The Tenth Planet

Farewell to the original...

Four episodes (Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4)
First broadcast Oct 8 to 29 1966
Average audience for serial: 6.75m

• A pictorial guide to the guest cast is at the bottom of this entry. An episode-by-episode review of this story is on 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.

Anneke Wills (Polly) Born Oct 20 1941 For a full career biography for Anneke Wills, click here.

Michael Craze (Ben Jackson) Nov 29 1942 to Dec 7 1998 (heart attack) For a full career biography for Michael Craze, click here.

GUEST CAST

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 she 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.

Peter Hawkins (Cyberman voice) Apr 3 1924 to Jul 8 2006 Click here for Peter Hawkins's entry on The Daleks

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)
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 (there are others, such as Patrick Troughton, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy, David Tennant, Billie Piper, John Barrowman and Matt Smith). Gregg - born Donald van der Maaten - is often confused with the American actor of the same stage name, but they are different performers. Unfortunately, unlike his Stateside counterpart, Gregg's CV is very short (in fact, just Doctor Who!).

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.

Roy Skelton (Cyberman voice) Jul 20 1931 to Jun 8 2011 (pneumonia following a stroke) Click here for Roy Skelton's entry on The Ark

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).

Facts

Here's a short biography of Alan's life and work.

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.

CREW

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

Kit Pedler (writer) Jun 11 1927 to May 27 1981 (heart attack) Click here for Kit Pedler's entry on The War Machines

Derek Martinus (director) Apr 4 1931 to Mar 27 2014 (Alzheimer's Disease) Click here for Derek Martinus's entry on Galaxy 4

Innes Lloyd (producer) Dec 24 1925 to Aug 23 1991 Click here for Innes Lloyd's entry on The Celestial Toymaker

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