The Keeper of Traken

The birth of a new Master
(Anthony Ainley)

Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Jan 31 to Feb 21 1981
Average audience for serial: 6.75m

REGULAR CAST

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

Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) Born Dec 19 1961 Click here for Matthew Waterhouse's entry on Full Circle

Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) Born Dec 12 1961
Doctor Who credits
Played: Nyssa in The Keeper of Traken, Logopolis, Castrovalva, Four to Doomsday, Kinda, The Visitation, Black Orchid, Earthshock, Time-Flight, Arc of Infinity, Snakedance, Mawdryn Undead, Terminus (1980-83). Return appearances in The Caves of Androzani (1984) and Dimensions in Time (1993).
Played: Ann Talbot in Black Orchid (1982)
Career highlights
Prior to Doctor Who Sarah had appeared in Menace (1973), Baby Blues (1973), Alice Through the Looking Glass (1973, as Alice), Late Call (1975), Ten from the Twenties (1975), Oil Strike North (1975), Westway (1976), The Moon Stallion (1978), The Crucible (1980) and Byron: A Personal Tour (1981). After leaving Doctor Who she took roles in Casualty (1989) and Unnatural Pursuits (1992), but she then left her acting career to bring up a family, at one time working as a public librarian. She has been playing Nyssa on Big Finish audios since 2000's Land of the Dead.

GUEST CAST

Anthony Ainley (Tremas/ The Master) Aug 20 1932 to May 3 2004 (cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Tremas in The Keeper of Traken (1981)
Played: The Master in The Keeper of Traken (1981), Logopolis (1981), Castrovalva (1982), Time-Flight (1982), The King's Demons (1983), The Five Doctors (1983), Planet of Fire (1984), The Mark of the Rani (1985), The Trial of a Time Lord (1986), Survival (1989), as well as a brief cameo in The Caves of Androzani (1984), and the BBC computer game Destiny of the Doctors (1997).
Career highlights
Anthony's earliest role was aged 10 in The Foreman Went to France (1942, uncredited), followed by roles in It's Dark Outside (1965), Call My Bluff (1966), Exorcism at Midnight (1966), The Golden Age (1967), Champion House (1967), Inspector Clouseau (1968), The Avengers (1968), Joanna (1968), Oh! What a Lovely War (1968), The Champions (1968), Department S (1970), Doomwatch (1971), The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), In the Devil's Garden (1971), Elizabeth R (1971), Brett (1971), The Adventurer (1972), Spyder's Web (1972, as regular Clive Hawksworth), Upstairs, Downstairs (1973), Warship (1973), Orson Welles' Great Mysteries (1973), The Pallisers (1974), The Land That Time Forgot (1975), The Flight of the Heron (1976), Nicholas Nickleby (1977), Target (1977), The Devil's Crown (1978), Mackenzie (1980) and The Boy Who Won the Pools (1983).
Facts
Anthony's brother was actor Richard Ainley and his father was silent film star Henry Ainley. Anthony adored cricket (he was a member of the London Theatres' Cricket Club). Anthony shared his birthdate with Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy and Ace actress Sophie Aldred (August 20th). Before his acting career took off, he was well known as a rugby player in London, playing under the name of A A Holmes (his mother's surname). For several seasons in the 1960s he played regularly for Richmond and Middlesex.

Geoffrey Beevers (The Master) Born Jan 15 1941
Doctor Who credits
Played: Private Johnson in The Ambassadors of Death (1970)
Played: The Master in The Keeper of Traken (1981)
Career highlights
Geoffrey made his debut in a 1970 edition of Sentimental Education, and then appeared in The Jensen Code (1973), Edward the King (1975), Anna Karenina (1977), Breakaway (1980), The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981), Stalky & Co (1982), Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Bust (1988), A Very British Coup (1988), Grange Hill (1989), Spatz (1990), Taggart (1992), The Buddha of Suburbia (1993), Seaforth (1994), Medics (1995), Bramwell (1996), Bodyguards (1996-97), Shooting the Past (1999), Boyz Unlimited (1999), Red Dwarf (1999), The Queen's Nose (1998/2000), Jeffrey Archer: The Truth (2002), Down to Earth (2004), Miss Potter (2006), The Edge of Love (2008), Cass (2008), Clash of the Titans (2010), Reggie Perrin (2010), Bad Education (2013) and Legend (2015).
Facts
Geoffrey's wife was Doctor Who actress Caroline John. After playing the Master in The Keeper of Traken, he has reprised the role several times in a number of Big Finish audio dramas.
In 2015 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Geoffrey here.

Philip Bloomfield (Foster) Born Nov 19 1952
Career highlights
Further credits include Angels (1978), Blake's 7 (1980), Screamtime (1983), The Krays (1990), Class Act (1994) and The Bill (1993/96/97/98).

Denis Carey (The Keeper) Aug 3 1909 to Sep 28 1986
Doctor Who credits
Played: Professor Chronotis in Shada (1980, unbroadcast)
Played: The Keeper in The Keeper of Traken (1981)
Played: Old man in Timelash (1985)
Career highlights
Denis started out as a dancer and choreographer on films such as The Red Shoes (1948), The Queen of Spades (1949) and Oh... Rosalinda! (1955), then moved into acting in productions such as Serjeant Musgrave's Dance (1961 & 65), Champion House (1967-68), A Beast with Two Backs (1968), Codename (1970), Elizabeth R (1971), The Shadow of the Tower (1972), The Day of the Jackal (1973), I, Claudius (1976), Rooms (1977), Blake's 7 (1979), The Borgias (1981), Stalky and Co (1982), Big Deal (1984), Lamb (1986) and Hard Travelling (1986).
Facts
His wife was actress Yvonne Coulette.

Roland Oliver (Neman)
Career highlights
Roland's first role was uncredited in Carry On at Your Convenience (1971), followed by The Swordsman (1974), Crown Court (1976), Miracles Take Longer (1983), Brookside (1986), Rumpole of the Bailey (1987), Spatz (1990), Dodgem (1991), Thatcher: The Final Days (1991), London's Burning (1996), Hippies (1999), All the King's Men (1999), EastEnders (2001), The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2006), Skins (2009), Law and Order UK (2011), Vera (2014), Coronation Street (2011/17), Casualty (2009/11/18) and Doctors (2004/15/18). He had a regular role as Simon Stubberfield in Bad Girls (1999-2001).

Liam Prendergast (Foster)
Liam's only other credit was Cover (1981).

Sheila Ruskin (Kassia) Born Mar 28 1946
Career highlights
Sheila first appeared in The Stiffkey Scandals of 1932 (1969), then later A Promise of Bed (1970), Passion Potion (1971), The Intruder (1972), The Pallisers (1974), How Green Was My Valley (1975), Life and Death of Penelope (1976), I, Claudius (1976), Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), Blake's 7 (1979), Mackenzie (1980), Minder (1984), Strangers and Brothers (1984), Space (1985), Lizzie's Pictures (1987), Hard Cases (1989), Parnell and the Englishwoman (1991), The Good Guys (1993), Space Precinct (1995), Grange Hill (1997), The Vanishing Man (1998), Bad Girls (1999), Aristocrats (1999), Midsomer Murders (2006), Moving Wallpaper (2008), Silk (2011) and Stan Lee's Lucky Man (2016). In 2005 and 2008 she also had the recurring role of Marcia Holland in daytime soap Doctors.
Facts
In the late 1960s Sheila was married to David Wood, now a distinguished writer, playwright and theatre producer.

Robin Soans (Luvic) Born Jun 20 1946
Doctor Who credits
Played: Luvic in The Keeper of Traken (1981)
Played: Chronolock guy in Face the Raven (2015)
Career highlights
Robin debuted in 1972's The Reprieve, followed by Absolution (1978), Horse in the House (1979), Dream Stuffing (1984), The Last Place on Earth (1985), Tales of Sherwood Forest (1989), Bergerac (1991), So Haunt Me (1993), Blue Juice (1995), Jonathan Creek (1997), Dangerfield (1999), The Russian Bride (2001), Not Only But Always (2004), Waking the Dead (2005), The Queen (2006), Midsomer Murders (2005/10), Silk (2012), Endeavour (2013), Viceroy's House (2017), Victoria (2016-17), Red Joan (2018) and The Princess Switch franchise (2018-21).
Facts
In 2003, Robin travelled to Israel and Palestine to speak to people caught up in the conflict, then wrote the play The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, which premiered in 2005 to great acclaim. The play is just one of a number of hard-hitting plays by Soans, including A State Affair (2000) and Talking to Terrorists (2005), during the research for which he almost got beheaded!

Margot Van der Burgh (Katura) Nov 14 1918 to Jul 14 2008
Doctor Who credits
Played: Cameca in The Aztecs (1964)
Played: Katura in The Keeper of Traken (1981)
Career highlights
Margot's career began in How Does It End? (1952), followed by Jane Eyre (1956), Great Expectations (1959), The Herries Chronicle (1960), Crane (1963), Crime of Passion (1971), Anna Karenina (1977), Sense and Sensibility (1981), Dempsey and Makepeace (1985) and Blonde Fist (1991).

John Woodnutt (Seron) Mar 3 1924 to Jan 2 2006
Doctor Who credits
Played: Hibbert in Spearhead from Space (1970)
Played: Draconian Emperor in Frontier in Space (1973)
Played: Duke of Forgill/ Broton in Terror of the Zygons (1975)
Played: Seron in The Keeper of Traken (1981)
Career highlights
John became a prolific character actor after he first appeared in The Black Brigand (1956), then The Cabin in the Clearing (1959), Gamble for a Throne (1961), Swizzlewick (1964), The Avengers (1966), Rogues' Gallery (1969), The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970, as Henry VII), Look and Read: The Boy from Space (1971, as the spooky Thin Man), The Tomorrow People (1973), The Secret Garden (1975), Children of the Stones (1977), Shoestring (1979), Stalky and Co. (1982), Lifeforce (1985), Porterhouse Blue (1987), Jeeves and Wooster (1990-93, as Sir Watkyn), Wycliffe (1995) and Harry Enfield and Chums (1997). He also played Mr Quelch in Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School (1959), Judge Weightman in Crown Court (1977-84) and Merlin/ Mogdred in children's virtual reality show Knightmare (1987-90).
Facts
John ended his years in the actors' retirement home Denville Hall.

CREW

Johnny Byrne (writer) Nov 27 1935 to Apr 2 2008
Doctor Who credits
Wrote: The Keeper of Traken (1981), Arc of Infinity (1983), Warriors of the Deep (1984)
Career highlights
Born in Dublin, Johnny first appeared as a bit-part actor in productions such as Till Death Us Do Part (1967), but soon moved into script writing with The Season of the Witch (1970), Adolf Hitler - My Part in His Downfall (1972), Space: 1999 (1975-77), Lionman II: The Witchqueen (1979), Cosmic Princess (1982), Miracles Take Longer (1984), Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest (1985), One By One (1985-87), All Creatures Great and Small (1978-90), Love Hurts (1994), To Die For (1994), Noah's Ark (1997) and Heartbeat (1992-2005). He also worked as script editor on Space: 1999 (1975-76) and was credited as story consultant on almost 50 episodes of All Creatures Great and Small (1988-90). He was also credited as devising Heartbeat in 1992 and Young James Herriot in 2011 (posthumously).
Facts
In 1969 he co-wrote the bestselling novel Groupie, about life in Swinging Sixties London. In 1990 Johnny submitted a script to the BBC for a Doctor Who film, but this went undeveloped. In the 1960s Johnny was a travelling poet as well as a literary editor, and shared a house with the Beatles for a time. He performed as a poet at London's Marquee Club in 1966 alongside Pink Floyd, and was also for a time the tour manager for Shel Talmy, producer of the Kinks and the Who.

John Black (director) Born May 9 1940
Doctor Who credits
Directed: The Keeper of Traken (1981), K-9 & Company (1981), Four to Doomsday (1982)
Career highlights
John, born in Malawi, had previously directed The Zoo Robbery (1973, which he also wrote and produced), Our Terry (1975), You Talk Too Much (1976), The Unbroken Arrow (1976), Coronation Street (1976-77), The Thin End of the Wedge (1977), Crown Court (1979) and later directed for The Bill (1991). He also acted as producer on Robin Hood Junior in 1975.
In 2017 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with John here.

John Nathan-Turner (producer) Aug 12 1947 to May 1 2002 (liver failure) Click here for John Nathan-Turner's entry on The Leisure Hive

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

Christopher H Bidmead (script editor) Born Jan 18 1941 Click here for Christopher H Bidmead's entry on The Leisure Hive