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On This Day (USA) - 19 December



The Dalek Invasion of Earth: The Waking Ally premiered on BBC One in 1964 at 5:40pm GMT, watched by 11.40 million viewers.

Barbara is put to work in the Dalek mine where it is revealed that the Daleks intend to use a bomb to extract the Earth's magnetic core.


Blue Peter (19 Dec 2013): Competition Winners premiered on CBBC in 2013 at 5:30pm GMT
The winners of the Doctor Who competition are announced.

 Birthdays
Matthew Waterhouse will be 63 - 30 credits, including Adric in Full Circle

Matthew Waterhouse was born in Hertford but brought up in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. The son of a solicitor, he was educated at St. Wilfrid’s Primary School, West Sussex and Shoreham Grammar School.

Waterhouse was the youngest actor to play a companion and had only appeared in one television drama prior to being cast in the role of Adric alongside fourth Doctor, Tom Baker. He stayed with the series for 11 stories covering the arrival of Fifth Doctor Peter Davison. He was written out in the Cyberman story Earthshock, when his character was killed off.

Waterhouse returned to the sphere of Doctor Who and took part in the audio commentaries for the DVD releases of Earthshock and The Visitation released in 2003 and 2004 respectively. He also provided commentary for The Keeper of Traken, released in 2007 as part of the New Beginnings box set. Though released separately, all commentaries were recorded in the same week, as noted by Waterhouse in his commentary for The Keeper of Traken. More recently, in late 2008, he made an audio commentary, jointly with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton for the DVD releases of Four to Doomsday and Black Orchid. He also talks about his complete tenure on the show in the featurette "The Boy With the Golden Star" dedicated to Adric on the Warriors' Gate DVD.

Waterhouse guested on a number of shows after it was announced that he would be playing Adric. This included Saturday Night At The Mill (BBC Pebble Mill, 1980) and Top of the Pops (BBC, 1980) with Dave Lee Travis. He also guested on Peter Davison's This Is Your Life (Thames TV, 1982) and Children in Need (BBC, 1985) with a range of Doctor Who actors. Waterhouse's only film appearance was in 1984's arthouse sci-fi thriller The Killing Edge, directed by Lindsay Shoentoff. Waterhouse, in a minor role, played a knife man.

In 1996 he made the science fiction pilot drama Ghostlands for MJTV Productions, and played the character Tom, alongside actors Sylvester McCoy and Jacqueline Pearce.

Waterhouse has appeared in a wide range of theatre productions in the UK, and has appeared in the Shakespeare productions A Midsummer Night's Dream (as Puck), Twelfth Night (as Fabian), Macbeth (as Fleance) and Hamlet (as the title role). He also appeared in theatre productions of I Am David, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Brighton Beach Memoirs (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Peter Pan (directed by actor Clive Swift) and Torch Song Trilogy.

In 2006, Waterhouse self-published his debut novel, Fates, Flowers: A Comedy of New York (ThisPress). He wrote and appeared in his own one-man show Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Chipping Norton and UK Tour) which was directed by actor Murray Melvin (Bilis Manger in the Doctor Who spin-off drama Torchwood in 2007).

Waterhouse has lived Connecticut in the United States since July 1998.


Ian Talbot will be 82 - 2 credits, including Klout in The Leisure Hive

Ian Talbot played Travis in the Doctor Who serial Doctor Who and the Silurians and Klout in The Leisure Hive.

He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2001 (2000 season) for Best Director for "The Pirates of Penzeance" production at the Open Air Theatre.

He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2008 Queen's New Years Honors List for his services to drama as the former Artistic Director of the Open Air Theater in Regent's Park in London, England.

TV Roles include Midsomer MurdersThe BillAgatha Christie: PoirotHeartbeatAs Time Goes ByDegrees of ErrorFramedTerry and JulianBetween the LinesMoon and SonB & BCasualtySpatzRuth Rendell MysteriesDrowning by NumbersDramaramaTartuffe, or The ImpostorA Little Bit of WisdomJuggernautThe Jensen CodeUp the FrontZ CarsChampion House


Elwyn Jones (died 1982 aged 58) would be 101 - credited as Writer for The Highlanders
Elwyn Jones was a British television writer and producer, whose best-known work was perhaps the co-creation of the famous police drama series Z-Cars for BBC Television in 1962.

A prolific television drama writer from the early 1960s up until the late 1970s, from 1963 to 1966 he was Head of Drama Series at the BBC, under Head of Drama Group Sydney Newman, the first person to hold that post after Newman divided the drama group into Series, Serials and Plays divisions. In 1966 he co-wrote with Gerry Davis the script for the Doctor Who serial The Highlanders.

Lewis Greifer (died 2003 aged 87) would be 109 - credited as Writer for Pyramids of Mars (as Stephen Harris)

Lewis Greifer was a writer for television, film, and radio, bets know to Doctor Who fans as the writer of the initial draft of the 1975 Tom Baker story, Pyramids of Mars. The script had to be radically rewritten by script-editor Robert Holmes, who decided to use the pseudonym Stephen Harris 

After wartime service in the RAF, he pursued a career in journalism and joined the London Evening Standard. He contributed sketches for radio, including The Goon Show amongst others. 

A strong record on television writing in the 1950s and 1960s made his career; and by 1969 he diversified somewhat and devised the panel game show Whodunnit! for the BBC (which was later reformatted and remade by Thames Television as a vehicle for Jon Pertwee).

Lewis Greifer also wrote episodes of The Prisoner, Crossroads. 


Simon Lack (died 1980 aged 66) would be 111 - 2 credits, including Zadek in The Androids of Tara

Simon Lack appeared in two Doctor Who stories: as Professor Kettering in The Mind of Evil and Zadek in The Androids of Tara.

Simon Lack was a Scottish actor who appeared in pre-World War II films such as Goodbye, Mr Chips. After the War he worked in television and radio (he was on the BBC Drama Repertory Company in the 1950s) as well as on stage. His TV appearances included roles in South Riding, Dixon of Dock Green and the original Dr Finlay's Casebook.

On radio he played John Tregorran in The Archers and was a regular without a fixed role in the Paul Temple serials.


 Deaths
Dorota Rae (died 2018 aged 61) - credited as Flight Lieutenant Lavel in Battlefield

Dorota Rae played Flight Lieutenant Lavel in the Doctor Who story Battlefield.

Also worked on Hotel 52, Trzy minuty. 21:37, Na dobre i na zle, Pensjonat Pod Róza, Kameleon, Prymas - trzy lata z tysiaca, Gunblast Vodka, Voice of the Heart, Testimony, Crossroads, Sunday Premiere, Pay Off, Love After Lunch, Przeznaczenie, Thais, Widziadlo, Soból i panna, Terrarium, Akwarele

The actress lived in Adelaide, Australia.


Jeremy Wilkin (died 2017 aged 87) - credited as Kellman in Revenge of the Cybermen

Jeremy Wilkin is an English-born Canadian actor, possibly best known for his contributions to the television productions of Gerry Anderson.

Born in Byfleet, Surrey, Wilkin emigrated to Toronto, Canada after completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He had previously trained as a doctor.

Returning to Britain in the mid-1960s, Wilkin provided the voice of Virgil Tracy for the second series of Thunderbirds following the departure of the character's original voice actor, David Holliday, in 1965. In 1968 he provided the voice of Captain Ochre, the original Captain Black and many supporting characters for Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He was also a recurring cast member for the live-action series UFO. Other Gerry Anderson credits include Joe 90 and The Secret Service.

Wilkin had a live action lead role in 1965 in the fantasy TV series Undermind as Drew Heriot, a personnel manager inadvertently drawn into a sinister plot to control human minds and sow discord in society.

Later, Wilkin made a brief uncredited cameo as Captain Forsyth in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.

Fans of Doctor Who will remember his performance as Kellman in the 1975 serial Revenge of the Cybermen and also his appearance as the Federation agent Dev Tarrant in the first episode of Blake's 7, "The Way Back". Wilkin's other TV credits include Dixon of Dock Green, Man in a Suitcase, New Scotland Yard, Softly, Softly: Taskforce, The New Avengers, and Reilly, Ace of Spies.

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


Donald Pickering (died 2009 aged 76) - 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.


Don McKillop (died 2005 aged 76) - credited as Bert the Landlord in The Dæmons

Actor who appeared in The Deamons.


Alan Johns (died 2002 aged 58) - credited as Ted Rogers in The Tomb of the Cybermen

Alan Johns played Ted Rogers in the Doctor Who serial The Tomb of the Cybermen.

Other work includes The Persuaders! and Z Cars


Duncan Lamont (died 1978 aged 60) - credited as Dan Galloway in Death to the Daleks

Duncan Lamont  was a British actor. Born in LisbonPortugal, but brought up in Scotland, he had a long and successful career in film and television, appearing in a variety of high-profile productions.

On film, the best-known of the many productions he appeared in were The 39 Steps (1959, as Kennedy), Ben-Hur (1959, uncredited but playing Marius), Mutiny on the Bounty (1962, as John Williams), Arabesque (1966) and Battle of Britain (1969, as Flight SergeantArthur). Lamont is particularly memorable in his role as the wry, urbane Viceroy in Jean Renoir's The Golden Coach.

On television, he was a semi-regular in the series The Texan from 1958 to 1960, and appeared in guest roles in a range of popular British programmes from the 1950s to the 1970s, including The Adventures of Robin HoodDixon of Dock GreenDanger ManThe AvengersRandall and Hopkirk (Deceased)The Persuaders!, and Doctor Who (the storyDeath to the Daleks).

In 1953, he appeared in the major role of astronaut Victor Carroon in the ground-breaking science-fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment, and fourteen years later returned to the series when he played the role of Sladden in the Hammer Films version of the third serial, Quatermass and the Pit.

He died in 1978 in Tunbridge WellsKent, of a heart attack at the age of sixty. He was working at the time on "Hostage", an episode of the BBC science-fiction series Blake's 7. Although he had completed location work for the episode, he died before the studio scenes had been shot, necessitating a re-mount of the location material in which he appeared and his replacement by the actor John Abineri, his co-star in the aforementioned Death to the Daleks.

He was married to the Irish actress Patricia Driscoll.

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