The Mind Robber

"Sausages!"

Five episodes (Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5)
First broadcast Sep 14 to Oct 12 1968
Average audience for serial: 6.86m

An episode by episode review of this serial can be read at Time Space Visualiser here.

REGULAR CAST

Patrick Troughton (The Doctor) Mar 25 1920 to Mar 28 1987 (heart attack) See Patrick Troughton's entry on The Power of the Daleks

Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon) Born Sep 22 1944 Click here for Frazer Hines's entry on The Highlanders

Wendy Padbury (Zoe Heriot) Born Dec 7 1947 Click here for Wendy Padbury's entry on The Wheel in Space

GUEST CAST

Paul Alexander (Soldier) Born Aug 18 1945
Career highlights
After debuting in Doctor Who, Paul later appeared in Persuasion (1971), The Kids from 47A (1974), Beryl's Lot (1975-77, as Derek), County Hall (1982), Casualty (1988), A Touch of Frost (1996), Perfect Strangers (2001), Jane Hall (2006), EastEnders (2008), War Horse (2011) and Inhaler (2013). In 2015 he directed a film based upon the life of St Francis of Assisi.
Facts
Paul joined the Third Order of the Society of St Francis in 1975 and has developed a deep interest in contemplation and action. Here he is on Twitter.

John Atterbury (Robot) Born Aug 4 1941
Doctor Who credits
Played: White Robot in The Mind Robber (1968)
Played: Alien guard in The War Games (1969)
Career highlights
John's other roles include Time of My Life (1980), Blind Justice (1988), Scarlett (1994), The Parent Trap (1998), Gosford Park (2001), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and Love's Kitchen (2011).
Facts
John acts a lot for radio plays and narrates audiobooks.
In 2016 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with John here.

David Cannon (Cyrano de Bergerac) Oct 28 1939 to Jul 7 2020

Career highlights

His only other credits are St Ives (1967), Z Cars (1968), Son of Man (1969), Sole Survivor (1970) and The Severed Arm (1973).

Facts

David was born in North Carolina, but studied acting at RADA 1965-68, after which he returned to the US. He then moved away from acting to qualify as a doctor of clinical psychology in 1984 and ran his own practice in Clemson, South Carolina, until 2017. He also wrote a book entitled Hey Bubba! A Metaphysical Guide to the Good Ol' Boy (1990). It is strongly believed this David Cannon cannot be the same who appeared uncredited in various minor roles in The Romans, The Chase and The War Games. With special thanks to Tom Lingwood

Ralph Carrigan (White Robot) Nov 1 1933 to Apr 4 2007
Doctor Who credits
Played: Extra in The Myth Makers (1965, uncredited)
Played: Monoid in The Ark (1966)
Played: Cheerleader in The Macra Terror (1967)
Played: White Robot in The Mind Robber (1968)
Played: Cyberman in The Invasion (1968)
Career highlights
Ralph's only other credit is a Wednesday Play (1965) and The Body Stealers (1969).

John Greenwood (D'Artagnan, Sir Lancelot) Aug 3 1929 to Nov 17 2018 (cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Played: D'Artagnan in The Mind Robber (1968)
Played: Sir Lancelot in The Mind Robber (1968)
Fight arranger: The Mind Robber (1968)
Career highlights
John also appeared, acting or stunting, in carried out fight arrangement duties on Who Destroyed the Earth (1957), The Budds of Paragon Row (1959), An Age of Kings (1960), The Spread of the Eagle (1963), The Avengers (1964), A Tale of Two Cities (1965) and Out of the Unknown (1969).

Ian Hines (Soldier) Born c.1942
Doctor Who credits
Played: Central European guard in The Enemy of the World (1967-68, uncredited)
Played: Soldier in The Mind Robber (1968)
Facts
This was Ian's only acting credit. He is also Frazer Hines's brother. Frazer got him this job in return for Ian dealing with his publicity. Ian and Frazer were also to collaborate together on the 1972 prog-rock album The Marvel World of Icarus, which featured tracks - most written by Ian, but some by Marvel supremo Stan Lee - about Marvel World characters.

Bernard Horsfall (Gulliver) Nov 20 1930 to Jan 28 2013
Doctor Who credits
Played: Gulliver in The Mind Robber (1968)
Played: Time Lord in The War Games (1969)
Played: Taron in Planet of the Daleks (1973)
Played: Chancellor Goth in The Deadly Assassin (1976)
Career highlights
Prolific character actor Bernard debuted in The Steel Bayonet (1957) and went on to appear in Dancers in Mourning (1959), The Angry Silence (1960), Captain Moonlight: Man of Mystery (1960), Pathfinders to Space (1960), Family Solicitor (1961), Harpers West One (1962), Guns at Batasi (1964), The Avengers (1965/67/68), Department S (1969), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Ivanhoe (1970), Elizabeth R (1971), Freewheelers (1973), Harriet's Back in Town (1973), South Riding (1974), Within These Walls (1976), Big Boy Now! (1977), Enemy at the Door (1978-80, as Dr Philip Martel), Minder (1982), Gandhi (1982), The Jewel in the Crown (1984), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1988), The Bill (1989), Thatcher: The Final Days (1991), Virtual Murder (1992), Braveheart (1995), Murder Rooms (2000), Doctors (2005) and Stone of Destiny (2008).
Facts
Bernard claimed he was a descendant of William the Conqueror. In the 1980s Bernard moved with his actress wife Jane Jordan Rogers to the Isle of Skye in Scotland, where he became a crofter, producing fruit and vegetables. His son Christian predeceased him in 2012.

Timothy Horton (Child)
Career highlights
Timothy also appeared in The World of Wooster (1967), Nicholas Nickleby (1968), Merry-Go-Round (1968) and the Jackanory adaptation of No One Must Know, in June 1969.

Richard Ireson (Soldier) Born Dec 16 1946
Doctor Who credits
Played: Soldier in The Mind Robber (1968)
Played: Axus in The Krotons (1968-69)
Career highlights
Richard's further credits include Dr Finlay's Casebook (1967), The Onedin Line (1972), The Hole in the Wall (1972), Bill Brand (1977), The New Avengers (1977), Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983), Juliet Bravo (1984), The New Statesman (1987), The Nineteenth Hole (1989), Chicago Joe and the Showgirl (1990), The Object of Beauty (1991), Love Hurts (1992), Sharpe's Rifles (1993) and Woof! (1993). He had a regular role as Frank McNab in Hold the Back Page (1985-86) and Reg Sparrow in EastEnders (1987-88). In 1989 he wrote an episode of The Bill.
Facts
In 1986 he set up his own theatrical agency with actor Tim Brown called The Narrow Road Company.

Emrys Jones (Master of the Land of Fiction) Sep 22 1915 to Jul 10 1972 (heart attack)
Career highlights
Emrys debuted in One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942), followed by The Wicked Lady (1945), This Was a Woman (1948), Deadly Nightshade (1953), I've Got a Secret (1957), The History of Mr Polly (1959), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), Jezebel ex UK (1963), The Scarlet and the Black (1965), The Troubleshooters (1966), Doomwatch (1970) and Paul Temple (1971).
Facts
Emrys was an international footballer in the 1930s before being cast as a footballer in Powell and Pressburger's 1942 wartime film. He was for a time married to actress Anne Ridler, who appeared in the Doctor Who story The Wheel in Space (1968).

Martin Langley (Child)
This is Martin's only credit.

Sylvestra Le Touzel (Child) Born 1958
Career highlights
Sylvestra's first TV was Doctor Who, after which she grew up to become one of the UK's busiest actresses. Further appearances include Look and Read's The Boy from Space (1971), The Brontes of Haworth (1973), My Honourable Mrs (1975), Westway (1976), Rooms (1977), A Family Affair (1979), Metal Mickey (1981), Maybury (1981), Mansfield Park (1983), Making Out (1989), Harry Enfield and Chums (1994), Between the Lines (1994), Alas Smith and Jones (1986/97), The Uninvited (1997), Beast (2000-01), Hearts and Bones (2000), Judge John Deed (2005), The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (2006), Housewife, 49 (2006), Bonkers (2007), Northanger Abbey (2007), Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (2008), Doc Martin (2009), New Tricks (2011), Dirk Gently (2012), Titanic (2012), Cloud Atlas (2012), Blandings (2013), Father Brown (2014), Mr Turner (2014), Utopia (2014), Death in Paradise (2014) and Endeavour (2017).
Facts
Sylvestra's husband is actor Owen Teale, who also appeared in Doctor Who story Vengeance on Varos (1985). Her brother is actor Joshua le Touzel. In 1984 she appeared in a TV commercial for Heineken lager spoofing My Fair Lady. In an extract from her biography, Sylvestra recalls: "Though I idolised [Wendy Padbury], [Patrick Troughton's and Frazer Hines's] tremendous affection for her came as a great surprise to me. We were not a tactile family at home. [Wendy] was mauled, squeezed, her pert bottom patted, and generally groped, continually, especially when she was trying to be serious. And she seemed happy, took it in her stride, week after week along with having to look scared by a succession of overweight actors dressed as beings from other galaxies in saggy all-in-one catsuits which showed the line of their y-fronts. To [Wendy], the endless wellingtons sprayed silver, the alien face masks improvised by a resourceful costume department out of an egg box, a length of plastic tubing and a drinking straw, were water off a duck's back."

Barbara Loft (Child)
This is Barbara's sole credit. However, in 2013, a Barbara Loft was one of many signatories to a letter in The Stage making clear that her former training ground, the Corona Academy, closed its doors in 1989, and had no links with Corona Theatre School, which closed due to financial reasons in 2013.

Christine Pirie (Princess Rapunzel)
This is Christine's only credit, although she also contributed an uncredited narration of an extract from Little Women for episode 3 of this story.

Sue Pulford (Medusa) Born Apr 21 1943
Career highlights
This was Sue's only credit with the surname Pulford, but she later married fellow actor Philip Bowen and continued to act under the name Sue or Susanna Best in The Purple Twilight (1979), Angels (1981), Capital City (1990), Kavanagh QC (1999) and Rosemary and Thyme (2004). She also had a regular role as Aunt Fanny Kirrin in The Famous Five (1978-79).
Facts
Sue and her husband Philip set up the charity Shakespeare Link, which promotes the belief that Shakespeare's work offers a behavioural resource and an international medium for communication and debate. It is based at the naturally grown Willow Globe Theatre in Llandrindod Wells.

Christopher Reynalds (Child) Born Dec 13 1952

Doctor Who credits

Played: Child in The Mind Robber (1968)

Played: Sontaran in The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky (uncredited, 2008)
Career highlights
Christopher also appeared in Pickwick (1969), Alma Mater (1971) and The Road Builder (1971).
Facts
Christopher's birth name was Christopher Peter Tempest Reynalds! In the 1980s he began to race Formula Ford 1600s, progressing to the Caterham 7 by the 1990s, in which he raced in Europe and winning the 2004 Autosport Caterham Eurocup Championship at Brands Hatch. He is 5ft 1in tall.

David Reynalds (Child) Born Oct 31 1954
Career highlights
David's other work as an actor include One More Saturday Night (1986), Crime Story (1986), Soul Man (1986), China Beach (1988) and Raising Miranda (1988), but he is now a highly successful screenwriter in the United States, having written material for Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-94), Dumb and Dumber (1996), Mulan (1998), Fantasia 2000 (1999), Tarzan (1999), Toy Story 2 (1999), The Emperor's New Groove (2000), Finding Nemo (2003), Chicken Little (2005), The Polar Bears (2012) and Aldabra: Once Upon an Island (2015).
Facts
David's writing work for Finding Nemo saw him nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar and BAFTA in 2004.

Christopher Robbie (The Karkus) Born May 30 1938
Doctor Who credits
Played: The Karkus in The Mind Robber (1968)
Played: Cyber Leader in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)
Career highlights
Christopher debuted in The Avengers (1964), followed by Where Has Poor Mickey Gone? (1964), The Expert (1969), Codename (1970), Pardon My Genie (1973), Dempsey and Makepeace (1985), The Lady and the Highwayman (1989), Taggart (1993), One Foot in the Grave (1997), The Commander (2003), Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj (2006), Holby City (2008) and Enemies Closer (2013).
Facts
Christopher's other talents include writing and directing stage plays, design and photography. He may also be remembered in the Southern Television region for his role as an in-vision announcer, a role he also performed over the years for Associated Rediffusion, Thames TV, TVS and Anglia TV.
In 2013 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Christopher here.

Philip Ryan (Redcoat) 1921 to 2009
Doctor Who credits
Played: Soldier in The Web of Fear (1968, uncredited)
Played: Redcoat in The Mind Robber (1968)
Played: Primord in Inferno (1970)
Career highlights
Philip's first credit was in The Hands of Orlac (1960), followed by Adam Adamant Lives! (1966), Paul Temple (1971), North and South (1975), Shoestring (1979), Sorry! (1985), Dempsey and Makepeace (1986), The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986) and Me and My Girl (1987).

Gerry Wain (Blackbeard)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Soldier in The Reign of Terror (1964, uncredited)
Played: Guard in The Romans (1965, uncredited)
Played: Stunt sailor in The Chase (1965, uncredited)
Played: Blackbeard in The Mind Robber (1968)
Stunts: The Chase (1965, uncredited), The War Games (1969, uncredited)
Played: Confederate horseman in The War Games (1969, uncredited)
Played: Alien guard in The War Games (1969, uncredited)
Career highlights
Other credits include Dial RIX (1962), Taxi! (1963), Martin Chuzzlewit (1964), St Ives (1967), The Benny Hill Show (1967), Virgin of the Secret Service (1968), Arthur of the Britons (1973) and Z Cars (1962/68/74).

Bill Weisener (Robot) Jun 4 1933 to May 23 2006
Career highlights
Other screen credits were The Judge (1968), Sentimental Education (1970) and The Last of the Mohicans (1971).
Facts
Since the 1960s, Belfast-born Bill lived in Barnes, UK, and was involved in amateur theatre in the community and with the local church. He married fellow actor Beth Surgenor in 1958, but Beth died in 1992. In the 1990s Bill co-founded Poplar's Emery Theatre and a production company with playwright David Hill.

Hamish Wilson (Jamie McCrimmon) Dec 13 1942 to Mar 26 2020 (coronavirus)
Career highlights
Hamish, who played the "wrong-faced" Jamie in episodes 2-3 of this story while Frazer Hines had chicken pox, had previously appeared in The Boy from the Gorbals (1959), Para Handy: Master Mariner (1960), Greyfriars Bobby: the True Story of a Dog (1961), This Man Craig (1966), The Revenue Men (1967) and Softly Softly (1967), and later acted in The Borderers (1969), Adam Smith (1972), The View from Daniel Pike (1973), Taggart (2004), Monarch of the Glen (2005), Still Game (2007), The Wicker Tree (2011) and TimeLock (2013). He also appeared in the 2013 Doctor Who/ Alien crossover fan film Besieged.
Facts
Having worked as an actor since 1956, Hamish joined Radio Forth in Edinburgh in the 1970s where he pioneered in-house drama production in commercial radio. Thereafter he made award-winning drama at Radio Clyde and the BBC. He was also a juror and jury chairman in the Prix Italia, Prix Futura Berlin and Prix Europa international radio competitions.
In 2014 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Hamish here.

Terry Wright (White Robot)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Cheerleader in The Macra Terror (1967)
Played: White Robot in The Mind Robber (1968)
Career highlights
Further credits include An Enemy of the State (1965), Crossroads (1966), Callan (1972), You're On Your Own (1975) and Fox (1980).

CREW

Peter Ling (writer, episodes 2-5) May 27 1926 to Sep 14 2006 (heart attack following Alzheimer's disease)
Career highlights
Peter is best remembered as co-creator of the series Compact (1962-65, and writer of almost 200 episodes), Champion House (1967-68), and Crossroads (1964-88, and writer of over 1,000 episodes), but his writing career began in 1951 with his work on 69 episodes of Whirligig, followed by work on Aladdin (1951), Into Thin Air (1952), Saturday Special (1952-53), Happy Holidays (1954), Dead Giveaway (1957), Murder Bag (1958), Crime Sheet (1959), The Roving Reasons (1960), The Avengers (1961/63), Dixon of Dock Green (1966), Sexton Blake (1967-68) and The Pathfinders (1972).
Facts
As a child in the 1930s Peter appeared in the Radio Luxembourg children's series The Ovaltinies, and started writing while in the Army during World War Two, honing his craft while spending two years in a sanatorium recovering from tuberculosis. Success on radio led to him becoming a script editor and head of children's series for Associated-Rediffusion, and he launched the popular serial Waggoners' Walk in 1969. Peter also wrote stories for the Eagle comic in the 1950s and 60s, and under the pseudonym Petra Lee, various novels known as "bodice-rippers". Peter's wife was 1950s/60s scriptwriter Sheilagh Ward.

Derrick Sherwin (writer, episode 1, and script editor) Apr 16 1936 to Oct 17 2018 Click here for Derrick Sherwin's entry on The Web of Fear

David Maloney (director) Dec 14 1933 to Jul 18 2006 (cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Production assistant: The Rescue (1965, uncredited), The Romans (1965, uncredited), The Time Meddler (1965, uncredited), The Myth Makers (1965, uncredited), The Ark (1966, uncredited)
Directed: The Mind Robber (1968), The Krotons (1968-69), The War Games (1969), Frontier in Space (episode 6, 1973, uncredited), Planet of the Daleks (1973), Genesis of the Daleks (1975), Planet of Evil (1975), The Deadly Assassin (1976), The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977)
Career highlights
David also directed for The Newcomers (1968-69), Ivanhoe (1970), The Last of the Mohicans (1971), The Witch's Daughter (1971), Hawkeye, the Pathfinder (1973), Woodstock (1973), Kim & Co (1975), Angels (1976), Rough Justice (1977), Juliet Bravo (1982), Maelstrom (1985), Strike It Rich! (1986), Clowns (1989) and Family Pride (1991), while taking producing duties on Blake's 7 (1978-80), When the Boat Comes In (1981) and The Day of the Triffids (1981).
Facts
David started out as a jobbing repertory actor, as well as working for the Birmingham Evening Despatch.

Peter Bryant (producer) Oct 27 1923 to May 19 2006 (cancer) Click here for Peter Bryant's entry on The Faceless Ones