Wednesday, July 30, 2014

The Ribos Operation

The Doctor (Tom Baker) meets his new
assistant, Romanadvoratrelundar
(Mary Tamm)
Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Sep 2 to 23 1978
Average audience for serial: 8.13m
  • A pictorial guide to the guest cast is at the bottom of this entry
REGULAR CAST

Tom Baker (The Doctor) Born Jan 20 1934 Click here for Tom Baker's entry on Robot

Mary Tamm (Romana) Mar 22 1950 to Jul 26 2012 (cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Romana in The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, The Stones of Blood, The Androids of Tara, The Power of Kroll, The Armageddon Factor (1978-79)
Career highlights
Mary's earliest TV was Hunter's Walk (1973), followed by The Donati Conspiracy (1973), Tales That Witness Madness (1973), Coronation Street (1973/2002), A Raging Calm (1974), The Odessa File (1974), The Girls of Slender Means (1975), Whodunnit? (1975), The Likely Lads (1976), Return of the Saint (1978), Rampage (1978), Only When I Laugh (1981), Jane Eyre (1983), Bergerac (1984), The Hello Goodbye Man (1984), Three Kinds of Heat (1987), Poirot (1989), Perfect Scoundrels (1991), Crime Traveller (1997), The New Adventures of Robin Hood (1997), Sorted (2000), Amazons and Gladiators (2001), Jonathan Creek (2001), Paradise Heights (2002), Twisted Tales (2005), Holby City (2006), Diamond Geezer (2007), Wire in the Blood (2008), Doghouse (2009) and EastEnders (2009). Mary had a regular role in soap Brookside (1993-96) as Penny Crosbie, and also played Jill Fraser in two series - The Assassination Run (1980) and The Treachery Game (1981). Mary reprised the role of Romana for Big Finish's audio plays from 2005.
Facts
Mary's first language was Estonian, and she didn't learn English until she started school. Tragically, Mary's husband Marcus Ringrose collapsed and died on August 7th 2012, just hours after returning from his wife's funeral, and 12 days since Mary's death. Initial reports suggested a heart attack, but a post mortem could find no evidence of this - his heart had simply stopped beating (Sudden Adult Death Syndrome). He was sitting at his computer writing thank you letters to people who had passed on their condolences since Mary's passing. The double tragedy left their daughter Lauren, 32, and grandson Max, seven.

John Leeson (Voice of K-9) Born Mar 16 1943 Click here for John Leeson's entry on The Invisible Enemy

GUEST CAST

Timothy Bateson (Binro) Apr 3 1926 to Sep 16 2009
Career highlights
The enormously prolific Timothy's earliest screen credit was in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby in 1947, after which he appeared in The Outsider (1948), White Corridors (1951), Richard III (1955), The Adventures of Peter Simple (1957), Mother Courage and Her Children (1959), The Mouse That Roared (1959), Barnaby Rudge (1960), The Girl on the Boat (1961), The Unstoppable Man (1961), No Place Like Homicide! (1961), Ring-a-Ding Rhythm! (1962), Crooks Anonymous (1962), Nightmare (1964), The Knack... and How to Get It (1965), Champion House (1967), Torture Garden (1967), The Anniversary (1968), Twisted Nerve (1968), The Italian Job (1969), Shine a Light (1970), Both Ends Meet (1972), The Dick Emery Show (1976), All Creatures Great and Small (1978), Famous Five (1978-79), Chintz (1981), Grange Hill (1980-82), Ever Decreasing Circles (1984), Chelmsford 123 (1988), Morris Minor's Marvellous Motors (1989), 2Point4 Children (1992), Zorro (1990-93), Paul Merton's Life of Comedy (1995), Neverwhere (1996), Les Miserables (1998), Relic Hunter (2001), Barbara (2002), Midsomer Murders (1998-99/2005), My Hero (2006), Hogfather (2006) and Kreacher in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).
Facts
Timothy's father was prestigious solicitor Sir Dingwall "Dingo" Latham Bateson, sometime financial advisor to Noel Coward, while his mother's father was composer Walter Galpin Alcock, who had the distinction of playing the organ at the coronation of three British monarchs (Edward VII, George V and George VI). Timothy's wife was actress Sheila Shand Gibbs.

Iain Cuthbertson (Garron) Jan 4 1930 to Sep 4 2009
Career highlights
Iain's screen debut came in 1957's The Boy David, followed by roles in 1960's Para Handy - Master Mariner, Storm in a Teacup (1962), Adam Adamant Lives! (1966), The Avengers (1969), Department S (1970), The Railway Children (1970), Tom Brown's Schooldays (1971), The Chastity Belt (1971), The Stone Tape (1972), Scotch on the Rocks (1973), Caesar and Cleopatra (1976), Children of the Stones (1977), Survivors (1977), The Standard (1978), Danger UXB (1979), The Walls of Jericho (1981), Vice Versa (1981), The Assam Garden (1985), Bulman (1987), Gorillas in the Mist (1988), Scandal (1989), Rab C Nesbitt (1988/90/92), Seaforth (1994), The Tales of Para Handy (1995), The Baldy Man (1997), Brotherly Love (2000) and Strictly Sinatra (2001). He is indelibly linked with the roles of Charlie Endell in both Budgie (1971-72) and Charles Endell Esq (1979-80), as well as John Sutherland in Sutherland's Law (1973-76). He also had a regular role as Sir Walter Ker of Cessford in The Borderers (1968-70) and baddie Scunner Campbell in Super Gran (1985-87).
Facts
Iain suffered a serious stoke in January 1982, leaving him with speech loss and partial paralysis, and which led to him giving up stage acting. But after an 18-month recovery period he returned to TV acting as he had the opportunity of multiple takes which were not possible on stage. His first wife was actress Anne Kristen. As associate director of the Royal Court in 1965, Iain had been cautioned by the police for staging Edward Bond's Saved, with its notorious scene of a baby being stoned in a pram. His support of the play led to pressure for the 1968 Theatres Act and the abolition of stage censorship. Iain's father was medical researcher and nutritionist Sir David Cuthbertson (who co-founded the saline drip), in whose name the annual Cuthbertson Medal is awarded to promising young scientists, and the annual Sir David Cuthbertson Lectures are held at the Nutrition Society's Winter Meeting.

John Hamill (Shrieve) Born May 3 1947
Career highlights
John's other work includes A Dandy in Aspic (1968), The Beast in the Cellar (1970), Trog (1970), The Shadow of the Tower (1972), Horror on Snape Island (1972), The National Health (1973), Crossroads (1972-73), Space: 1999 (1975), Under the Bed (1977), The Dick Emery Christmas Show (1977), The Professionals (1978) and Black Sun (1978).
Facts
John left acting in the late 1970s as he wasn't making enough money, and opened his own pine furniture shop. One of the ways he tried to make a living acting in the 1970s was the ubiquitous sex movie, one of which he tried to direct and star in himself - Doing the Best I Can (1975) - which he never finished, but the making of which was chronicled in the Man Alive documentary Xploitation (interestingly, in 1995, David McGillivray claimed the Man Alive documentary was mostly a "pack of lies"). Years later, John said: "The sex movies ruined my career. But you know how it is, I was out of work, the birds were smashing, and I've always been a born flasher". As a "born flasher", he was referring to his earlier career in the 1960s as a physique model and bodybuilder (one of the first to pose nude in the UK), appearing on the cover of various beefcake publications and in 8mm "posing strap" films (here's one example of him stripping out of a leather/ PVC outfit). He also appeared in both straight and gay pornographic movies. Here he is shirtless and nude.

Prentis Hancock (Captain) Born May 14 1942
Doctor Who credits
Played: Second reporter in Spearhead from Space (1970)
Played: Vaber in Planet of the Daleks (1973)
Played: Salamar in Planet of Evil (1975)
Played: Captain in The Ribos Operation (1978)
Career highlights
Prentis debuted in Dr Finlay's Casebook (1969), then became prolific in the 1970s in series such as The Last of the Mohicans (1971), Z Cars (1971), The Shadow of the Tower (1972), Colditz (1973), The Protectors (1973), Life and Death of Penelope (1976), The New Avengers (1976), Survivors (1977), Return of the Saint (1979) and Secret Army (1979), followed by roles in Fox (1980), The House on the Hill (1981), Kim (1984), Defence of the Realm (1986), Bergerac (1989), Bodyguards (1997), CI5: The New Professionals (1999) and Outlander (2014). He may also be recognised as Lieutenant Saunders in Spy Trap (1972-73), Paul Morrow in Space: 1999 (1975-76) and Arnold Meyer in Chocky's Children (1985) and Chocky's Challenge (1986).
Facts
In 2010 Prentis wrote a children's book called Hotshot - A Chilling Tale.
In 2015 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Prentis here.

Robert Keegan (Sholakh) Dec 3 1924 to Jan 16 1988
Career highlights
Robert's earliest screen role was also the one he enjoyed most exposure with, playing Sergeant Bob Blackitt in over 100 episodes of Z Cars (1962-65) and then in Softly Softly (1966-67). After leaving the police franchise in May 1967, Robert found work in Julius Caesar (1970), All the Right Noises (1971), Straw Dogs (1971), Frenzy (1972), Endless Night (1972), Lizzie Dripping (1973), A Little Bit of Wisdom (1976), The Children of the New Forest (1977), Airline (1982), A Kind of Loving (1982), Crown Court (1983), Brookside (1985) and Business As Usual (1988). He also had three other regular roles, as Will Tarrant in The First Lady (1968-69), Horace Harris in sitcom Beryl's Lot (1973-77) and Maurice Froggitt in Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt (1976-77).

Cyril Luckham (White Guardian) Jul 25 1907 to Feb 8 1989 (heart attack)
Doctor Who credits
Played: White Guardian in The Ribos Operation (1978), Enlightenment (1983)
Career highlights
Cyril's earliest credit was in Query (1945), then The Poppenkast (1952), Immediate Disaster (1954), Out of the Clouds (1955), The End Begins (1956), How to Murder a Rich Uncle (1957), An Age of Kings (1960), Coronation Street (1960-61), Invasion Quartet (1961), Some People (1962), Billy Budd (1962), No Cloak No Dagger (1963), The Great War (1984), The Alphabet Murders (1965), The Forsyte Saga (1967), Angel Pavement (1967), Happy Deathday (1968), Ryan International (1970), On Trial (1970), he Guardians (1971), Scotch on the Rocks (1973), Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973-74), The Venturers (1975), The Lively Arts (1978), Return of the Saint (1979), The Omega Factor (1979), To Serve Them All My Days (1980-81), L for Lester (1982), The Barchester Chronicles (1982), Hallelujah! (1984), In Loving Memory (1986) and The Houseman's Tale (1987). Cyril also had a regular role as Charles Ashley in The Cedar Tree (1976-77).
Facts
Thomas Hardy fan Cyril was married to actress Violet Lamb, with whom he performed recitals at festivals and National Trust properties until his death. Cyril's son Robert Luckham appeared in The Power of the Daleks.

Oliver Maguire (Shrieve) Died Jan 10 2012
Career highlights
Oliver's earliest work was in The Sugar Cubes (1966), followed by Paul Temple (1971), The Fenn Street Gang (1971), Father Brown (1974), Hennessy (1975), The Ash Tree (1975), The XYY Man (1977), The Tomorrow People (1979), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Educating Rita (1983), Cover Her face (1985), Hidden Agenda (1990), In the Name of the Father (1993), The Hanging Gale (1995), Ballykissangel (1996), The Boxer (1997), Angela's Ashes (1999), Bloody Sunday (2002), Omagh (2004) and Pure Mule (2005).

Nigel Plaskitt (Unstoffe) Born Jul 27 1950
Career highlights
Nigel's acting career began with Warship in 1976, after which he took roles in Spy Story (1976), Young at Heart (1981), The Cleopatras (1983) and The Pickwick Papers (1985). However, he has been most successful as a puppeteer, working on the likes of Pipkins (1973-81), Spitting Image (1985-91), Labyrinth (1986), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Round the Bend! (1988), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), Muppet Treasure Island (1996), Potamus Park (1997), Lost in Space (1998), Mopatop's Shop (2000), The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Bunnytown (2007), That Puppet Game Show (2013-14) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014), as well as providing various voices for the animated Captain Scarlet (2005) and puppeteering for TV commercials such as the ITV Digital/ PG Tips Monkey, and the Gorillaz live show Demon Days (2005).
Facts
Nigel is also the consultant for many touring live shows involving puppets, including Peppa Pig and Avenue Q. He might also be remembered as playing Malcolm in a series of TV commercials for Vicks Sinex nasal spray in the 1980s.

Paul Seed (Graff Vynda-K) Born Sep 18 1947
Career highlights
Paul started out as an actor but later went into directing. His other acting credits include Doomwatch (1972), The Double Dealers (1974), Survivors (1977), The Human Factor (1979), Escape (1980) and Tales of the Unexpected (1982), after which he moved behind the camera on productions such as Belles (1983), The Man from Moscow (1985), Fighting Back (1986), House of Cards (1990), To Play the King (1993), Have Your Cake and Eat It (1997), Murder Rooms (2000), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (2002), New Tricks (2004), Lark Rise to Candleford (2010), Just William (2010), Blandings (2013) and Doc Martin (2011-13).
Awards
1999: BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama (A Rather English Marriage) - with Jo Willett and Andrew Davies
1999: Royal Television Society Award for Best Single Drama (A Rather English Marriage)
2001: International Emmy Award for Best Drama (Dirty Tricks) - with Jo Willett
2011: BAFTA Children's Award for Best Drama (Just William) - with John Chapman
Facts
Paul is married to actress Elizabeth Cassidy. Here he is, on Twitter!

Ann Tirard (The Seeker) Jun 5 1917 to Aug 12 2003
Doctor Who credits
Played: Locusta in The Romans (1965)
Played: The Seeker in The Ribos Operation (1978)
Career highlights
Ann's earliest credit was on Nathaniel Titlark (1957), then Violent Playground (1958), Emergency Ward 10 (1960), The Avengers (1961), Let's Go Out (1965), Witchfinder General (1968), Rogues' Gallery (1969), Jane Eyre (1973), Crossroads (1966-67), Within These Walls (1976-78), Schalcken the Painter (1979), Moonlighting (1982), The Witches (1990) and Devil's Advocate (1995).
Facts
Ann was married to actor William Lyon-Brown.

CREW

Robert Holmes (writer) Apr 2 1926 to May 24 1986 (chronic liver ailment) Click here to see Robert Holmes's entry on The Krotons

George Spenton-Foster (director) Nov 11 1926 to Dec 26 1993
Doctor Who credits
Directed: Image of the Fendahl (1977), The Ribos Operation (1978)
Career highlights
After starting out as a call boy on The Quatermass Experiment in 1953, George's directing CV begins with Dr Finlay's Casebook in 1963, and also includes Londoners (1965), Out of the Unknown (1965/66), Paul Temple (1971), The Brothers (1972), Survivors (1977), Blake's 7 (1979) and Cribb (1981). George also acted as associate producer on the sci-fi anthology series Out of the Unknown between 1965-67, and produced Boy Meets Girl (1967), Thirty-Minute Theatre (1967-68) and The Link Men (1970).
Facts
In 1982, George walked off the set of new soap Brookside because of bad language in the scripts. It is believed he died through alcoholism.

Graham Williams (producer) May 24 1945 to Aug 17 1990 (shooting incident) Click here for Graham Williams's entry on Horror of Fang Rock

Anthony Read (script editor) Apr 21 1935 to Nov 21 2015 Click here for Anthony Read's entry on Underworld

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