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On This Day (USA) - 7 March



Marco Polo: Five Hundred Eyes premiered on BBC One in 1964 at 5:16pm GMT, watched by 9.40 million viewers.

At the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes, Tegana has a secret meeting with a bandit who he instructs to kill Marco Polo. Barbara overhears the plans but is captured and imprisoned.


Doctor Who And The Silurians: Episode 6 premiered on BBC One in 1970 at 5:15pm BST, watched by 7.20 million viewers.

As the Silurian plague quickly spreads, the Doctor desperately searches for a cure. But the Silurians are aware of the Doctor's efforts and intend to stop him.


Logopolis: Part Two premiered on BBC One in 1981 at 5:09pm GMT, watched by 7.70 million viewers.

Lorraine (featuring Peter Capaldi) premiered on ITV in 2016 at 8:30am GMT

Start your week off with Lorraine, when we'll be chatting to The Doctor himself Peter Capaldi, ex Corrie star Richard Fleeshman and Ching's back in the kitchen making a Chinese meal you can make in minutes.


Steve Wright in the Afternoon (featuring Peter Capaldi) premiered on BBC Radio 2 in 2016 at 2:00pm GMT

Steve and the team chat to Lukas Graham of '7 Years' fame, Don Warrington discusses his starring role in Lear and Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi drops by. Plus there's Factoids, Non-Stop Oldies and the latest entertainment and lifestyle news.


The Janice Forsyth Show (featuring Peter Capaldi) premiered on BBC Radio Scotland in 2016 at 2:00pm GMT

Edi Stark sits in for Janice Forsyth and tunes into arts, culture and music across Scotland.


 Birthdays
Sousila Pillay was 46 - credited as Guest in The Lazarus Experiment

In April 2005 Pillay was cast as Lead Presenter for the BBC TV programme 'Take Over TV'.


Since then she has appeared on several programmes including Doctor Who, Torchwood, Casualty and in the Wesley Snipes feature film 'The Shooter'.


Tobias Menzies was 50 - credited as Lieutenant Stephashin in Cold War

Tobias Menzies is an English stage, television and film actor. 

He is best known for his TV roles as Brutus on Rome (2005–2007) and as Edmure Tully on Game of Thrones (2013).


Victoria Alcock was 59 - 4 credits, including Angela in Planet of the Dead

Victoria Alcock is a British actress who played the prisoner Julie Saunders on the television drama series, Bad Girls and Agnes Clarke in The House of Eliott

She played Angela Whittaker in the 2009 Doctor Who television story Planet of the Dead.

In January 2012, Alcock was cast as Lorraine Stevens (née Salter), the ex-prostitute mother of Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton), in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, taking over the role from Linda Henry, who starred as Salter until 1991.


Gordon Flemyng (died 1995 aged 61) would have been 90 - 3 credits, including Director for Dr Who and the Daleks(Aaru)

Flemyng directed a number of episodes from fantasy series, including The Avengers, The Saint, The Baron, detective series such as Bergerac, Taggart and The Bill, and other popular drama including Minder, Lovejoy and Emmerdale. He also produced as well as directed his last job, Ellington

The actor Jason Flemying is his son.


Brian Hayles (died 1978 aged 48) would have been 94 - 12 credits, including Writer for The Celestial Toymaker

Brian Hayles was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.

He wrote six stories for Doctor Who and is best known for his creation of the Celestial Toymaker in the 1966 story of the same name, the Ice Warriors, introduced in the 1967 story of the same name, and the feudal planet Peladon, the setting for The Curse of Peladon and its sequel The Monster of Peladon.

In addition to script writing for the radio series The Archers, Hayles penned a novel based on the soap called Spring at Brookfield (Tandem, 1975) set in the period between the two world wars. His other books included novelisations of his Doctor Who serials The Curse of Peladon (Target, 1974) and The Ice Warriors (Target, 1976), an adaptation of his scripts for the BBC drama The Moon Stallion (Mirror Books, 1978), and two horror plays for children, The Curse of the Labyrinth (Dobson, 1976) and Hour of the Werewolf (Dobson, 1976). An original novel entitled Goldhawk (NEL, 1979) was published posthumously.

Apart from Doctor Who, Hayles wrote for such television series as The Regiment, Barlow at Large, Doomwatch, Out of the Unknown, United!, Legend of Death, Public Eye, Z-Cars, BBC Playhouse, The Wednesday Thriller and Suspense. He also wrote the screenplays for the feature films Nothing But the Night (1972) and Warlords of Atlantis (1978). The novelisation of the latter by Paul Victor (Futura, 1978) included a preface by Hayles entitled 'The Thinking Behind Atlantis' in which he explained the origins of the film's central concepts. 

Hayles's final screenplay was for Arabian Adventure (1979), which he completed shortly before his death in 1978. The novelisation of the film by Keith Miles (Mirror Books, 1979) was dedicated to his memory.


George A Cooper (died 2018 aged 93) would have been 99 - credited as Cherub in The Smugglers

George A. Cooper is an English actor.

One of his best-known roles was as the caretaker Mr. Griffiths in the long-running children's TV series Grange Hill. He also enjoyed acclaim as Geoffrey Fisher, the stern father of the eponymous antihero Billy Liar, in both the original West End stage version (1960) and the later sitcom (1973�74).

His other credits include Danger ManZ-CarsDixon of Dock GreenNo Hiding PlaceDoctor Who - The SmugglersSoftly, SoftlyThe AvengersThe SaintRandall and Hopkirk (Deceased)The TroubleshootersSteptoe and SonCoronation StreetDoomwatchPublic EyeBudgieBless This HouseSykesRising DampThe New AvengersSome Mothers Do 'Ave 'EmAll Creatures Great and SmallJuliet BravoWhen The Boat Comes InTerry and JuneTaggartCasualty and Heartbeat.

He had roles in various films including: Violent Playground (1958), Hell Is a City (1960), The Cracksman (1963), Nightmare (1964), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) with Christopher Lee and the film version of Bless This House (1972) with Sid James.

 

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

 


 Deaths
Lynda Baron (died 2022 aged 82) - 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.