Tuesday, August 19, 2014

The Horns of Nimon

The Nimon. And so soon after Erato
and the Mandrels...
Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Dec 22 1979 to Jan 12 1980
Average audience for serial: 8.75m

REGULAR CAST

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

Lalla Ward (Romana) Born Jun 28 1951 Click here for Lalla Ward's entry on The Armageddon Factor

David Brierly (Voice of K-9) 1935 to Jun 10 2008 (cancer) Click here for David Brierly's entry on The Creature from the Pit

GUEST CAST

Bob Appleby (Nimon) Jun 10 1944 to Feb 2 2015
Doctor Who credits
Played: Nimon in The Horns of Nimon (1979-80)
Played: Vervoid in The Trial of a Time Lord (1986)
Career highlights
Bob's other work includes Tucker's Luck (1984), Grange Hill (1985), The Lenny Henry Show (1987), A Taste for Death (1988), You Rang, M'Lord? (1988), The Tall Guy (1989), Sketch Pad (1989), One Foot in the Grave (1990) and The Bill (1996).
Facts
In the December 12th 1974 edition of the Bristol Evening Post, it was reported that Robert Hallas-Appleby (his real name) was fined £20 with £5 costs after assaulting his wife, running away, being caught by a police officer, then punching him twice in the stomach. Bob's wife declined to take any further action, and he was fined reflecting his previous good character.

John Bailey (Sezom) Jun 26 1912 to Feb 18 1989
Doctor Who credits
Played: Commander in The Sensorites (1964)
Played: Edward Waterfield in The Evil of the Daleks (1967)
Played: Sezom in The Horns of Nimon (1979-80)
Career highlights
Debuted as Till the End of Time (1946), then enjoyed roles in Romeo and Juliet (1947), It Happened in Soho (1948), The Night Won't Talk (1952), The Granville Melodramas (1955-56), The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957), Ivanhoe (1958/59), Ghost Squad (1963), Quick Before They Catch Us (1966), The Forsyte Saga (1967), The Champions (1969), Journey to the Unknown (1969), Steptoe and Son (1970), Van der Valk (1973), Thriller (1976), Return of the Saint (1978), Tales of the Unexpected (1983) and Personal Services (1987).
Facts
Alison Bailey has compiled a professional history for John (who was her father's first cousin) here.

Graham Crowden (Soldeed) Nov 30 1922 to Oct 19 2010
Career highlights
Graham's career stems from his appearance in Such is Life (1950), followed by appearances in The Last of Mrs Cheyney (1956), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1957), Destination Downing Street (1957), Charlesworth at Large (1958), The Eustace Diamonds (1959), Harpers West One (1961), One Way Pendulum (1964), HMS Paradise (1964), Dr Finlay's Casebook (1964-65), If... (1968), Jackanory (1969), Two in Clover (1970), Catweazle (1971), Up the Chastity Belt (1971), Casanova (1971), The Last Days of Man on Earth (1973), Rooms (1974), Star Maidens (1976), The Camerons (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981), The Cleopatras (1983), The Company of Wolves (1984), Out of Africa (1985), A Handful of Dust (1988), Thacker (1992), Love on a Branch Line (1994), Vanity Fair (1998), The 10th Kingdom (2000), Dr Terrible's House of Horrible (2001), Possession (2002), Calendar Girls (2003) and Foyle's War (2008). His most famous role was as Tom Ballard in the sitcom Waiting for God (1990-94), as well as Dr Jock McCannon in A Very Peculiar Practice (1986-88).
Facts
Graham (first name Clement) was originally offered the role of the Fourth Doctor but declined as he didn't want to be committed to one role. His wife was actor Phyllida Hewat, and their daughter is actress Sarah Crowden, who appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2007. Graham was invalided out of the Royal Scots Youth Battalion in 1942 after being accidentally shot by his platoon sergeant. In the early 2000s he was involved in an accident while cycling with his wife on the car-free island of Sark, and despite suffering a stroke in later life, Graham remained active, particularly in Equity affairs.

Janet Ellis (Teka) Born Sep 16 1955
Career highlights
Janet's acting work is minimal, her other roles being in The Spencer Side (1978), The Sweeney (1978), The Deceivers (1981), Waking the Dead (2001), Hotel Babylon (2009) and Different for Girls (2018). Janet is best known as a TV presenter, most notably on children's magazine programme Blue Peter (1983-87), but she also appeared on Jigsaw (1979-83). She went on to present Open Air for the BBC, and has since presented a huge range of programmes on topics such as gardens, cars, holidays, cookery and childcare, including Great Garden Challenge (2005) and Housebusters (2003-05).
Awards
2016: Member of the order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to charities and theatre
Facts
Janet's father was Mike Ellis, who worked as a visual effects designer for the BBC and was jointly responsible for the design, build and operation of the L1 robot in The Trial of a Time Lord. Janet's first husband was programme maker Robin Bextor, with whom she had a daughter, pop singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor (who is married to Richard Jones, bassist with band The Feeling). Janet's second husband is TV producer John Leach, whose son Jackson Leach was a child actor in the late 1990s, and daughter Martha Ellis-Leach is an art historian. In 2007 Janet appeared on the BBC's song-and-dance celebrity show Just the Two of Us, partnered with Alexander O'Neal.

Simon Gipps-Kent (Seth) Oct 25 1958 to Sep 16 1987 (morphine poisoning)
Career highlights
Simon started out as a child actor in O Fat White Woman (1971), then Thursday's Child (1972-73), Lost Hearts (1973), The Tomorrow People (1974), Great Expectations (1974), Edward the King (1975), The Firefighters (1975), Westway (1976), The Emigrants (1976), Midnight is a Place (1977-78), Orion (1977), A Traveller in Time (1978), Enemy at the Door (1978), The Devil's Crown (1978), Quadrophenia (1979), Kids (1979), Noah's Castle (1980), The Gentle Touch (1980), To Serve Them All My Days (1980), The Deceivers (1981), Metal Mickey (1982), The Black Adder (1982, the unaired pilot) and Eureka (1983). Simon, who auditioned for the role of Adric, also played Kenton Archer in BBC Radio's The Archers for a time.
Facts
Simon died of a drug overdose at the age of 28, recorded by the coroner as "misadventure". In 2012, Australian clairvoyant Alex Fulford claimed to have been contacted numerous times by Simon's spirit, which claimed he did not commit suicide, but was taking morphine for back pain. Fulford claimed to "see" an image of a man around Simon's age injecting the actor with a "powerful drug", then waiting in Simon's flat until he'd passed away (this man is apparently also "in spirit" with Simon). There are some unpleasant rumours on the internet involving Simon and his links with the actor Peter Arne, but I am uncomfortable about linking to them here.

Trevor St John Hacker (Nimon) Born 1945
Career highlights
Trevor's other credits include Romeo and Juliet (1976), Tucker's Luck (1985), Bluebell (1986), French Fields (1990), Red Dwarf (1992), Strange But True? (1995) and Firelight (1997).

Bob Hornery (Pilot) May 28 1931 to May 26 2015 (cancer)
Career highlights
Australian Bob debuted in Burst of Summer (1961), followed by Personally Yours (1962), The Magic Boomerang (1965), George and the Dragon (1966), Orlando (1968), The Ugliest Girl in Town (1969), Dad's Army (1973), Shelley (1979), Sapphire and Steel (1981), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), Snowy River: The McGregor Saga (1995), Mercury (1996), Thunderstone (1999), Virtual Nightmare (2000), Something in the Air (2000), Blue Heelers (1995-2002), Crackerjack (2002) and Legacy of the Silver Shadow (2002). He has also appeared in Australian soap Neighbours as Tom Kennedy (Karl's father) on and off between 1996-2007.
Facts
In 2010 Bob received the Australian Equity Lifetime Achievement Award.

Clifford Norgate (Voice of the Nimon) 1941 to Jan 4 2024
Doctor Who credits
Played: Voice of the Nimon in The Horns of Nimon (1979-80)
Played: Voice of the Generator in The Leisure Hive (1980)
Career highlights
Clifford's other credits include Adventure Weekly (1969), Dial M for Murder (1974), The Saliva Milkshake (1975) and 20 episodes of the children's computer game show Knightmare (1989-94) as Hordriss, as well as various other characters.
Facts
Clifford also read talking books for children, and sometimes visited primary schools as a storyteller.

Michael Osborne (Sorak) Born Nov 13 1947
Doctor Who credits
Played: Extra in The Myth Makers (1965, uncredited)
Played: Guardian in The Ark (1966, uncredited)
Played: Sorak in The Horns of Nimon (1979-80)
Career highlights
Michael made his debut in Softly Softly (1968), then Dad's Army (1968), Sinister Street (1969), The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), Crossroads (1971), Whodunnit? (1973), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Edward the King (1975), Couples (1975-76), Clayhanger (1976), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Secret Army (1979), The Latchkey Children (1980), Grandad (1980), Bergerac (1981), On the Line (1982), Grange Hill (1984) and In Sickness and in Health (1985). He also had a regular role as PC Newton in Dixon of Dock Green (1970-72).

Robin Sherringham (Nimon)
Career highlights
Robin's other credits are Out of the Unknown (1967, incidentally as the black version of the White Robots which would eventually turn up in The Mind Robber (1968)), The Edwardians (1973) and Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974).

Malcolm Terris (Co-pilot) Jan 11 1941 to Jun 6 2020
Doctor Who credits
Played: Etnin in The Dominators (1968)
Played: Co-Pilot in The Horns of Nimon (1979-80)
Career highlights
Malcolm's extensive career began with 1965's Othello, and includes The Informer (1967), Six Days of Justice (1972), Fall of Eagles (1974), Rooms (1974), The Stars Look Down (1975), The First Great Train Robbery (1979), Juliet Bravo (1981), By the Sword Divided (1983), Bleak House (1985), The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986), The Monocled Mutineer (1986), Chaplin (1992), Coronation Street (1994-98, as Eric Firman), Our Friends in the North (1996), Underworld (1997), Family Affairs (1998-99), ChuckleVision (2002), Emmerdale (2004), Elizabeth I (2005), Doctors (2008) and Midsomer Murders (2011). He also had a long-running role as Matt Headley in When the Boat Comes In (1976-77). Before going into acting, Malcolm was a reporter for a newspaper in Sunderland.

CREW

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

Kenny McBain (director) Jul 28 1946 to Apr 22 1989 (Hodgkin's disease)
Career highlights
Kenny's other directing work included A Family Affair (1979), The Omega Factor (1979), Mackenzie (1980), The Walls of Jericho (1981), Coronation Street (1981), Grange Hill (1983) and Why Do They Call It Good Friday? (1985), while he produced Maggie (1981), Grange Hill (1983-84), Boon (1986) and Inspector Morse (1987-88). Kenny was the man who instigated and developed the Morse adaptations for TV, as well as The Blackheath Poisonings (1992), broadcast posthumously.
Facts
In 1984 he was nominated for Best Children's Programme at the BAFTAs for Grange Hill. As a student Kenny was a gifted clarinet player and pianist and took a first degree in music at Harvard University.

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

Douglas Adams (script editor) Mar 11 1952 to May 11 2001 (heart attack) Click here for Douglas Adams's entry on The Pirate Planet

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