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On This Day (USA) - 20 May



The Evil of the Daleks: Episode 1 premiered on BBC One in 1967 at 6:00pm BST, watched by 8.10 million viewers.

The TARDIS has been stolen and the Doctor and Jamie follow the clues which lead to an appointment at a mysterious antique shop.


The Time Monster: Episode One premiered on BBC One in 1972 at 5:50pm BST, watched by 7.60 million viewers.

Masquerading as research scientist, Professor Thascales, the Master is using a device called TOMTIT to summon an ancient and powerful creature from beyond time.


The Age of Steel premiered on BBC One in 2006 at 6:38pm BST, watched by 7.64 million viewers.

From Zero to Hero premiered on BBC Three in 2006 at 7:25pm BST

Extremis premiered on BBC One in 2017 at 7:27pm BST, watched by 5.53 million viewers.

An ancient text lies hidden in a forbidden library at the heart of the Vatican. The Pope urges the Doctor to read it - but everyone who does so has been found dead. Can the Doctor handle The Veritas?


Extremis premiered on BBC America in 2017 at 9:00pm EDT, watched by 0.57 million viewers.

The Veritas. The truth. Truth so true you can't live with it. Is that looking into hell or seeing the light? Everyone who has ever read the Veritas has been found dead.


Detained premiered on BBC America in 2017 at 10:05pm EDT, watched by 0.20 million viewers.

The whole gang are thrown into detention by Miss Quill. Locked in her classroom, they are terrified when an explosion propels them out of space and time and floating in blackness with no way of escape.


 Birthdays
Owen Teale will be 63 - 3 credits, including Maldak in Vengeance on Varos

Owen Teale is a Welsh actor.

Trained at the Guildford School of Acting, Teale made his television debut in The Mimosa Boys in 1984. He later appeared in Knights of God (1989), Great Expectations (1989), Waterfront Beat (1990) and Boon (1990) before being cast as Will Scarlet in the 1991 TV movie Robin Hood. He went on to appear in such series as DangerfieldBallykissangel and the long-runningBelonging, and later Spooks and Murphy's Law. In 2005, he played a lead role in Marian, Again�opposite Stephen TompkinsonSamantha Beckinsale and Kelly Harrison�in which he was the abusive husband of Harrison's eponymous character.

His film debut was in War Requiem in 1989. He later appeared as Lophakin in the 1999 adaptation of The Cherry Orchard, opposite Charlotte Rampling as Ranevskaya and Alan Bates as Gayev. His appearance in King Arthur, as Pelagius, was relegated to the DVD extended edition. He played infamous Nazi judge Roland Freisler in the HBO film Conspiracy. In 2006 he appeared in the Torchwood episode "Countrycide"; in 1985, he had appeared in the Doctor Who serial Vengeance on Varos as "Maldak". In 2006 he had a role in the HBO UK TV movieTsunami: The Aftermath. In 2007, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio drama The Mind's Eye. In the same year, he starred in The Last Legion. In 2011, appeared as Ser Alliser Thorne in the HBO TV adaptation of George R. R. Martin's novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, called Game of Thrones.

Teale won the 1997 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Torvald opposite Janet McTeer in Ibsen's A Doll's House.

In 2012 Teale played Dai in the TV comedy drama series Stella and Robert Holland, the fictional UK Foreign Secretary in the TV drama series Kidnap and Ransom.

He is married to the actress Sylvestra le Touzel.

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


Vera Fusek (died 2021 aged 89) would be 92 - credited as President of Earth in Frontier In Space

Vera Fusek was born in Czechoslovakia. She studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Her first acting role on screen was in an episode of Rheingold Theatre (The Man Who Wouldn't Escape) in 1956, followed by an episode of Assignment Foreign Legion and then a part in the film Escape in the Sun (where she was chased by a toothless lion and rode a one-eyed rhinoceros as a bet!). She then played several roles in the BBC Sunday-Night Theatre before playing Kolin in the series The Schirmer Inheritance. This was followed up by appearances in other television shows like The Vise, The Third Man, The Four Just Men and International Detective, and films like Great Van Robbery and 5 Branded Women.

After a break of several years, she returned to television in The Troubleshooters and later in The Adventurer, and then made her appearance in Doctor Who in 1973. This was her last major acting role for many years, and she left the business in 1980 after playing Madame Morell in Treasures of the Snow.

Theatre work includes playing Anne Frank’s mother early in her career, and also being in the first English production of A View from the Bridge in Liverpool, directed by Sam Wanamaker. She also toured America performing Shakespeare.

Her son is the writer Andrew Fusek Peters.


Michael Spice (died 1983 aged 52) would be 93 - 2 credits, including Weng Chiang in The Talons of Weng-Chiang

Michael Spice  was an English character actor on British television.

He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of two classic Doctor Who villains opposite Fourth Doctor Tom Baker: the voice of Morbius in The Brain of Morbius(1976); and Magnus Greel in The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977).

He made a number of appearances in other popular television series during the 1960s and 1970s, including: Armchair TheatreThe PallisersPublic EyeZ-Cars;The Brothers; and Blake's 7.

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


John Lucarotti (died 1994 aged 68) would be 98 - 4 credits, including Writer for Marco Polo

John Lucarotti was a British screenwriter.

Lucarotti began his career at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, writing on over 200 various scripts.  

In the UK he created the television series Operation Patch, which he then novelised, The Ravelled Thread and The Panther's Leap. He wrote ten episodes for The Avengers, thirty-two episodes for The Troubleshooters and contributed several episodes to Doctor Who in the 1960s. 

He subsequently novelised his scripts for Target Books. He also contributed a script for what ultimately became the 1975 serial The Ark In Space, but it was rewritten by script editor Robert Holmes, and Lucarotti received no on-screen credit. He also contributed to, among others, Star Maidens, The Onedin Line, Lieutenant Hornblower, Into The Labyrinth, Kippers and White Wine, United!, Moonbase 3 and Joe 90.

John Lucarotti also wrote for French and Swiss television. He died in Paris.


Peter Copley (died 2008 aged 93) would be 109 - credited as Dr. Warlock in Pyramids of Mars

Peter Copley was a British televisionfilm and stage actor.

He appeared in the 1975 story Pyramids of Mars

Copley was born in BusheyHertfordshire, son of the printmakers, John Copley and Ethel Gabain.

After changing his mind about joining the Royal Navy, he studied at the Old Vic School and started out as a stage actor, in 1932. He made his first film appearance in 1934, going on to play a wide variety of characters from the villainous to the meek and mild. In 1946 he appeared on stage in "Cyrano de Bergerac" at the New Theatre in London. Away from acting, Peter Copley was called to the bar in 1963, and was a sharp-witted legal expert and part-time lawyer who successfully handled several court cases in the 1960s.

TV credits include: ThorndykeDanger ManThe SaintThe AvengersThe Forsyte SagaThe TroubleshootersThe ChampionsDepartment SDoomwatchZ CarsFall of EaglesSurvivorsBless Me, Father (episode "A Legend Comes to Stay"), Father Brown Mysteries (episode "The Curse of the Golden Cross"), Sutherland's LawTales of the Unexpected,Miss MarpleLovejoyThe BillCadfael and One Foot in the Grave.

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


 Deaths
Barbara Murray (died 2014 aged 84) - credited as Lady Cranleigh in Black Orchid

Barbara Murray is an English actress. She was married to the actor John Justin and had three daughters, but they divorced in 1964

She played Lady Madge Cranleigh in the 1982 Doctor Who story Black Orchid.

Murray had a very busy career in the 1940s and '50s as a fresh-faced leading lady in many British films such as Passport to Pimlico (1949) and Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953). Film work continued into the 1960s (including a role in the Tony Hancock film The Punch and Judy Man) but she was to appear more frequently on television, and is possibly best known for her role as Lady Pamela Wilder in the 1960s drama series The Plane Makers (and the sequel, The Power Game).

Her other TV credits include: The Escape of R.D.7Danger ManThe SaintDepartment SStrange ReportThe PallisersThe MackinnonsAlbert and Victoria and The Bretts.

Obituary: The Guardian


Jon Pertwee (died 1996 aged 76) - 42 credits, including Doctor Who in Spearhead From Space

Jon Pertwee is a British actor best known for his portrayal of the Third Doctor between 1970 and 1974.

Pertwee was born in Chelsea, London, the son of noted screenwriter and actor Roland Pertwee.He joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), but  was expelled after he refused to play a Greek "wind" during one of the lessons. He joined the Royal Navy, spending some time working in naval intelligence during the Second World War. He was a crew member of HMS Hood and was transferred off the ship shortly before she was sunk, losing all but three men. 

After the war he made a name for himself as a comedy actor, notably on radio in Waterlogged Spa, alongside Eric Barker, and Puffney Post Office in which he played a hapless old postman. From 1959 to 1977, he had a long-running role as the conniving Chief Petty Officer Pertwee in The Navy Lark on BBC Radio. 

On stage, he played the part of Lycus in the 1963 London production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Frankie Howerd and appeared in the smaller role of Crassus in the 1966 film version. He appeared as Sidney Tait in the 1963 comedy Ladies Who Do and later in four Carry On films: Carry On Cleo (1964, as the soothsayer), Carry On Screaming (1966, as Dr. Fettle), Carry On Cowboy(1965, as Sheriff Earp) and Carry On Columbus (1992, as Duke of Costa Brava). 

On television, he started off with small parts in children's shows like Mr Pastry. Later he made an appearance in The Avengers episode "From Venus with Love" as Brigadier Whitehead, and in the 1970s, he guest-starred as a vicar in The Goodies' episode "Wacky Wales". 

In 1969, Pertwee was selected by producer Peter Bryant to take over the role of the Doctor. Pertwee had already applied for the role and was surprised to find he had been shortlisted for it. He played the role until 1974. He later reprised the role in the 20th anniversary story The Five Doctors, in two radio adventures and on stage in The Ultimate Adventure. 

Away from Doctor Who he had one of his most memorable film roles in the 1971 Amicus horror compendium The House That Dripped Blood. He was the host of the Thames Television murder-mystery game show Whodunnit! But he is best remembered for playing Worzel Gummidge in the Southern TV series based on the books written by Barbara Euphan Todd. 

He voiced the character of "Spotty" in the 1980s cartoon series SuperTed and in 1985 he starred in Do You Know The Milkyway?, a television adaptation of Karl Wittlinger's stage play. In 1995, Jon Pertwee played General Von Kramer in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episode "Attack of the Hawkmen". 

Pertwee voiced and appeared in the television advertisement which promoted the Green Cross Code by use of the mnemonic "SPLINK". 

Pertwee's final film role was in a short film, "Cloud Cuckoo" for Scottish Screen, released 18 June 1994. His last formal television appearance was on Cilla's Surprise Surprise, broadcast on 21 April 1996. 

Pertwee was a regular on the convention circuit right up until until his death from a heart attack in Connecticut on 20 May 1996 two months before his 77th birthday.

 He was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium with a toy Worzel Gummidge affixed to the coffin, following the instructions in his will. 

The BBC broadcast of the 1996 Doctor Who Movie featured a dedication to Pertwee at its end.  

Jon Pertwee was married twice, first in 1955 to Jean Marsh, whom he divorced, and then, on 13 August 1960, to Ingeborg Rhoesa, by whom he had two children, Sean and Dariel. 


Anton Diffring (died 1989 aged 70) - credited as De Flores in Silver Nemesis

Anton Diffring was a German character actor known for his portrayal of German officers and aristocrats in many film and TV appearances.

Diffring was born in Koblenz. He studied acting in Berlin and Vienna but there is some conjecture about when he left Germany prior to World War II. 

With numerous British war films being produced in the 1950s, Diffring's blonde hair, blue eyes and the chiseled features saw him feature often as villainous German officers - such as in Albert R.N. (1953) and The Colditz Story (1955). Some of his more notable roles as German characters were in The Heroes of Telemark (1965), The Blue Max (1966), Where Eagles Dare (1968),Operation Daybreak (1975) (as SS officer Reinhard Heydrich) and the match commentator in Escape to Victory (1981). In 1983 he played Hitler's foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in the American mini-series The Winds of War.

He also starred in a number of horror films, such as The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) and Circus of Horrors (1960). He also worked in quite a number of international films, such asFahrenheit 451 (1966) directed by François Truffaut.

His final performance was again as a Nazi character, for the BBC in the 1988 Doctor Who serial Silver Nemesis, in which he agreed to appear because the recording coincided with the Wimbledon Championships which he wanted to watch. Working up to his death, he died in his home at Châteauneuf-Grasse in the south of France in 1989

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


Judith Byfield (died 1989 aged 37) - credited as Angela Clifford in Time-Flight

Judith Byfield played Angela Clifford in the Doctor Who story Time-Flight.

Also worked on MinderPlay for TodayBergeracRosieWuthering Heights.


Lennie Mayne (died 1977 aged 49) - 4 credits, including Director for The Monster of Peladon

Lennie Mayne was born in Sydney, Australia, his Welsh mother and Yorkshire father having emigrated there some years earlier. Initially training as an electrician, he switched to ballet dancing and choreography; then in 1953 he immigrated to London, where he successfully auditioned as a dancer for Guys and Dolls. He later moved into directing, working on many BBC series and serials in the 1960s and 1970s, including The First LadyThe Troubleshooters,DoomwatchWarshipThe BrothersSoftly, Softly: Taskforce and The Onedin Line.

He was married to the actress Frances Pidgeon, who was cast as a lady-in-waiting in The Monster of Peladon before portraying Miss Jackson in The Hand Of Fear. His own involvement with Doctor Who came through his friendship with fellow Australian Dudley Simpson, who he knew from his days in the ballet.

He was a keen fisherman (and regularly fished with friend Bernard Cribbins), and also an excellent sailor (something which he introduced and shared with fellow director Andrew Morgan): one of his favourite shows to work on was the nautical-themed The Onedin Line.

He was unfortunately lost at sea in a boating accident and presumed drowned in 1977.