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On This Day (USA) - 1 January



The Daleks' Master Plan: Volcano premiered on BBC One in 1966 at 5:51pm GMT, watched by 9.60 million viewers.

Realising that the Doctor has tricked them and is still in possession of the taranium core, the Daleks prepare to give chase in their own time/space machine.


Day of the Daleks: Episode One premiered on BBC One in 1972 at 5:52pm GMT, watched by 9.80 million viewers.

When Sir Reginald Styles claims to have seen a ghost, UNIT is called in. The Doctor and Jo spend the night at Styles' house and become the target of an assassin.


The Face of Evil: Part One premiered on BBC One in 1977 at 6:22pm GMT, watched by 10.70 million viewers.

The Doctor meets the Tribe of Sevateem - and finds himself hunted as the Evil One.


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

Invasion of the Bane premiered on BBC One in 2007 at 4:51pm GMT, watched by 2.92 million viewers.

Children's drama series from the makers of Doctor Who, following the adventures of investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, a former companion to the Doctor. When Maria meets the mysterious Sarah Jane Smith, she's thrown into a world of intrigue, danger, and terrifying monsters.


Captain Jack Harkness/End of Days premiered on BBC Three in 2007 at 9:30pm GMT, watched by 1.23 million viewers.

12/13. Jack and Toshiko find themselves stranded in a dance hall during an investigation into reports of ghostly music. Gwen,Owen and lanto race to save them but encounter a sguadron leader calledCaptain Jack Harkness.

13/13. Captain Jack and the team see visions of their past and future as they battle to stop a time rift causing chaos.


At The Proms premiered on BBC Red Button in 2009 at 12:00am GMT

Doctor Who Prom (2008): 60 minute version premiered on BBC One in 2009 at 1:51pm GMT, watched by 1.70 million viewers.

The End of Time: Part Two premiered on BBC One in 2010 at 6:41pm GMT, watched by 12.27 million viewers.

Allons-y! premiered on BBC Three in 2010 at 7:55pm GMT, watched by 1.11 million viewers.

Resolution premiered on BBC One in 2019 at 7:00pm GMT, watched by 7.13 million viewers.

As the new year begins, a terrifying evil from across the centuries of Earth's history is stirring. As the Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz return home, will they be able to overcome the threat to planet Earth?


Resolution premiered on BBC America in 2019 at 8:00pm EST, watched by 0.98 million viewers.

As the New Year begins, a terrifying evil is stirring from across the centuries of Earth's history. Will the Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz be able to overcome this threat to Planet Earth?


Spyfall: Part One premiered on BBC One in 2020 at 6:57pm GMT, watched by 6.89 million viewers.

Intelligence agents around the world are under attack from aliens. The Doctor is called in by MI6 and she travels the globe to make the Eath safe.

All series since 2005 are on iPlayer.


Spyfall: Part One premiered on BBC America in 2020 at 8:00pm EST, watched by 0.79 million viewers.

Intelligence agents around the world are under attack from alien forces. MI6 turns to the only people who can help: The Doctor and friends. As they travel the globe for answers, attacks come from all sides.


Revolution of the Daleks premiered on BBC One in 2021 at 6:44pm GMT, watched by 6.36 million viewers.

With the Doctor locked away on an alien planet, Yaz, Ryan and Graham are struggling without her, even before they uncover a dark plan - involving a Dalek. All series since 2005 are available on BBC iPlayer.


Revolution of the Daleks premiered on BBC America in 2021 at 8:00pm EST

While the Doctor is locked away in an alien prison, Yaz, Ryan and Graham discover a disturbing plan involving the Daleks.


 Birthdays
Colin Morgan was 38 - credited as Jethro Cane in Midnight

Colin Morgan is an actor from Armagh, Northern Ireland,  who appeared in the 2008 Doctor Who story, Midnight.

He is best known for playing the title character in the BBC TV series Merlin. 

Morgan went to Integrated College Dungannon and, during his third year, won the 'Denis Rooney Associates' Cup awarded to the best overall student of that academic year. After gaining a National Diploma in Performing Arts (Acting) and studying at Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education in 2004, he went on to study at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama), situated in Glasgow, from where he graduated in 2007. 

Morgan debuted as Vernon Little in the title role of the Young Vic's adaptation of DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little and as Esteban in the Old Vic stage adaptation of Pedro Almod�var's Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother). 

In 2008, he appeared as Jimmy Rosario in the Young Vic production of Thomas Babe's A Prayer For My Daughter. In 2011, he played Carlos in the Royal Court Theatre production of Colombian dramaturg Pedro Miguel Rozo's play Our Private Life.

In film, Morgan appears as Calum in Island, a film adaptation of Jane Rogers' novel Island, and as Cathal in the award winning Irish film Parked.

He played the title role in BBC TV series Merlin, in production since 2008. He, and co-star Bradley James, travelled on an exploration of Arthurian legends for BBC Wales, The Real Merlin & Arthur, in 2009.

Morgan has taken part in one BBC Radio play, Cry Babies by Kim Newman, on BBC Radio 4.


Amara Karan was 40 - credited as Rita in The God Complex

Amara Karan was born in London, England to Sri Lankan Tamil parents who had emigrated to England from Zambia two years before she was born. She was born and grew up in Wimbledon, a suburb in the southwestern part of London, and attended Wimbledon High School.

She studied at St.Catherine's College, Oxford.

She made her film debut as the love interest in Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. The film premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. 

Her second film role was as Peaches in the St Trinian's film which had a general release in the UK on December 21, 2007.


Daisy Haggard was 46 - 2 credits, including Sophie in The Lodger

Daisy Haggard is a British actress.

Haggard's television acting debut occurred in a 1996 episode of ITV's Ruth Rendell Mysteries directed by her father, Piers Haggard.

She graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Haggard was seen in the BBC Three sketch show Man Stroke Woman and in the Channel 4 sitcom Green Wing She also appeared in the BBC 2 comedy Psychoville and in the 2008 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility,

She played Donna Mitchell in Ashes to Ashes and she was the voice of the Ministry Lift in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 


Steven Robertson was 47 - credited as Pritchard in Under the Lake / Before The Flood

Steven Robertson is a Scottish theatre, film and television actor best known for his role as a young man with cerebral palsy in Inside I'm Dancing and for playing Dominic Rook in the popular BBC Three comedy-drama series Being Human. He has had roles in numerous television programs including Being Human, Luther and The Bletchley Circle. He also played Constable Sandy Wilson on the TV adaptation of Ann Cleeves' Shetland, filmed near where Robertson was born and brought up. Robertson has even won an Ian Charleson award for his role in Chekhov's 'The Seagull'. He battled and overcame severe dyslexia as a child and went on to be named Fife College's student of the year.

Personal life

He grew up in the small village of Vidlin in the Shetland Islands with his two sisters. Before pursuing an acting career, Robertson worked as an odd-job man in his village. Growing up, he was close to the Shetland poet Rhoda Bulter. He stated that she was the trigger for him pursuing a career in performing by telling him old Shetland tales. He was the first Shetlander to be accepted into Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Whilst there he met his girlfriend, the actress Charlotte Allam. He is also a member of Aya Theatre and has starred in their adaptation of George Orwell's Burmese Days as Flory. He currently lives in Hertfordshire.

Career

Robertson's first major film role came in 2004 when he starred alongside fellow Scottish actor James McAvoy in Inside I'm Dancing. The film received a mixed response with Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 5.8 out of 10.

He then went on to play a small part in the 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven as an Angelic Priest. Following this, he had a big role in the 2005 French war film Joyeux Noel in which he played Jonathan, a young man whose brother was shot dead during WW1. Robertson then went onto play characters in numerous TV dramas, including Luther where he played both of the Millberry twins, a murderous duo who decided their victim's fate on the roll of a dice.

Robertson then went onto play one of his most notable roles as Dominic Rook, a government leader whose department protects the world from supernaturals, in series 5 of the British supernatural drama Being Human.

He recently worked on series 2 of Utopia, a British conspiracy thriller for Channel 4 where he played the role of Terrence.

In January 2015, it was announced Steven would be appearing in a 2 part story written by Toby Whithouse for the 9th series of the hit BBC1 series Doctor Who in a role to be confirmed. Filming will run until February with transmission sometime in autumn 2015.

Shetland

Robertson returned to his home in Shetland to film the TV series of the same name along with Douglas Henshall to star as Constable Sandy Wilson, for the BBC One adaptation of the popular Ann Cleeves book series. The series was criticised for its lack of Shetland accents, with Robertson being the only main cast member born and brought up on the islands. However the series attracted over 6 million viewers and a second series was commissioned featuring Brian Cox, Julie Graham and Alex Norton and Robertson's character now as a Detective. Robertson stated to Digital Spy that his portrayal of Constable Wilson was a "nice break from playing killers and creeps."

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


Andrea Lowe was 49 - credited as Katie in Fragments(TW)

Andrea Lowe (born in ArnoldNottinghamshire) is an English actress.

She started her theatre career at the Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in the play The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter.

In 1993 she had her first film role, alongside Samantha Morton, in the musical comedy drama called The Token King, set in a high school inNottingham. Lowe recently guest starred in two episodes of the second season of the Showtime hit show The Tudors in which she played Lady Eleanor Luke, a fictional noblewoman who is briefly the mistress of Henry VIII, and she played the role of Annie Cabbot in the British television network ITV two-part TV-Series DCI Banks: Aftermath, an adaptation of the 2002 Peter Robinson novel Aftermath.

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


Navin Chowdhry was 53 - credited as Indra Ganesh in Aliens of London / World War Three

Navin Chowdhry is a British television actor.

He played Indra Ganesh in the 2005 Doctor Who episode Aliens of London.

Navin Chowdhry was born and raised in Bristol, England. In 1994, Chowdhry graduated from Imperial College.

At age 15, he made his acting debut in the 1988 film, Madame Sousatzka with Shabana Azmi and Shirley MacLaine.

His next major role was as I.T. teacher Kurt McKenna in the successful comedy show Teachers from 2001�2003, and is also well known for playing PC Sanjay Singh in Dalziel and Pascoe. Navin also appeared as a possible rapist inJudge John Deed.

Chowdhry appeared in Waking The Dead, Series 3, Episode 3, entitled "Breaking Glass", opposite Trevor Eve and Sue Johnston. In the episode, he portrays the psychologically affected "Rainman". He then starred in the Channel 4 drama series NY-LON as Raph.

On 30 October 2005, he appeared on stage at the Old Vic theatre in London in the one-night play Night Sky alongside Christopher EcclestonBruno LangleyDavid WarnerSaffron Burrows and David Baddiel. In 2006, he appeared in the BBC Three drama series Sinchronicity, playing Mani.

In 2009, he appeared in two episodes of the Channel 4 series Free Agents and featured in Skellig. In 2010, he starred in the BBC television pilot Reunited, playing Danny.

Chowdhry has also produced projects such as the award-winning short film "This Bastard Business" and a short play entitled Mashed.


Sophie Okonedo was 55 - 3 credits, including Liz 10 in The Beast Below

Sophie Okonedo OBE is a British actress. She received an OBE in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Okonedo began her film career in 1991 in the British coming-of-age drama Young Soul Rebels before appearing in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) and Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things (2002). She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Tatiana Rusesabagina in the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda. She received a Golden Globe nomination for the miniseries Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006) and BAFTA TV Award nominations for the drama series Criminal Justice (2009) and the TV film Mrs. Mandela (2010). Her other film roles include Æon Flux (2005), Skin (2008) and The Secret Life of Bees (2008).

On stage, she starred as Cressida in the 1999 National Theatre production of Troilus and Cressida. She made her Broadway debut in the 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun and received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play and won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Ruth Younger.

Early life

Okonedo was born in London, the daughter of Joan (née Allman), a pilates teacher, and Henry Okonedo (1939–2009), who worked for the government. Her father was Nigerian, and her mother, an Ashkenazi Jew, was born in the East End. Okonedo's maternal grandparents, who spoke Yiddish, were from families that emigrated from Poland and Russia. Okonedo was brought up in her mother's Jewish faith. When she was five years old, her father left the family, and she was brought up in relative poverty by her single mother ("but we always had books", she has said).

Career

Okonedo trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She has worked in a variety of media including film, television, theatre and audio drama. She performed in Scream of the Shalka, a webcast based on the BBC television series Doctor Who as Alison Cheney, a companion of the Doctor. As well as providing the character's voice, Okonedo's likeness was used for the animation of the character. In 2010, Okonedo portrayed Liz Ten (Queen Elizabeth X) in the BBC TV Series Doctor Who episodes "The Beast Below" and again briefly in "The Pandorica Opens".

Okonedo played the role of Jenny in Danny Brocklehurst's BAFTA nominated episode of Paul Abbott's series Clocking Off. She also played the part of Tulip Jones in the film Stormbreaker (2006) and Nancy in the 2007 television adaptation of Oliver Twist. She is also known for playing the part of the Wachati Princess in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.

She was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress in 2004 for her role as Tatiana Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda and nominated for a Golden Globe for a Lead Actress in a Miniseries for her work in Tsunami: The Aftermath.

She played alongside Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys and Dakota Fanning as May Boatwright, a woman who struggles with depression, in the film The Secret Life of Bees (2008); opposite Sam Neill and Alice Krige as Sandra Laing in Skin (2009), and portrayed Winnie Mandela in the BBC drama Mrs Mandela broadcast in January 2010.

She appears on Broadway in the revival of A Raisin in the Sun as Ruth Younger. The play opened in April 2014. She won the Tony Award, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for this role, beating out co-star and fellow nominee Anika Noni Rose.

Personal life

Okonedo has one daughter named Aoife, from a previous relationship. They live in Muswell Hill, London. On her heritage, Sophie says, "I feel as proud to be Jewish as I feel to be black" and calls her daughter an "Irish, Nigerian Jew".

Her father Henry died on 22 July 2009 in Orlando, Florida, USA.

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


Dave Martin (died 2007 aged 72) would have been 89 - 13 credits, including Writer for The Claws of Axos

Dave Martin  was an accomplished television and film writer. He was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, England and contributed numerous scripts for Doctor Who  between 1971 and 1979

Martin collaborated with Bob Baker. Together they were nicknamed "The Bristol Boys" by the Doctor Who production teams with whom they worked.

Baker and Martin's most notable contributions to the Doctor Who mythos were probably the robot computer K-9 (created for The Invisible Enemy) and the renegade Time Lord Omega (created for The Three DoctorsDoctor Who's tenth anniversary story).

They also worked together on the 1975 children's science fantasy television serial Sky and Into the Labyrinth.

In 1986, he wrote the Doctor Who Make Your Own Adventure book Search for the Doctor.

In early 2007, Martin, a smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer; he died of the disease in March. 


Michael Wolf was 90 - credited as Nils in The Moonbase

German actor who appeared in the 1967 story The Moonbase


 Deaths
Mark Eden (died 2021 aged 92) - 3 credits, including Marco Polo in Marco Polo

Mark Eden was a British actor.

Born in London, Eden appeared in repertory theatre in England and Wales and at the Royal Court Theatre. 

His many television and film roles included the Doctor Who serial Marco Polo (1964) in which he played Marco Polo. 

He played Number 100 in The Prisoner in 1967, and Inspector Parker in the TV adaptations of several Lord Peter Wimsey stories in the 1970s. He also had a long running role in Coronation Street (1986-1989) in which he played Alan Bradley. His exit from this role was famously being knocked down by a Blackpool tram. At the location there is now a tram stop which recalls this scene.


Fiona Cumming (died 2015 aged 77) - 9 credits, including Director for Castrovalva

Fiona Cumming began her career as an actress. 

She started out at the Royal Scottish Academy and went on to a variety of theatre and television work, including a spell at Border Television in the dual role of announcer and features interviewer.

Deciding that she would prefer production work, she moved to London and in 1964 gained a post as an assistant floor manager at the BBC. 

It was as such that she first worked on Doctor Who, on the season three story The Massacre. Following her promotion to production assistant she gained two further credits on the series, on season four's The Highlanders and on season nine's The Mutants.

 Shortly after this she completed the BBC's internal director's course, and in 1974 she was taken on as a staff director. Amongst the productions on which she worked in this capacity were Z Cars, Angels and  The Omega Factor (1979). In 1979 she left the BBC and went freelance, early projects including God's Wonderful Railway Square Mile of Murder and Blake's 7, all in 1980.

She directed  four Doctor Who stories between 1981 and 1983. She has since remained active as a freelance director while also pursuing a number of other projects, including some with John Nathan-Turner in their Teynham Productions organisation.

She made an uncredited cameo appearance as a tourist at Windsor Castle in the 1988 story Silver Nemesis.

She was married to Ian Fraser, and had a son Alastair.


Billy McColl (died 2014 aged 62) - credited as Humker in The Trial of a Time Lord (The Mysterious Planet)

Born in Hamilton, Scotland, William Collins was brought up in Fife, attending Leven's Parkhill Primary school and Kirkland High school, before doing a City&Guilds course on mechanics whilst under apprenticeship at Harris Garage  in Leven. He also joined a local acting group and then went on to study acting at Mountview Theatre School between 1973 and 1976. Becoming a professional actor he took on the name Billy McColl as there was already an Equity member with his own name.

His first major role came in theatre playing Phil McCann in John Byrne's The Slab Boys in its original run at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre; he continued the role at other venues including the Edinburgh Festival and London's Royal Court, the latter of which led to a Olivier Award nomination for Most Promising Newcomer of the Year in Theatre. Byrne himself described him as the best actor of his generation.

Though his film and television career encompassed a wide range of drama, including Doctor Who of course, he also appeared in a lot of Scottish-based drama such as TaggartRebus, Hamish McBethRab C Nesbitt, Jute City, and also in the film Soft Top Hard Shoulder, written by and starring Peter Capaldi. He also presented a one-man show on stage, Creative Fire, about Robert Burns.

Outside of acting, he was an expert gardener, setting up Billy Collins Gardening in the early 2000s. He also enjoyed sculpting.

He died on the 1st January 2014, with his funeral taking place on the 18th. He is survived by his daughter Maud.

Biography based upon details provided by his obituary in The Scotsman.


Bob Anderson (died 2012 aged 89) - credited as Fighting Guard in The Enemy of the World

Bob Anderson was an English Olympic fencer, and a renowned film fight choreographer, with a cinema career that spanned more than 50 years and included films such as HighlanderThe Princess BrideThe Mask of ZorroThe Lord of the Rings and Die Another Day

On of his early appearances was in the 1966 Doctor Who story The Enemy of the World.

He was regarded as the premier choreographer of Hollywood sword-fighting, and during his career he coached many actors in swordsmanship, including Errol FlynnSean ConneryAntonio Banderas and Johnny Depp. He also appeared as a stunt double for Darth Vader's light-saber battles in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.


Cyril Shaps (died 2003 aged 79) - 4 credits, including Lennox in The Ambassadors of Death

Cyril Shaps  was an English actor who appeared in Doctor Who in several roles in the serials The Tomb of the CybermenThe Ambassadors of DeathPlanet of the Spiders and The Androids of Tara).

Shaps was born in HighburyLondon; he was of Polish ancestry and his father was a tailor. He was a child broadcaster, providing voices for radio commercials at the age of 12. After grammar school and Army service he trained at RADA and then worked for two years as an announcer, producer and scriptwriter for Radio Netherlands. His short stature and round face then led to a steady flow of character roles in film and television for nearly five decades.

Shaps's films included bit parts in a wide range of high-profile international films, including the Academy Award Best Picture winnerLawrence of Arabia (1962), with Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif (as the officer's club bartender), To Sir, with Love (1967, as neighbour Mr. Pinkus), and the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977, as Dr. Bechmann). One of his showier turns came in 1994, in The Madness of King George, portraying Dr. Pepys, a royal physician obsessed with the colour of His Majesty's stool. In 2002, at the age of 79, he made his final theatrical film appearances, as a pew opener in The Importance of Being Earnest, and had a larger role as concentration camp victim Mr. Grun in another Best Picture Oscar winner, The Pianist (2002).

Television work ranged from science fiction, including multiple appearances on Doctor Who, to classic literature in the BBC serials of Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit (1994) and Our Mutual Friend (1998) to detective shows with appearances in Lovejoy (1993), The Saint (1966), and as Emperor Franz Joseph in Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991). He appeared in two Jim Henson Company television films, Gulliver's Travels (1996, as an elderly madman in Bedlam) and Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story(2001, as "Bent Little Man," the peddler who sells beans to the original Jack). To Supercar fans he is well known, for he provided the voice of Professor Rudolf Popkiss in the second series.

His television appearances include Quatermass IIDanger ManThe Mask of JanusThe SpiesDixon of Dock GreenZ-CarsThe SaintOut of the UnknownAlexander the GreatestThe Rat CatchersMan in a SuitcaseRandall and Hopkirk (Deceased),Department SThe Liver BirdsWhen the Boat Comes InSome Mothers Do 'Ave 'EmThe Onedin LineThe Persuaders!Porridge,The SweeneyWilde AllianceThe Young OnesThe BillDark SeasonLovejoyMidsomer Murders and Doctors.

He also supplied the voice of Mr. Gruber in The Adventures of Paddington Bear and Great Grandfather Frost in one episode of Animated Tales of the World.

His work for radio included a spell with the BBC Drama Repertory Company in the early 1950s. Broadcast parts (his characters were often old men and/or priests) included Firs in The Cherry Orchard, Justice Shallow in Henry the Fourth, Friar Lawrence in Romeo & Juliet, Polonius in Hamlet and Canon Chasuble in The Importance of Being Earnest.

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


Fred Haggerty (died 2002 aged 83) - 4 credits, including Guard in The Romans

Fred Haggerty was an actor/stuntman born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary.

Work included roles in British films and TV from 1960-1990.