Sunday, September 08, 2013

Galaxy 4

The Doctor (William Hartnell) ponders
whether Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) has time
to play on the climbing frame
Four episodes (Four Hundred Dawns, Trap of Steel, Air Lock, The Exploding Planet)
First broadcast Sep 11 to Oct 2 1965
Average audience for serial: 9.93m
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.

Maureen O'Brien (Vicki) Born Jun 29 1943 For a full career biography of Maureen O'Brien, click here.

Peter Purves (Steven Taylor) Born Feb 10 1939 For a full career biography of Peter Purves, click here.

GUEST CAST

Lyn Ashley (Drahvin Three) Born Mar 18 1940
Career highlights
Australian born Lyn's other credits include Danger Man (1961), a regular role as Valerie in the soap Compact (1963-64), The Saint (1968), Happy Ever After (1969), various episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1970-72, as Mrs Idle), Jason King (1971), Rutland Weekend Television (1975), Angels (1980), the soap Families (1990-91, as Barbara Todd) and Casualty (2000).
Facts
Lyn (real name Lynette Rumble) was married to Monty Python member Eric Idle between 1969-75. She was a founder member of the Women's Theatre Group in 1973. In his memoirs Swimming to the Moon, Australian author Robert Drewe remembers hanging out with a young Lyn when growing up in Melbourne.

Stephanie Bidmead (Maaga) Jan 29 1929 to Sep 22 1974 (anterior horn cell demyelitis)
Career highlights
Stephanie's first TV credit was in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1959), then An Age of Kings (1960), Jane Eyre (1963), Maigret (1963), Coronation Street (1964), Adam Adamant Lives! (1966), The Devil in the Fog (1968), Detective (1969), Little Women (1970), Doomwatch (1971), The Onedin Line (1973) and Microbes and Men (1974).
Facts
A benefit performance was held for Stephanie (Stevie to her friends) on September 1, 1974, at the Duke of York's Theatre. Attending performers included Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench, Timothy West, Julian Glover and Dorothy Tutin. Sadly, she died three weeks later with an incurable degenerative spinal condition (which required full-time nursing), aged just 45. Stephanie was married to Czech set and costume designer Henry Bardon (1921-91), who worked for the Glyndebourne festival and Royal Ballet. Stephanie's sister Shirley was married to actor Barry Warren (who underwent gender reassignment in the 1990s to become Claire, but sadly died from complications after the operation), while Albert Finney was one of Stephanie's son's godfathers.

Susanna Carroll (Drahvin Two)
Career highlights
Susanna also appeared in ITV Television Playhouse (1959), two episodes of Detective (1964), Undermind (1965) and The Man in the Mirror (1966).
Facts
Susanna's husband between 1969 until his death in 2006 was the actor William Franklyn. Here's Susanna, William and daughter Melissa pictured in 1990.

Robert Cartland (Rill voice) Jan 31 1922 to Jul 14 2011
Doctor Who credits
Played: Rill voice in Galaxy 4 (1965)
Played: Malpha in Mission to the Unknown (1965)
Career highlights
Robert's career began in A Gunman Has Escaped (1948) and his CV includes appearances in From Cover to Cover (1958), Compact (1962), Legend of Death (1965), Hadleigh (1969), Doomwatch (1970), Whodunnit! (1973), A Moment in Time (1979), Squaring the Circle (1984), Lytton's Diary (1985) and Covington Cross (1992).
Facts
He was artistic director at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre for a brief time in the 1960s. Carry On star Kenneth Williams referred to Robert as "coarse featured", "vulgar" and "singularly graceless" in his memoirs.

Jimmy Kaye (Chumblie)
This is Jimmy's only credit. 

Marina Martin (Drahvin One) Born Apr 25 1939
Career highlights
Marina's other credits include The Fourth Square (1961), The Trunk (1962), The Avengers (1962), The Odd Man (1963) and No Hiding Place (1963).
Facts
Marina (real first name Sheila) later became an actors' agent for Gordon and French, working alongside former Doctor Who companion Janet Fielding. One of her successful clients was Jill Gascoine.

Angelo Muscat (Chumblie) Sep 24 1930 to Oct 10 1977 (natural causes)
Career highlights
Malta born Angelo's short career also saw appearances in a Wednesday Play production of Alice in Wonderland (1966), Magical Mystery Tour (1967) and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as an Oompa-Loompa (1971). Angelo's most high profile role was as the mute butler in 14 episodes of The Prisoner (1967-68). Angelo was only ever credited on screen in The Prisoner and Doctor Who.
Facts
During his latter years, Angelo lived alone and virtually penniless in a basement flat in North London. He found it difficult to find acting work and to supplement his income made ornate birdcages by hand. Angelo was only 4ft 3in tall, whereas both his parents and his three brothers were over 6ft tall.

Pepe Poupee (Chumblie)
Career highlights
Pepe, real name Kathy Gearen, also played the only female Oompa-Loompa in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), as well as a rogue scientist in The Mutations (1973).
Facts
In the 2000s, Pepe lived in Twickenham's Brinsworth retirement home for former entertainment stars, registered blind.

Tommy Reynolds (Chumblie) Dec 15 1917 to Jun 9 1981
Doctor Who credits
Played: Chumblie in Galaxy 4 (1965)
Played: Auton troll doll in Terror of the Autons (1971, uncredited)
Career highlights
Tommy also appeared in Volpone (1967).
Facts
In October 1970, a week before playing the troll doll in Terror of the Autons, dwarf actor Tommy attempted to strangle his 19-year-old girlfriend Susan Morley, a circus performer, during an argument. Tommy claimed he only wished to frighten Susan, not kill her, and the judge handed him a nine-month suspended sentence after Morley forgave him. Once Tommy had divorced his wife Eileen Allen, he and Susan tied the knot and moved to Bournemouth in 1974. Here's a photo of Tommy and Susan smiling outside Leicester Assizes in November 1970.

William Shearer (Chumblie)
Career highlights
Other credits include The Avengers (1963), Cooperama (1966), The Worker (1970), The Tommy Cooper Hour (1974), Q9 (1975) and Blake's 7 (1978).

CREW

William Emms (writer) Jan 29 1930 to Feb 18 1993
Career highlights
William also wrote A Little Bit of God Said 'Jump' (1963), The Man Who Won the Pools (1964), Redcap (1964), The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling (1964), Public Eye (1965), The Newcomers (1965-66), Champion House (1967), The Revenue Men (1967-68), Mr Rose (1968), Callan (1969-70), Ace of Wands (1970), Z Cars (1965-71), Owen, MD (1971-72), Homicide (1975) and Crossroads (1980).
Facts
He was a schoolteacher by trade, but submitted TV scripts occasionally, including many not commissioned by the Doctor Who production office, such as The Imps in 1966, The Harvesters in 1969, The Zeldan (1983) and The SCI (1983). He retired from script writing in 1989 to become a novelist, but his story for The Imps eventually formed part of the 1986 Find Your Fate Doctor Who book Mission to Venus. William passed away the same day as Jacqueline Hill.

Derek Martinus (director) Apr 4 1931 to Mar 27 2014 (Alzheimer's Disease)
Doctor Who credits
Directed: Galaxy 4 (1965), Mission to the Unknown (1965), The Tenth Planet (1966), The Evil of the Daleks (1967), The Ice Warriors (1967), Spearhead from Space (1970)
Career highlights
After a handful of acting parts in productions such as Carry On Sergeant (1958), Yorky (1961), Compact (1962) and Boyd QC (1964), Derek moved behind the cameras to direct series such as Jury Room (1965), United! (1965-66), The Newcomers (1967), The Expert (1969), The Black Tulip (1970), Crown Court (1974), Angels (1975-76), The Paper Lads (1977), Z Cars (1968-78), Blake's 7 (1979), Penmarric (1979), Spearhead (1978-81), Emmerdale (1977-82) and Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest (1985). He also adapted and directed Vargen (1984), and produced the three-part ITV Play A House in Regent Place in 1975.
Facts
Derek has the distinction of being present for the changeover for the first three Doctors by directing The Tenth Planet and Spearhead from Space. In his later years Derek was heavily involved with the Chiswick Pier Trust, of which he was a director.

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

Donald Tosh (script editor) Mar 16 1935 to Dec 3 2019 Click here for Donald Tosh's entry on The Time Meddler

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