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On This Day (USA) - 8 April



The Faceless Ones: Episode 1 premiered on BBC One in 1967 at 5:50pm BST, watched by 8.00 million viewers.

The TARDIS arrives at Gatwick airport in 1966 where Polly witnesses a murder. When the Doctor alerts the authorities they find the body has vanished and Polly has been kidnapped.


The Mutants: Episode One premiered on BBC One in 1972 at 5:51pm BST, watched by 9.10 million viewers.

The Time Lords send the Doctor to a Skybase above the planet Solos in the 30th Century. The Marshal of the Skybase is determined to prevent Solos achieving independence from Earth.


 Birthdays
Gabriella Wilde was 35 - credited as Vampire Girl in The Vampires of Venice

Gabriella Wilde is an Englishactress and model.

Wilde was born in BasingstokeHampshire. Her parents are businessman John Austen Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe and Vanessa Mary Theresa Hubbard, the former wife of socialite Dai Llewellyn. She has a younger sister, Octavia, as well as five half-siblings: Georgiana, Isabella, and Jacobi, from her father's first marriage, to Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon, and Olivia and Arabella, from her mother's first marriage. She attended St Swithun's School in Winchester and Heathfield St Mary's Schoolin Berkshire before leaving to pursue a course in art while continuing with her modelling career. Wilde's maternal half-sister Isabella Calthorpe and her paternal half-sister Olivia Llewellyn are also actresses

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


Hywel Bennett (died 2017 aged 73) would have been 80 - credited as Rynian in The Chase

Hywel Bennett  was a Welsh film and television actor who was best known for his recurring title role as James Shelley in the television sitcom Shelley from 1979 to 1984 and its sequel The Return of Shelley from 1988 to 1992.

He appeared in the 1965 Dalek story, The Chase.

Bennett was born in Garnant, Carmarthenshire, Wales. Brought up in London from an early age, he attended Sunnyhill School, Streatham, Henry Thornton Grammar School, Clapham and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

He appeared in The Sweeney (1976). He starred in The Virgin Soldiers (1969), the film adaptation of Loot (1970) by Joe Orton, Percy (1971) and played the lead role in Shelley (1979-84) and its sequelThe Return of Shelley (1988-92). He was also cast opposite former child star Hayley Mills in several films including The Family Way (1966), Twisted Nerve (1968) and Endless Night (1972).

He played major parts in several Dennis Potter television plays, including Where the Buffalo Roam(1966), Pennies From Heaven (1978), Karaoke (1996), and Cold Lazarus (also 1996). He was also the villainous Mr. Croup in Neil Gaiman's miniseries Neverwhere (1996). His character, Ricki Tarr, was pivotal in the 1979 BBC miniseries based on the John le Carr novel, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979). He also appeared in Lock, Stock... (2000) as "Deep Throat". Bennett also starred in the four-part 1979 BBC mini series Malice Aforethought from the original novel, written in the 1920s, by Francis Iles.

In 2003, he joined the cast of long running soap opera EastEnders as Jack Dalton, a gangland boss who was introduced into the series as a former adversary of Den Watts (played by Leslie Grantham) whose death he was believed to have ordered in 1989. He first appeared in the series in May 2003 but was written out just two months later when his character was shot dead by Dennis Rickman(Nigel Harman), son of Den Watts; just before his demise, the character revealed that Den had survived the shooting 14 years earlier, and later that year Den returned to the series.

He also appeared as an occasional character, Peter Baxter, on The Bill and was in the first episode of Jam & Jerusalem.

Also, he appeared in the 1986 music video of "Loving You's a Dirty Job But Somebody's Gotta Do It" by Bonnie Tyler and Todd Rundgren. He playbacked the Todd Rundgren vocals. The song can be found on Bonnie's album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire.

From 1967-88, Bennett was married to Cathy McGowan, best known as the presenter of the TV rock show Ready Steady Go! in the mid 1960s. They have a daughter, Emma.

Bennett retired in 2007 after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.


Lovett Bickford (died 2018 aged 76) would have been 82 - 3 credits, including Assistant Floor Manager for The War Machines

Lovett Bickford  directed the 1980 story The Leisure Hive. 

He was also Assistant Floor Manager during the Troughton era.


David Cole (died 2007 aged 71) would have been 88 - credited as Billy Clanton in The Gunfighters

David Cole was born in Hampshire, England. 

He was an actor, known for Foul Play (1978), Fiona (1977) and Quartet (1948). 



David Dodimead (died 1996 aged 77) would have been 105 - credited as Barclay in The Tenth Planet

David Dodimead  played Barclay in the Doctor Who story The Tenth Planet.

Born in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, he made his first stage appearance in Rochester. After service in the Second World War, he spent two years with Donald Wolfit's company, playing Shakespearean parts on tour, in London and on Broadway. In 1952 he played a season of Shakespeare at Stratford-on-Avon, then appeared in John Gielgud's season at the Lyric, Hammersmith, in London. He went to Africa with this company, and throughout his career especially enjoyed playing on tour. 

He worked in repertory at Hornchurch in Essex, then toured to Australia with the Old Vic Company, with whom he subsequently played two seasons in London. He also appeared at the Mermaid Theatre in London, at Regents Park Open Air Theatre and at the Young Vic. At Oxford Playhouse he was Prospero in The Tempest and at Nottingham Playhouse Gloucester in King Lear (with Michael Hordern). With the Birmingham Repertory Company, he visited over twenty countries playing Bernard Shaw in Dear Liar. He again worked with John Gielgud on television in Richard II and on film in Julius Caesar. He also featured on numerous audio recordings of Shakespeare

Biography from the TARDIS wiki article, licensed under CC-BY-SA   


 Deaths
Adam Kurakin (died 1989 aged 43) - credited as Guard (Pirate Planet) in The Pirate Planet

Adam Kurakin  played a Guard in DW: The Pirate Planet.

Also worked on Pericles, Prince of Tyre , The Two Gentlemen of VeronaKing LearEnemy at the DoorAccidentColditzDoomwatchThe Mating Machine