Sunday, June 23, 2013

Planet of Giants

The miniaturised TARDIS crew discover
the body of Farrow (Frank Crawshaw)
Three episodes (Planet of Giants, Dangerous Journey, Crisis)
First broadcast Oct 31 to Nov 14 1964
Average audience for serial: 8.57m
REGULAR CAST

William Hartnell (The Doctor) Jan 8 1908 to Apr 23 1975 (heart failure after a series of strokes) For a full career biography for William Hartnell, click here.

William Russell (Ian Chesterton) Nov 19 1924 to Jun 3 2024 For a full career biography for William Russell (aka Russell Enoch), click here.

Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright) Dec 17 1929 to Feb 18 1993 (bone cancer) For a full career biography for Jacqueline Hill, click here.

Carole Ann Ford (Susan) Born Jun 16 1940 For a full career biography for Carole Ann Ford, click here.

GUEST CAST

Reginald Barratt (Smithers) Jan 25 1920 to Jun 10 1977
Career highlights
Reginald's career began playing a labourer in three episodes of The Railway Children (1951), and he also made appearances in Rex Milligan (1956), The Scarf (1959), The Splendid Spur (1960), Detective (1964), Public Eye (1966), The Avengers (1969), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Emmerdale Farm (1972), Angels (1975), Open All Hours (1976) and Romance (1977). He also had a regular role as Planchet in The Three Musketeers (1954).
Facts
In her memoir Adventures of a Jelly Baby, actress Judy Cornwell (who appeared in the Doctor Who story Paradise Towers (1987)) recalled working with Reginald when she was an assistant stage manager, and described him as having "a face like a wicked pixie and quite brilliant"!

Frank Crawshaw (Farrow) Sep 4 1899 to Apr 2 1984
Career highlights
Debuted uncredited in Mozart (1936), followed by Wings of the Morning (1937), The Three Weird Sisters (1948), The Adventures of Ben Gunn (1958), On Trial (1960), Wuthering Heights (1962), Love Story (1964), Mrs Thursday (1967), Half a Sixpence (1967), Arthur! Arthur! (1969) and Hadleigh (1973). He also had a regular role as Arnold Tanner, Elsie's first husband, in Coronation Street (1961/66), and was a contributor to the 1944 drama-documentary Men of Rochdale, which celebrated the centenary of Cooperative shops.

Fred Ferris (PC Bert Rowse) Jul 13 1905 to Jan 25 1978
Career highlights
Fred debuted in The Grove Family (1957), then took roles in The Days of Vengeance (1960), The Big Pull (1962), The Plane Makers (1963-64), The Power Game (1966) and Sergeant Cork (1966). Fred was also a radio and TV comedian in the 1950s, including BBC Radio's The Clitheroe Kid and Club Night, in which he played The Wacker.

Rosemary Johnson (Hilda Rowse) Jan 18 1913 to Nov 10 1972
Career highlights
Rosemary's other work includes Starr and Company (1958), Champion House (1967) and Shadows of Fear (1971, as Rosemary Groom-Johnson).
Facts
Rosemary was married to Irish actor William Sherwood (she was the second of his three wives).

Alan Tilvern (Forester) Nov 5 1918 to Dec 17 2003
Career highlights
Alan enjoyed a long acting career, starting in Jean's Plan (1946) and including The Small Voice (1948), Cairo Road (1950), The Face of Love (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956), The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1958), Invisible Man (1959), Sands of the Desert (1960), Crane (1963), The Plane Makers (1963-64), Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966), Khartoum (1966), Dad's Army (1969/73), UFO (1971), The Sweeney (1976), Poldark (1977), Superman (1978), Citizen Smith (1980), Firefox (1982), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) and Porgy and Bess (1993). Alan also directed for the soap Compact in 1963, and for a time was the radio voice of Dick Barton: Special Agent.
Facts
Alan was the founder member, along with Warren Mitchell, of a group which studied method acting, and was a major player in securing actors' rights with North American Equity. Alan's motto, in Yiddish, was: "The telephone rings and life changes". Before acting he was a barrow-boy in London's East End, and on another occasion set up a mail order business selling cuckoo clocks for Christmas! Alan married Australian actress Diane Elliott, and their daughter is Australian broadcaster Karalee Katsambanis, wife of Aussie Liberal politician Peter Katsambanis.

CREW

Louis Marks (writer) Mar 23 1928 to Sep 17 2010
Doctor Who credits
Wrote: Planet of Giants (1964), Day of the Daleks (1972), Planet of Evil (1975), The Masque of Mandragora (1976)
Career highlights
Louis's writing career began with Skyport (1959-60), followed by duties on The Four Just Men (1960), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1958-60), Ghost Squad (1963), Danger Man (1964), No Hiding Place (1966), Doomwatch (1971-72), Bedtime Stories (1974) and Silas Marner (1985). He was also a prolific script editor - working on The Four Just Men (1959), No Hiding Place (1965-66), No Exit (1972), The Stone Tape (1972), Orde Wingate (1976), Brensham People (1976) and Premiere (1977) - and producer on programmes such as Centre Play (1974-77), The Lost Boys (1978), Baal (1982), Time and the Conways (1985), Thunder Rock (1985), Precious Bane (1989), The Trial (1993), Middlemarch (1994), Plotlands (1997) and Daniel Deronda (2002).
Facts
In 1955 Louis founded the magazine Books and Bookmen, aimed at authors, illustrators and avid readers, which was published until 1980. Oxford University graduate Louis started out as a history teacher at a boarding school before moving into TV production, and after retiring in 2002 ran a B&B with his wife Sonia.

Douglas Camfield (director, episode 4 - edited into episode 3) May 8 1931 to Jan 27 1984 (heart attack)
Doctor Who credits
Production assistant: An Unearthly Child (uncredited, 1963), Marco Polo (uncredited, 1964)
Directed: An Unearthly Child (film inserts, uncredited, 1963), Planet of Giants (episode 4, material from which was edited into episode 3, 1964), The Crusade (1965), The Time Meddler (1965), The Daleks' Master Plan (1965-66), The Web of Fear (1968), The Invasion (1968), Inferno (1970), Terror of the Zygons (1975), The Seeds of Doom (1976)
Career highlights
Douglas's Doctor Who career began as production assistant on the very first story, and could have included a stint as its producer had he accepted the post when offered it in 1969. It may be just as well he didn't, as during production of Inferno the following year he was taken ill with a heart ailment, which he suffered with for the rest of his life. Formerly a lieutenant in the Army, Douglas also directed for Swizzlewick (1964), The Troubleshooters (1965), Out of the Unknown (1969), Z Cars (1969), Paul Temple (1969-71), Van der Valk (1972-73), Public Eye (1971-75), The Sweeney (1975-78), Blake's 7 (1978), The Professionals (1977/80), Shoestring (1979-80), The Nightmare Man (1981), Beau Geste (1982) and Missing from Home (1984). He also dabbled in writing, and had written Adventure to Order in 1961, Playbox: The Six Clue Challenge (1962-62) and Garry Halliday (1962), before he pitched a script to Doctor Who in 1975 involving aliens, the French Foreign Legion and the death of companion Sarah Jane Smith, but this was never developed.
Facts
In 1965, Douglas (middle name Gaston) married actress Sheila Dunn, who he cast in three of his Doctor Who stories (The Daleks' Master Plan, The Invasion and Inferno). He made a cameo as one of the faces seen during the mind battle between the Doctor and Morbius in The Brain of Morbius (1976).

Mervyn Pinfield (director, episode 1-3 & associate producer) Feb 28 1912 to May 20 1966 Click here for Mervyn Pinfield's entry on An Unearthly Child

Verity Lambert (producer) Nov 27 1935 to Nov 22 2007 (cancer) Click here for Verity Lambert's entry on An Unearthly Child

David Whitaker (story editor) Apr 18 1928 to Feb 4 1980 (lymphoma) Click here for David Whitaker's entry on An Unearthly Child

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