Sunday, October 06, 2013

The Ark

Spot the Monoid
Four episodes (The Steel Sky, The Plague, The Return, The Bomb)
First broadcast Mar 5 to 26 1966
Average audience for serial: 6.48m
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.

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

Jackie Lane (Dodo Chaplet) Jul 10 1941 to Jun 7 2021 For a full career biography for Jackie Lane, click here.

GUEST CAST

Terence Bayler (Yendom) Jan 24 1930 to Aug 2 2016
Doctor Who credits
Played: Yendom in The Ark (1966)
Played: Major Barrington in The War Games (1969)
Career highlights
New Zealander Terence's career began in Broken Barrier (1952) and has seen roles in Hamlet (1961), Moonstrike (1963), Mogul (1969), The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971), The Brothers (1974), The Rutles: All You Need is Cash (1978), Time Bandits (1981), Brazil (1985), She-Wolf of London (1990), Lipstick on Your Collar (1993), The Remains of the Day (1993), Dangerfield (1995) Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone (2001), Life Begins (2005), Chemical Wedding (2008) and We Know What We Know (2010).
Facts
He was once married to actress Bridget Armstrong.
In 2014 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Terence here.

Richard Beale (Refusian voice) May 13 1920 to Mar 27 2017
Doctor Who credits
Played: Refusian voice in The Ark (1966)
Played: Bat Masterson in The Gunfighters (1966)
Played: Broadcaster in The Macra Terror (1967)
Played: Minister of ecology in The Green Death (1973)
Career highlights
Richard's career began in The Battle of the River Plate (1956), followed by roles in Private Investigator (1958), Madame Bovary (1964), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1965), The Mating Machine (1970), Jude the Obscure (1971), Emmerdale Farm (1972), Special Branch (1974), Treasure Island (1977), Blake's 7 (1978), Secret Army (1979), Camille (1984), CATS Eyes (1985), The Tripods (1985), Return to Treasure Island (1986), Agatha Christie's Poirot (1990), EastEnders (1990-91), Lovejoy (1994), Family Money (1996), Down to Earth (2001) and Afterlife (2005). He also regularly played Edward Derwent in A Horseman Riding By (1978).
Facts
After leaving the Royal Navy, Richard worked for his father's print firm for a decade until becoming an actor. He retired from the profession in 2005, aged 85, but continued this love of sailing and racing single-handedly until he turned 90. In 2015 he released a memoir entitled One Man's War.

John Caesar (Monoid) Jan 23 1926 to Jun 11 2000
Doctor Who credits
Played:
 Second man in market in The Romans (1965)
Played: Egyptian warrior in The Daleks' Master Plan (1965-66, uncredited)
Played: Monoid Four in The Ark (1966)
Played: Cowboy in The Gunfighters (1966, uncredited)
Played: Guard in The Macra Terror (1967)
Played: Pirate guard in The Space Pirates (1969, uncredited)
Played: CPO Myers in The Sea Devils (1972)
Played: R/T soldier in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974)
Career highlights
John's first credit was in The Escape of RD7 (1961), then Maigret (1963), Bat Out of Hell (1966), No Hiding Place (1967), War and Peace (1972), The Legend of Robin Hood (1975), Janet and Company (1982) and The Bill (1989).

Ralph Carrigan (Monoid) Nov 1 1933 to Apr 4 2007
Doctor Who credits
Played: Extra in The Myth Makers (1965, uncredited)
Played: Monoid in The Ark (1966)
Played: Cheerleader in The Macra Terror (1967)
Played: White Robot in The Mind Robber (1968)
Played: Cyberman in The Invasion (1968)
Career highlights
Ralph's only other credit is a Wednesday Play (1965) and The Body Stealers (1969).

Edmund Coulter (Monoid) Jun 19 1936 to Mar 28 2015
Edmund's only other UK acting credit was a 1964 edition of the soap Compact. In 1967 he was appointed tutor to the children of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani, and travelled with the family extensively. In 1972 the emir was deposed by his cousin Khalifa, and the family moved to Dubai, and Edmund with them. Edmund moved to Dallas, Texas, in the 1990s, and finally settled in Seattle, Washington.

Eric Elliott (Commander) Oct 5 1902 to Sep 25 1981
Career highlights
Eric's other credits include The Awakening (1938), Quatermass and the Pit (1958), Top Secret (1961), The Avengers (1961/62) and Z Cars (1973).

Ian Frost (Baccu) Born Mar 1 1933
Doctor Who credits
Played: Baccu in The Ark (1966)
Played: Draconian messenger in Frontier in Space (1973)
Career highlights
Ian's further credits include Silent Evidence (1962), Lorna Doone (1963), Z Cars (1968), Out of the Unknown (1969), Ivanhoe (1970), Something in Disguise (1982) and Girls on Top (1986).
Facts
Ian, who now lives in Florida, has since become heavily involved in stage plays and monologues centred on Lord Byron, Shelley and Keats, touring in North America, Europe and the UK, accompanied by playwright Bill Studdiford. He was a founder member of Actors' Touring Company London.

Frank George (Monoid)
Frank's CV also includes Maigret (1961) and Sex Perverts (1970).

Paul Greenhalgh (Guardian) Feb 15 1942 to Aug 26 2017
Career highlights
The Ark was Paul's first credit, and he went on to appear in The Saint (1968), UFO (1971), Edward the Seventh (1975), Within These Walls (1975), The Crezz (1976), Babylon (1981), Shroud for a Nightingale (1984), Wartime (1987) and Cause Celebre (1987).
Facts
See images from Peter's career in the 1960s here.

John Halstead (Monoid voice) Born May 30 1936
Career highlights
Other credits include Poor Cow (1967), The Sweeney (1975), Little Dorrit (1988) and My Hero (2001). He also regularly played Arnold Capper in General Hospital (1973-75).
Facts
John (born Michael Ross), now a seasoned stage performer, has a close connection with the Queen's Theatre in Hornchurch. In 2018 he published the first volume of his autobiography, No Expectations: The Tale of an East End Orphan Growing Up.

Stephanie Heesom (Guardian) Born Jun 25 1942
Career highlights
Other credits include Dixon of Dock Green (1966), George and the Dragon (1966) and Marty (1969).
Facts
She left acting to open an antiques shop in London in the 1960s. In 1990, Stephanie was diagnosed with breast cancer, and ever since has been a campaigner, support worker and even head of trustees for Breast Cancer Care (under her married name of Stephanie Jacobs).

Eileen Helsby (Venussa) Born Jun 30 1937
Career highlights
Eileen's career began in the soap The Flying Swan (1965) and over the years she has appeared in The Newcomers (1967), Doomwatch (1970), Cakes and Ale (1974), Survivors (1975, as Charmian Wentworth), My Son, My Son (1979), Juliet Bravo (1980), Strangers and Brothers (1984), Bergerac (1985), Bust (1987) and The Bill (1990).
Facts
She later married and emigrated to Connecticut, USA.

Inigo Jackson (Zentos) Jul 19 1933 to Aug 25 2001
Career highlights
Other credits include Becket (1964), The Brigand of Kandahar (1965), The Trygon Factor (1966), Man in a Suitcase (1968), Ivanhoe (1970), Twins of Evil (1971) and The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973).
Facts
Born Anthony Michael Jackson, he changed his name to Inigo after leaving drama school as he believed the name Michael Jackson was too mundane-sounding for a career in showbusiness...

Kate Newman (Mellium)
Career highlights
Kate's only other credit is in a 1966 Armchair Theatre.
Can you help?
There is a possibility that Kate was actually actress Kay Dotrice (wife of the actor Roy Dotrice) who went by the name Kay Newman in the 1960s. There is a Kate Newman who lived 1929-2007, just like Kay Dotrice, so they could be the same person. Does anybody know? To help, I've created a montage of images at the foot of this entry of Kate Newman in The Ark, Kay Dotrice as Mrs Crisp in Crossroads in 1978, as well as Kay Dotrice pictured in 1995. I reckon it is her, but I'm not sure. Leave a comment if you can help!

Michael Sheard (Rhos) Jun 18 1938 to Aug 31 2005 (cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Rhos in The Ark (1966)
Played: Dr Summers in The Mind of Evil (1971)
Played: Laurence Scarman in Pyramids of Mars (1975)
Played: Lowe in The Invisible Enemy (1977)
Played: Mergrave in Castrovalva (1982)
Played: Headmaster in Remembrance of the Daleks (1988)
Career highlights
Michael was a prolific character actor, appearing in over 120 productions, starting in a 1962 episode of Suspense. Further roles included The Likely Lads (1965), Adam Adamant Lives! (1966), The Borderers (1969), Albert! (1969), Paul Temple (1971), Merry-Go-Round (1971), The Onedin Line (1972), On the Buses (1973), The Sweeney (1975), Space: 1999 (1975), The Tomorrow People (1978), Blake's 7 (1980), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), The Outsider (1983), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983-84), The Invisible Man (1984), Hannay (1988), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), 'Allo 'Allo (1992), Takin' Over the Asylum (1994), Another Life (2001), The Green Door (2005) and Shadows in the Woods (2006). Michael had a regular role as Mr Bronson in children's school series Grange Hill (1985-89).
Facts
During his career, he played Adolf Hitler five times, and Heinrich Himmler three times. He acted alongside five Doctors in the TV series, and a sixth (Paul McGann) in audio story The Stones of Venice (2001). Michael was the one to formally identify actor Declan Mulholland at the police mortuary after he was found dead on a train (as well as being the original actor to play Jabba the Hutt in a scene deleted from Star Wars, Declan also appeared in the Doctor Who stories The Sea Devils and The Androids of Tara).

Roy Skelton (Monoid voice) Jul 20 1931 to Jun 8 2011 (pneumonia following a stroke)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Voice of the Monoids in The Ark (1966)
Played: Voice of the Cybermen in The Tenth Planet (1966), The Wheel in Space (1968)
Played: Control technician in The Tenth Planet (1966, uncredited)
Played: Voice of the Daleks in The Evil of the Daleks (1967), Planet of the Daleks (1973), Genesis of the Daleks (1975), Destiny of the Daleks (1979), The Five Doctors (1983), Revelation of the Daleks (1985), Remembrance of the Daleks (1988). He also performed Dalek voices for the Comic Relief spoof The Curse of Fatal Death (1999)
Played: Computer voice in The Ice Warriors (1967)
Played: Voice of the Krotons in The Krotons (1968-69)
Played: Norton in Colony in Space (1971)
Played: Wester in Planet of the Daleks (1973)
Played: James in The Green Death (1973)
Played: Chedaki in The Android Invasion (1975)
Played: King Rokon in The Hand of Fear (1976)
Career highlights
As a specialist voice artist, Roy also provided voices for A Rubovian Legend (1958-59), Out of the Unknown (1967) and Ghosts of Albion (2003-04). Roy's most famous voices, apart from the Daleks, were for Zippy and George in the children's series Rainbow (1973-92), for which he also wrote 28 scripts. As an actor, Roy's CV includes The Comedy of Errors (1954), Detective (1964), Quick Before They Catch Us (1966), Z Cars (1968), Fraud Squad (1969), Ivanhoe (1970), The Last of the Mohicans (1971), Take a Chance (1980-81), Alice in Wonderland (1986) and four episodes of The Bill (1989-98).

Roy Spencer (Manyak)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Manyak in The Ark (1966)
Played: Harris in Fury from the Deep (1968)
Career highlights
Roy's career began uncredited in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), then an ITV Play of the Week (1961), R3 (1965), The Expert (1969), War and Peace (1972-73), Dracula (1973), Barry Lyndon (1975), Grange Hill (1978), Julius Caesar (1979), The Gentle Touch (1983), Howards' Way (1986), Bomber Harris (1989) and Campion (1990).
Facts
Roy is an authority on the life and works of D H Lawrence, having written books and a one-man stage show about him.

Terence Woodfield (Maharis) Sep 18 1931 to Apr 3 2016
Doctor Who credits
Played: Celation in The Daleks' Master Plan (1965-66)
Played: Maharis in The Ark (1966)
Career highlights
Terence started out in Boyd QC (1961), then The Hidden Truth (1964), Object Z (1965), Object Z Returns (1966), Doctor in the House (1970), Robert's Robots (1973), Get Some In! (1978), The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1979) and The Tomorrow People (1979).
Facts
Terence was credited as playing Celation in episodes 8 and 11 of The Daleks' Master Plan, whereas actor Ian East played Celation uncredited in episode 2. The spooky thing is, both these actors passed away on April 3rd, 2016!

Brian Wright (Dassuk)
Career highlights
Brian made his acting debut in The Alderman (1962), then appeared in Emergency Ward 10 (1962), Z Cars (1965), The Canal Children (1976), No Room to Run (1978) and Case for the Defence (1978). However, he was principally a writer, on series such as Trapped (1967), Skippy (1969), Spyforce (1971-73), The Canal Children (1976), Skyways (1979), Holiday Island (1981), The Flying Doctors (1988) and Sugar and Spice (1989). He also script edited on Maelstrom (1985), The Detective (1985), Oliver Twist (1985), David Copperfield (1986) and Bergerac (1989).

CREW

Paul Erickson (writer) Nov 22 1920 to Oct 27 1991 (stroke)
Career highlights
Paul's other writing credits include Three Steps to the Gallows (1953), The Green Carnation (1955), The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957), Kill Her Gently (1957), Interpol Calling (1960), Night of the Prowler (1962), The Saint (1964), Out of the Unknown (1965), Paul Temple (1970), Freewheelers (1971) and Rogue's Rock (1974). Paul started out as an actor, in productions such as Old Mother Riley Overseas (1943), The Adding Machine (1948), The Petrified Forest (1951) and White Fire (1953).
Facts
Paul claimed that his co-credit to Lesley Scott was a personal arrangement with his then wife, but later research has found no trace of Paul ever marrying a person of that name. Somebody called Lesley Scott also wrote stories for some of the World Distributors Doctor Who annuals, but there is no established connection between the two. There is a developing belief among researchers that "Lesley Scott" was a pseudonym for Paul's real-life first wife, the Italian Gemma Vitale (aka Gemma Sighe), born Sep 1 1930, married 1951. By 1986, Paul was married again, so whatever happened to Gemma/ Lesley is a mystery. Whatever the truth, Paul claimed Lesley played no part in the script-writing process. Had it not been for this misleading credit, it would not be until 1983 that a woman received a writing credit on Doctor Who.

Michael Imison (director) Born Feb 9 1935
Career highlights
Michael had previously directed Compact (1963-64), Mary Barton (1964), Swizzlewick (1964), The Flying Swan (1965) and Buddenbrooks (1965). He had also adapted Dear Charles for television (1961), and wrote two episodes of Storyboard (1961). In 1963 he script edited 10 episodes of soap Compact, and two of Out of the Unknown in 1966.
Facts
Just before completing work on The Ark, Michael was made redundant by the BBC and later became a literary agent with a particular focus on authors and poets from the former Eastern bloc. Michael, married to eminent educator Dame Tamsyn Imison, has since been involved with the Noel Coward Society and the British Humanist Association, and has occasionally worked as a Salman Rushdie lookalike!

John Wiles (producer) Sep 20 1925 to Apr 5 1999 Click here for John Wiles's entry on The Myth Makers

Gerry Davis (script editor) Feb 23 1930 to Aug 31 1991 Click here for Gerry Davis's entry on The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve

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Kate Newman montage - click to enlarge

5 comments:

  1. While looking around, I found a source saying that KATE NEWMAN was born on 9 May 1929 and died on 2 August 2007 (http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=12801) from a heart attack. However, the US IMDb did not have this information on her page. The closest thing I discovered to this information was that the dates tally with the actress Kay Dotrice, the late wife of actor Roy Dotrice. She was born Katherine Newman and during the 1960s, she was credited with this name as well as Kay Newman. Could she have also used Kate Newman? Are they the same person? Maybe it’s something you could ask on her entry like you’ve done with EDWARD PHILLIPS.

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  2. Have you had a chance to listen to the DVD commentary for 'The Ark'? It's possible that there's a reference on there to the question involving the identity of Kate Newman/Kay Dotrice. I haven't listened to it yet myself, but I know that actor Peter Purves & director Michael Imison provide the commentary, so one of them may say something about it. I'll try to check it out soon. :)

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  3. Looking at IMDB it agrees with you that Kate Newman/Kay Dotrice is the same person. Having just done a very quick online search there is reference to her stage name regarding a convention in the US, not Doctor Who related.

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  4. There's a picture on Getty Images of Roy Dotrice with Kay and their daughters Yvette and Karen. Somehow, I don't think it resembles Melium (looks older). It's taken less than a year after The Ark.

    https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/british-actor-roy-dotrice-with-his-wife-actress-kay-newman-and-their-picture-id970352138

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  5. You've asked if anyone has a picture of LESLEY SCOTT. The below thread talks about PAUL ERICKSON and how he married a Gemma Vitale/Sighe in 1951. He didn't marry anyone else between then and 1986 so could she be the elusive Lesley?

    https://forums.deathlist.net/topic/8572-deadpool-detective-work/?page=7

    To this effect, I have found Brazillian travel records for the couple in 1950 (his real name being Frederick Redwood Watts). Her birthdate is given as 1 September 1930. After that, I don't know if she died, moved abroad or is still alive.

    https://imgur.com/ZtiTgQr.jpg (possible passport shot)

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