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On This Day (USA) - 2 November



The Invasion: Episode One premiered on BBC One in 1968 at 5:15pm BST, watched by 7.30 million viewers.

The TARDIS lands in London where the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe agree to help find Isobel Watkins' missing uncle.

Searching for Professor Watkins at his last place of work, a multinational electronics supplier, he meets the company's managing director. He's not what he seems - and possesses alien technology in his office.


Delta and the Bannermen: Part One premiered on BBC One in 1987 at 7:34pm GMT, watched by 5.30 million viewers.

The Happiness Patrol: Part One premiered on BBC One in 1988 at 7:35pm GMT, watched by 5.30 million viewers.

The Who Review premiered on BCB Radio in 1998 at 1:00pm GMT

The Empty Planet: Episode Two premiered on CBBC in 2010 at 5:16pm GMT, watched by 0.81 million viewers.

An Adventure In Space And Time premiered on Drama in 2014 at 6:00pm GMT

Dramatised account of how Doctor Who was brought to the screen in 1963. Stay tuned after the credits for a mini-documentary about how William Hartnell shaped the Doctor's legacy.


 Birthdays
Loraine Vélez will be 60 - credited as Spanish Maid in Turn Left

Loraine Vélez is an American actress of Puerto Rican descent. 

The twins' parents emigrated from Puerto Rico in the early 1950s and lived in the Brooklyn section of New York City, where the twins were born. Their father was a New York City police officer, who eventually bought a house in the middle-class neighborhood of Queens and moved there with his wife and eight children. The sisters enjoyed setting up improvised plays and acting for the family ever since childhood. After graduating from high school, the twins both received scholarships to attend The Alvin Ailey Dancing School. They also studied acting at the Actors Studio, and Lauren studied Shakespeare with Michael Howard. Lauren landed her first job performing in the national touring company of the musical Dreamgirls. Loraine would often step in for her sister in Dreamgirls.

Loraine participated in Broadway's Dreamgirls, as well as in the Off-Broadway production of Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? In 1997, Loraine went to London. There she participated in the production of Rent, wherein she was cast as an understudy for the role of Mimi. Loraine also starred in the debut of Fame in London. She returned to the United States in 2000. There, she performed the role of Mimi on Broadway for almost two years. That same year, Loraine was cast as Tutu in the film Pi�ero, starring Benjamin Bratt and Talisa Soto. In 2002, she played Abby Bishop in the TV series Law & Order, and in 2002 she played Valentina Minola in the Casualty episode titled "Worse Things I Could Do".

Loraine has since moved back to London. She performed the role of Spanish maid in  Doctor Who (Season 4, chapter 11 - "Turn Left"). She recently starred in a new stage production of Porgy and Bess.

Both sisters continue to make TV and stage appearances.

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


Michael Kerrigan (died 2014 aged 61) would be 72 - 3 credits, including Director for Battlefield

Michael Kerrigan  is a British television director noted for directing the The Famous Five TV series and No. 73. 

He directed the Doctor Who serial Battlefield in 1989. 2008 he returned to the world of Doctor Who  to direct four episodes of the spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2008.

Michael spent many years on the staff of TVS, and his first credit was 'Programme Associate' on first Maidstone edition of 'No. 73'.


 Deaths
John Sessions (died 2020 aged 67) - 4 credits, including Gus in Mummy On The Orient Express

John Sessions, is a British actor and comedian.

He is known for comedy improvisation in television shows such asWhose Line Is It Anyway?; as a panellist on QI; and as a character actor in numerous films, both in the UK and in Hollywood.

 His debut film wasThe Sender (1982), a horror feature in which he played a patient. His next film was The Bounty (1984) with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins.

He has also appeared in Henry V (1989) and A Midwinter's Tale (1995), both directed by Kenneth Branagh. O

ne of his most memorable performances to date is the role of Dr. Prunesquallor in Gormenghast (2000), the BBC's lavish production of Mervyn Peake's novels "Titus Groan" and "Gormenghast."

Onstage, he has appeared in many productions and performed numerous one-man shows. 


Paddy Russell (died 2017 aged 89) - 4 credits, including Director for Invasion of the Dinosaurs

Paddy Russell is a British television director.

She directed several television programmes between 1962 and 1981 and her work includes Out of the Unknown (1965), Late Night Horror(1968), Pere Goriot (1968), Little Women (1970), The Moonstone (1972) and The Omega Factor (1980).

Before becoming a director herself, during the 1950s she been a production assistant for BBC television, working on many productions with famed director Rudolph Cartier. She worked on the Quatermass science-fiction serials, as well as the famous 1954 adaptation of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

She was the director on four Doctor Who serials: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (1966), Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974), Pyramids of Mars (1975) and Horror of Fang Rock (1977). She was the first female director to work on the programme, in an era when television production crews were dominated by men.

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


Tommy Duggan (died 1998 aged 89) - credited as Senator Alcott in The Mind of Evil

Tommy Duggan  was an Irish actor who contributed to British television and film from the 1940s to the 1990s. Film appearances include supporting roles in Dangerous Moonlight (1941), Thunder Rock (1942), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), The Belles of St Trinian's (1955), Gorgo (1961), The Omen (1976) and Superman II (1980). 

His television roles include Armchair Theatre, The Buccaneers, Dixon of Dock Green, The Saint, Doctor Who: The Mind of Evil, and Father Ted.


Michael Spice (died 1983 aged 52) - 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