Statistics


On This Day (USA) - 12 March



The Ark: The Plague premiered on BBC One in 1966 at 5:15pm GMT, watched by 6.90 million viewers.

Put on trial and found guilty of introducing a deadly plague to the Ark, the lives of the Doctor, Steven and Dodo hang in the balance as the Doctor attempts to find a cure.


The Talons of Weng-Chiang: Part Three premiered on BBC One in 1977 at 6:31pm GMT, watched by 10.20 million viewers.

Weng-Chiang is desperate to recover his lost time cabinet. Leela takes the opportunity to track the Chinese 'god' to his lair where she must face one of his terrifying creations.


Doctor Who and The Curse Of Fatal Death: Part One premiered on BBC One in 1999 at 8:11pm GMT, watched by 9.80 million viewers.

Doctor Who and The Curse Of Fatal Death: Part Two premiered on BBC One in 1999 at 8:36pm GMT, watched by 9.40 million viewers.

Doctor Who and The Curse Of Fatal Death: Part Three premiered on BBC One in 1999 at 9:39pm GMT, watched by 5.80 million viewers.

Doctor Who and The Curse Of Fatal Death: Part Four premiered on BBC One in 1999 at 10:08pm GMT, watched by 8.70 million viewers.

From Out of the Rain premiered on BBC Three in 2008 at 9:49pm GMT, watched by 0.95 million viewers.

 Birthdays
Simon C Holden was 67 - 28 credits, including 2D Artist for The Christmas Invasion

Simon was born and raised in Lancashire, in the north of England, gaining his Bachelor of Arts Honors Degree in Graphic Design (Film) in Liverpool. He moved to London in 1979 he found work as a freelance animation artist.

Between 1980 and 1982 he worked at Cucumber Studios, first as an inker and painter, then as post production supervisor on TV commercials and music videos.

In 1982, Simon formed a production company, Moon + Parrot Productions with co-director Keith Graham. Directing visual effects-oriented spots for London advertising agencies including J. Walter Thompson, Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann-Erikson and Publicis, Simon honed his skills producing highly complex film opticals combining live action and animation. Moon and Parrot Productions became The Holden Film Company when Simon bought out his partner in 1986. In this same year, Simon was admitted to the Directors and Producers Association of Cinema and Television Technicians and into the prestigious Design and Art Directors Association of Great Britain for Outstanding 20 Second Television Commercial.

Simon briefly assumed the role of Visual Effects Director with The Frame Store in London in 1988. There he gained hands-on experience with the Quantel Harry, bringing his knowledge of animation and optical processes to the company.

Since moving to Los Angeles in 1989, Simon has worked with most of the leading post production houses as a freelance digital effects artist and visual effects supervisor, using the Quantel Harry and Henry. In 1994 Digital Domain called and Simon graduated to Flame and Inferno compositing systems.

In September 1997, Simon joined Click 3X LA as Senior Digital Compositing Artist and Visual Effects Supervisor.

Simon returned to freelance visual effects work in 1999 and continues to offer freelance visual effects services as a senior lead compositor on Flame/Inferno as well as visual effects supervisor on set.

In 2003 he formed the band XUK. In August 2005 the band released a double CD "Love Hits ...like a cricket bat-out-of-hell". The track "Jaguar" was used in the film Freezerburn (Dir. Melissa Balin). The track "New Way" was used in the short film "86 Manners" (Dir. Paul Hart).


Lesley Manville was 68 - credited as Heather Hartnell in An Adventure In Space And Time(Misc)

Born in Brighton and raised in Hove, Lesley Manville trained as singer and then moved to acting as a teenager, gaining a place at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. Turning down a place in girl troupe Hot Gossip, she became known on television as Rosemary Kendall in Emmerdale Farm. Other television credits throughout her career have included Soldier, Soldier, Goggle Eyes, Other People's ChildrenAin't Misbehavin, Tears Before Bedtime, The Cazelets, North & South, Cranford and Law and Order: UK.

In 1979 she met Mike Leigh, which led to a number of collaborations with the director, including the films High Hopes, Secrets & Lies, Topsy-Turvy, All or Nothing and Another Year. Other films include Dance with a Stranger, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael, A Christmas Carol and Womb (which also starred Matt Smith).

Manville has also had a distinctive theatre career, including work with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She met her first husband Gary Oldman whilst working at the Royal Court Theatre, and they had a son, Alfie, together. In 2011 she reunited with Leigh for the National Theatre production of Grief.


George Lee (died 2006 aged 67) would have been 85 - 2 credits, including Corporal Forbes in Spearhead From Space

Actor who appeared in the 1970 story Spearhead From Space


David Spenser (died 2013 aged 79) would have been 90 - credited as Thonmi in The Abominable Snowmen

David Spenser was a Sri Lankan born British actor who appeared in the 1967 story The Abominable Snowmen.

 

Also appeared in Pretenders, BBC Play of the Month, Play for Today, Softly Softly: Task Force, Carry On... Up the Khybe, Pitchi Poi, Battle Beneath the Earth, Thirty-Minute Theatre, Some May Live, The Saint, Adam Adamant Lives!, King of the River, The Spies, A Farewell to Arms, Dixon of Dock Green, The Earth Dies Screaming, Z Cars, Espionage, Secret Beneath the Sea, No Hiding Place, In Search of the Castaways, Studio 4, Play It Cool, Frontier Drums, Armchair Theatre, Paul of Tarsus, The Stranglers of Bombay, Overseas Press Club - Exclusive!, Conflict of Wings, Anne of Green Gables, Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School, The Bell Family, BBC Sunday-Night Theatre

He was survived by his elder brother Jeremy (also an actor), and by his partner Victor Pemberton.


Arthur Hewlett (died 1997 aged 89) would have been 117 - 2 credits, including Kalmar in State of Decay

Arthur Hewlett  was a British actor.

He is best remembered for his roles on television, including Quatermass and the PitPolice SurgeonThe AvengersThe SaintNo Hiding PlaceThe BaronThe TroubleshootersMenaceFollyfootThe Changes,Blake's 7ShoestringJuliet Bravo,The Black Adder and Moondial. Arthur Hewlett also played Dr Grant in Emmerdale Farm in 1973.

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