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On This Day (USA) - 25 February



The Moonbase: Episode 3 premiered on BBC One in 1967 at 5:50pm GMT, watched by 8.20 million viewers.

The Cybermen have taken control of the moonbase and are preparing to use the weather control systems to wreak havoc on Earth.


The Invasion of Time: Part Four premiered on BBC One in 1978 at 6:25pm GMT, watched by 10.90 million viewers.

 Birthdays
Sadie Miller was 39 - 7 credits, including Natalie Redfern in Comeback(BF)

Sadie Miller is a British actress and author. She's the daughter of Brian Miller and Elisabeth Sladen.

She is most known for playing Natalie Redfern, a character in the Sarah Jane Smith audio series. She also appeared in the special Thirty Years in the TARDIS at a very young age, wearing a miniature replica of her mother's so-called "Andy Pandy" overalls from The Hand of Fear and Dimensions in Time.

Following Sladen's death in 2011, Miller was one of the many people to pay tribute. In an interview she said she found it too difficult to continue voice acting after her mother's death; however, she has continued writing, penning the Lethbridge-Stewart novel Moon Blink.


Christien Anholt was 53 - credited as Perkins in The Curse of Fenric

Christien Anholt began his acting career in 1988 at the age of 17 after winning the coveted role of 'Hans' in the motion picture "Reunion," directed by Jerry Schatzberg and starring Jason Robards. 

For his debut performance, Anholt received a Best Actor nomination at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, and went on to win Best Actor at the E'Febo Doro awards in Sicilly in 1990. Harold Pinter, who wrote the screenplay for "Reunion" recommended Anholt to Playwrite Ronald Harwood, who cast Anholt as 'Leonard/Jeremy Lands' in his new play "Another Time" starring Albert Finney.

Franco Zeffirelli cast Anholt as 'Marcelus' alongside Mel Gibson in the motion picture "Hamlet" Anholt went on to star opposite Kate Beckinsale, Sam Niel and Judy Davis in Hallmark's production "One Against The Wind" 

Television movies include "Seventeen" opposite Rachel Wiesz, BBC's "Hard Times" opposite Alan Bates & Richard E.Grant. "The Harpist" in which his performance earned him another Best Actor nomination, this time at the Geneva Film Festival in 1997 "Preaching To The Perverted," "The Ruby Ring" another Hallmark production, and George Miltons "Appetite" 

Anholt returned to London's west end in Terrance Rattigan's "In Praise Of Love" and was once again cast by Harold Pinter and Director David Jones opposite Harold Pinter in Pinter's thriller, "The Hothouse." 


Julie Hesmondhalgh was 54 - credited as Judy Maddox in Kerblam!

Julie Hesmondhalgh is an English actress, known for her role as Hayley Cropper in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

Hesmondhalgh's other regular television roles include Cucumber (2015), Happy Valley (2016), and Broadchurch (2017).

Her stage credits include God Bless the Child at the Royal Court Theatre in London (2014), and Wit at the Royal Exchange, Manchester (2016).


Mark Griffin was 56 - credited as Phil in The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon
Mark Griffin is a British actor. Roles include parts in Gladiators, Mama's Boy, The Hard Corps, Roma Sub Rosa: The Secret Under the Rose, I Did Not Know That, Rebound, Days of Our Lives , NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Daddy Day Care, Dr. Dolittle 2, The Ultimate Game

Lee Evans was 60 - 2 credits, including Professor Malcolm Taylor in Planet of the Dead

Lee Evans is an English comedian, writer, actor and musician.

Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, England to an Irish mother and a Welsh father, Dave Evans, a nightclub performer. He left Bristol at the age of 13 and then went to The Billericay School in Billericay, Essex. After a spell as a boxer and two years at Thurrock art college in Essex, he followed his father into entertainment. In his teens he moved to Scarborough, North Yorkshire and also played drums in a punk rock band called The Forgotten Five.

On 22 September 1984, he married Heather Nudds with whom he has a daughter, Mollie (born 1994). They live in Billericay.

Evans rose to fame during the 1990s with loud, hot, sweaty, energetic stage performances and physical observational comedy. His slapstick humour has led to comparisons with Norman Wisdom, though Evans does not regard Wisdom as an influence. In his earlier work, he used a dysfunctional character called Malcolm to illustrate unusual characters. In 1993, Evans won the Perrier Comedy Award for his work at the Edinburgh Festival.

Evans' sweatiness drenches him on stage. During most of his headlining performances, he often takes an intermission, during which he has a quick shower and changes into a different suit. He has also said that his suits are regularly thrown away after just one performance, mainly because of the sweat, with dry-cleaners refusing to handle them.

In November 2005, Evans broke the world record for a solo act performing to the biggest comedy audience, playing to 10,108 at the Manchester Evening News Arena.

Evans toured the UK in Autumn 2008 with his brand new stand-up act entitled "Big". During his "Big" tour he performed in front of over 500,000 people on 59 dates. This was scheduled to involve the first ever performance by a comedian at the O2 Arena in London until Chris Rock announced dates that would take place at the venue prior to Evans. The DVD was filmed at the O2 arena and was released on 24 November 2008 and it became the best selling comedy DVD in the UK for Christmas 2008 selling over 1,000,000 copies.

Evans also appeared on the Channel 4's Comedy Gala for Great Ormond Street Hospital on 30 March 2010. He was the last act on stage and he received a comedy award and auctioned it to the audience.

Evans toured the UK again in 2011 with a new stand-up act entitled "Roadrunner", with 50 dates starting with Bournemouth in August, running until November in Cardiff. He appeared at the Wyvern theatre, Swindon on 10 June to test his new material (reading from notes) for the "Roadrunner" tour. He then sold out Bristol's Colston Hall for 3 nights to perfect his routine in July. The tour visits most of the UK�s major cities, plus two nights in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, and includes four nights in Wembley Arena and four in the O2 Arena, meaning around 100,000 seats in London alone. Tickets went on sale Friday 15 October 2010 at 9 am. Evans sold �7,000,000 worth of tickets the first day they went on sale and ticket sales currently stand at 267,909. Due to popular demand, there have been a further 17 dates added to the tour in Bournemouth International Centre, Brighton Centre, Capital FM Arena, Wembley Arena, National Indoor Arena, The O2, Echo Arena, Motorpoint Arena, Odyssey Arena and The O2 (Dublin). This will bring the tour up to 67 dates in 14 cities which is 8 more than the record breaking tour of 2008.

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


Bill Lyons was 79 - credited as Guard on Denes in The Enemy of the World

Bill Lyons played the Guard on Denes in the Doctor Who story The Enemy of the World.

Later became a director and writer working on continuing drama.

Credits include EmmerdaleHeartbeatEldoradoEastEndersAngelsJuliet BravoBlakes 7RoomsMarked PersonalCrossroadsZ CarsThe Liver BirdsSoftly Softly: Task ForceA Family at WarThe WorkerThe Wednesday PlayCounterstrikeOut of the UnknownDixon of Dock GreenDetectiveHalf Hour StoryCoronation StreetITV PlayhouseAdam Adamant Lives!Softly Softly


George Harrison MBE (died 2001 aged 58) would have been 81 - credited as Himself in The Chase

George Harrison was an English musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Although John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the band's primary songwriters, most of their albums included at least one Harrison composition, including "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something", which became the Beatles' second-most-covered song.

Harrison's earliest musical influences included Big Bill Broonzy, George Formby and Django Reinhardt; Chet Atkins, Chuck Berry and Ry Cooder were significant later influences. By 1965 he had begun to lead the Beatles into folk rock through his interest in the Byrds and Bob Dylan, and towards Indian classical music through his use of the sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". He developed an interest in the Hare Krishna movement and became an admirer of Indian culture and mysticism, introducing them to the other members of the Beatles and their Western audience by incorporating Indian instrumentation in their music. After the band's break-up in 1970, Harrison released the triple album All Things Must Pass, from which two hit singles originated. He also organised the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh with Ravi Shankar, a precursor for later benefit concerts such as Live Aid. Harrison was a music and film producer as well as a musician; he founded Dark Horse Records in 1974 and co-founded HandMade Films in 1978.

Harrison released several best-selling singles and albums as a solo performer, and in 1988 co-founded the platinum-selling supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. A prolific recording artist, he was featured as a guest guitarist on tracks by Badfinger, Ronnie Wood and Billy Preston, and collaborated on songs and music with Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Tom Petty, among others. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 11 in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Harrison's first marriage, to Pattie Boyd, ended in divorce in 1977. The following year he married Olivia Trinidad Arias, with whom he had one son, Dhani. Harrison died in 2001, aged 58, from lung cancer. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in India, in a private ceremony according to Hindu tradition. He left almost £100 million in his will.

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


Max Arthur OBE (died 2019 aged 80) would have been 85 - credited as Zuko in Planet of Fire

Max Arthur played Zuko in the 1984 Doctor Who story Planet of Fire.

Also worked on Timon of AthensAll's Well That Ends WellGrange Hill

 

He was an acclaimed military historian 


Malcolm Tierney (died 2014 aged 75) would have been 86 - 2 credits, including Doland in The Trial of a Time Lord (Terror of the Vervoids)

Malcolm Tierney  is an English actor who has appeared in many film and television roles.

He played Doland in the 1986 story Terror of the Vervoids

Other roles include the part of Tommy McArdle in Brookside between 1983 and 1987, Charlie Gimbert in Lovejoy, Geoffrey Ellsworth-Symthe in A Bit of a Do, Patrick Woolton in House of Cards and Chief Constable Raymond in Dalziel and Pascoe. In science fiction, he appeared in Star Wars in 1977. He also appeared as a local sheriff (who kills William Wallace's wife and is subsequently killed by Wallace) in Braveheart.

He appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974-5 and 2005. In 2007 he played Dr Hugo Eckener in the docudrama Hindenburg: The Untold Story, which was about the crash of the airship Hindenburg and the investigation after it. This was aired for the 70th anniversary of the disaster.

In 2008 he played Captain Smith of the RMS Titanic, in the docudrama Titanic: The Unsinkable Ship

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


Bernard Bresslaw (died 1993 aged 59) would have been 90 - credited as Varga, the Ice Warrior in The Ice Warriors

Bernard Bresslaw was an English actor. He is best remembered for his comedy work, especially as a member of the Carry On team.

he appeared in Educating Archie on radio and The Army Game on television, and was cast in Carry on Cowboy in 1965.

He featured as Varga, the lead villain in the 1968 Doctor Who story The Ice Warriors. Even though all the actors playing the aliens were over six feet tall, Bresslaw towered over them. Sonny Caldinez, who played an Ice Warrior in the story, stated in a 2004 interview that Bresslaw "was the only man that could make me feel small."

Although officially starring in 14 Carry On films, Bresslaw did appear in one other: Carry On Nurse. The legs of Terence Longdon were deemed to be too thin and scrawny looking, so Bresslaw's were used as stand-ins for the scene where Joan Sims gives him a bath.

Bresslaw's catchphrase, in his strong Cockney accent, was "I only arsked" (sic), first used in The Army Game, and later revived in Carry On Camping (1969). In his fleeting appearance as an angry lorry driver in the 1970 film Spring and Port Wine (set in Bolton), his character was dubbed.

Bresslaw performed with the Young Vic Theatre Company, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. One of his last stage performances was as Malvolio in Twelfth Night at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park.

His song "You Need Feet" (a parody of "You Need Hands" by Max Bygraves) was used in the Rutles' TV special, accompanying the Yoko Ono film parody "A Thousand Feet of Film". This was cut from the syndicated version and the original DVD release, but was restored (along with other cut footage) in later DVD releases.


 Deaths
Neil Fingleton (died 2017 aged 36) - credited as Fisher King in Under the Lake / Before The Flood

Neil Fingleton played the Fisher King in the 2015 Doctor Who stories Under the Lake and Before The Flood 

In 2007 Fingleton was awarded the Guinness World Record as the tallest British-born man and the tallest man in the European Union, standing at 7 ft 6in or 2.33m. 

Neil Fingleton was born in Durham in 1980. An outstanding basketball player, he spent 8 years in education in the United States, winning a sporting scholarship and studying at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. 

In 2004 he made his professional debut as a basketball player for the now defunct Boston Frenzy. He later played professionally in China, Italy, Greece, England and for the spanish teams Club Baloncesto Ilarcuris and Ciudad Real

In 2007 injury forced him to abandon his sporting career and he took up acting. He appeared in the film 47 Ronin alongside Keanu Reeves, and played the giant Mag the Mighty in the TV series Game of Thrones. He appeared in the 2015 film Jupiter Ascending, the Fox Studios film X-Men: First Class and in the Marvel Entertainment film Avengers: Age of Ultron

Neil Fingleton died at the age of 36 after suffering a heart attack.


Barry Newbery (died 2015 aged 88) - 15 credits, including Designer for An Unearthly Child

Barry Newbery born in 1927 was a long time designer for Doctor Who.

He worked on the very first story in 1963 An Unearthly Child, taking over when the original designer left the project.

He worked on many other episodes over the next twenty years.

Also worked on The CitadelPlay for TodayA Question of GuiltPrince RegentThe Lost BoysA Christmas CarolThe Mike Reid ShowDad's ArmyCentre PlayWhen the Boat Comes InSykesDial M for MurderThe Onedin LineNo ExitThe Shadow of the TowerThe ExpertPaul TempleDoomwatchSoftly SoftlyTheatre 625R3Count of Monte CristoComedy PlayhouseThe Last Man Out


John Colin (died 1987 aged 58) - credited as Brock in The Leisure Hive

John Collin played Brock in the 1980 story The Leisure Hive.

Also worked on All Creatures Great and SmallThe Chinese DetectiveStrangersThe Guns and the FuryBorn and BredThe ErrandTessCoronation StreetWuthering HeightsZ CarsHolocaustCrown CourtOur Mutual FriendThe SweeneyAll Creatures Great and SmallDial M for MurderBBC Play of the MonthA Raging CalmThe ProtectorsPlay for TodayMan at the TopInnocent BystandersMan at the TopThe AdventurerJusticeThirty-Minute TheatreThe GuardiansPublic EyeBeen Down So Long It Looks Like Up to MeThe Main ChanceITV PlayhouseConfessionW. Somerset MaughamThe Last EscapeWicked WomenManhuntRandall and Hopkirk (Deceased)Paul TempleThe ExpertBefore Winter ComesSoftly SoftlyThe SaintThe War of Darkie PilbeamStar!The First LadyVirgin of the Secret ServiceHalf Hour StoryMan in a SuitcaseHauntedBoy Meets GirlLong After SummerEscapeThe BaronThe Wednesday PlayITV Sunday Night DramaThe WitchesDixon of Dock GreenNo Hiding PlaceFive MoreTheatre 625ITV Play of the WeekThe Good Soldier SchweikMysteries and MiraclesRedcapThe Edgar Wallace Mystery TheatreSix of the BestUndermindDead Man's ChestEmergency-Ward 10The VillainsThe Big PullThe Pirates of Blood RiverThe ValiantArmchair TheatreDeadline MidnightBBC Sunday-Night Play