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On This Day (USA) - 15 November



Pyramids of Mars: Part Four premiered on BBC One in 1975 at 5:45pm GMT, watched by 11.70 million viewers.

Inside the pyramid on Mars, the Doctor and Sarah must solve puzzles and escape traps to prevent Sutekh's release from his imprisonment – but are they too late?


Full Circle: Part Four premiered on BBC One in 1980 at 5:40pm GMT, watched by 5.50 million viewers.

The Trial of a Time Lord (Terror of the Vervoids): Part Eleven premiered on BBC One in 1986 at 5:46pm GMT, watched by 5.30 million viewers.

The Curse of Fenric: Part Four premiered on BBC One in 1989 at 7:34pm GMT, watched by 4.20 million viewers.

The Waters of Mars premiered on BBC One in 2009 at 6:59pm GMT, watched by 10.32 million viewers.

Is There Life on Mars? premiered on BBC Three in 2009 at 8:00pm GMT

Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith: Episode One premiered on CBBC in 2010 at 5:17pm GMT, watched by 0.82 million viewers.

Sarah Jane's Alien Files: Episode 6 premiered on CBBC in 2010 at 5:45pm GMT
Sarah Jane and the gang open the Alien Files. Luke has the lowdown on space police the Judoon, alien secret protector Mister Dread, and the galaxy-destroying Androvax the Veil.

Friday Night is Music Night premiered on BBC Radio 3 in 2013 at 8:00pm GMT
Unless you've been on another planet or hanging out in a different dimension, it couldn't have escaped your attention that Doctor Who is about to turn 50. By way of celebration Paul Gambaccini presnts a special programme on the subject of time travel. Among the musical offerings are the themes from Back to the Future, Star Trek, Red Dwarf and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which any time-travelling anorak worth their sonic screwdriver will tell you is actually a track by the Eagles. The tunes will be splendid of course, but if Gambo's recent FNIMN on musicals is anything to go by, his in-between bits will be fascinating. The man's knowledge of musical history is so spooky you might think he was a bit of a time traveller himself.

 Birthdays
Jonathan Miller will be 52 - credited as Kinda (Child) in Kinda

Jonny Lee Miller was born  in Kingston, England, UK.

He is the grandson of actor Bernard Lee and the son of Doctor Who production Assistant Alan Miller

His very first popular film was Hackers (1995), alongside Angelina Jolie and Matthew Lillard. He was the only non-Scottish cast member of Trainspotting

Miller starred as the titular character in the ABC comedy-drama Eli Stone. This was followed by another starring role in the BBC costume drama Emma and a supporting role as Jordan Chase in the fifth season of the Showtime drama Dexter.

He currently stars as Sherlock Holmes in the CBS crime drama Elementary.

He has a partnership in the production company, Natural Nylon, which also includes Ewan McGregor and Jude Law.



Billy McColl (died 2014 aged 62) would be 73 - credited as Humker in The Trial of a Time Lord (The Mysterious Planet)

Born in Hamilton, Scotland, William Collins was brought up in Fife, attending Leven's Parkhill Primary school and Kirkland High school, before doing a City&Guilds course on mechanics whilst under apprenticeship at Harris Garage  in Leven. He also joined a local acting group and then went on to study acting at Mountview Theatre School between 1973 and 1976. Becoming a professional actor he took on the name Billy McColl as there was already an Equity member with his own name.

His first major role came in theatre playing Phil McCann in John Byrne's The Slab Boys in its original run at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre; he continued the role at other venues including the Edinburgh Festival and London's Royal Court, the latter of which led to a Olivier Award nomination for Most Promising Newcomer of the Year in Theatre. Byrne himself described him as the best actor of his generation.

Though his film and television career encompassed a wide range of drama, including Doctor Who of course, he also appeared in a lot of Scottish-based drama such as TaggartRebus, Hamish McBethRab C Nesbitt, Jute City, and also in the film Soft Top Hard Shoulder, written by and starring Peter Capaldi. He also presented a one-man show on stage, Creative Fire, about Robert Burns.

Outside of acting, he was an expert gardener, setting up Billy Collins Gardening in the early 2000s. He also enjoyed sculpting.

He died on the 1st January 2014, with his funeral taking place on the 18th. He is survived by his daughter Maud.

Biography based upon details provided by his obituary in The Scotsman.


Ellis Jones will be 81 - credited as Technician in Spearhead From Space

Ellis Jones is a British director and actor from Petersfield.. He became known for his role as a young apprentice named 'Hal Adden', in the 1970s children's comedy series Pardon My Genie

He went on to appear in many other television productions, such as "The Squirrels", "1914 All Out". "King Lear" and "Measure for Measure"  In recent years he has worked extensively in the field of actor training, and as a theatre director and producer.

Jones  was awarded an Arts Council director's bursary in 1984. In 1993 he joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art as Head of Acting, becoming the Academy's Vice-Principal in 1998, and Creative Director of RADA Enterprises in 2005.


Donald Pickering (died 2009 aged 76) would be 91 - 3 credits, including Blade in The Faceless Ones

Donald Pickering was an English actor.

Pickering had appeared in many television, film and radio roles. His television appearances include several roles in Doctor WhoThe PallisersThe House of EliottWatson in the 1980 series Sherlock Holmes and Doctor WatsonYes, Prime MinisterBrittas Empire and Executive Stress.

He is best known to Doctor Who fans for his three appearances in the Classic series. He fist played the role of Eyesen in the 1964 story The Keys of Marinus alongside William Hartnell. Eyesen was the Court Prosecutor, who has succeeded in persuading the Three Judges of Millennium to find Ian guilty of murder.

Pickering returned to the series in 1967, this time with Patrick Troughton, playing Captain Blade in The Faceless Ones. Blade was an airplane pilot at Gatwick Airport whose identity was taken over by a Chameleon.

His final appearance in the series was twenty years later in Sylvester McCoy's first story, Time and the Rani. In this story he played Beyus, the leader of the Lakertyan race, who was forced to serve the Rani alongside his daughter.


Richard Steele (died 2004 aged 77) would be 98 - 3 credits, including Sergeant Hart in Doctor Who And The Silurians

Actor who appeared in many British Dramas including early episodes of Doctor Who


Geoffrey Toone (died 2005 aged 94) would be 114 - 2 credits, including Hepesh in The Curse of Peladon

Geoffrey Toone was an Irish character actor based in the United Kingdom.

He played Hepesh in the 1972 story The Curse of Peladon

He played Temmosus in the film of Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) 

Most of Toone's film roles after the 1930s were in supporting parts, usually as authority figures, though he did play the lead character in the Hammer Films production The Terror of the Tongs in 1961

Toone was born in DublinIreland to Englishparents and was educated at Charterhouse School.

He died from natural causes, aged 94. At the time of his death, Toone was one of the last survivors of the Old Vic theatre company of the 1930s, having appeared alongside the likes ofJohn Gielgud and Laurence Olivier in productions of Shakespeare.


Francis Chagrin (died 1972 aged 66) would be 119 - credited as Incidental Music for The Dalek Invasion of Earth

Francis Chagrin was a composer of film scores and popular orchestral music, as well as a conductor.

He was born in Bucharest, Romania, to Jewish parents and at their insistence studied for an engineering degree in Zurich while secretly studying at that city's music conservatoire. He graduated in 1928 but when his family failed to support his musical ambitions, left home and moved to Paris where he adopted his new, French-sounding name.

By playing in night clubs and cafes and writing popular songs, he funded himself though two years, from 1933, at the Ecole Normale, where his teachers included Paul Dukas and Nadia Boulanger, and settled in England in 1936.

At the outbreak of World War II, he was appointed musical adviser and composer-in-chief to the BBC French Service, and the programme, Les Francais parlent aux Francais. For this, he was decorated Officier d'Academie by the French government in 1948.

In 1951 he formed his own chamber ensemble. He composed the score for the 1955 film about Colditz, The Colditz Story. His harmonica work Romanian Fantasy was composed in 1956 for Larry Adler.

In 1959 he composed the theme and incidental music for the Sapphire Films TV series The Four Just Men for ITV.

In 1963, he won the Harriet Cohen International Music Award as "film composer of the year". The following year, he composed music for the 1965 Doctor Who television story The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

His son Nicolas was an actor, who was to appear in Vengeance on Varos some years later.


 Deaths
Ken Grieve (died 2016 aged 74) - credited as Director for Destiny of the Daleks
Ken Grieve was born in Edinburgh, and became interested in film-making when at school. He applied to become a stage-hand in Glasgow but was taken up as a cameraman instead. Moving to Manchester he joined Granada Television, eventually moving to directing programmes such as The XYY Man and some 42 episodes of Coronation Street (including the location footage used in the opening titles between 1976 and 1990).

As well as Destiny of the Daleks for the BBC, he also directed an episode of The Omega Man and a Play for Today, Return Fare. During the 1980s and 90s he worked on included an early episode for Jeremy Brett's outing as Sherlock Holmes, The Norwood Builder, the series Game Set and Match, several episodes of Bugs, Cadfael and Peak Practice, and in the 2000s shows such as The Bill, Casualty and Law and Order: UK.

He also made a number of independent documentaries.

As well as directing he taught at the National Film School and the Manchester Film School.

He moved back to Edinburgh in later life, living In Marchmont, and had been diagnosed with cancer in recent years. He died peacefully on the 15th November 2016, and is survived by his partner Jane, four children and three grandchildren.