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On This Day (USA) - 24 December



The Highlanders: Episode 2 premiered on BBC One in 1966 at 5:50pm GMT, watched by 6.80 million viewers.

Posing as a German physician, the Doctor manages to escape. But by the time he is able to return to rescue Ben and his friends, they have already been taken aboard the ship.


Combat premiered on BBC Three in 2006 at 9:30pm GMT, watched by 0.83 million viewers.

Owen's undercover investigation into the kidnapping of savage aliens leads him to the discovery of a shocking subculture.


The Graham Norton Show: Series 8 Episode 9 premiered on BBC One in 2010 at 10:30pm GMT

The award-winning host gets into the festive spirit with a Christmas edition of his anarchic talk show. Expect the unexpected as top celebrity guests join in the fun with Graham and his merry audience.

Graham's Christmas list includes funnymen Matt Lucas and David Walliams, and The Doctor himself - Matt Smith.


Miscellaneous Radio Interviews: Richard Bacon: Jenna Coleman premiered on BBC Radio 5 live in 2013 at 3:00pm GMT
Star of The Matrix Keanu Reeves rules out a Point Break remake, but says a third film in the Bill and Ted franchise is still a dream of his, as he chats to Colin about his new samurai blockbuster 47 Ronin. Jenna Coleman is a familiar presence on our screens over Christmas, with starring roles in both Doctor Who - as the Doctor's companion Clara Oswald - and Death Comes to Pemberley, adapted from the PD James novel. She explains why it's such a wrench to be saying farewell to her co-star Matt Smith, as she looks forward to working with the newest Doctor in the persona of Peter Capaldi. Historian Dan Snow looks ahead to next year's World War I centenary commemorations, and explains why he's reliving a 19th century voyage of discovery through the Grand Canyon. And TV reviewers Boyd Hilton & Kevin O'Sullivan cast their eye over the pick of the festive television highlights, including Death Comes to Pemberley, The Whale, Raised by Wolves and Open All Hours.

The Power of the Daleks: Episode Six (animation) premiered on BBC America in 2016 at 11:00pm EST, watched by 0.18 million viewers.

As the battle rages between the rebels and loyalists, the Daleks begin their attack. The only chance of survival for the Earth colony rests with the Doctor.


 Birthdays
Bethany Black will be 46 - credited as 474 in Sleep No More

Bethany Black is a stand up comedian from Chorley, Lancashire, England.

Black is known for performing black comedy, dealing with controversial subjects.

She played Helen Brears in Channel 4 series Cucumber, which premiered in January 2015.


Ieuan Rhys will be 63 - credited as Crabtree in The Idiot's Lantern

Ieuan Rhys (born in the village of Trecynon, near AberdareSouth Wales) is an actor

He attended Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdar primary school, and Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen secondary school near Pontypridd, both Welsh language schools. 

Evans trained as an actor at The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff. His theatre work has included a UK tour as The Spruiker in The Thorn Birds - A Musical, Montague in Michael Bogdanov's latest production of Romeo and Juliet, Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady at Aberystwyth Arts Centre (2008),Burberry for Sherman Cymru, Cocks & Tales for Cwmni 3D, Pennington in The Hired Man (at The Torch Theatre, Milford Haven), The Servant of Two MastersContenderA Christmas Carol with Ron Moody as Scrooge, A Child's Christmas in WalesFiddler On The Roof at Aberystwyth Arts Centre (2006) Hamlet,Amazing Grace - The MusicalCymbelineThe Merchant Of VeniceTwelfth Night (for Wales Theatre Company), The Merry Wives Of WindsorThe Winter's Tale, (at The Ludlow Festival 2002-04), the award winning production of Amdani (Sgript Cymru), Cwm Glo (Theatr Gwynedd),Seithenyn A'r Twrw Tanllyd Tanddwr (Canol Y Ffordd).

He has also appeared in many pantomimes including Snow White at The Coliseum, Aberdare and tours with Stan Stennett in Cinderella and Owen Money in two productions of AladdinJack and the Beanstalkand Cinderella (directed by Michael Bogdanov). He has played Dame twice for the Welsh language pantos Hansel & Gretel and Aladdin with Martyn Geraint.

In September 2011 he appeared in Bred In Heaven for Frapetsus Theatre Company, written by Jack Llewellen and directed by Michael Bogdanov. The play, a follow-up to the popular 1978 BBC Walescomedy drama Grand Slam, is described as "a two hour romp filled with laughs, double meanings and camp humour."

Rhys's television work has included thirteen years in the role of Seargent Glyn James in the BBC Cymrusoap opera Pobol Y Cwm,[2] Seargent Tom Swann in the last series of A Mind to Kill (for Fiction Factory/Channel 5) and six series of the Welsh language version of Mr & Mrs - Sion a Sian for HTV.

Other TV work include Crabtree in Doctor Who (The Idiot's Lantern) BBC Wales, High Hopes BBC Wales,Rocket Man (Coastal/BBC),Diamond Geezer with David Jason ( Yorkshire TV), Bomber (Zenith TV),Rhinoceros (Granada Television), Jara (HTV), Tracey Beaker - The Movie, 'Of Me (BBC),Mortimer's Law (BBC) Nice Girl (BBC - Screen 2),The Welsh InShakespeare (BBC), Y Delyn, Cameo(Opus TV), Dihirod Dyfed, Llafur Cariad (Taliseyn),Rough Justice (BBC),Crimewatch: Wanted(BBC),Aladdin (BBC) and the first episode of Bowen A'i Bartner (BBC). Cowbois Ac Injans (Opus TV), Y Pris (Fiction Factory) Ar Y Tracs with Ruth Jones (Tidy Productions) and recently as Arthur in Stella(BBC and Sky 1).

His film work includes Masterpiece (Burn Hand Films),Goldfish in a Blender and What? (Screengems),Ringfinger (Fiction Factory), Darklands (Lluniau Lliw) and the Hugh Grant film The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain.

He has written four children's books published by 'Y Lolfa' - Hwyl a JoioJoio Mas DrawJyst Joio & Hwyl a Hafoc. He has also recorded two albums on the Flach label - Ni Allwn Droi Yn Ol - (There's No Turning Back) and Y Diddanwr - (The Entertainer). He also wrote and performed on the Pobol Y Cwm charity single Ar Y Bla'n - also on the Fflach label.

He has also acted as being Master of Ceremonies at Cardiff Castle's Welsh Banquets and has also presented many radio shows including the Welsh language radio show Showbusnesan for BBC Radio Cymru.

Evans is currently working for National Theatre Wales on a new production of A Provincial Life - an adaptation by Peter Gill of a short story by Chekhov. He will then go on to play one of the leads in the Wales Theatre Company's production of Elwyn - (Elling) - directed by Michael Bogdanov.

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


John Levene will be 83 - 24 credits, including Sergeant Benton in The Three Doctors

John Levene is an English actor, born in SalisburyWiltshire,  best known for his role as Sergeant Benton one of the mainstays of UNIT during the tenure of the third Doctor.

He was working in a men's clothing store on Regents Street in London when Telly Savalas encouraged him to sign up as an actor for The Dirty Dozen. He failed to get a part, as he was not a union member, but this got him interested in acting. On joining Equity, he adopted the professional name John Levene to avoid confusion with another John Woods who was already registered with the union.

His first acting role was in the television series Adam Adamant Lives!. Other television roles included episodes of Callan (1970), The Adventurer (1972), and the film Go for a Take (1972).

His first Doctor Who appearance was uncredited as a Cyberman in the 1967  serial The Moonbase and as a Yeti in The Web of Fear before making his first appearance as then-Corporal Benton in the  serial The Invasion in 1968. 

In 1977, following his final appearance on Doctor Who, Levene gave up acting as a career to set up his own audio visual company, Genesis Communications, and has directed well over 45 audio visuals and live events for various clients including the Ford Motor CompanyBritish AirwaysKFCAmway and Revlon.

He briefly returned to the role of Benton in the 1988 Reeltime Pictures video production Wartime.

He has also worked as an entertainer on cruise liners and has now emigrated to the USA where he has returned to acting under the name John Anthony Blake. 



Innes Lloyd (died 1991 aged 65) would be 99 - 16 credits, including Producer for The Celestial Toymaker

Innes Lloyd was a British television producer of BBC drama. He was the third producer on Doctor Who and responsible for casting the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton.

Following service in the navy towards the end of the war, Lloyd trained as an actor at the Central School. He joined the BBC in the 1950s initially in presentation, moving into outside broadcasts. As an outside broadcast producer he covered many important sporting events such as tennis at Wimbledon, golf, and motor racing. He also produced important state events such as the Queen's Speech and Sir Winston Churchill's state funeral.

Lloyd began his drama career working on popular series in the 1960s. His duration as producer on Doctor Who ran for two seasons between The Celestial Toymaker and The Enemy of the World (excepting The Tomb of the Cybermen which was produced by Peter Bryant as a test piece to show he could take over from Lloyd). 

Lloyd and story editor Gerry Davis came up with an intriguing way of writing the Doctor out - as he was an alien being, they decided that he would have the power to change his body when it became worn out or seriously injured, a process that would later become known within the mythology of the series as regeneration. Whereas John Wiles, the previous producer to Lloyd, had intended to replace Hartnell with another actor but playing the same character, Lloyd and Davis elected to change the entire personality and appearance of the Doctor. They cast Troughton, having considered character actor Peter Jeffrey, and Troughton first appeared fully in the show on 5th November 1966 after the changeover from Hartnell had been seen at the end of the story The Tenth Planet the previous Saturday. That serial also introduced the Cybermen, villains who would return to face the Doctor on several subsequent occasions. Indeed, Lloyd oversaw something of an era of monsters on the programme, introducing durable and memorable enemies such as the Ice Warriors and the Yeti.

Lloyd also worked on Thirty-Minute Theatre, the football soap United! and Dead of Night, but he is best  remembered as the producer of more prestigious drama. As a BBC drama producer in the 1970s and 1980s, his chosen projects were often biographical. Collaborating with authors such as Roger Milner and Don Shaw, he brought to the screen biographies of a diverse range of often flawed heroes, ranging from Orde Wingate and Arthur "Bomber" Harris plus Donald and Malcolm Campbell to the first Director General of the BBC, John Reith. He also explored notions of Englishness in the 20th century with productions such as England, Their England (directed by Stephen Frears), East of Ipswich (written by Michael Palin) and An Englishman's Castle (1978) starring Kenneth More - a dystopian vision of the consequence of losing the Second World War. He was also a frequent collaborator with Alan Bennett. That relationship started in 1972 with Bennett's poignant comedy A Day Out and continued with landmark productions such as the first series of Talking Heads until Lloyd's death in 1991. Bennett's An Englishman Abroad told the remarkable true story of the chance meeting between actress Coral Browne (playing herself) and spy Guy Burgess (Alan Bates) in Moscow in 1958, while A Question of Attribution (finished shortly before Lloyd's death) was a logical sequel, showing the radically different fate of Keeper of the Queen's Pictures and fellow traitor Anthony Blunt.

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


 Deaths
Trevor Ray (died 2019) - credited as Writer for The Ambassadors of Death
Trevor Ray was a British actor and writer.

He also worked as an associate script editor on Doctor Who from The Invasion (1968) through Spearhead from Space (1970). He assumed producer duties for the location filming of Doctor Who and The Silurians, while Barry Letts was committed to working on another series. He was also one of the writers of the Children's Science-fiction series Children of the Stones (1977).

Trevor Ray also apperared in Emmerdale Farm in 1972/3 as Bart Ansett a friend of Jack Sugden and as Robin Parr in 1986.

Geraldine Stephenson (died 2017 aged 92) - credited as Movement by for The Brain of Morbius

Geraldine Stephenson was a dancer, choreographer, movement director and teacher on more than 150 films and television programmes, and over 200 stage productions.

She was born in Hull in 1925, the daughter of Gordon Stephenson whose building company was involved with the building of the city's University. Having studied at Newland School for Girls she went on to study physiotherapy at Bedford College of Physical Education. It was here that she was introduced to pioneer of modern dance Rudolf Laban and went on to study at his Art of Movement Studio in Manchester, where she sometimes also worked as a pianist and physical trainer to pay her bills.

She continued to work with Laban through the 1940s and 1950s, with her first major engagement being a revival of York Mystery Plays in 1951 as movement director for E Martin Browne.She also had a solo performance career, and was a pioneer of Independence Dance; she had a keen interest in period dance, and in 1956 produced Centuries of Dance at the Park Lane Theatre. She later became president of the Early Dance Circle.

During the height of her career she could be providing choreography on four or five film and television productions a year, as well as a number of stage productions.Films include Barry Lyndon and Notting Hill, whilst BBC productions included classics such as The Pallisers, Poldark, The House of Elliot, and Tenko, not to mention variety entertainment shows including The Two Ronnies. In 1975 she provided choreography for the Sisterhood of Karn's dances in The Brain of Morbius.

Her final professional stage show was the 28th John Strauss Gala at the Royal Festival Hall for Christmas 2004.


Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (died 2012 aged 76) - credited as Incidental Music for The Aztecs

Sir Richard Rodney BennettCBE was an English composer renowned for his film scores and his jazz performance as much as for his challenging concert works. He lived in New York City since 1979.

Richard Rodney Bennett was born at BroadstairsKent. He was a pupil at Leighton Park School, the Quaker school in Reading, studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Howard FergusonLennox Berkeley and Cornelius Cardew. During this time, he attended some of the Darmstadt summer courses, where he was exposed to serialism. He later spent two years in Paris as a student of the prominent serialist Pierre Boulez.

Bennett taught at the Royal Academy of Music between 1963 and 1965, at the Peabody Institute in BaltimoreUnited States from 1970 to 1971, and was later International Chair of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music between 1994 and the year 2000. He received a CBE in 1977, and was knighted in 1998.

As one of Britain�s most respected and versatile musicians, Bennett produced over two hundred works for the concert hall, and fifty scores for film and television, as well as having been a writer and performer of jazz songs for fifty years. Studies with Boulez in the 1950s immersed him in the techniques of the European avant-garde, though he subsequently developed his own distinctive dramato-abstract style. In recent years, he has adopted an increasingly tonal idiom.

He  wrote music for films and television; among his scores are the Doctor Who story The Aztecs (1964) for television, and the feature film Billion Dollar Brain (1967). His scores for Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), and Murder on the Orient Express (1974), each garnered him Academy Award nominations, with Murder on the Orient Express earning him a BAFTA award. Later works include Enchanted April (1992), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), and The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1998). He was also a prolific composer of orchestral works, piano solos, choral works and operas. Despite this eclecticism, Bennett's music rarely involves crossover of styles.

He died on 24th December 2012, 

Obituaries: The Guardian

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