Saturday, May 31, 2014

The Green Death

Pertwee the Milk
Six episodes (Episode One, Episode Two, Episode Three, Episode Four, Episode Five, Episode Six)
First broadcast May 19 to Jun 23 1973
Average audience for serial: 7.72m

An episode by episode review of this story can be found at Time Space Visualiser.

REGULAR CAST

Jon Pertwee (The Doctor) Jul 7 1919 to May 20 1996 (heart attack) Click here to see Jon Pertwee's entry on Spearhead from Space

Katy Manning (Jo Grant) Born Oct 14 1946 Click here for Katy Manning's entry on Terror of the Autons

Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart) Dec 16 1929 to Feb 22 2011 (cancer) Click here for Nicholas Courtney's entry on The Daleks' Master Plan

Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates) Jan 15 1936 to Dec 25 2023 Click here for Richard Franklin's entry on Terror of the Autons

John Levene (Benton) Born Dec 24 1941 Click here for John Levene's entry on The Web of Fear

GUEST CAST

Tony Adams (Elgin) Born Dec 11 1940
Career highlights
Debuting aged 11 in The Magic Box (1951), Tony's CV includes roles in Reluctant Bride (1955), Kiss Me Kate (1964), The Two Ronnies (1972), Crown Court (1972), Hardly Working (1980), Bergerac (1989), The Upper Hand (1992), The Grimleys (2001), Doctors (2006) and Rosamund Pilcher (2010). After a regular role as Dr Neville Bywaters in General Hospital (1973-80), Tony won his most memorable role in soap Crossroads as Adam Chance between 1978-88, returning for the show's revival between 2001-02.
Facts
While filming The Green Death, Tony became ill with peritonitis, and his character's lines were taken by Roy Skelton's James.

Richard Beale (Minister for Ecology) 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.

Stewart Bevan (Clifford Jones) Mar 10 1948 to Feb 20 2022
Career highlights
Stewart first appeared in The Troubleshooters (1966), and later in To Sir, With Love (1967), The Flesh and Blood Show (1972), Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973), The Ghoul (1975), Brannigan (1975), Shoestring (1979), Blake's 7 (1980), The Gentle Touch (1983), Casualty (1988), The House of Eliott (1994), Silent Witness (1997), Murder in Mind (2002), Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking (2004), Chromophobia (2005) and The Scouting Book for Boys (2009).
Facts
Stewart was engaged to Katy Manning at the time of filming The Green Death, but their romantic relationship ended in 1976. However, they remained firm friends.

Jean Burgess (Cleaner) Jul 24 1925 to May 10 2002 (natural causes)
Career highlights
Other credits were Sailor Beware! (1955), The Signal (1959), Small Time (1960), The Arthur Askey Show (1961), Hancock (1963), Last of the Summer Wine (1975) and Q.E.D (1982).

John Dearth (Voice of BOSS) Oct 16 1920 to Mar 17 1984
Doctor Who credits
Played: Voice of BOSS in The Green Death (1973)
Played: Lupton in Planet of the Spiders (1974)
Career highlights
John's career began with The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956), then Onion Boys (1957), Look Back in Anger (1958), The Voodoo Factor (1959), The World of Tim Frazer (1960), The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), Strongroom (1962), The Runaway (1963), Esther Waters (1964), Mr Rose (1968), Vienna 1900 (1973), Angels (1976), Treasure Island (1977) and Kessler (1981).
Facts
His daughter was the late actor Lynn Dearth (Sons and Lovers, 1981), who was married to fellow actor David Gwillim.

Mostyn Evans (Dai Evans) Jul 7 1923 to Nov 23 1990
Doctor Who credits
Played: Extra in Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970, uncredited)
Played: Dai Evans in The Green Death (1973)
Played: High Priest in Death to the Daleks (1974)
Career highlights
Mostyn's small CV began with Espionage (1964) and took in Brett (1971), Man About the House (1975), Killers (1976), Grange Hill (1983) and The District Nurse (1984).

Roy Evans (Bert) Born 1930
Doctor Who credits
Played: Trantis in The Daleks' Master Plan (1965-66)
Played: Bert in The Green Death (1973)
Played: Miner in The Monster of Peladon (1974)
Career highlights
After debuting in Touch of Death (1961), Roy went on to appear in Adam Adamant Lives! (1967), Oliver! (1968), Budgie (1971), Poldark (1975), Jabberwocky (1977), Dick Turpin (1979), The Elephant Man (1980), The Black Adder (1983), Porterhouse Blue (1987), Only Fools and Horses (1989), Forever Green (1992), Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1997), Children of the New Forest (1998), Fortysomething (2003) and Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher (2003); he also appeared in Global Conspiracy (2004), an extra on the DVD for The Green Death in which he played the brother of the character he originally played.
Facts
Roy started out as a professional ballet dancer.

Ray Handy (Milkman) Jun 1 1929 to Oct 19 1987
Career highlights
Other work includes Suspense (1963), Merry-Go-Round (1965), Conqueror's Road (1967), Seeing and Believing (1968, as presenter), A Class By Himself (1972), The Liver Birds (1974), Poems and Pints (1975/78) and The Life and Times of David Lloyd George (1981).
Facts
In 1985 Welshman Ray toured the United States with a one-man play about poet Ezra Pound, after a similar project on Dylan Thomas.

Ben Howard (Hinks) Born 1940
Career highlights
Ben's first credit was in Londoners (1965), and his CV subsequently included Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Zeppelin (1971), Villain (1971), Running Scared (1972), The Sex Victims (1973), From Beyond the Grave (1973), The Land That Time Forgot (1975), Kizzy (1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977), That Summer! (1979), Blake's 7 (1980), Who Dares Wins (1982), Terry and June (1983), Eh Brian! It's a Whopper (1984), Jenny's War (1985), Prospects (1986), Dempsey and Makepeace (1986) and El CID (1991). He also had regular roles as Curly Parker in 136 episodes of soap United! (1965-67), and Detective Constable Len Clayton in Dixon of Dock Green (1976).

Brian Justice (Yates's guard)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Extra in Spearhead from Space (1970, uncredited)
Played: UNIT soldier in The Ambassadors of Death (1970, uncredited), The Claws of Axos (1971, uncredited)
Played: IMC guard in Colony in Space (1971, uncredited)
Played: Guerilla in Day of the Daleks (1972, uncredited)
Played: Castle guard Wilson in The Sea Devils (1972)
Played: Yates's guard in The Green Death (1973)
Career highlights
Brian debuted in The Fossett Saga (1969), then The First Churchills (1969), Z Cars (1971) and War and Peace (1972).

John Scott Martin (Hughes) Apr 1 1926 to Jan 6 2009 (Parkinson's Disease) Click here for John Scott Martin's entry on The Web Planet

Mitzi McKenzie (Nancy) Born Nov 18 1934
Doctor Who credits
Played: Mrs Martin in Colony in Space (1971, as Mitzi Webster)
Played: Nancy in The Green Death (1973, as Mitzi McKenzie)
Career highlights
Mitzi had earlier appeared in The Wanderer (1959), Scotland Yard (1960), Resurrection (1968), Boys Meets Girl (1969) and Anne of Green Gables (1972), and later appeared with her new surname in The Hole in the Wall (1972), Upstairs, Downstairs (1974), Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) and The Darling Buds of May (1991).
Facts
She later became a schoolteacher.

John Rolfe (Fell) Mar 25 1935 to Aug 12 2020
Doctor Who credits
Played: Captain in The War Machines (1966)
Played: Sam Becket in The Moonbase (1967)
Played: Fell in The Green Death (1973)
Career highlights
John's long career began in Agib and Agab (1953), then The River Flows East (1962), Cluff (1964, as Det Con Barker), Adam Adamant Lives! (1967), Out of the Unknown (1971), The Brothers (1974), The Chinese Puzzle (1974), Hadleigh (1976), Blake's 7 (1978), Thomas and Sarah (1979), To Serve Them All My Days (1980), One By One (1985), Howard's Way (1985-86, as James Sinclair), Mr Bean (1992) and Joking Apart (1995).
Facts
John was apparently named after the English colonist who married Pocahontas in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1614.

Roy Skelton (James) Jul 20 1931 to Jun 8 2011 (pneumonia following a stroke) Click here for Roy Skelton's entry on The Ark

Talfryn Thomas (Dave) Oct 31 1922 to Nov 4 1982 (heart attack)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Mullins in Spearhead from Space (1970)
Played: Dave in The Green Death (1973)
Career highlights
Talfryn's other work included The Squeeze (1960), Suspense (1963), Ring Out an Alibi (1964), Sky West and Crooked (1965), Adam Adamant Lives! (1966), St Ives (1967), The Avengers (1965/68), Tales of Unease (1970), Tottering Towers (1971-72), Coronation Street (1971-72), The Kids from 47A (1973), Get Some In! (1975), King of the Castle (1977), Poems and Pints (1978), The Ken Dodd Laughter Show (1979), Worzel Gummidge (1980), Hi-De-Hi! (1982) and The Citadel (1983). He also regularly played Private Cheeseman in sitcom Dad's Army (1973-74) and Tom Price in Survivors (1975).
Facts
In 1944 Talfryn was a rear gunner on a Lancaster bomber and took part in many bombing expeditions into Germany. On one training expedition his aircraft crashed and he was the lone survivor; the crash was so traumatising (Talfryn witnessed the cockpit go through the navigator) that he suffered a mental breakdown and spent several months in a sanitorium. Coincidentally, the very first production Talfryn appeared in on TV was an adaptation of A J Cronin's novel The Citadel in November 1960, while the very last production he appeared in was another adaptation of The Citadel in February 1983!

Terry Walsh (Guard) May 5 1939 to Apr 21 2002 (cancer) Click here for Terry Walsh's entry on Terror of the Autons

Jerome Willis (Stevens) Oct 23 1928 to Jan 11 2014
Career highlights
Jerome's prolific career began with a role in 1956's Abigail and Roger, followed by The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1957), Bleak House (1959), An Age of Kings (1960), The Spread of the Eagle (1963), Redcap (1965), The Portsmouth Defence (1966), The Caesars (1968), Freewheelers (1971), War and Peace (1972), Winstanley (1975), Return of the Saint (1979), Kessler (1981), The Pickwick Papers (1985), Yes, Prime Minister (1988), The New Statesman (1989-90), Wish Me Luck (1988-90), Orlando (1992), Goodnight Sweetheart (1993), McCallum (1997), Care (2000), The Last Detective (2004), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) and Doctors (2004/07). He also had regular roles as Charles Radley in Within These Walls (1974-78), Matthew Peele in The Sandbaggers (1978-80) and Captain Rexton Podley in Space Precinct (1994-95).
Facts
Quaker Jerome's early career also included newsreading and radio presenting while stationed in Ceylon in the 1940s. His sister is opera singer Nuala Willis, whose husband is singer and actor John Rawnsley.

CREW

Robert Sloman (writer) Jul 18 1926 to Oct 24 2005
Doctor Who credits
Wrote: The Daemons (1971, under the pseudonym Guy Leopold), The Time Monster (1972), The Green Death (1973), Planet of the Spiders (1974)
Career highlights
Starting out as an actor, Robert subsequently worked for the Sunday Times's circulation department, eventually becoming distribution manager. Robert also co-wrote the play The Tinker, on which the 1962 film The Wild and the Willing, starring (War Doctor) John Hurt and Ian McShane, was based.
Facts
He was a close friend of Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. One Sloman script which never saw the light of day was called The Daleks in London, intended to close Season 9 in 1972, but which was dropped for being too similar to The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964).

Barry Letts (writer (uncredited and producer) Mar 26 1925 to Oct 9 2009 (cancer) Click here for Barry Letts's entry on The Enemy of the World

Michael Briant (director) Born Feb 14 1942 Click here for Michael Briant's entry on Colony in Space

Terrance Dicks (script editor) Apr 14 1935 to Aug 29 2019 Click here for Terrance Dicks's entry on The Invasion

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Interesting to find out from Katy Manning that she was born in 1946 (the same year as Elisabeth Sladen). Some books list Katy as having been born in 1948, so it's good to hear from Katy herself about the correct date. :)

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  3. I watched the horror film 'The Flesh and Blood Show' (1972). Stewart Bevan (or Stuart as he is credited) has a nude scene in the movie in case any of his fans are interested. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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