Statistics

On This Day (USA) - 15 January

The Daleks' Master Plan: Escape Switch premiered on BBC One in 1966 at 5:50pm GMT, watched by 9.50 million viewers.

Steven and Sara are held hostage by the Daleks who demand that the Doctor hand over the vital taranium core, or his companions will be exterminated.

Day of the Daleks: Episode Three premiered on BBC One in 1972 at 5:50pm GMT, watched by 9.10 million viewers.

The Doctor arrives in a bleak future where Earth is ruled by the Daleks and mankind is enslaved. Rescuing Jo, the two escape but the brutish Ogrons are in pursuit.

The Face of Evil: Part Three premiered on BBC One in 1977 at 6:22pm GMT, watched by 11.30 million viewers.

Leela and the Doctor break through the time barrier and find themselves threatened by a mad computer.

The Paradise Of Death: Episode Three premiered on Radio 4 Extra in 2003 at 6:00pm GMT

Birthdays

Gareth Hale was 71 - credited as Len in Survival

Gareth Hale is an English comedian and actor, born in Hedon, Yorkshire, who is best known as one half of the comedy duo Hale and Pace with his friend and comic partner Norman Pace.

Both former teachers, their comedy partnership has fronted several television programmes, most notably Hale and Pace, Pushing Up Daisies, h&p@bbc and Jobs for the Boys.

As straight actors, they also fronted the original TV dramatisation of Dalziel and Pascoe; as well as making a guest appearance together in Survival, the final classic Doctor Who serial.

David Warwick was 76 - 6 credits, including Kimus in The Pirate Planet

David Warwick is a British stage and television actor known for his recurring role in the BBC television sitcom, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, and for his theatre work, most notably with the writer and director Ray Cooney.

He has appeared in many other well-known TV shows, including Z-Cars (1972�1973), Yes Minister (1984), Only Fools and Horses (1989),EastEnders (1994), Peak Practice (1994) and Keeping Up Appearances (1995). He played the part of "Kimus" in 4 episodes of the Doctor Who story, The Pirate Planet (1978) and made a cameo appearance in the revived series as the police commissioner in "Army of Ghosts" (2006).

His theatre work includes a variety of comedic roles in box office hits like Run for Your Wife (1986�90), It Runs in the Family (1992), and Funny Money (1995). Recently he has been in the long running West End murder mystery The Mousetrap, and played Sgt Wilson alongside Lesley Grantham in the Dad's Army (stage show). He has also directed a number of stage shows, including Out of Order, A Bedfull of Foreigners, Distant Echoes, Love Letters and most recently an international tour of Private Lives.

His former partner is Louise Jameson, who played the Doctor Who assistant Leela. They met while studying at RADA and have appeared together in a number of audio dramas, including Gallifrey: A Blind Eye (2004) produced by Big Finish Productions, as well as various theatre productions.

Richard Franklin (died 2023 aged 87) would have been 88 - 28 credits, including Mike Yates in Planet of the Spiders

Richard Franklin was a British actor, best known for his long running role of Captain Mike Yates during the Pertwee era.

He reprised the role along side Tom Baker in a series of Audio stories for BBC Audio.

He has had various roles in different television programmes including Crossroads (January - June 1969, as Joe Townsend) and Emmerdale Farm (1988-89, as Dennis Rigg). Franklin has stood for Parliament on several occasions and works today primarily as a theatre director.

He also guest-starred in a number of Big Finish Productions audio plays including Professor Bernice Summerfield: Dragons' Wrath, Sapphire and Steel: The Surest Poisonand I, Davros: Innocence.

His other acting television appearances include: Blake's 7, Dixon of Dock Green, The Saint, The Millicent Martin Show, Little Women, The Pathfinders, Catherine Cookson's The Gambling Man(1995) and more recently Heartbeat (1997, as a Doctor). In terms of his political work, this has led to appearances on Campaign Calendar (Yorkshire TV) and an election speech at the Liberal Democrat Conference (broadcast by Sky TV in 1993).

His theatre acting work includes Peter Dews' production of As You Like It, Same Time Next Year (Prince of Wales Theatre), Macbeth (RSC), Rocky Horror Show (as the Narrator), The Spider's Web (UK Tour for Ian Dickens), Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour with Sean Maguire), The Importance of Being Earnest (English Speaking Theatre, Frankfurt) and many pantomimes. On radio he played Harrison Howell in the BBC Radio 2 production of Kiss Me Kate (1996).

Richard has in recent years produced an annual production as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has also been an artistic and associate director of a number of theatres.

He has maintained his contact with Doctor Who and appears regularly at conventions and contributing to video projects for Reeltime Pictures in their spin-off interview and documentary productions.

Franklin also wrote a novel featuring his Who character, Mike Yates, The Killing Stone, but it has been released only as an audio book, read by the author.

In 2009 Franklin starred in various music clips from the band Noah and the Whale.

He also played 'The Narrator' in the tour version of The Rocky Horror Show.

Deaths

Peter Wyngarde (died 2018 aged 90) - credited as Timanov in Planet of Fire

Peter Wyngarde was best known for playing Jason King, the bestselling novelist turned sleuth who appeared in the British television series Department S and Jason King, inspiring the Mike Myers character Austin Powers.

Peter Wyngarde's origins are shrouded in mystery with the actor himself giving different accounts of his parents and birthplace. He is believed to have been born in France in the late 1920's, with 1927 being the most authoritative date. He grew up in the far east and during World War II was interned in the Lunghua internment camp in Shanghai, set up by the Japanese for European and American citizens living in the city.

After the war, he sailed to the United Kingdom on the Cunard White Star Line vessel the Arawa, arriving in Southampton at the age of 18.

After briefly studying law he joined an advertising agency and in 1946 won his first professional role in the theatre. One of his earliest roles was a production of Noël Coward's Present Laughter at the Theatre Royal, Birmingham.

His first television appearance was a bit part in the 1949 production of Dick Barton Strikes Back. He soon graduated to leading roles playing John the Baptist in the 1956 version of Jesus of Nazareth and Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities.

In 1959 he played Lt Jan Wicziewsky in South one of the earliest gay-themed British TV dramas. the play came just two years after the Wolfenden Report, when homosexuality was still very much a taboo subject, making Wyngarde’s impassioned performance all the more extraordinary.

In 1969 Wyngarde won the role that would make him a household name in the espionage series Department S. He played the suave womaniser Jason King, a character so popular that he was spun off into his own action espionage series Jason King, which ran for one season of 26 fifty-minute episodes. The series enjoyed global success with Wyngarde briefly becoming an international celebrity.

During the seventies, he has a succession of smaller roles on television. in 1973 he played the King of Siam in a revival of the musical The King and I at London's Adelphi Theatre. In 1980 he appeared as the masked character Klytus in the film Flash Gordon.

In 1982 he made his appearance in Doctor Who playing Timanov. He wanted to play the part in heavy disguise but was persuaded by producer John Nathan Turner to show his face.

Wyngarde virtually retired from acting after a throat infection forced his withdrawal from a stage production of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. His public appearances were mainly restricted to Memorabilia events.

Peter Wyngarde died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London on 15 January 2018.

Roger Lloyd Pack (died 2014 aged 69) - credited as John Lumic in Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel

Roger Lloyd Pack was an English actor known for his roles in the TV shows The Vicar of Dibley, Only Fools and Horses and The Old Guys, as well as his role in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

He played John Lumic, the owner of Cybus Industries and the creator of the Cybermen, in the 2006 Doctor Who story Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel.

The actor was born in Islington, north London in 1944, the son of Hammer horror actor Charles Lloyd-Pack. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before making his stage debut in Northampton. He had small appearances in The Avengers and Virgin of the Secret Service before his big screen debut in 1968 when he played a small part in The Magus. Other TV roles included parts in Spyder's Web, Crown Court, Dixon of Dock Green and Terry Nation's Survivors where he played Wally. He appeared in Life of Shakespeare, Private Schulz, Moving, Byker Grove, Selling Hitler, The Bill and The Gravy Train Goes East. In later years he had roles in The Borgias, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Old Guys.

He was a committed socialist, he campaigned for nuclear disarmament and was a supporter of Left Unity.

For his professional name, Lloyd-Pack did not use the hyphen in his surname.

He died in 2014 after a battle against pancreatic cancer.