The Celestial Toymaker

Michael Gough as the Toymaker

Four episodes (The Celestial Toyroom, The Hall of Dolls, The Dancing Floor, The Final Test)
First broadcast Apr 2 to 23 1966
Average audience for serial: 8.30m

• A pictorial guide to the guest cast is at the bottom of this entry. An episode-by-episode review of this story can be found at Time Space Visualiser here.

REGULAR CAST

William Hartnell (The Doctor) Jan 8 1908 to Apr 23 1975 (heart failure after a series of strokes) For a full career biography for William Hartnell, click here.

Peter Purves (Steven Taylor) Born Feb 10 1939 For a full career biography of Peter Purves, click here.

Jackie Lane (Dodo Chaplet) Jul 10 1941 to Jun 7 2021 For a full career biography for Jackie Lane, click here.

GUEST CAST

Michael Gough (Toymaker) Nov 23 1916 to Mar 17 2011
Doctor Who credits
Played: The Toymaker in The Celestial Toymaker (1966)
Played: Hedin in Arc of Infinity (1983)
Career highlights
Malaysia-born Michael appeared in over 150 productions since his debut in Androcles and the Lion in 1946. He had roles in The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Sword and the Rose (1953), Ill Met by Moonlight (1957), Dracula (1958), Dancers in Mourning (1959), The Saint (1964), Orlando (1966-67), two episodes of The Avengers (1965/67, playing the inventor of the Cybernauts in the former), Women in Love (1969), The Search for the Nile (1971), Horror Hospital (1973), Galileo (1975), The Boys from Brazil (1978), Brideshead Revisited (1981), Oxford Blues (1984), Out of Africa (1985), Inspector Morse (1987), A Killing on the Exchange (1987), Blackeyes (1989), Sleepers (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), The Cherry Orchard (1999), Sleepy Hollow (1999) and Corpse Bride (2005). He may be best known as Alfred Pennyworth the butler in the first four Batman films (1989-97) and six TV adverts (2001), and ironically appeared alongside Alan Napier, who played the same character in the 1960s TV series, in the mini-series QB VII (1974).
Awards
1957: BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor
1979: Tony Award for Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) (Bedroom Farce)
Facts
Michael was married to Doctor Who companion actress Anneke Wills between 1962-79, with whom he had two children (one of them, Polly, was actually actor Anthony Newley's biological child, but Michael adopted her). He had another child with second wife Anne Leon, and another - actor Simon Gough - with third wife Diana Graves. Michael would have returned to the role of the Toymaker in 1986 if the original Season 23 had been made (the story The Nightmare Fair). Michael was the first BAFTA winner to appear in Doctor Who.

Reg Lever (Joker) Sep 4 1903 to Aug 18 1985
Career highlights
Other credits include The Show Mustn't Go On (1960), Dr Finlay's Casebook (1962), Mary Barton (1964), Work is a 4-Letter Word (1968), The Beast in the Cellar (1970), Doomwatch (1972), Angels (1976) and Willie's Last Stand (1982).

Carmen Silvera (Clara, Queen of Hearts, Mrs Wiggs) Jun 2 1922 to Aug 3 2002 (lung cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Clara in The Celestial Toymaker (1966)
Played: Queen of Hearts in The Celestial Toymaker (1966)
Played: Mrs Wiggs in The Celestial Toymaker (1966)
Played: Ruth in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974)
Career highlights
Canadian Carmen's debut came in Emergency Ward 10 (1961), then Z Cars (1962), Compact (1964-65, as Camilla Hope), Harry Worth (1968), Dad's Army (1970), Father Dear Father (1973), The Double Dealers (1974), Lillie (1978), The Gentle Touch (1980), Angels (1983), La Passione (1996) and Revolver (2001), but will be best remembered as Edith Artois in over 80 episodes of the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! (1982-92).
Facts
During World War II, Carmen was evacuated from Toronto to Montreal and narrowly escaped death when, at the last minute, her name was taken off the passenger list of a troopship that was sunk by the enemy shortly afterwards, drowning 350 children. Carmen's father Roland was quite a name in the world of flat-green bowls, and every year Coventry and District Bowls Association run a competition for the Silvera Shield.
This is Your Life: Carmen was the subject of Thames TV's This is Your Life on January 30th, 1991, surprised by host Michael Aspel during a recording of the sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!.

Campbell Singer (Joey, King of Hearts, Sergeant Rugg) Mar 16 1909 to Feb 16 1976
Career highlights
Campbell's long career began in 1946's They Flew Through Sand, and over the years he made appearances in Ten Little Niggers (1949), Hangman's Wharf (1950), The Ringer (1952), The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953), Hancock's Half Hour (1957), Private Investigator (1958-59), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), The Hands of Orlac (1961), Benny Hill (1962), The Newcomers (1965), The Forsyte Saga (1967), On the Buses (1971), Dad's Army (1972/75) and Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1975). He was also a writer, penning the 1962 West German film Letzter Punkt der Tagesordnung, 1964's The Guilty Party and 1968's Meinungsverschiedenheiten.
Facts
His wife was actor Gillian Maude.

Peter Stephens (Cyril, Knave of Hearts, Kitchen Boy) Jan 3 1920 to Sep 17 1972
Doctor Who credits
Played: Cyril in The Celestial Toymaker (1966)
Played: Knave of Hearts in The Celestial Toymaker (1966)
Played: Kitchen boy in The Celestial Toymaker (1966)
Played: Lolem in The Underwater Menace (1967)
Career highlights
Further appearances were in No Other Verdict (1955), The Count of Monte Cristo (1956), Fair Game (1958), Oliver Twist (1962), Martin Chuzzlewit (1964), Danger Man (1966), Adam Adamant Lives! (1967), Herostratus (1967), The Avengers (1969), Z Cars (1971), Doctor in Charge (1972) and Arthur of the Britons (1973). He also directed a film called Mustang! in 1959.

Dancers:

Beryl Braham Born Dec 23 1942
Beryl's only other known screen work is as an uncredited prisoner in Within These Walls (1975), although there are also mentions of her appearing in a 1977 episode of Ripping Yarns, and in a stage production of Peter Pan at the London Coliseum in the 1972-73 season. Beryl is also the great-aunt of Doctor Who Magazine interviewer Benjamin Cook.

Ann Harrison
This is Ann's only known credit.

Delia Linden Born Jun 30 1943
Delia also appeared uncredited as a dancer in The Masque of the Red Death (1964) and a chorus girl in Oh! What a Lovely War (1969).

CREW 

Brian Hayles (writer, story) Mar 7 1931 to Oct 30 1978
Doctor Who credits
Wrote: The Celestial Toymaker (1966, story), The Smugglers (1966), The Ice Warriors (1967), The Seeds of Death (1969), The Curse of Peladon (1972), The Monster of Peladon (1974)
Career highlights
Brian had previously written for The Badger Game (1962), Suspense (1963), Your World (1963), Swizzlewick (1964), Legend of Death (1965), Public Eye (1968), The First Lady (1969), Out of the Unknown (1969/71), Doomwatch (1971-72), Barlow (1974), The Mind Beyond (1976), Warlords of the Deep (1978), The Moon Stallion (1978) and Arabian Adventure (1979). He also helped create, and wrote 31 episodes for the soap United! (1965-67). Brian also wrote scripts for BBC radio soap The Archers, and wrote a novel based on the series in 1975. He penned numerous children's stage plays, including The Curse of the Labyrinth, The Doomsday Buttons, and The Hour of the Werewolf.
Awards
1975: Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Children's Drama Script (Season 11, shared with Robert Holmes, Malcolm Hulke, Terry Nation and Robert Sloman)
Facts
In a rare interview, Brian said: "I wanted to keep the Toymaker very vague, I didn't want to explain exactly who he was. At the time, I had grand visions of his becoming like the Daleks, coming back again and again, and then of course something very like that happened a few years later with the Master."

Donald Tosh (writer, scripts) Mar 16 1935 to Dec 3 2019 Click here for Donald Tosh's entry on The Time Meddler

Bill Sellars (director) Born Jun 5 1925 to Dec 19 2018
Career highlights
Bill's other directing credits include Compact (1965), 199 Park Lane (1965), United! (1965-66), The Devil and All His Mischief (1966), and he went on to produce series such as The Newcomers (1967-69), The Doctors (1970-71), Owen MD (1971-73), The Terracotta Horse (1973), The Brothers (1976), Flesh and Blood (1980-82), the ill-fated soap Triangle (1981-83, which he created), All Creatures Great and Small (1978-90 - for which he was nominated for a BAFTA and an Emmy) and One By One (1984-87). He also appeared on screen as a ministerial PA in A for Andromeda (1961, on which he was also production assistant) and a soldier in The Andromeda Breakthrough (1962).
Facts
In 1950, Bill married the actress June Bland (who appeared in the Doctor Who stories Earthshock and Battlefield), but later divorced her and moved to Spain to live with his civil partner, Alan Sandilands. When Alan died in 2012, Bill moved back to the UK and, the following year, remarried June Bland (with whom he'd had three children).
In 2015 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Bill here.

Innes Lloyd (producer) Dec 24 1925 to Aug 23 1991
Doctor Who credits
Produced: The Celestial Toymaker, The Gunfighters, The Savages, The War Machines, The Smugglers, The Tenth Planet, The Power of the Daleks, The Highlanders, The Underwater Menace, The Moonbase, The Macra Terror, The Faceless Ones, The Evil of the Daleks, The Abominable Snowmen, The Ice Warriors, The Enemy of the World (1966-68)
Career highlights
Doctor Who was his first producing job after directing the Eurovision Song Contest for the BBC in 1960, and several episodes of The Flying Swan, United! and The Newcomers (all in 1965). After leaving Doctor Who, Innes produced Dead of Night (1972), The Stone Tape (1972), 78 episodes of Thirty-Minute Theatre (1968-71), Sporting Scenes (1973-74), Orde Wingate (1976), An Englishman's Castle (1978), BBC2 Play of the Week (1977-78), BBC2 Playhouse (1976-82), Play for Today (1975-82), An Englishman Abroad (1983), Terra Nova (1984, which he also adapted for screen), The Man from Moscow (1985), Talking Heads (1988), Bomber Harris (1989), Screen Two (1986-90) and Screen One (1989/91).
Awards
1992: BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama for Screen One: A Question of Attribution (with John Schlesinger and Alan Bennett)
Facts
Along with script editor Gerry Davis, Innes came up with the idea of regeneration. He approached esteemed actors Peter Jeffrey, Ron Moody, Michael Horden and Trevor Howard to replace William Hartnell, before Patrick Troughton accepted the role. Throughout the 1970s and 80s Innes built up a reputation as one of the BBC's most respected producers, and his professional relationship with playwright Alan Bennett was among his most celebrated work. In October 2006, London's Time Out magazine asked Bennett why he no longer wrote for TV: "I think the one decisive factor was that the guy who used to produce all the things for television, Innes Lloyd, died. Innes used to prod you into doing things, and if you had a notion of something, you could go to him and he'd set about making it possible before you'd written it. I was never aware how much wheeling and dealing had to be done. In that sense, he was an ideal producer: he never let you know that it might be quite difficult to get yourself on. But I've felt it since he went; the first thing they talk about is cost and all that stuff." Innes died within days of his Doctor Who colleague Gerry Davis.

Gerry Davis (script editor) Feb 23 1930 to Aug 31 1991 Click here for Gerry Davis's entry on The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve

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