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On This Day (USA) - 24 March



Frontier In Space: Episode Five premiered on BBC One in 1973 at 5:52pm BST, watched by 7.70 million viewers.

On Draconia, the Doctor reveals the Master's plan to provoke war to the Draconian Emperor. But the Master escapes, taking Jo as a hostage.


The Unquiet Dead premiered on SyFy (East Coast Feed) in 2006 at 9:00pm EST

 Birthdays
Finn Jones was 36 - credited as Santiago Jones in Death of the Doctor(SJA)

Finn Jones is an English actor, best known for his role as Ser Loras Tyrell, The Knight of Flowers, in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Jones played Santiago Jones in the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures in the story Death of the Doctor alongside Katy Manning as former Doctor Who companion Jo Grant and Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor.

In October 2009,Jones appeared in the second series of Hollyoaks Later. In January 2010, he played Tim Hebdon in the 11th series of Doctors.

On April 1/8 2010, Finn appeared in two episodes of The Bill playing Commander Lisa Kennedy's (played by Julie Graham) son Mark Kennedy. In the same month he finished filming for a new online drama called The Curfew commissioned by Channel 4 and produced by BAFTA award winning company LittleLoud Productions.

On June 19, 2010, it was announced that Jones would be appearing in Game of Thrones, the HBO adaptation of George R R Martin's A Game of Thrones, as Loras Tyrell.

Jones is a member of the London based collective called Human Effort. 


Marcus O'Donovan was 41 - credited as Claudio in The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

Marcus O'Donovan played Claudio in the 2010 story The Pandorica Opens.

Marcus O'Donovan first entered the industry under the guidance and management of music guru Simon Fuller. He trained in London and after graduating in 2005 he appeared in a number of British television shows. He currently resides in London although he moves back and forth between his home and Los Angeles.

Appeared in DoctorsHoodThe Chronicles of Narnia: Prince CaspianThe BillRock RivalsBigga Than BenThree Minute MomentsHollyoaksHolby CityTotally Frank


Emma Handy was 50 - credited as Mother in The Lie Of The Land
Emma Handy is a British actress best known for her West End stage work and her role as DC Paula McIntyre in the ITV1 award-winning drama series Wire in the Blood in which she appeared for five series.

Christine Kavanagh was 67 - 3 credits, including Aram in Timelash

Actress who has had many roles on British Television including a small role in Timelash


Lord Sugar was 77 - credited as Himself in The Power Of Three

Alan Sugar is a British business magnate, media personality, and political advisor. From humble origins in the East End of London, Sugar now has an estimated fortune of £770m (US$1.14 billion) and was ranked 89th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2011. In 2007, he sold his remaining interest in the consumer electronics company Amstrad, his largest and best known business venture.

Sugar is also notable for his time as chairman of Tottenham Hotspur from 1991 to 2001. Sugar appears in the BBC TV series The Apprentice, which has been broadcast annually since 2005 and is based upon the popular U.S. television show of the same name


Stephen Yardley was 82 - 2 credits, including Sevrin in Genesis of the Daleks

Stephen Yardley is an English actor, known for his work on British television between 1965 and 2004.

He has twice had roles in Doctor Who - Sevrin in Genesis of the Daleks (1975) and Arak in Vengeance on Varos (1985) 

Best known for his role as Ken Masters in the British TV drama Howards' Way (1985�90), Yardley most recently appeared in the British TV comedy Hex (2004).

He made early appearances on TV in the 1960s, in series like Danger Man, and had an extended run during 1967�68 in Z-Cars, but his best known work was in the 1970s and 80s. These included performances as semi-reformed cat burglar William "Spider" Scott in The XYY Man (1976�77), Max Brocard in Secret Army (1978) and Police Inspector Cadogan in Virtual Murder (1992), and also took a part in the science fiction seriesBlake's 7 (1981) and the BBC TV adaptation of The Day of the Triffids (1981). Later he appeared as Vince Farmer in five's soap operaFamily Affairs (1999�2003).


Lynda Baron (died 2022 aged 82) would have been 85 - 3 credits, including Sung by for The Gunfighters

Lynda Baron is an English stage, film and television actress, best known for playing Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in the BBC comedy series Open All Hours.

Early television roles included small parts in Crossroads (1964), Up Pompeii (1970), Z Cars(1971), and the British horror film Hands of the Ripper (1971). She appeared in the satirical programme That Was The Week That Was, and alternated with Annie Ross as the resident singer on Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life (1965).

Her first Doctor Who role was out of vision as the singer of the ballad in the 1966 story The Gunfighters. She returned the the series in 1983 playing Captain Wrack in Enlightenment. She returned to the series in 2011 playing Val Cane in the story Closing Time.

In the 1990s Baron played Auntie Pat in five episodes of the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand (1992�93), she starred in the children's television series Come Outside (1994) and voiced the character of Nanny Ogg in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel Wyrd Sisters. In 1997 Baron played Renee Turnball in Coronation Street and took guest roles in Dinnerladies (1998), The Mrs Bradley Mysteries (1998), Sunburn (1999), Nancherrow(1999), and Goodnight Sweetheart (1999). She had small parts in Minder and Last of the Summer Wine and appeared in the 1987 Christmas special ofThe Two Ronnies. Other credits include Fat Friends (2000�2005), The Bill (2000), Doctors (2000, 2006 and 2010), Peak Practice (2001), Holby City (2002 and 2006), Down to Earth (2005), Rome (2005) and Casualty (2009). In September 2010, Baron played the actress Violet Carson in a biopic about the formation of Coronation Street.

In the West End Baron has starred in the London production of the musical Follies . Other roles include An Inspector Calls, Stepping Out, Entertaining Mr Sloane and The Full Monty and When We Are Married by J B Priestley.


Rodney Bennett (died 2017 aged 81) would have been 89 - 3 credits, including Director for The Ark In Space

Rodney Bennett directed several Doctor Who stories in the Fourth Doctor era.

An in-joke reference to Bennett featured in the first story he worked on, The Ark in Space � namely, the "Bennett oscillator" mentioned by the Doctor in the first episode.

Also worked on Doctor FinlaySoldier SoldierThe Darling Buds of MayThe House of EliottAnything More Would Be GreedyTales of the UnexpectedRumpole of the BaileyGreat PerformancesLove SongLove and MarriageEdwinDombey & SonPlay for TodayStalky & Co.BBC2 PlayhouseSense and SensibilityHamlet, Prince of DenmarkThe Legend of King ArthurThe Lost BoysBBC2 Play of the WeekRebecca of Sunnybrook FarmNorth and SouthMadame BovaryThe Case of Eliza ArmstrongZ CarsMurder Must AdvertiseThirty-Minute TheatreDead of NightMistress of HardwickThe RegimentTrial



 Deaths
Marion McDougall (died 2012) - 9 credits, including Production Assistant for Planet of the Spiders

Marion McDougall was an assistant floor manager on The War Games and went on to be production assistant on several Doctor Who stories between 1971 and 1977.

Other BBC productions that she worked on included The Mayor of Casterbridge in 1978, Prince Regent the following year,  Mackenzie in 1980, Smiley’s People (1982), Mansfield Park (1983), Blott On The Landscape (1985), and Fortunes of War (1987).

(Post-DW career information from obituary on page 15 of the December 2012 edition of Prospero, a publication for BBC pensioners.)


Richard Leech (died 2004 aged 81) - credited as Hade in The Sun Makers

Richard Leech was an accomplished Irish actor.

Richard Leeper McClelland was born in DublinIreland, son of Isabella Frances (Leeper) and Herbert Saunderson McClelland, a lawyer. He was educated at Haileybury and Trinity College, Dublin. He qualified as a doctor in 1945 before building a successful career as an actor on film and television.

He married twice, with Helen Hyslop Uttley and Diane Pearson, and had two children: Sarah-Jane McClelland and Eliza McClelland.

His numerous film credits include The Dam Busters (1955) (playing Dinghy Young), Night of the Demon (1957), Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst (1957), Ice Cold in Alex (1958),Tunes of Glory (1960), Young Winston (1972), Gandhi (1982) and the acclaimed The Shooting Party (1985).

On television Richard Leech appeared in Dickens of LondonThe Barchester ChroniclesSmiley's People, three episodes of The Avengers in different roles, RedcapDanger ManThe New AvengersThe Duchess of Duke Street,

He appeared in the Doctor Who story  The Sun Makers.