure (the latter of which was released on CD) and Alice in Wonderland in which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Movie (Dramatic Underscore).


Patrick Tull (died 2006 aged 65) would be 83 - credited as Kroton Voice in The Krotons

Patrick Tull  was a British stage, film and television actor.

He provided one of the voices of the Krotons in the 1968 story.

Tull performed in a number of episodes of well-known BBC television series in the 1960s, including Z-Cars, and its spin-off Softly, Softly, the soap opera Crossroads and the comedy Dad's Army. 

Tull acted in three films including Parting Glances (1986), directed by Bill Sherwood.


Brigit Forsyth (died 2023 aged 83) would be 84 - credited as Ruth Maxtible in The Evil of the Daleks

Brigit Forsyth was a British actress, m best known for her roles as Thelma Ferris in the BBC comedy Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? and Helen Yeldham in the hit ITV drama/modern-day western Boon.

She played Ruth Maxtible in the 1967 Doctor Who story The Evil of the Daleks

Her film work included The Wrong Side of the Blanket (1970), as Miss Wiggins Teape; The Night Digger (1971), as district nurse; The Likely Lads (1976), as Thelma Ferris; and Crystalstone (1988), as Isabel.

Television work included Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, as Thelma (1973-74); The Glamour Girls (1980-82), as Veronica Haslett; Tom, Dick and Harriet (1983) as Harriet Maddison; The Practice, as Dr. Judith Vincent (1986); Sharon and Elsie, as Elsie Beecroft (1984-85); Dark Season (1991), as Miss Maitland; and Boon (ITV, 1989), as Helen Yeldham. She has guested on The Bill; Dr Finlay's Casebook; Wycliffe; Agatha Christie's Poirot; and also appeared in The Sinners; Holly, as the title character Holly Elliot; Adam Smith; Bizarre and Rummage; The Master of Ballantrae; Jackanory; Holding The Fort; Tom, Dick, and Harriet; Waiting; Dangerfield; Running Wild;The Visit; Graham's Gang; I Told You, Didn't I?; Stanley's Vision, as Hilda Spencer; My World; Henry; Nice Town (1992) as Rosemary Dobson; Murder Most Horrid (episode: "A Life Or Death Operation") (BBC2, 1996) as Mrs. Osman;Spark (1997) as Mrs. Wells; and Playing the Field (BBC1, 1998) as Francine Pratt. 


David Weston will be 86 - 2 credits, including Nicholas in The Massacre

David Weston  is an English actor, director and author. 

He played Biroc in the 1981 story Warriors' Gate and Nicholas in the 1966 story The Massacre.

He graduated from RADA in 1961 having won the Silver Medal for that year.

He has acted in numerous film, television and stage productions, including twenty-seven plays in Shakespeare's canon. With Michael Croft he was a founder member of the National Youth Theatre. Much of his directing work has been for that organization; he has directed also at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and a number of other theatres in London. He wrote and narrated a series of non-fiction audio books, including Shakespeare His Life and Work which won the 2001 Benjamin Franklin Award for best audio non-fiction book.

Weston was educated at Alleyn's School, Dulwich, during the time that Michael Croft, founder of the National Youth Theatre, was there creating drama of a very high standard. In 1956 Croft directed a school production of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, which, when revived as a NYT production at the Toynbee Hall Theatre the following year, attracted the attention of the national press. Weston played Falstaff, a character singled out by The Times in its praise of the play's comedy.

In August 1960 Weston played Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at the Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. Directed by Croft and given in modern dress, this was only the second appearance by the company of the NYT in London's West End. John Shrapnel played Caesar, Neil Stacy Brutus and Alan Allkins Cassius. 

Weston's first television appearance was as Romeo in a production for schools of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.



Colin Douglas (died 1991 aged 79) would be 112 - 2 credits, including Donald Bruce in The Enemy of the World

Colin Douglas was an English actor. 

He had two major roles in Doctor Who, playing Donald Bruce in the 1967 story Enemy of the World, and Ruben in the 1977 story Horror of Fang Rock.

His film credits include: The Trollenberg Terror (1958), The Valiant (1962), Captain Clegg (1962) and Mister Ten Per Cent(1967).

His theatre credits include: One For The Pot, one of Brian Rix's Whitehall farces in the 60's, a spell with the Royal Shakespeare Company which included a production of Toad of Toad Hall with David Suchet, and Exchange in the late 80's, with his good friend Martin Jarvis.

On TV had roles in Fire Crackers, The Buccaneers, Danger Man, Love Story,Follyfoot, Telford's Change, The Sweeney, Dick Barton - Special Agent, The Seventh Juror, The Flockton Flyer,Headmaster, Thicker than Water (an instalment of the anthology series Play for Today), The Night People, The Omega Factor, The Greenhill Pals and The Pickwick Papers.

Douglas had a lead role in the drama A Family at War (1970-1972) where he played Edwin Ashton in a glum portrayal of a Liverpool family in the 1930s and 1940s. 

Colin Douglas's last role was as troubled Labour Party veteran, Frank Twist in Alan Bleasdale's TV series G.B.H..


 Deaths

Peter Russell (died 1995 aged 64) - credited as Eldred in The Time Meddler

Peter Russell was an actor who appeared in the 1965 story The Time Meddler.

Also appeared in The BillOasisMaking NewsTales of the UnexpectedCharlieThe Hello Goodbye ManLast of the Summer WinePlay for TodayThe Water BabiesCrown CourtIt Shouldn't Happen to a VetRed Letter DayDays of HopeThe Railway ChildrenSoftly SoftlyBlackmailGideon's WaySwizzlewickThe VillainsITV Play of the WeekZ CarsBoneheadThe Long Way HomeThe Three Princes.