Statistics


On This Day (USA) - 3 August



Evolution of the Daleks premiered on SyFy (East Coast Feed) in 2007 at 9:00pm EDT

 Birthdays
Jonah Ray will be 42 - credited as Self in The Women of Doctor Who(Factual)

Jonah Ray is an American actor, comedian and writer from Los Angeles.


Elizabeth Berrington will be 54 - credited as Auntie in The Doctor's Wife

Elizabeth Berrington is an English actress, who has featured in British television series such as Waterloo Road, The Bill,The Office, Casualty, The Lakes and Rose and Maloney.

She played "Auntie" in "The Doctor's Wife", an 2011 episode of Doctor Who. 

In 1999, she played Marie-Antoinette in Let Them Eat Cake, starring Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. In cinema, Berrington has featured in many popular films such as The Little Vampire and, more recently, Nanny McPhee with Emma Thompson, and In Bruges alongside Colin Farrell andRalph Fiennes. In 2008 and 2009, a she played Mel in Moving Wallpaper. Berrington also featured in the 1993 Mike Leigh film Naked and Leigh's Secrets and Lies (1996).

In 2009, Berrington and actress Shirley Henderson were the stars of the popular ITV drama May Contain Nuts she played Ffion, a snobbish suburban mother. Berrington also played Nicola, a nurse in the BBC Two comedy, Psychoville.

She also appeared as Food Technology teacher Ruby Fry in the BBC TV series Waterloo Road from 2009 to 2011.

In 1997, she appeared in a TV Licence advert.

In December 2011 she played Paula in the BBC's Lapland aired on Christmas Eve with Sue Johnston and Waterloo Road actor William Ash.

In January 2012 she appeared as Paula Cosh in the Sky comedy series Stella for the series.


Sir Terry Wogan (died 2016 aged 77) would be 86 - credited as Presenter in Children in Need (as Terry Wogan)(Related)

Sir Terry Wogan, KBE, was a UK radio and television broadcaster, best known for his morning show on BBC Radio 2 and as presenter of The Eurovision Song Contest and Children in Need.

Michael Terence Wogan was born in Limerick, EIRE, to a strongly Jesuit family, a religion that influenced his youth until losing his faith at the age of 17. He developed a love of amateur dramatics and rock'n'roll during his time at school once the family had moved to Belfast, but initially set out on a career with the Bank of Ireland before the lure of the radio brought him to RTE and a role in news and documentaries and later light entertainment. This led to his first experience as a DJ, and also as a quiz show presenter with Jackpot.

When Jackpot ended, he sought out a career with the BBC, a move which ultimately led to him presenting the breakfast morning slot on BBC Radio 2 in 1972, a role he continued until 1984 and again between 1993 and 2009 and one which earned him the title of the Ultimate Icon of Radio 2 in 2007 during a vote on the channel's 40th anniversary. However, he was soon back on the airwaves with a Sunday morning show.

In 1971 Wogan was to first encounter The Eurovision Song Contest through radio coverage, providing further commentaries during the 1970s before becoming the "voice" of the contest on television in 1980, a role he continued annually until 2008 (after which the mantle was taken up by Graham Norton). During the period he became famed for his cynical view of the contest and its entrants, often considered to be more entertaining than the acts themselves!

Also in 1980 he presented the first of what has become the annual charity marathon Children in Need, a show he fronted every year until having to pull out at the last minute in 2015 owing to illness. In 1983 he was to introduce Doctor Who's 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors, after which he interviewed the then current Doctor Peter Davison, during which who introduced UK viewers to the US slang term "Whovian" that the media continue to use to this day. In 1985 Doctor Who again heavily featured, with Wogan receiving a cheque from the Doctor Who Appreciation Society presented by a plethora of Doctor Who stars. In 1993 he was again to introduce another anniversary of Doctor Who, its 30th 3D special Dimensions In Time. The association with Doctor Who continued with its 21st Century return, with several special mini dramas and trailers for the show appearing during the marathon.

Further connections with Doctor Who occured through his own chat show, Wogan, which ran between 1982 and 1992 and featured guests which included Colin Baker and Lynda Bellingham in 1986 to promote The Trial of a Time Lord, and also through letters to the BBC's viewer response programme, Points of View, which he presented between 1999 and 2008.

Other notable work included presenting Come Dancing (1974-1979), The Terry and Gaby Show (2003-2004), and as the first presenter of the game show Blankety Blank (1979-1983).

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1978, was awarded the OBE in 1997 and knighted in 2005.

His death after a short battle with cancer was announced by his family on the 31st January 2016, and is survived by his wife Helen Joyce (who he married in 1965), three children and grand-children.


Steven Berkoff will be 87 - credited as Shakri in The Power Of Three

Steven Berkoff is an English actor, writer and director. 

He is best known for his performance as General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy, and is typically cast in villanous roles, such as Lt. Col Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II, Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop, and Adolf Hitler in epic mini-series War and Remembrance.

Berkoff was born in Stepney, in the East End of London. His earliest plays are adaptations of works by Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis (1969); In the Penal Colony (1969); and The Trial (1971). In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of verse plays including: East (1975); Greek (1980); Decadence (1981); West (1983); Sink the Belgrano! (1986); Massage (1997); Sturm und Drang; and The Secret Love Life of Ophelia (2001). 

In the late 1980s, he directed an interpretation of Salome by Oscar Wilde in the Gate Theatre, Dublin and later in the United Kingdom. In 1998, his solo play Shakespeare's Villains, premiered at London's Haymarket Theatre, was nominated for a Society of London Theatre Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.

In 2011, Berkoff performed a one man show at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith called One Man. It consisted of two monologues; the first was an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" and the second was a piece written by Berkoff called 'Dog', which was a comedy about a loud-mouthed football fan and his dog.

In Hollywood films, Steven Berkoff has played villains such as the corrupt art dealer Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop; gangster George Cornell in The Krays; the sadistic Soviet officer Col. Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II and General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy. He also appeared in the 1967 Hammer film Prehistoric Women, in the 1980 film McVicar alongside Roger Daltrey and in the Australian biographical film on the early life of Errol Flynn entitled Flynn (1996) In Stanley Kubrick's films A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Barry Lyndon (1975), Berkoff plays a police officer and a gambler nobleman (Lord Ludd), respectively.


John Spadbury (died 2014 aged 83) would be 94 - credited as Cyberman in The Invasion

Actor who played a Cyberman in the 1968 story The Invasion


John Greenwood will be 95 - credited as D'Artagnan in The Mind Robber

John Greenwood was Fight Arranger for the Doctor Who story The Mind Robber, in which he also played D'Artagnan and Sir Lancelot.

Also appeared in Out of the UnknownA Tale of Two CitiesThe Spread of the EagleThe AvengersThe Spread of the Eagle


Anthony Steven (died 1990 aged 73) would be 108 - credited as Writer for The Twin Dilemma

Anthony Steven was a veteran television screenwriter who worked on many programmes including All Creatures Great and Small, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and several historically based dramas.

In 1984, he wrote the script for the Doctor Who story The Twin Dilemma. Illness prevented him completing the final drafts, which were instead finished by script editor Eric Saward. 

Anthony Steven started his career as a reporter on the Oxford Mail. Later he was discovered by John Grierson (Founder of the Crown film unit and pioneer of the documentary film as we know it today) who hired him as a writer.

In 1957 Steven joined the BBC. A prolific writer, he wrote many television serials over a period of thirty years. Some of his scripts were original but many were adaptations of notable classical novels, including several episodes of The Forsyte Sage.

Work includes All Creatures Great and Small, Fanny by Gaslight, The Talisman, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Five Red Herrings, The Nine Tailors, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Woodstock, Clouds of Witness, The Regiment, Tom Brown's Schooldays, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Finlay's Casebook, The Borderers, Who-Dun-It, TV Playhouse, The Man in the Iron Mask, Virgin of the Secret Service, Kenilworth, ITV Play of the Week, BBC Play of the Month, The Three Musketeers, Boy Meets Girl, The Forsyte Saga, Thirteen Against Fate, Redcap, Hereward the Wake, The Rise and Rise of Cesar Birotteau, The Flying Swan, Count of Monte Cristo, First Night, Maigret, Swallows and Amazons, The Third Man, Suspense, BBC Sunday-Night Play, Television Playwright, Duty Bound, Armchair Theatre, Man of Africa, Theatre Royal, The Oracle, Life in Her Hands


Denis Carey (died 1986 aged 77) would be 115 - 3 credits, including Professor Chronotis in Shada

Denis Carey was a British actor who appeared in many film and television roles.

Some of Carey's notable appearances include Dennis Potter's 1968 television series A Beast with Two Backs, Elizabeth R, I, Claudius and The Barchester Chronicles. 

Carey appeared three times in Doctor Who, including Professor Chronotis in the incomplete serial Shada, as the eponymous Keeper in The Keeper of Traken and as the old man in Timelash.


 Deaths
Sheila Steafel (died 2019 aged 84) - credited as Young Woman in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.(Aaru)

Sheila Steafel is a South African-born actress.

Steafel, who was born in Johannesburg, appeared in many classic television series, including: The Frost ReportZ-CarsSykesThe Kenny Everett Television ShowMinderThe Ghosts of Motley HallOh Brother! and The Laughter of a Fool.

Her film appearances include: Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966), Baby Love (1968), Quatermass and the Pit (1967), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), Some Will, Some Won't (1970), which co-starred her ex-husband's acting partner Wilfrid BrambellPercy (1971), and Are You Being Served? (1977).

Much of Steafel's work has been on BBC radio. For several years in the 1970s and 1980s she was a cast member of Radio 4's weekly satirical show 'Week Ending', providing the voices for a large number of characters and impersonating real-world figures such as Margaret Thatcher.

Steafel appeared as herself in "The Lost Hitch-Hiker's Sketch" with Simon Jones, a sketch written by Douglas Adams for her 1982 BBC Radio 4 show Steafel Plus. In 1979, she starred in the West End stage production of A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine playing several roles, including Harpo Marx.

Steafel was married to actor Harry H. Corbett from October 1958 until August 1964. In 2008, she was portrayed by Zoe Tapper in the BBC television play The Curse of Steptoe. Sheila also appeared regularly on the BBC One old-timemusic hall programme, The Good Old Days, portraying her comic creation 'Miss Popsy Wopsy' who invariably 'played up' to chairman, Leonard Sachs.

In 1998 She released a CD album of Victorian songs entitled Victoria Plums (Redial/Polygram No. CD 557 209-2).

In 2010 Sheila released her autobiography "When Harry Met Sheila" through Apex Publishing.


Carmen Silvera (died 2002 aged 80) - 2 credits, including Ruth in Invasion of the Dinosaurs

Carmen Silvera  was a Canadian-born British comic actress. Silvera was possibly best known for her starring role in the British television programme, 'Allo 'Allo! as Edith Artois.

She appeared twice in Doctor Who, in the serials The Celestial Toymaker as Clara the Clown, Mrs. Wiggs, and the Queen of Hearts, and as Ruth in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. 

During World War II, Silvera was evacuated to Montreal and narrowly escaped death when, at the last minute, her name was taken off the passenger list of a troopship that was sunk by the enemy shortly afterwards, drowning 350 children. In Canada, she took classes with the Ballet Russes and appeared in three of its productions. On her return to Britain, she felt called to acting and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, before gaining experience in repertory theatre.

Carmen Silvera first made her name as a television actress in the 1960s British police drama Z-Cars in 1962, going on to appear in the BBC soap opera Compact from 1964 to 1965. She played Mrs Van Schuyler in Lillie in 1978, ITV's drama series about the future Edward VII's mistress, Lillie Langtry.

She also appeared in the Dad's Army episode Mum's Army as Fiona Gray, the love-interest for Captain Mainwaring.

She appeared with Ted Rogers at the New Wimbledon Theatrein 1997 in Jimmy Perry's stage musical That's Showbiz. HerWest End stage appearances included roles in Waters of the Moon, starring Ingrid Bergman, Hobson's Choice with Penelope Keith, A Coat of Varnish and School for Wives, which was directed by Peter Hall. She also played a grandmother in the 1997 film La Passione and had roles in Keep It Up Downstairs (1976), Mrs Berkley in On The Game, and in the American film Clinic Exclusive.

In 1990, she was the subject of a This Is Your Life television programme. She did charity work for the Grand Order of Lady Ratlings, the ladies branch of the Grand Order of Water Rats.