Underworld

The Doctor (Tom Baker) shows his
artistic side to Leela (Louise Jameson)

Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Jan 7 to 28 1978
Average audience for serial: 9.65m

REGULAR CAST

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

Louise Jameson (Leela) Born Apr 20 1951 Click here for Louise Jameson's entry on The Face of Evil

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

GUEST CAST

Imogen Bickford-Smith (Tala) Born Jul 3 1953
Career highlights
Imogen's other work includes Jubilee (1977), Fawlty Towers (1979), Minder (1980), CATS Eyes (1985) and A Fish Called Wanda (1988).
Facts
At the time Underworld was aired, Imogen's agent rather naughtily began touting the actress as Louise Jameson's replacement as the Doctor's companion. She wasn't. In 2009 Imogen sought information from the Rural Payments Agency about claims for subsidies in the New Forest, UK. The Information Commissioner decided that, "on the balance of probabilities", the Agency did not hold the information she required, and declined the request, adding that the information may be classed as "personal data". This led in 2010 to Imogen appealing against the Commissioner's decision, the result being that some of the requested information should be released (but not all). Imogen then appealed against this decision to the Upper Tribunal, but this was unsuccessful. In 2016, a Department for Education professional conduct panel ruled that a 39-year-old teacher working in Hampshire called Charles Bickford-Smith was prohibited from teaching after engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a female pupil (an allegation he denied).

Jimmy Gardner (Idmon) Aug 24 1924 to May 3 2010
Doctor Who credits
Played: Chenchu in Marco Polo (1964)
Played: Idmon in Underworld (1979)
Career highlights
Jimmy first appeared in Tyger's Hart (1954), then Stranger in the City (1962), The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964), The Elusive Pimpernel (1969), 10 Rillington Place (1971), The XYY Man (1977), Coronation Street (1978), The Company of Wolves (1984), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Martin Chuzzlewit (1994), My Hero (2002), Finding Neverland (2004) and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005). He played Ernie Prang, driver of the Knight Bus, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004).
Facts
His father Teddy was a jockey and came second in the 1923 Epsom Derby.

Godfrey James (Tarn) Apr 16 1931 to Oct 29 2019
Career highlights
Prolific Godfrey's CV begins with The Avengers (1961) and takes in Out of this World (1962), The Amorous Mr Prawn (1962), Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), The Forsyte Saga (1967), Witchfinder General (1968), The Oblong Box (1969), Department S (1969), Cry of the Banshee (1970), UFO (1970), Trial (1971), Menace (1973), The Lotus Eaters (1973), The Terracotta Horse (1973), The Boy with Two Heads (1974), At the Earth's Core (1976), The Basil Brush Show (1977), Kidnapped (1978), The Aphrodite Inheritance (1979), Turtle's Progress (1980), In Loving Memory (1982), Hart to Hart (1984), The Tripods (1985), Oliver Twist (1985), Gems (1988), Maigret (1992), The Good Guys (1993), Chris Cross (1995), Leapin' Leprachauns! (1995), Crime Traveller (1997) and The Infinite World of HG Wells (2001). He regularly played Harry Mowlam in soap Emmerdale Farm between 1983-86.
Facts
In October 2015, Godfrey's home in Eastbourne was raided by burglars, who stole an 18-carat gold fob watch, an Omega watch and a carriage clock.

Frank Jarvis (Ankh) May 13 1941 to Sep 15 2010
Doctor Who credits
Played: Corporal in The War Machines (1966)
Played: Ankh in Underworld (1978)
Played: Skart in The Power of Kroll (1978-79)
Career highlights
Frank's extensive career began in 1962's Mix Me a Person, then That Kind of Girl (1963), Adam Adamant Lives! (1966), Z Cars (1967), The Italian Job (1969), Callan (1972), The Brothers (1974), Poldark (1975), Warship (1976-77, as Burnett), Grange Hill (1978), The Professionals (1978/79), Juliet Bravo (1981), Jenny's War (1985), Lovejoy (1992), EastEnders (2000), Catterick (2004), The Penalty King (2006) and Dear Father (2009).
Facts
The theme tune to The Italian Job, Self Preservation Society aka Get a Bloomin' Move On, was played at Frank's funeral.

Alan Lake (Herrick) Nov 24 1940 to Oct 10 1984 (suicide)
Career highlights
Alan debuted in 1964's The Midnight Men, after which he found roles in Cluff (1965), Orlando (1966), Charlie Bubbles (1967), The Avengers (1966/68), A Bit of Crucifixion, Father (1968), The Contenders (1969), Layout for 5 Models (1972), It's Not the Size that Counts (1974), The Amorous Milkman (1975), The Playbirds (1978), Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair (1979), Blake's 7 (1980), Hart to Hart (1983), Don't Open Till Christmas (1984) and Lytton's Diary (1985).
Facts
Alan - who between 1970-71 served 12 months of an 18-month prison sentence for his involvement in a pub brawl - was married to British film star Diana Dors between 1968 and her death, and with whom he had a son, Jason Dors Lake. In 1970 he recorded a cover of Harry Nilsson's Good Times as a single. In 1972 Alan fell off a horse and broke his back, and for a time it was thought he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life (he was actually on his feet again within three weeks!). The pain from his recovery drove Alan to drink and he began hallucinating and suffering psychotic episodes. He managed to kick the addiction thanks to Catholicism, but fell off the wagon again in 1975 when Diana Dors miscarried. When Diana died of cancer in May 1984, Alan became depressed, and on October 10th, after dropping son Jason off at the railway station, he went home and shot himself in the head in his son's bedroom. It was 16 years to the day since he and Diana had first met on the set of The Inquisitors. Alan's friend, the actor Lionel Jeffries, once claimed Alan killed himself because he had developed a brain tumour. Dors apparently hid away what she claimed to be over £2m in various banks across Europe. In 1982, she gave her son Mark Dawson a sheet of paper, on which was a code that would reveal the whereabouts of the money. Alan Lake supposedly had the key that would crack the code, but as he had committed suicide, Dawson was left with an apparently unsolvable code - one which still hasn't been fully cracked to this day.

James Marcus (Rask) Born Jun 23 1942
Doctor Who credits
Played: Peasant in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974)
Played: Rask in Underworld (1978)
Career highlights
James debuted in Hello, Good Evening and Welcome (1968), and later The Virgin Soldiers (1969), A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Chinese Puzzle (1974), The Naked Civil Servant (1975), Let's Get Laid (1978), Grandad (1980-84, as Bert Bamford), McVicar (1980), The Chinese Detective (1981), Mitch (1984), King of the Ghetto (1986), Pulaski (1987), Dodgem (1991), Woof! (1992/95), Lovejoy (1993), Heartbeat (1995) and The Last Detective (2005). He also played series regular Sidney Tate in London's Burning (1986-90) and wrote and directed the Ray Winstone film Tank Malling (1989).
Facts
Mega-trivia: James's sister-in-law is also actor Roy Marsden's sister-in-law (ie, his wife's sister is married to Roy's brother!). James (born Brian James) started out as a rock 'n' roll musician in the late 1950s/ early 60s before training as a printer.

James Maxwell (Jackson) Mar 23 1929 to Aug 18 1995
Career highlights
American-born James made his screen debut in Julius Caesar (1949), followed by roles in productions such as Othello (1955), Twelfth Night (1957), The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (1959), Danton's Death (1959), Antigone (1959), Design for Loving (1962), Private Potter (1962), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), The Hidden Truth (1964), An Enemy of the State (1965), The Power Game (1965-66), The Avengers (1964/67), The Portrait of a Lady (1968), Frontier (1968), Manhunt (1970), Doomwatch (1971), The Shadow of the Tower (1972), Hadleigh (1973), Call My Bluff (1973), Raffles (1975), Oppenheimer (1980), Bognor (1981), Bergerac (1987) and Doctor Finlay (1994).
Facts
James was married to actress Avril Elgar and in 1976 was a founding member and artistic director (from 1977-94) of the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre Company - and according to the supernatural entertainment programme Most Haunted (2006), his spirit haunts the theatre!

Jay Neill (Klimt) May 21 1932 to Jun 14 2006
Doctor Who credits
Played: Guard in The Enemy of the World (1967-68, uncredited)
Played: Policeman in Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970, uncredited)
Played: Pikeman in The Masque of Mandragora (1976)
Played: Silvey in The Invisible Enemy (1977)
Played: Klimt in Underworld (1978)
Career highlights
Jay's career began in Softly Softly (1968), then The First Lady (1969), Trial (1971), Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973), Not on Your Nellie (1975), Fawlty Towers (1975), The Emigrants (1976), Edward and Mrs Simpson (1978), The Dick Emery Show (1979), Yes, Minister (1981), Terry and June (1982), Sorry! (1985) and Kit Curran (1986).
Facts
Between 1958-63 Jay was a member of the Dior Dancers variety act, which specialised in apache/ adagio aerobatic dance and reached great success, including in Las Vegas and at the 1960 Royal Variety Performance (he's the leaner one on the right!).

Jonathan Newth (Orfe) Born Mar 6 1939
Career highlights
Jonathan's earliest role was uncredited in Carry On Spying (1964), followed by Coronation Street (1967), The Man in the Iron Mask (1968), The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), Ace of Wands (1971), Pretenders (1972), Napoleon and Love (1974), Notorious Woman (1974), Poldark (1975), An Englishman's Castle (1978), The Squad (1980), The Nightmare Man (1981), The Day of the Triffids (1981), Champions (1984), Tenko (1981/84), Great Expectations (1991), Casualty (1996), Bugs (1997), EastEnders (2000), Heartbeat (2004/08), Doctors (2010). The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies (2014), Maigret (2017) and The Crown (2016-17). Regular roles include Charles Booth in Emergency Ward 10 (1964-65), Nicholas Fox in The Brothers (1973-74), Roger Powell in Triangle (1982) and Russell Bryant in sitcom After Henry (1988-92).

Christine Pollon (Voice of the Oracle) 1927 to Aug 29 2012
Career highlights
Debuted in Sixpenny Corner as Grete Edler (1955-56), then Dead Giveaway (1957), How Green Was My Valley (1960), Romeo and Juliet (1962), Imperial Palace (1969), Two Women (1973), Moody and Pegg (1975), Angels (1981), She-Wolf of London (1990) and Dandelion Dead (1994). Christine enjoyed several recurring roles, as Janet Ellis in 91 episodes of soap Compact (1962-65), as Joan Riley in The Doctors (1970-71), as Aunt Gwyneth in The Duchess of Duke Street (1976-77), as Mary Sutton in regional soap Together (1981) and as Dilys Humphries in The District Nurse (1987).
Facts
Christine was married to actor Donald Hewlett, but in the early 1950s was the subject of an infatuation by British comedian Ronnie Barker.

Richard Shaw (Lakh) Nov 19 1920 to Apr 11 2010
Doctor Who credits
Played: Lobos in The Space Museum (1965)
Played: Cross in Frontier in Space (1973)
Played: Lakh in Underworld (1978)
Career highlights
Richard's career began uncredited in Johnny Comes Flying Home (1946) and included roles in Black Orchid (1953), Man from Tangier (1957), Quatermass and the Pit (1958), Sir Francis Drake (1962), 633 Squadron (1964), Carry On Don't Lose Your Head (1966), Market in Honey Lane (1968-69), The Onedin Line (1976), The Sandbaggers (1978), Coronation Street (1980), Matlock (1987) and Young Toscanini (1988). He regularly played Ryan in Freewheelers (1971).
Facts
In interview, Richard said: "Bill Hartnell was a long standing friend and we had worked together many times. When I played Lobos I sustained a severe blow to my left eye which caused some problems for the first episodes but we had to carry on." Two years after Richard's death, someone called Sven posted this credulity-stretching comment on Toby Hadoke's obituary for him (did Richard really believe in alien lizards and UFOs?).

Stacey Tendeter (Naia) Jun 21 1949 to Oct 26 2008 (breast cancer)
Career highlights
Stacey debuted in Uncle Vanya (1970) and then took roles in Two English Girls (1971), Spyder's Web (1972), The Pallisers (1974), Boy Dominic (1976), Prisoners of Conscience (1981), Jury (1983), Run for the Lifeboat (1988) and The Bill (1994).
Facts
In 2009, Stacey's widower Andy Elton paid tribute to his wife: "I met Stacey at school 46 years ago and we remained married for 38 of those years. Stacey fought her cancer courageously and fiercely, but the last two years were extremely difficult. She became very weak and unable even to move in bed by herself, but her courage never left her. She said: "I would rather be alive like this than not alive at all." Her work lives on and she will live with me forever."

Norman Tipton (Idas)
Career highlights
Norman's other work includes Angels (1976), Blake's 7 (1978), Rings on Their Fingers (1978), Horse in the House (1979), The Dick Emery Show (1979), Two Up, Two Down (1979), Yes Minister (1980), Shoestring (1980), The Last Song (1981/83), Emmerdale Farm (1986), Blind Justice (1988) and Virtual Murder (1992). He also played Norman Wallace in 26 episodes of Do It (1985-88), which he also wrote material for.

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

Norman Stewart (director) (deceased*)
Doctor Who credits
Production assistant: The Daleks (1963-64, uncredited), Planet of Giants (1964, uncredited), The Web Planet (1965, uncredited), The Savages (1966, uncredited), The Underwater Menace (1967, uncredited), Day of the Daleks (1972, uncredited), The Invisible Enemy (1977)
Directed: Underworld (1978), The Power of Kroll (1978-79)
Career highlights
Norman also directed episodes of The Newcomers (1967-69), The Omega Factor (1979), and Emmerdale (1980), but this strand of his CV was short-lived and he returned to being a production manager on series such as Bergerac (1983-84) and Tenko (1984) (it's spooky how his credits tend to be series featuring Louise Jameson!). *It is known that Norman has died.

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 (cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Script edited: Image of the Fendahl (uncredited), The Sun Makers (uncredited), Underworld, The Invasion of Time, The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, The Stones of Blood, The Androids of Tara, The Power of Kroll, The Armageddon Factor (1977-79)
Wrote: The Invasion of Time (1978, as David Agnew), The Horns of Nimon (1979-80)
Career highlights
Anthony's writing career began with episodes of Detective in 1962, followed by stints on This Man Craig (1967), Sherlock Holmes (1967), The Troubleshooters (1966-70), The Black Arrow (1974-75), Z Cars (1976-77), The Omega Factor (1979), Into the Labyrinth (1980), Sapphire and Steel (1981), the Chocky trilogy (1984-86), The Chief (1995), Heartbeat (1998) and Revelations (2002-03). He also acted as script editor on many of these series, as well as Hammer House of Horror (1980), and was producer on The Troubleshooters, The Lotus Eaters (1972) and The Dragon's Opponent (1973).
Facts
In later years Anthony has become an author and historian, concentrating on World War Two, often teaming up with Doctor Who colleague David Fisher, as well as writing prose based on his 1980s series The Baker Street Boys.
In 2015 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Anthony here.