The Mutants

A mutt. Not pretty.

Six episodes (Episode One, Episode Two, Episode Three, Episode Four; Episode Five; Episode Six)
First broadcast Apr 8 to May 13 1972
Average audience for serial: 7.78m

An episode by episode review of this story can be read 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

GUEST CAST

David Arlen (Warrior guard) Born Jan 16 1937
Career highlights
Debuting in No Hiding Place (1966), David later appeared in The Prisoner (1967), Assassin (1973), Scorpion Tales (1978), Fox (1980), Triangle (1981), The Woman in White (1982), The Monocled Mutineer (1986), Buster (1988), The Krays (1990), Lovejoy (1993-94, as Cavendish Porter), Ghostbusters of East Finchley (1995), Pie in the Sky (1996) and three episodes of The Bill (1986/1993/2003).

Christopher Coll (Stubbs) Jan 28 1938 to May 29 2021
Doctor Who credits
Played: Phipps in The Seeds of Death (1969)
Played: Stubbs in The Mutants (1972)
Career highlights
Debuting in The Big Pull (1962), Christopher's career saw appearances in Emergency Ward 10 (1962), United! (1965-66, as Dave Rockway), Adam Adamant Lives! (1966), Mr Rose (1968), Follyfoot (1971), Warship (1973), The Naked Civil Servant (1975), Sam and the River (1975), Grange Hill (1978), Shoestring (1979), Strangers (1982), Whoops Apocalypse (1986) and The Bill (1994). His most memorable roles were as Detective Constable Kane in Z Cars (1967-68) and stationery magnate Victor Pendlebury in Coronation Street (1982-92).
Facts
His wife was actress Elizabeth Weaver, who played Dr Anne Tarrant in Doomwatch (1970-72).

Garrick Hagon (Ky) Born Sep 27 1939
Doctor Who credits
Played: Ky in The Mutants (1972)
Played: Abraham in A Town Called Mercy (2012)
Career highlights
Garrick's earliest showbiz work was as a host of the series Junior Magazine (1959-60), followed by acting work in Encounter (1959), The Hired Gun (1961), The Forest Rangers (1964), The Gingham Dog (1970), Antony and Cleopatra (1972), The Adventurer (1972-73, as Gavin Jones), Moonbase 3 (1973, as Bruno Ponti), Colditz (1974), Couples (1975-76), The Message (1976), Star Wars (1977), A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), The XYY Man (1977), Lillie (1978), Oppenheimer (1980), Stookie (1985), Cry Freedom (1987), Batman (1989), Moomin (1990), Love Hurts (1992), Fatherland (1994), Balto (1995), Mission Impossible (1996), Spy Game (2001), The Magnificent Ambersons (2002), The Jacket (2005), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), The Line of Beauty (2006), The Walker (2007), Is Anybody There? (2008), Me and Orson Welles (2008), Ninja (2009), RED 2 (2013), Wallander (2015), Undercover (2016), The Crown (2016), The Current War (2017) and The Haunting of Margam Castle (2020).
Facts
His scenes as Luke Skywalker's friend Biggs Darklighter in Star Wars were largely deleted, but they can be seen in later DVD editions. He has his own audio production business, The Story Circle. Garrick is married to actor Liza Ross, while his brother is Australian actor and TV host Rex Hagon.

John Hollis (Sondergaard) Nov 12 1927 to Oct 18 2005 (natural causes)
Career highlights
John's earliest work was in the 1958 TV movie You're a Long Time Dead, followed by the role of Kaufman in both A for Andromeda (1961) and The Andromeda Breakthrough (1962). Further work includes Bootsie and Snudge (1962), Dixon of Dock Green (1965), Legend of Death (1965), Boy Meets Girl (1967), four episodes of The Avengers (1963-68), The Onedin Line (1972), Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974), The Tomorrow People (1975), Superman (1978), Blake's 7 (1980), Flash Gordon (1980), Superman II (1980), The Day of the Triffids (1981), Badger Girl (1984), Superman IV (1987), Turn On to T-Bag (1988), The Great Kandinsky (1995) and Esther (1999). John may be most remembered as Lando Calrissian's silent aide Lobot in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in For Your Eyes Only (1981) - he went uncredited due to a dispute between the filmmakers and the owners of the character.
Facts
His first wife was fellow actor Gabrielle Hamilton, with whom he had a daughter, Sarah Hollis Andrews (who appeared in 1975's The Secret Garden, aged 13).

Peter Howell (Investigator) Oct 25 1919 to Apr 20 2015
Career highlights
Prolific Peter's most memorable role was playing Dr Peter Harrison in more than 150 episodes of Emergency Ward 10 (1958-67); other work included The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1952), A Casual Affair (1960), Tarzan the Magnificent (1960), Watch Your Stern (1961), Espionage (1963), The Avengers (1965), The Prisoner (1967), Elizabeth R (1971), The Ten Commandments (1971), Freewheelers (1973), Edward the Seventh (1975), Scum (1977), The Mill on the Floss (1978-79), Love in a Cold Climate (1980), Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983), A.D. (1985), The One Game (1988), Harry Enfield's Television Programme (1990), Shadowlands (1993), The Good Sex Guide (1994), Emma (1996), Hippies (1999), Being Dom Joly (2001) and The Libertine (2004).
Facts
Sir Ian McKellen is godfather to Peter's daughter Tamara. Peter was instrumental in raising the funds to build the Watermans Arts Centre in Brentford. Peter served under Field Marshal Montgomery in North Africa during World War Two, but was invalided out of the Army in 1943 with dysentery. He was also a very political person, being a staunch Labour Party supporter, campaigner for the lowering of the homosexual age of consent, and campaigner against the England cricket team's tour of Apartheid South Africa in 1968.

Rick James (Cotton) Oct 10 1939 to Sep 24 2018 (multiple organ failure)
Career highlights
Further work includes In the Beautiful Caribbean (1972), A Life is Forever (1972), Dixon of Dock Green (1972) and Blake's 7 (1981).
Facts
Born in Antigua and Barbuda, Rick (real name George) moved to San Francisco in 1961, aged 22, and became an actor. In later years, Rick moved back to live in Antigua, and worked there as an award-winning costume designer, a playwright and even a magistrates' court reporter. He also helped establish the Free and Fair Elections League, and ran as a political candidate in 1999. On September 18th, 2018, Rick checked himself into Mount St John's Medical Centre in Antigua complaining of feeling unwell. A week later, he passed away.

Sidney Johnson (Old man) Apr 29 1904 to May 3 1990
Career highlights
Debuted in Crossroads (1964), then Barnaby Spoot and the Exploding Whoopee Cushion (1965), Z Cars (1967), A Nice Girl Like Me (1969), Dead of Night (1972), The Venturers (1975), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978), Runners (1983) and Little Dorrit (1987).

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

James Mellor (Varan) Feb 4 1933 to Jan 28 1976
Doctor Who credits
Played: Sean Flannigan in The Wheel in Space (1968)
Played: Varan in The Mutants (1972)
Career highlights
James' debut was in Eugene O'Neill: Three Plays of the Sea (1960), followed by The Madhouse on Castle Street (1963), The Man in Room 17 (1965), Marat/ Sade (1967), The Oblong Box (1969), The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), Doomwatch (1972), The Edwardians (1972), The Regiment (1973), Last of the Summer Wine (1973), On the Game (1974), Churchill's People (1975) and Moll Flanders (1975).
Facts
James died at the age of just 42. His friend Peter O'Toole organised his funeral and wake, as well as a memorial event at the Old Vic in aid of his young family.

Geoffrey Palmer (Administrator) Jun 4 1927 to Nov 5 2020
Doctor Who credits
Played: Masters in Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970)
Played: Administrator in The Mutants (1972)
Played: Captain Hardaker in Voyage of the Damned (2007)
Career highlights
Frighteningly prolific Geoffrey made his debut in St Ives in 1955, followed by roles in The Killing Stones (1958), Police Surgeon (1960), The Army Game (1959-60), The Odd Man (1960), Incident at Midnight (1963), Bootsie and Snudge (1960-63), The Saint (1963), The Baron (1966), Mrs Thursday (1967), Z Cars (1969), Now, Take My Wife (1971), Colditz (1972-73), Edward the Seventh (1975), Bill Brand (1976), The Sweeney (1978), Fawlty Towers (1979), Whoops Apocalypse (1982), Death of an Expert Witness (1983), Clockwise (1986), Executive Stress (1986), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), Blackadder Goes Forth (1989), The Madness of King George (1994), Mrs Brown (1997), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The Savages (2001), Stig of the Dump (2002), Dickens (2002), He Knew He Was Right (2004), Ashes to Ashes (2008), The Pink Panther 2 (2009), Lost Christmas (2011), Rev (2011), The Hollow Crown (2012), Parade's End (2012), Paddington (2014) and An Unquiet Life (2020). Geoffrey's curmudgeonly face will be best recognised for his recurring roles of Jimmy Anderson in the sitcoms The Fall and Rise and Reginald Perrin (1976-79) and its sequel The Legacy of Reginald Perrin (1996), Leo Bannister in The Last Song (1981-83), Ben in sitcom Butterflies (1978-83) and the 2000 reunion special, Major Harry Kitchener Wellington Truscott in Fairly Secret Army (1984-86), Harold Stringer in Hot Metal (1986/89) and Lionel Hardcastle in sitcom As Time Goes By (1992-2005).
Awards
2005: Officer of the order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama
Facts
In the 1980s Geoffrey was also known for his appearances in TV commercials for Scotch lamb ("Slam in the lamb"). Geoffrey's son is TV director Charles Palmer, who directed episodes of Doctor Who in 2007 and 2017. And there's another link to Doctor Who in that Charles's wife is actress Claire Skinner, who appeared in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe in 2011. Geoffrey recites Walter Kauffman's translation of Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy on the introduction to the 12" Fruitness mix of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1985).

Roy Pearce (Solos guard) Mar 2 1934 to Oct 7 1983
Doctor Who credits
Played: Guard in The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve (1966, uncredited)
Played: Soldier/ engineer in The Tenth Planet (1966, uncredited)
Played: Chameleon in The Faceless Ones (1967, uncredited)
Played: Cyberman in The War Games (1969, uncredited)
Played: Extra in Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970, uncredited)
Played: Villager in The Daemons (1971, uncredited)
Played: Solos guard in The Mutants (1972)
Played: Exxilon in Death to the Daleks (1974, uncredited)
Played: Courtier/ Brother in The Masque of Mandragora (1976, uncredited)
Career highlights
Roy's other work includes The Three Princes (1968), 20 episodes of Z Cars (1969-77, as an uncredited PC), The Shadow of the Tower (1972), Within These Walls (1975), Blake's 7 (1978) and Little Miss Perkins (1982).

George Pravda (Jaeger) Jun 19 1916 to May 1 1985
Doctor Who credits
Played: Denes in The Enemy of the World (1967-68)
Played: Jaeger in The Mutants (1972)
Played: Castellan Spandrell in The Deadly Assassin (1976)
Career highlights
Prague-born George's extensive career began with Muzi bez kridel (1946), followed by The Antlers (1947), Sailor of Fortune (1956), The Battle of the V-1 (1958), Jo's Boys (1959), The Avengers (1961), The Monsters (1962), Ring of Spies (1964), Thunderball (1965), The Prisoner (1967), Inspector Clouseau (1968), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), Department S (1970), Hadleigh (1971), Dracula (1973), Spy Trap (1973), QB VII (1974), The Duchess of Duke Street (1976), I, Claudius (1976), Sexton Blake and the Demon God (1978), Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), Strangers (1981-82), Chessgame (1983), Gulag (1985) and Cold War Killers (1986).
Facts
His wife was actress Hana Maria Pravda, best known as Emma Cohen in Survivors (1975). He was fluent in six languages, and sometimes acted on stage under the name Jiri Pravda (his birth name). His son is Dr Alex Pravda, an Emeritus Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford University.

Damon Sanders (Solos guard)
Career highlights
Australian born Damon's other credits include Roads to Freedom (1970), Doomwatch (1972), Silent Number (1974), Worzel Gummidge (1980), 1915 (1982), Golden Pennies (1985), The Time Guardian (1987), A Country Practice (1992), Golden Fiddles (1991/93) and Tracks of Glory (1994).

Jonathan Sherwood (Varan's son) Born Jun 8 1949
Career highlights
Jonathan's brief CV has the distinction of only including series with "Doctor" in the title, as he also appeared in Doctor At Large (1971) and Doctor in Charge (1972).

Facts

John has been a Christian pastor since the late 1970s, and in 2021 was arrested in Uxbridge, London, for preaching homophobic and anti-same sex marriage beliefs. He denied he was homophobic, only citing Biblical scripture.

Martin Taylor (Skybase guard)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Skybase guard in The Mutants (1972)
Played: Corporal Norton in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974)
Career highlights
Other work includes Love and Mr Lewisham (1972) and Frightmare (1974).

Paul Whitsun-Jones (Marshal) Apr 25 1923 to Jan 14 1974 (appendicitis)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Squire in The Smugglers (1966)
Played: Marshal in The Mutants (1972)
Career highlights
Paul's familiar face (and figure!) first graced our screens when he played James Fullalove in The Quatermass Experiment (1953), but viewers might also recognise him from Huntingtower (1957), The Moonraker (1958), Bonehead (1957-62, as the Boss), Tunes of Glory (1960), Doctor in Distress (1963), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), United! (1965), Mr Rose (1967), Wild, Wild Women (1969), Up Pompeii (1970), Elephant's Eggs in a Rhubarb Tree (1971), Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971), Jason King (1972), Follyfoot (1973) and Keep It Up, Jack (1975). Paul played Porthos in The Three Musketeers (1954), and was the original Mr Bumble in the stage musical Oliver! in 1960.

CREW

Bob Baker (writer) Jul 26 1939 to Nov 3 2021 Click here for Bob Baker's entry on The Claws of Axos

Dave Martin (writer) Jan 1 1935 to Mar 30 2007 (lung cancer) Click here for Dave Martin's entry on The Claws of Axos

Christopher Barry (director) Sep 20 1925 to Feb 7 2014 (following a fall) Click here for Christopher Barry's entry on The Daleks

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

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