A developing project, dedicated to the people, both in front of and behind the cameras, who have contributed to Doctor Who's 62-year legacy.
Stories are listed in the A-Z in the left-hand column, or you can use the search field in the right-hand column (scroll to bottom to get Desktop version)
Callen Angelo (Terry Cutler) Oct 24 1939 to Apr 10 2000 Career highlights
Other work includes The Pistol (1965), Court Martial (1966), The Troubleshooters (1966) and the regular role of American GI Gary Strauss in soap Coronation Street (1967-70).
Robert Beatty (General Cutler) Oct 19 1909 to Mar 3 1992 (pneumonia) Career highlights
Highly prolific actor who first appeared in Footsteps in the Sand (1939), then One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942), It Happened One Sunday (1944), Captain Horatio Hornblower RN (1951), The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships (1954), Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957), The Amorous Prawn (1962), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Where Eagles Dare (1968), Man at the Top (1972), The Gathering Storm (1974), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), Jesus of Nazareth (1977), Blake's 7 (1978), The Martian Chronicles (1980), Superman III (1983), Labyrinth (1986), Superman IV (1987) and The Return of Sam McCloud (1989). He also had a regular role as DI Mike Maguire in Dial 999 (1958-59). Facts
Canadian Robert's very early career began on BBC radio, famously reporting eyewitness accounts of the London Blitz for the Overseas News
Service during the war. He also provided the voice for private eye Philip Odell in a long-running series
for the BBC Light Programme between 1947-61, and in the 1960s and 70s provided the voiceover for various film trailers, including Where Eagles Dare, Doctor Zhivago and Zulu.
Glenn Beck (TV announcer) Born Jun 1 1935 Career highlights
Canadian Glenn's other work includes The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll (1960), Dr Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Sex Play (1974), The Littlest Hobo (1980), The Gunfighters (1987), Dark Corners (2006), National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007) and Hit the Big Time (2011). In 2017 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Glenn here.
John Brandon (American sergeant) Jun 21 1929 to Aug 25 2014 Career highlights
Debuted in The Dakotas (1963), then Battle Beneath the Earth (1967), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Isadora (1968), Gunsmoke (1969), Serpico (1973), Wonder Woman (1976), Fun with Dick and Jane (1977), Little House on the Prairie (1977), All in the Family (1977), The Bionic Woman (1977), Fantasy Island (1980), Archie Bunker's Place (1981), Knots Landing (1981), Knight Rider (1982), Voyagers! (1982), Scarface (1983), Murder, She Wrote (1985), Tales from the Darkside (1986), The Bold and the Beautiful (1990), The Wonder Years (1991), Frasier (1993), Melrose Place (1998), Charmed (2005) and Private Practice (2007). John may be best recognised from playing Detective Walsh in Hill Street Blues (1981-82), Zeus in Airwolf (1984-86) and Captain William Handler in Dynasty (1988-89). Facts
John was a veteran of the Korean War, serving in the US Army between 1952-54.
Harry Brooks (Talon and Krang) Feb 16 1936 to Oct 25 2008 Career highlights
Debuted in Quatermass II (1955), then The Spies (1966), The Quiller Memorandum (1966), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Eyeless in Gaza (1971), Dial M for Murder (1974) and Hanover Street (1979).
Earl Cameron (Williams) Aug 8 1917 to Jul 3 2020 DOCTOR WHO CENTENARIAN! Career highlights
Bermuda-born Earl made his screen debut in Pool of London (1951), then took roles in Simba (1955), Safari (1956), Odongo (1956), White Hunter (1957), Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959), The Andromeda Breakthrough (1962), Emergency Ward 10 (1962), Guns at Batasi (1964), Thunderball (1965), Battle Beneath the Earth (1967), Jackanory (1971), The Zoo Gang (1974), Cuba (1979), Lovejoy (1994), Neverwhere (1996), Maisie Raine (1998), Waking the Dead (2003), The Interpreter (2005), The Queen (2006), Inception (2010) and Up on the Roof (2013). Awards
2009: Commander of the order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to drama Facts
Earl was one of the first black actors to break the colour bar in acting. In 2012, Earl had a theatre named in his honour in Hamilton, Bermuda, and in 2013 was awarded the degree of Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Warwick. He became Doctor Who's third centenarian when he turned 100 years old in 2017.
Ellen Cullen (Geneva technician)
This is Ellen's only known credit.
David Dodimead (Barclay) Apr 8 1919 to Nov 1 1996 Career highlights
David debuted in The Comedy of Errors (1956), followed by roles in Hamlet (1959), Paul of Tarsus (1960), Mystery and Imagination: Lost Hearts (1966), The Beast in the Cellar (1970), The Mikado (1972), Fall of Eagles (1974), Penmarric (1979) and Jane Eyre (1983).
Christopher Dunham (R/T technician) Born Jan 16 1938 Career highlights
After debuting in Doctor Who, Christopher's other work included The Power Game (1969), Hine (1971) and The Protectors (1973). Facts
Christopher gave up acting and in 1975 became artistic director of the Palace Theatre in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex. However, his 24-year connection with the theatre was to end badly when he and 40 other staff lost their jobs when the cash-strapped venue closed in March 1999. In November 1999 Christopher won an employment tribunal after he claimed he had been unfairly dismissed. The theatre re-opened in December 1999, with actor Roy Marsden as artistic director. Christopher's wife is actress June Watson.
Dudley Jones (Dyson) Dec 26 1914 to Nov 10 1990 Career highlights
Dudley's earliest acting credit was in The Policeman's Serenade (1937), followed by The Wooing of Anne Hathaway (1938), Once a Jolly Swagman (1949), Robin Hood (1953, playing Much), Treasure Island (1957), Friends and Neighbours (1959), Undermind (1965), The Virgin Soldiers (1969), Doomwatch (1970), The Hole in the Wall (1972), Rentaghost (1976), Dickens of London (1976), Yes, Honestly (1977), Rosie (1978), Shine on Harvey Moon (1982) and Summer Season (1985). Facts
Dudley was a tenor as well as an actor.
Christopher Matthews (Radar technician) Career highlights
After debuting in Doctor Who, Christopher's further work included playing Lee Monkhouse in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1967), Dr Robert Duncan in Freewheelers (1968) as well as roles in Some Like It Sexy (1969), Scream and Scream Again (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970), Blind Terror (1971), Moody and Pegg (1975), Alien Attack (1976), Minder (1984), Countdown to War (1989), The Bill (1991), Dead Romantic (1993), All in the Game (1993), Casualty (1995), Invasion: Earth (1998), Rosemary and Thyme (2006) and Doctors (2007).
Gregg Palmer (Shav and Gern) Dec 11 1940 to Oct 14 2025 Doctor Who credits Played: Shav in The Tenth Planet (1966) Played: Gern in The Tenth Planet (1966) Played: Lieutenant Lucke in The War Games (1969) Facts
Gregg had roles in the final stories of both the First and Second Doctors, which puts him in a very small club of people who appear in two different Doctors' regeneration stories. Gregg - born Donald van der Maaten - is often confused with the American actor of the same stage name, but they are different performers. In later years he was artistic director of the Acting Studio in the Hague.
Steve Plytas (Wigner) Jan 9 1913 to Dec 27 1994 Career highlights
Born in Turkey, Steve made his earliest appearance on screen in The Schirmer Inheritance (1957), followed by roles in Passport to Shame (1958), Interpol Calling (1960), Biggles (1960), The World of Tim Frazer (1960), Coronation Street (1961), Richard the Lionheart (1962), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), The Avengers (1963/66), The Forsyte Saga (1967), Theatre of Death (1967), And Mother Makes Three (1971), Ooh... You Are Awful (1972), Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width (1973), Sex Play (1974), Fawlty Towers (1975), Devenish (1977), Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), Carry On Emmannuelle (1978), The Bitch (1979), The History Man (1981), Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1984), Superman IV (1987), Batman (1989), Goldeneye (1989) and The Gravy Train (1990).
Shane Shelton (Tito) c.1944 to Feb 15 2015 Career highlights
After debuting in Doctor Who, Irish-born Shane's further work included Z Cars (1967), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Under Milk Wood (1972), The Protectors (1974) and Marked Personal (1974). Facts
There's a remarkable video on YouTube of an inebriated Shane arguing with British comic Vic Reeves at the Gumball 3000 rally in 2012.
Alan White (Schultz) Jan 3 1925 to Oct 4 2013 Career highlights
Debuted in Into the Straight (1949), then No Time for Tears (1957), Shake Hands with the Devil (1959), Sierra Nine (1963), The World Ten Times Over (1963), Girl in the Headlines (1963), The Prisoner (1967), The Troubleshooters (1969), The Hanged Man (1975) and Tumbledown (1988). He also enjoyed regular roles as Charley Wood in The Flying Doctor (1959) and Leading Seaman White in Tell It to the Marines (1959-60).
Reg Whitehead (Krail and Jarl) Dec 11 1932 to Mar 11 2016 Doctor Who credits Played: Krail in The Tenth Planet (1966) Played: Jarl in The Tenth Planet (1966) Played: Cyberman in The Moonbase (1967), The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967) Played: John in The Abominable Snowmen (1967, uncredited) Played: Yeti in The Abominable Snowmen (1967) Career highlights
After debuting in Z Cars (1963), Reg went on to appear in The Power Game (1966), Counterstrike (1969), Hardy Heating Company (1970) and Bachelor Father (1971). Facts
In The Tomb of the Cybermen, a character mentions "Whitehead logic", which could refer to computer logic pioneer Alfred North Whitehead, or indeed Reg! In the 1970s Reg invested in the manufacture of executive toys such as the Newton's Cradle, and made a good living from it, especially when they sold to America. In later years Reg helped found the Finders Keepers Partnership, which owns and breeds race horses.
David Blake Kelly (Jacob Kewper) Feb 17 1916 to Jan 21 1993 Doctor Who credits Played: Captain Benjamin Briggs in The Chase (1965) Played: Jacob Kewper in The Smugglers (1966) Career highlights
He started his acting career as Diarmuid Kelly, debuting in I Killed the Count (1948), followed by Someone at the Door (1949), Treasure Island (1950), The Anatomist (1956) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1957), after which he anglicised his name and appeared in William Tell (1959), Sergeant Cork (1964), Adam Adamant Lives! (1967), Spy Trap (1975), The Cherry Orchard (1981), Miss Marple: Nemesis (1987), Jeeves and Wooster (1990) and House of Cards (1990). Facts
Often mistaken for another actor called David Kelly, who often played stereotypical Irish characters (such as in Fawlty Towers and Robin's Nest), but they are different actors.
Jack Bligh (Gaptooth) Dec 31 1889 to Sep 25 1967 Career highlights
Jack's earliest known credit is Brothers in Law (1962), then The Victorians (1963), First Night (1963), Taxi! (1964), The Horror of It All (1964), Danger Man (1965), Blackmail (1966), Man in a Suitcase (1967) and Death of a Private (1967). Facts
Jack is believed to be the earliest born actor to appear in Doctor Who. Sadly, he died within a year of his appearance in The Smugglers. After turning down an offer to play soccer for Arsenal, Somerset-born Jack became a member of the stock company at the British and Colonial Kinematograph Company. At one stage he was a stuntman in the US. It is believed Jack's earliest television appearance was in 1929. In the 1930s he and his wife settled in South Africa and established a theatre company in Johannesburg, also working in TV and radio in South Africa and Australasia in the 1930s and 40s.
George A Cooper (Cherub) Mar 7 1925 to Nov 16 2018 Career highlights
George will be best remembered by a certain generation for playing school caretaker Mr Griffiths in more than 100 episodes of Grange Hill between 1985-92. His CV begins with 1946's Men of Two Worlds, followed by Othello (1955), Sword of Freedom (1957), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1958), Hell is a City (1960), An Age of Kings (1960), Tom Jones (1963), Ferry Cross the Mersey (1965), King of the River (1966), Man in a Suitcase (1967), The Morecambe and Wise Show (1970), Steptoe and Son (1965/72), Budgie (1972), Son of the Bride (1973), Rising Damp (1975), The New Avengers (1976), Wonder Woman (1977), The Light Princess (1978), Metal Mickey (1982), Alleyn Mysteries (1993) and Casualty (1995). George also had a regular role as Geoffrey Fisher in Billy Liar (1973-74), a role he originated on stage in 1960. Facts
In 1957, George and his wife Anne's son Adam was brain damaged at birth (Anne, a former stage costume designer, sadly died in 2000). The A in George's name stood for Alphonsus!
Terence de Marney (Churchwarden Joseph Longfoot) Mar 1 1908 to May 25 1971 (fall in front of train) Career highlights
Terence's career began in 1931's The Eternal Feminine, after which he had roles in Eyes of Fate (1933), The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (1935), They Met in the Dark (1943), 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956), Pharaoh's Curse (1957), Bonanza (1959), Tightrope (1960), Whispering Smith (1961), Twilight Zone (1962), Lorna Doone (1963), The Spies (1966), Sexton Blake (1967), The Ugliest Girl in Town (1968), All Neat in Black Stockings (1969) and Follyfoot (1971). He also had a long-running role as Case Thomas in Johnny Ringo (1959-60). He also co-wrote the stage play Wanted for Murder, which was adapted into the film A Voice in the Night in 1946, starring Eric Portman. Facts
In 1932 Terence co-founded the Independent Theatre Club (formerly the Kingsway Theatre) with his actor brother Derrick de Marney as an
outlet for works banned for various reasons by the Lord Chamberlain. As well as the play Wanted for Murder (see above), Terence also co-wrote the thrillers Whispering Gallery and The Crime of Margaret Foley. Terence - whose grandfather Alfred Concanen was a noted Victorian lithographer - was also the first actor to portray Simon "The Saint" Templar, on Radio Athlone in 1940. He died after accidentally falling onto the tracks of the westbound District line at Kensington High Street tube station, London, on his way to perform in a play. In the 1997 book Television Western Players of the Fifties 1949-1959, author Everett Aaker claims Terence had been plagued by ill-health for years, and actually jumped in front of the train, although there is no source for this assertion (contemporary newspaper reports refer to it as an accident).
Michael Godfrey (Captain Pike) Aug 20 1918 to Sep 19 1977 Career highlights
Debuted uncredited in The Third Man (1949), then took roles in The March of the Peasants (1952), Colonel March of Scotland Yard (1956), Sykes and a... (1964), Emergency Ward 10 (1963-64), Witch Wood (1964), The Baron (1966), Department S (1970), The Persuaders! (1971), Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), Yellow Dog (1976) and Devenish (1977). Facts
Michael's real name was Michael Godfrey Collins. Michael was understudy to Orson Welles in a production of Othello in London in 1951; co-star Maxine Audley said Welles bullied Michael remorselessly.
Elroy Josephs (Jamaica) Feb 23 1939 to Feb 8 1997 Career highlights
Elroy debuted in Ebb Tide (1959) followed by Dixon of Dock Green (1966), House of Character (1968), The Alf Garnett Saga (1972), Love Thy Neighbour (1972) and Brideshead Revisited (1981). Facts
Actor and dancer Elroy moved from Jamaica to the UK in 1956 and as the first black dance teacher in a British university, developed an innovative fusion of Afro-Caribbean and European jazz dance styles that was highly influential on future choreographers. In October 2012, as part of Black History Month, the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool and Enterprise South Liverpool Academy staged a tribute show to Elroy to spotlight his often overlooked influence on black dance culture.
Mike Lucas (Tom) Born May 29 1941 Career highlights
Mike's other credits include Crossroads (1964), Frankie Howerd (1966), You Can't Win (1966), The Expert (1968), Thicker Than Water (1969), The Liver Birds (1971, as Gerry) and Funny Ha-Ha (1974). Facts
Mike was a founding member of the Mikron Theatre Company in 1963, which still tours theatre aboard a canal boat (Turlough actor Mark Strickson was a member of the company for a time). Mike ran the company until 2005.
John Ringham (Josiah Blake) February 10th 1928 to October 20th 2008 (cancer) Doctor Who credits Played: Tlotoxl in The Aztecs (1964) Played: Josiah Blake in The Smugglers (1966) Played: Ashe in Colony in Space (1971) Career highlights
John's acting career stretches as far back as Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans in 1957, and took in Very Important Person (1961), The Plane Makers (1963), The Forsyte Saga (1967), The Railway Children (1968), Up Pompeii (1970), The Pallisers (1974), Poldark (1975-76), Pennies from Heaven (1978), Maybury (1981) The Tripods (1985), Terry and June (1987), And There's More (1988), The Darling Buds of May (1991), The Governor (1995), Out of Sight (1997), The Secret of Eel Island (2005-07), V for Vendetta (2005) and Wallander (2008). He also played Captain Bailey in Dad's Army (1969-70), Superintendent Lake in Juliet Bravo (1980), Norman Warrender in Just Good Friends (1983-86) and Mr Blocker in Woof! (1989-93). Facts
John was a member of the ensemble cast in the pilot episode of sitcom Dad's Army, but his character was dropped for the series as he was considered too similar to the bumbling Private Godfrey. He starred in TV adverts for Terry's Chocolate Orange spoofing the Indiana Jones films. He also wrote a couple of stage plays which were both premiered at the Edinburgh Festival, in 1991 and 1999. John's first wife was actress Elizabeth Shepherd (1959-62).
Paul Whitsun-Jones (Squire) 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), Better Late! (1958), 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.
Julia Smith (director) May 26 1927 to Jun 19 1997 (cancer) Doctor Who credits Directed: The Smugglers (1966), The Underwater Menace (1967) Career highlights
Julia's directing career began with Suspense in 1963, followed by Swizzlewick (1964), the soap Compact (1965), The Railway Children (1968), Dr Finlay's Casebook (1963-69), The Newcomers (1966-69), Z Cars (1971-74), Angels (1975-76), Katy (1976), EastEnders (1985-89) and Civvy Street (1988). While becoming a respected director she also worked as producer on many of the same shows, as well as The District Nurse (1984/87) and Medics (1990). Along with Tony Holland, she also helped create the BBC soaps EastEnders in 1985 (which she also produced 1985-89) and Eldorado (1992-93).
Career
Michael's earliest screen acting work was as Boy at Vaccination Centre in the now missing Armchair Theatre The Pillars of Midnight, written by Dail Ambler from the novel by Elleston Trevor. Shown on September 14th, 1958 - when Michael was just 15 years old - it concerned an outbreak of smallpox in an English city, and also starred George Baker (Full Circle) and Edward Dentith (The Invasion).
Michael, aged 15, in Blow Your Own Trumpet (1958)
The next month, Michael's first appearance in a feature film was released to cinemas, Blow Your Own Trumpet, although sadly he would not be credited on screen. Michael played Bert in a film which sounds like a cross between Billy Elliott and Brassed Off - Jim and Tony want to play the cornet in their local brass band, but while Jim's hard-up family works and saves hard to buy him an instrument, wealthy Tony does all he can to prevent Jim from succeeding. It was a Children's Film Foundation production which also starred Michael Crawford and Peter Butterworth (The Time Meddler and The Daleks' Master Plan). You can see Michael in scenes from the film on YouTube:
On August 23rd, 1959 Michael appeared in an episode of the ABC family comedy Sunday's Child entitled The Star, playing a page boy. The production also starred child star Mandy Miller and Daphne Anderson as her scatty widowed mother, with future Doctor Who director Fiona Cumming and Patrick Godfrey (The Savages and The Mind of Evil) also on the cast list. Sunday's Child is now thought to be missing from the archives.
Michael, aged 17, as Geoff (left) in the
children's SF series Target Luna (1960)
In 1960 Michael got his first regular role in a TV series, entitled Target Luna. In six episodes of the children's adventure serial (broadcast between April 24th and May 29th, 1960), Michael played Geoffrey Wedgwood, whose brother Jimmy (Michael Hammond) secretly replaces an astronaut and is launched into space on a mission to the moon, along with his pet hamster Hamlet. No footage of this serial is known to survive, but it also featured Frank Finlay and Angus Lennie (The Ice Warriors and Terror of the Zygons), and was co-written by Doctor Who writer Malcolm Hulke (who would go on to co-write Michael's Doctor Who swansong). On producing duties was Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman. Target Luna was so popular that it spawned three sequel series - Pathfinders in Space, Pathfinders to Mars and Pathfinders to Venus (1960-61), but these did not feature Michael (the role of Geoffrey was recast with Steward Guidotti).
Michael (back left, next to Jeremy
Bulloch) aged 18, in Spare the Rod (1961)
In April 1961 the film Spare the Rod was released in cinemas, based on the 1954 book by Michael Croft and directed by Leslie Norman. It concerns an idealist anti-punishment teacher (played by Max Bygraves) starting a new job at a tough East London slum-area school but who is faced with problems by his bored and sometimes unruly pupils. Also on the cast list was Donald Pleasence, Jean Anderson, Richard O'Sullivan, Aubrey Woods (Day of the Daleks), Annette Robertson (The Massacre) and Jeremy Bulloch (The Space Museum and The Time Warrior), while Michael played Thatcher (uncredited). You can watch the film on YouTube here (Michael can first be seen clearly at the 11m mark):
Michael's next project was in the TV series Family Solicitor in the episode First Eleven Plus, (now missing), broadcast on August 30th, 1961. It also featured Bernard Horsfall (The Mind Robber, The War Games and The Deadly Assassin), Geoffrey Palmer (Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Mutants and Voyage of the Damned), John Normington (The Caves of Androzani and The Happiness Patrol) and Ann Davies (The Dalek Invasion of Earth), while Michael played the part of Stonehouse.
On February 3rd 1962, Michael made his first of four appearances in the popular police procedural series Dixon of Dock Green. In The Flemish Giant, Michael played a character called Jimmy, and shared the screen with star Jack Warner, Robert Cawdron (The Ambassadors of Death), Larry Dann and Stanley Meadows. This episode is, of course, missing from the BBC archives.
Michael's second episode was Facing the Music, shown on September 19th, 1964 and also featuring James Beck, Jack Cunningham (The Reign of Terror) and George Tovey (Pyramids of Mars). Michael played Fleming, and this episode is also missing.
Michael in Two Left Feet (1965)
There was then a three-year gap in his TV and film CV, with his next appearance being the film Two Left Feet, released on March 1965. Written (for screen) and directed by Roy Ward Baker, it starred Michael's former co-star Michael Crawford as Alan, a callow youth desperate for any girl who can give him the experience he lacks. The film also starred Nyree Dawn Porter, Julia Foster, David Hemmings, Bernard Lee, David Lodge, Aimee Delamain (The Two Doctors), Neil McCarthy (The Mind of Evil and The Power of Kroll) and Michael Ripper. Michael played Ronnie, one of the local lads who, it is inferred, has a complicated romantic relationship with Hemmings' character (you even get to see Michael snog Hemmings in this old trailer!). The film was actually finished in 1963 but stayed on the shelf for two years as Baker was unable to secure a distributor. In the end it was given an X certificate and, despite being aimed squarely at the youth audience of the time, did not perform well.
Michael's next work was in the BBC detective series Cluff, starring Leslie Sands as the Yorkshire copper, based on the books by Gil North. All of series 1 is now missing, but the second series survives, including the one Michael appears in, The Dictator (shown on August 8th, 1965) - in which there's more to a broken window and a petty theft than meets the eye! Michael plays Eric Liddler, and his parents are played by John Barron and Yvonne Bonnamy; also on the cast list are Michael Bates, John Rolfe (The War Machines, The Moonbase and The Green Death), Stephen Jack (Terror of the Autons) and Judy Bloom.
On December 4th, 1965 Michael appeared in his third of four episodes of Dixon of Dock Green, playing Hyett in The Late Customer (missing), which concerned the question of whether a convicted man was actually innocent. The episode also featured Michael Goldie (The Dalek Invasion of Earth), Duncan Lamont (Death to the Daleks), Reg Lye (The Enemy of the World), Hugh Morton (The Seeds of Death), Peter Sanders (The Space Museum), Peter Thomas (The Savages) and Reg Lever (The Celestial Toymaker).
Ways with Words was a Thames TV series for younger secondary school children for learning English grammar, and Michael appeared in the (missing) first episode broadcast on New Year's Eve 1965, entitled Fighting. He played a soldier in a dramatisation which also featured Diane Grayson and Gladys Dawson; the programme was presented by Geoffrey Russell.
Michael in Fragment (1965)
In 1965, aged just 22, Michael founded a film company called Mantic Films, and released an 11-minute short film entitled Fragment, written and directed by Norman J Warren and produced by Michael himself. Exhibited at the Commonwealth Film Festival, it concerns a depressed young woman's unhappiness about a failed love affair, and starred Maureen Roche, Simon Brent and Michael too. It was the only film to come out of Mantic. Fragment, which features no dialogue, sees her wandering through a wintry landscape, reflecting her internal state of mind, and the locations are bleak and industrial. Michael appears in it only briefly, right at the end, but in a somewhat heroic role! You can watch it on YouTube, but the film is also available on the BFI DVD and Bluray for the Warren film Her Private Hell:
Michael in Gideon's Way, aged 23
On Boxing Day, 1965, Michael appeared in the lost Wednesday Play A Piece of Resistance, written by future Doctor Who writer and director Terence Dudley. The play concerned a retired colonel on the Channel Islands whose home is invaded by a German officer who takes a shine to his daughter. It starred William Kendall, Lally Bowers, Frederick Jaeger (The Savages, Planet of Evil and The Invisible Enemy), Gerald Cross (The Stones of Blood) and Gabor Baraker (Marco Polo and The Crusade). Michael played the part of Ernst.
On February 27th, 1966, Michael appeared in an episode of ITC's Gideon's Way (aka Gideon CID) called Boy with Gun. The series starred John Gregson as Commander George Gideon, and saw Michael play Vince Kelly, an escapee from Borstal who teams up with a lad who accidentally shoots a thug in self-defence and goes on the run. The episode also featured George Sewell (Remembrance of the Daleks), Michael Standing, Anthony Bate and Royston Tickner (The Daleks' Master Plan and The Sea Devils). You can see the episode on YouTube, or buy it on DVD:
Michael's fourth and final missing Dixon of Dock Green was Face at the Window, broadcast on March 5th 1966 and also starring Brian Badcoe (Invasion of the Dinosaurs), Harry Fowler (Remembrance of the Daleks) and Thora Hird. Michael was credited as simply Boy.
On May 4th 1966, Michael appeared in an episode of police series No Hiding Place entitled A Bottle Full of Sixpences, which co-starred Raymond Francis, Johnny Briggs and Michael McStay (The Seeds of Doom). Michael played Conner alongside Milton Johns (The Enemy of the World, The Android Invasion and The Invasion of Time), Reg Lye (The Enemy of the World), Jimmy Gardner (Marco Polo and Underworld) and Graham Ashley (The Underwater Menace), Simon Cain (The Enemy of the World and Doctor Who and the Silurians) and David Arlen (The Mutants). Doctor Who writer Louis Marks was script editor. The episode is missing from the archives.
Michael with Patrick Troughton and Anneke Wills on location
for The Highlanders (1966)
On May 26th, 1966, Michael (along with Anneke Wills) was contracted to appear in 18 episodes of Doctor Who as sailor Ben Jackson, which would take him through four stories, to the end of Patrick Troughton's first adventure, The Power of the Daleks. On June 10th, recording began for his first story, The War Machines, at Riverside Studio 1, and a fortnight later (on June 23rd), Michael and Anneke were introduced to the press as Doctor Who's new companions at a special media launch. Two days later, Michael's debut episode was broadcast on BBC1.
Ben and Polly's departure scene in the
Doctor Who story The Faceless Ones
Michael's contract was extended for three more stories on November 2nd, the same day that Frazer Hines was contracted for The Highlanders, with an option on three further serials. Michael's contract would take him up to The Moonbase, but little did he know when he was signing the contract that producer Innes Lloyd was already planning his character's departure. Lloyd believed Hines's Jamie McCrimmon worked better than Ben Jackson, and hoped to continue the series with companions Polly and Jamie after Ben was written out. Anneke Wills' contract was renewed on December 12th, and Michael's for a further 12 episodes on January 27th. Michael's final day of recording on the series was on April 8th, 1967 in Lime Grove Studio D for The Faceless Ones episode 2. A pre-filmed insert of Ben and Polly's leaving scene was included in episode 6, but neither character appeared in episodes 3, 4 or 5 as the actors were out of contract.
Michael appeared in 36 episodes of Doctor Who in total, of which just 12 exist in the archives today. In fact, the only complete story which exists is his debut, The War Machines - his other eight stories are either completely or partially lost.
It would be five months before Michael's next screen acting work would be broadcast, playing a character called Archie King in a (now lost) episode of the ITV series Send Foster called Off the Record (shown September 8th, 1967). His co-stars included Patrick Newell (The Android Invasion), Eric Francis (The Sensorites) and Polly James (The Awakening). The series concerned the adventures of junior reporter Johnny Foster (played by Hayward Morse).
On November 11th and 12th, 1967, Michael appeared in a two-part story called Seminar on Communications in the ABC series Sat'day While Sunday (now missing from the archive). Michael played Roger and appeared alongside John Gill (Fury from the Deep) and Derek Waring (Castrovalva) in the series which starred Malcolm McDowell and focused on the tribulations of first-year university students.
Also in 1967, Michael appeared in the short film A Long Spoon, produced by Rediffusion and adapted from an original 1956 story by John Wyndham. Michael was a member of the six-strong cast in a story about a demon which is summoned in error, and the lengths the couple who invoked him have to go to to get rid of him without losing their souls into the bargain. Sadly, I can find no further information about this film online.
Michael in Journey to
the Unknown
Journey to the Unknown was a horror anthology series produced by Hammer, who were better known for their big screen outings with the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein. On January 2nd, 1969, Michael appeared in the episode The Last Visitor, written by Alfred Shaughnessy and directed by Don Chaffey, in which a young woman tries to recover from a nervous breakdown at a seaside resort, where someone appears to be stalking her. Michael played Fred alongside Patty Duke, Geoffrey Bayldon (The Creature from the Pit), John Bailey (The Sensorites, The Evil of the Daleks and The Horns of Nimon) and Sally James. This is the only episode of Journey to the Unknown in which nobody dies! Michael's role is tiny, and he spends most of his screen time obscured in motorcycle leathers, but there is a brief moment where his smiling face is revealed for a kiss! You can see his footage here:
On September 29th, 1969 Michael appeared in an ITV Sunday Night Theatre called That Woman is Wrecking Our Marriage, which starred Ray Brooks (Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD) and Clare Jenkins (The Savages, The Wheel in Space and The War Games), with Michael playing the role of David. The play is now lost.
Next up was an episode of Detective called Mr Guppy's Tale, broadcast on November 9th, 1969. Michael played Charles Knottage, and co-starred with Hamilton Dyce (Spearhead from Space), Bill Fraser (Meglos and K9 & Company), Esmond Knight (The Space Pirates), Jenny McCracken (Carnival of Monsters) and Jeremy Wilkin (Revenge of the Cybermen). Mr Guppy was a character from Charles Dickens's novel Bleak House, and although he was a law clerk by trade, he also acted as an unofficial detective in the book. Knottage does not appear in Dickensian fiction, so was a creation of screenwriter Hugh Whitemore. Typically, this episode of Detective does not exist.
In 1970, Michael appeared in episodes 3, 6 and 7 of the 10-part BBC adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's book Ivanhoe, playing the character of Thomas. In the episodes Unmasked (January 18th), Condemned (February 8th) and The Black Knight (February 15th), Michael was joined on screen by other Doctor Who alumni such as Eric Flynn (The Wheel in Space), Terence Bayler (The Ark and The War Games), Noel Coleman (The War Games), Francis De Wolff (The Keys of Marinus and The Myth Makers), John Franklyn-Robbins (Genesis of the Daleks), Inigo Jackson (The Ark), Michael Napier Brown (The War Games), Tim Preece (Planet of the Daleks), Graham Weston (The War Games and Planet of Evil), Bernard Horsfall (The Mind Robber, The War Games and The Deadly Assassin), Hugh Walters (The Chase and Revelation of the Daleks) and Clare Jenkins (The Savages, The Wheel in Space and The War Games). The episodes were directed by David Maloney (unsurprisingly, given the number of actors from The War Games).
On July 9th, 1970 Michael had a guest role in an episode of medical series The Doctors, playing Charlie in episode 66, written by Frank Moore and directed by Desmond McCarthy. The episode is, of course, now missing, but it co-starred Barry Justice (The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve), Isla Blair (The King's Demons), June Bland (Earthshock and Battlefield), Terry Scully (The Seeds of Death) and Christine Pollon (Underworld). The producer was Bill Sellars, director of The Celestial Toymaker.
Sentimental Education was an adaptation of the 1869 novel by Gustave Flaubert concerning the romantic life of a young man during the French Revolution of 1848. The series starred Robert Powell, and in the first episode, A Start to Loving (broadcast on August 9th, 1970), Michael played the small role of an agitator, alongside Glyn Owen (The Power of Kroll), Eric Flynn (The Wheel in Space), David Garfield (The War Games and The Face of Evil), Philip Ray (The Seeds of Death), Patrick Tull (The Krotons), Hugh Walters (The Chase, The Deadly Assassin and Revelation of the Daleks) and Graham Weston (The War Games and Planet of Evil). The series was directed by David Maloney.
On December 8th, 1970 Michael appeared in his first of three Z Cars, entitled Strictly Cash (now missing). He played a character called Jack, alongside Ian Cullen (The Aztecs), James Ellis (Battlefield), Harry Fowler (Remembrance of the Daleks), Bernard Holley (The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Claws of Axos) and Jonathan Newth (Underworld). The episode was directed by Gerald Blake (The Abominable Snowmen and The Invasion of Time).
Michael in A Family at War, aged 28
Sadly, the promise Michael's career showed in the 1960s - notably before he was in Doctor Who - all but fizzled out in the 1970s and beyond. The roles were generally small and forgettable, such as the part he played in A Family at War: Hope Against Hope on December 16th, 1970. Michael played a Corporal in an episode set in Liverpool in 1941 when an aerial bomb hits a house and injures a pregnant woman. It also starred Colin Douglas (The Enemy of the World and Horror of Fang Rock) and Mark Jones (The Seeds of Doom), and was directed by Gerry Mill (The Faceless Ones).
The series Bel Ami was based on the 1885 Guy de Maupassant novel about Georges Duroy (played by Robin Ellis) who cynically exploits women, and his position as a journalist, to gain power in 19th century France. In the first episode, Georges - shown on May 8th, 1971 - Michael appeared as Max, alongside John Bryans (The Creature from the Pit) and Peter Sallis (The Ice Warriors), while it was directed by John Davies, who'd worked with Michael on the Doctor Who story The Macra Terror (1967).
Michael next played a sailor (familiar territory!) in an episode of Rules, Rules, Rules, a drama-documentary for teenagers showing the rules of society they will encounter when they grow up. In the episode Rules and the Generation Gap (shown on May 13th, 1971, but now missing), Michael co-starred with none other than former Doctor Who buddy Frazer Hines. Such a pity we can't watch this!
Rules of the Game was the title of Michael's second of three Z Cars appearances, on November 29th, 1971 (now missing). He played Nick in a story co-starring Ken Barker (Revelation of the Daleks), John Collin (The Leisure Hive), Ian Cullen (The Aztecs), James Ellis (Battlefield), Sheila Fay (The Time Warrior), Mark Jones (The Seeds of Doom) and Graham Weston (The War Games and Planet of Evil).
Michael's next assignment was playing a reporter in the third episode of the Granada series Holly, a psychological thriller starring Brigit Forsyth (The Evil of the Daleks), shown on September 15th, 1972. Coming so soon after Michael's co-billing with Frazer Hines in Rules, Rules, Rules, this job saw him sharing the bill with none other than future Doctor Who companion Ian Marter, as well as Peter Birrel (Frontier in Space), William Gaunt (Revelation of the Daleks), Michael Hawkins (Frontier in Space), Ray Lonnen (Frontier in Space) and Kenneth Watson (The Wheel in Space).
Pathfinders was a Thames series about an RAF squadron behind enemy lines during World War Two, starring Robert Urquhart and Jack Watling (The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear). In the episode Fog (shown on October 11th, 1972, and written by Peter "The Mind Robber" Ling), Michael played Flight sergeant Tom Searle, alongside William Marlowe (The Mind of Evil and Revenge of the Cybermen), Jack May (The Space Pirates) and Kate O'Mara (The Mark of the Rani and Time and the Rani). The series has been released on DVD.
Michael in The Exorcism of Hugh,
aged 30.
In November 1972, Michael had a part in the film The Exorcism of Hugh (aka Neither the Sea Nor the Sand), written by broadcaster Gordon Honeycombe based upon his own novel. The film was directed by Fred Burnley and concerned a troubled wife who travels to the isle of Jersey to sort out her life. There, she meets a lighthouse keeper and falls in love with him, only for him to die while they are making love on a beach. Then her troubles really begin... The film starred Susan Hampshire, Frank Finlay and Michael Petrovitch, and Michael Craze played Collie Delamere, alongside other Doctor Who alumnus David Garth (The Highlanders, Terror of the Autons).
Ooh La La! was a BBC series based upon the short farces written by Georges Feydeau, and Michael appeared in a still-extant episode in the third series, A-Hunting We Will Go, shown on May 19th, 1973. Adapted by Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin, the comedy featured Michael as Gontran, alongside Patrick Cargill, Barbara Murray (Black Orchid), Tony Britton and Joan Hickson.
Two Women was a TV series set in wartime 1945, and starred Margaret Whiting as a woman who struggles to support herself and her daughter, played by Jenny Twigge. In episode 2, broadcast on July 5th 1973, Michael played a British naval officer. Also on the cast list was Godfrey James (Underworld), Margaret John (Fury from the Deep and The Idiot's Lantern), Jon Laurimore (The Masque of Mandragora), Carmen Silvera (The Celestial Toymaker and Invasion of the Dinosaurs) and Reg Lye (The Enemy of the World).
Michael, aged 31, in Crown Court
Between January 30th-31st 1974, Michael appeared in a two-part Crown Court called Do Your Worst, in which he played Michael Pollitson, club captain of Fulchester Rovers, where the manager is sacked because, he claims, three players deliberately performed badly to achieve just such an outcome. Also in the story was Roy Holder (The Caves of Androzani), Maureen Lipman (The Idiot's Lantern) and William Mervyn (The War Machines)
Next up was a sadly small and uncredited role in the Amicus horror film Madhouse, released in May 1974 and starring Vincent Price as a horror movie star released from a mental institution who finds that his murderous character Dr Death is killing independently. It co-starred big screen Dr Who Peter Cushing, Adrienne Corri (The Leisure Hive), Ian Thompson (The Chase) and Peter Halliday (various between 1968-88), and Michael played a reporter.
On September 8th, 1974, Michael secured a role in the BBC Play of the Month, entitled The Linden Tree, written as a play by J B Priestley in 1947. Concerning the conflicting opinions within one family, the play also featured Simon Lack (The Mind of Evil and The Androids of Tara), and Michael played the part of Bernard Fawcett.
Michael's final appointment of 1974 was two episodes of Intimate Strangers, a series about a man who suffers a heart attack which changes both his career and his relationships, particularly his marriage. It starred Anthony Bate and Patricia Lawrence, and Michael appeared in episodes 9 (shown on November 15th) and 11 (November 29th) as a character called Steve. Other Doctor Who alumni included Neil Hallett (Timelash), Ivor Roberts (Genesis of the Daleks), Bruce Purchase (The Pirate Planet) and Gordon Sterne (The Ambassadors of Death).
Michael's only work in 1975 was en episode of The Dick Emery Show, shown on September 27th. It's not clear what role Michael played in this perennial sketch show, but he shared billing with the likes of Graham Armitage (The Macra Terror), Victor Maddern (Fury from the Deep), Alan Tilvern (Planet of Giants) and Debbie Watling's sister Dilys.
Michael, aged 35, on the set of Satan's
Slave/ Evil Heritage
Satan's Slave (aka Evil Heritage) was a horror film directed by Norman J Warren and written by David McGillivray which concerned a young girl who got caught up in a devil-worshipping cult run by her evil uncle and cousin. The evil uncle was played by Michael Gough (The Celestial Toymaker and Arc of Infinity) and the cousin by Martin Potter (Terminus), while Michael played the character of John, boyfriend of starlet Candace Glendenning, who meets a grisly end by jumping off the top of a tower block. Satan's Slave also starred James Bree (The War Games, Full Circle and The Trial of a Time Lord). The film is available on DVD, and although he doesn't speak, Michael can be briefly glimpsed in the behind-the-scenes making of documentary All You Need is Blood, viewable on YouTube (he can be spotted at 11m 30s).
On May 10th, 1977 Michael appeared in his third and final edition of Z Cars, entitled Scavengers. He played Detective Constable Johnson alongside Keith Drinkel (Time-Flight), Brian Grellis (Revenge of the Cybermen and The Invisible Enemy) and Ray Lonnen (Frontier in Space).
Michael in Terror (1978), aged 36
In 1978 Michael appeared in another horror film, called simply Terror, again directed by Norman J Warren and written by David McGillivray. The story concerned the royal descendants of the condemned witch Mad Dolly, all of whom meet grisly ends by having their heads or limbs chopped off in various ways. Elaine Ives-Cameron from The Stones of Blood also appeared, as did Michael's brother Peter Craze (The Space Museum and Nightmare of Eden) and fellow Doctor Who companion William Russell. Michael played the part of Gary, a mesmerist who hypnotises starlet Carolyn Courage into maiming her cousin, played by John Nolan.
After that there was a gap of eight years in Michael's CV (although he was asked by Doctor Who director Graeme Harper to play Krelper in Peter Davison's swansong The Caves of Androzani, but this was vetoed by producer John Nathen Turner). He had given up on making acting his main career and, in 1974, had bought the tenancy of a pub in Shepperton. However, he did make very occasional acting appearances, firstly in the mini-series The December Rose, a period children's drama about the adventures of a young Victorian chimney sweep, Barnacle Brown, played by Courtney Roper-Knight. Michael played a Gentleman in the episode The Last Birthday, the final episode of six, broadcast on April 16th, 1986. Also on the bill was Judy Cornwell (Paradise Towers), Ian Hogg (Ghost Light) and Tracey Eddon (stuntwoman for, among others, Sophie Aldred).
Michael in The Diary of
Anne Frank, aged 45
Michael next appeared in The Diary of Anne Frank episode 1 (broadcast on January 4th 1987) playing a telephone engineer, alongside Emrys James (State of Decay) and Ghost Light's Katharine Schlesinger as the title character. There was a whole host of Doctor Who related faces behind the scenes too, including Terrance Dicks as producer, Dudley Simpson as composer, costumes by Dinah Collin, and design by Raymond London. Michael's appearance was fleeting.
There was then a seven year gap until April 1994, when Michael played Maudie in a TV movie adaptation of G F Newman's The Healer, about a Colombian immigrant working in London who has the gift of healing but cannot heal his own past. It was directed by Mike Hodges and also featured Helen Griffin (Rise of the Cybermen) and David Garfield (The War Games and The Face of Evil). The film won two BAFTA Cymru awards for Best Actor (Paul Rhys) and Best Drama.
Michael's last acting role was in the 31-minute film The Patient (1994), written by Andy Love and Omid Nooshin (who also directed). Parts of The Patient were edited into the 90-minute horror anthology Virtual Terror, but it's thought Michael's scenes were not used. I'm unable to find either of these productions online.
Michael on The Time, The Place in
1996, aged 53
On January 18th, 1996, Michael was among a number of Doctor Who actors and fans (or "freaks" as they were called on air) to appear on the daytime talk show The Time, The Place, hosted by John Stapleton. The discussion was prompted by the announcement of the casting of Paul McGann in a new Doctor Who TV movie, and the show asked whether the programme was still popular.
Appearing alongside Michael in the audience was Carole Ann Ford and William Hartnell's real-life granddaughter, Jessica Carney. You can watch the whole episode on Dailymotion here (Michael appears 21m 42s in).
Is this Michael in Victoria
Wood As Seen on TV?
I've always been intrigued by a fleeting cameo appearance by who I think is Michael Craze in an old Victoria Wood sketch. In Victoria Wood As Seen on TV series 1 episode 3 (transmitted on January 25th, 1985), there's a spoof documentary called To Be an Actress, in which a girl named Sarah Wells trains to become a thespian. We see her attend an audition, and one of the fellow attendees is a character called Tony, who I am convinced is Michael Craze. There's a screengrab here and a link to the sketch too. What do you think?
Michael eventually gave up his pub, but continued to work in the catering industry, for firms such as NatWest Bank and Trusthouse Forte, until his tragically early death on December 7th, 1998. The previous day he had suffered a heart attack and fallen down some steps while picking up his neighbour's newspaper for her, but because of a pre-existing heart condition, doctors were unable to operate, and he sadly passed away the next day, aged just 56. The Doctor Who theme was played at his funeral. He left first wife Edwina (who he'd met on the set of The Tenth Planet where she was working as a production assistant), second wife Helen (from whom he was separated at the time) and 15-year-old son Ben. Edwina Craze (nee Verner) died of cancer the following year, aged just 60.
A memorial to Michael can be found in the form of a plaque on one of the stalls seats in the Gaiety Theatre, Douglas, on the Isle of Man, placed there by the Isle of Man Doctor Who Group. It was officially unveiled by his son Ben.
Michael and Anneke pictured for the Radio Times in 1973
Addendum: In November 1973 Doctor Who celebrated its 10th anniversary, and to celebrate Radio Times held photoshoots with a number of previous companions, including Michael Craze and his co-star Anneke Wills. Michael, Anneke and two Cybermen were photographed at Stiffkey Marshes and Cley Beach in Norfolk, and afterwards went for lunch at the Jolly Farmer's pub in North Creake. It was the first time Michael and Anneke had been reunited since they left Doctor Who in 1967.
Anneke was interviewed about it in 2011: "I didn't see him again until 20 years later, in 1993. We got on a train to Manchester and he said, 'How are you, Duchess?', and we picked up again. We were really good friends. Of course, all the Doctor Who people wanted us to be romantic, but we weren't. Having adventures was much more interesting!"
Michael's intro for The Tenth Planet
from 1992
In 1992 Michael recorded two versions of an introduction to a planned VHS release of The Tenth Planet after a fan claimed they'd recovered the missing episode 4. However, this was soon revealed to be a hoax, and the release was shelved. Michael's unused intro can be seen on YouTube.
Michael/ Ben has been depicted twice since his death. The first time it was for his brief appearance in the 2013 drama An Adventure in Space and Time, where he was played by Robin Varley, and the second time was in Doctor Who's 2017 Christmas special, Twice Upon a Time, where he was portrayed by Jared Garfield. Both are pictured below and neither bear a very strong resemblance to Michael!
