Statistics


On This Day (USA) - 7 June



The War Games: Episode Eight premiered on BBC One in 1969 at 5:14pm BST, watched by 3.50 million viewers.

The Doctor is captured by the War Chief, who belongs to the same race of people as the Doctor, and offers an alliance. In the 1917 zone, fighters prepare to attack Central Control.


Forest of the Dead premiered on BBC One in 2008 at 7:00pm BST, watched by 7.84 million viewers.

River Runs Deep premiered on BBC Three in 2008 at 7:45pm BST

 Birthdays
Sarah Parish was 56 - credited as Empress in The Runaway Bride

Sarah Parish is an English actress. She is known for her work on TV series including: The Pillars of the Earth, Peak Practice, Hearts and Bones, Cutting It, Doctor Who, Mistresses, Merlin, the BBC TV series Atlantis and the ITV medical drama, Monroe.

Early life

Parish was born in Yeovil, Somerset, to Bill and Thelma Parish; she has a sister, Julie, and a brother, musician John Parish. She was educated at the local Preston School and Yeovil College. She began acting at an early age and believes her first stage appearance was aged two in a pantomime in the village of Tintinhull playing the pearl in an oyster. She later attended Yeovil Youth Theatre.

Career

After training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London, her appearance in a cult advert for Manchester-based Boddingtons bitter in 1994 (as Vera, who likes nothing better than "a good rub down with chip fat") led to a series of roles as Northern women, including Dawn Rudge in Peak Practice (1993), Allie Henshall in Cutting It (2002), Annie Naylor in Trust and Natalie Holden in Blackpool (2004). She starred alongside Debra Messing in the movie The Wedding Date, had a small role in The Holiday, which starred Jude Law, and appeared as the Empress of the Racnoss in the Christmas 2006 Doctor Who episode "The Runaway Bride".

Parish's most recent appearance was in the one-off drama Recovery. She also starred in the BBC series Shakespeare Retold in which she played Beatrice. She returned as GP Katie Roden in series two and threes of Mistresses which was first shown on BBC One in February 2009. She played Lady Catrina in the BBC television series Merlin. In November 2009, she starred in a short film to promote Somerset, commissioned by inward investment agency Into Somerset. In 2011, Parish co-starred in ITV's medical drama Monroe, alongside James Nesbitt. She also appeared in the BBC TV series Atlantis, playing one of the main cast characters, Pasiphaë. Since March 2014 she has played the role of Anna Rampton in two series of the BBC comedy W1A.

Personal life

Formerly a resident of Islington, Parish married James Murray on 15 December 2007 in Hampshire, where they currently reside. It was announced she was pregnant with their first child on 18 January 2008 and due on Parish's 40th birthday, 7 June 2008. Their daughter Ella-Jayne was born with a heart defect and died at the age of eight months in January 2009. In her memory, Parish and Murray are raising funds for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Southampton General Hospital. Parish later gave birth to a second daughter. When asked about her hobbies and interests Parish cites her vegetable garden.

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


Nisha Nayar was 57 - 5 credits, including Red Kang in Paradise Towers

Nisha Nayar is a Tanzanian-born British actress, perhaps best known for her recurring role as Elaine 'The Pain' Boyak in The Story of Tracy Beaker.


Ronald Pickup (died 2021 aged 80) would have been 84 - 4 credits, including Physician in The Reign Of Terror

Ronald Alfred Pickup was an English actor active in television and film since 1964.

Early life and training

Pickup was born in Chester, living in St Chads Road, Cheshire, the son of Daisy (née Williams) and Eric Pickup, who was a lecturer. Pickup was educated at the King's School, Chester, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, and became an Associate Member of RADA.

Television

His television work began with an episode during the first series of Doctor Who (as a physician in part 4 of The Reign of Terror) in 1964, for which he was paid £30. In 1973, he starred in the BBC drama series The Dragon's Opponent, playing a World War II bomb disposal expert. In 1982 Pickup had the starring role as composer Giuseppe Verdi in the acclaimed The Life of Verdi, written and directed by Renato Castellani.

In 1983 he appeared opposite Penelope Keith in Moving and as Friedrich Nietzsche in Wagner; existing in several versions Wagner has also been released as a film. Pickup portrayed Jan Tyranowski in the TV movie Pope John Paul II in 1984, and Prince Yakimov, a hapless, down-at-heel Russo-British aristocrat, opposite Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh in the BBC serial Fortunes of War (1987) based on a novel cycle by Olivia Manning. He was the voice of Aslan in the BBC adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1988) and subsequent Chronicles of Narnia serials derived from the books by C.S. Lewis. Pickup starred in the short lived sit-com Not with a Bang which was broadcast in 1990, and appeared opposite Michael Caine in Jekyll & Hyde the same year.

Other roles have included parts in Hornblower, The Riff Raff Element, Hustle, Foyle's War, Midsomer Murders, Waking the Dead, The Bill, Silent Witness, Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Morse, the 1991 television adaptation of John le Carré's A Murder of Quality and the BBC's 2004 drama for children, Feather Boy.

Pickup played a regular part in the BBC sitcom The Worst Week of My Life. He starred opposite Judi Dench in the 1989 Channel 4 serial Behaving Badly. In February 2010 he also appeared as Pegleg in the BBC's period drama Lark Rise to Candleford.

He appeared in Holby City as Charles, Lord Byrne and in November 2014 appeared on Coronation Street in a cameo role as an OAP arranging a birthday party with Michelle Connor in the Rovers Return.

Theatre

Ronald Pickup is also an accomplished stage actor. He worked with Laurence Olivier at the Royal National Theatre, most notably in Three Sisters and Long Day's Journey into Night. He was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role of 1997 for his performance in Amy's View.

Between March and August 2009, he starred as Lucky in Sean Mathias' production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett opposite Sir Ian McKellen (Estragon), Patrick Stewart (Vladimir) and also Simon Callow (Pozzo). The tour opened in Malvern, Worcestershire before travelling to Milton Keynes, Brighton, Bath, Norwich, Edinburgh and Newcastle; its run at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket was extended due to demand.

Film

In 1973 he appeared as a forger in The Day of the Jackal. The following year he was seen in Ken Russell's film Mahler, and also appeared in Joseph Andrews in 1977. Pickup played one of the Prussian Agents conspiring to blow up the Houses of Parliament in The Thirty Nine Steps (1978). This version was directed by Don Sharp and starred Robert Powell as Hannay, Karen Dotrice as Alex, John Mills as Colonel Scudder. Pickup played Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury in the BBC Television Shakespeare version of Henry VIII (1979). He played Lt. Harford in Zulu Dawn (1979), Igor Stravinsky in Nijinsky (1980), Prince John in Ivanhoe (1982), and a government official in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983) opposite Sean Connery. He portrayed Portuguese governor, Don Hontar in The Mission (1986). In 1989 he played Captain Lancaster, a very strict teacher in Danny, the Champion of the World, and also appeared as a state advocate in A Dry White Season the same year.

In 2004, he appeared in the film Secret Passage alongside John Turturro. In 2005, he had a supporting role in the family-based film, The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby and the science fiction TV movie Supernova.

In 2012, he played one of the main characters, bachelor Norman Cousins, in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. He reprised the role in the sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, released in 2015.

Family

Pickup is married to Lans Traverse and father to actress Rachel Pickup and Simon Pickup. Ronald and Rachel have appeared in two productions together: Midsomer Murders episode "The Magician's Nephew" (2008) and Schadenfreude (2016).

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


Dwight Whylie (died 2002 aged 66) would have been 88 - credited as Radio Announcer in The War Machines

Dwight Whylie was a broadcaster and radio announcer.

Career

In 1961, Whylie was the first black radio announcer hired by the British Broadcasting Corporation. In 1973, he became the general manager of Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation, where he remained until 1976.

In 1977, he joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where he remained until 1997.

Family

He was the brother of noted Jamaican musician Marjorie Whylie.

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


 Deaths
Eric Francis (died 1991 aged 74) - credited as First Elder in The Sensorites

Actor who appeared in the 1964 story The Sensorites.

Also apeared in The Meaning of Life (1983), The Crimson Permanent Assurance (1983), Theatre of Blood (1973), The Shillingbury Blowers (1980).