Planet of Evil

Who knew anti-matter was red?

Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Sep 27 to Oct 18 1975
Average audience for serial: 9.88m

REGULAR CAST

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

Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) Feb 1 1946 to Apr 19 2011 (pancreatic cancer) Click here for Elisabeth Sladen's entry on The Time Warrior

GUEST CAST

Melvyn Bedford (Reig)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Reig in Planet of Evil (1975)
Played: Mummy in Pyramids of Mars (1975)
Career highlights
His further credits include Waiting for God (1993), Casualty (1994), Peak Practice (1998), EastEnders (2000) and In Deep (2001).

Terence Brook (Braun) Feb 10 1924 to Oct 4 1990 (heart attack)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Braun in Planet of Evil (1975)
Played: Servant in The King's Demons (1983, uncredited)
Played: Retrograde in Frontios (1984, uncredited)
Career highlights
Terence debuted in The Vise (1954), then The Colditz Story (1955), Our Mutual Friend (1958), The History of Mr Polly (1959), Jezebel ex UK (1963), Girl in the Headlines (1963), The Punch and Judy Man (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Softly Softly (1966), Counterstrike (1969), And Mother Makes Three (1971), A Pin to See the Peepshow (1973), Poldark (1977), The Life and Times of David Lloyd George (1981), Blake's 7 (1981) and The Fourth Arm (1983).
Facts
Terence also appeared as The Lonely Man in the TV commercial for Strand cigarettes in 1959, shot by The Third Man director Carol Reed. The campaign is regarded in the advertising industry as disastrous, as the advert failed to convince anybody to take the brand (just 1% of the UK's smoker population switched to Strand, which was apparently a "lousy smoke"). The music to the advert, composed by Cliff Adams, got to number 39 in the singles chart but stalled when the BBC banned the disc as it discovered it was promoting tobacco. The only positive to come out of all of this seems to be that Terence Brook (who had a look of Frank Sinatra) received several proposals of marriage as well as "several less respectable forms of enjoyment"! The advert also influenced the music video for David Bowie's Absolute Beginners (1986). Terence's wife was the actress Pamela Craig (the voice of Betty Tucker in BBC Radio 4's The Archers between 1974-2005), who later remarried and moved to Christchurch in New Zealand with her second husband.

Prentis Hancock (Salamar) Born May 14 1942
Doctor Who credits
Played: Second reporter in Spearhead from Space (1970)
Played: Vaber in Planet of the Daleks (1973)
Played: Salamar in Planet of Evil (1975)
Played: Captain in The Ribos Operation (1978)
Career highlights
Prentis debuted in Dr Finlay's Casebook (1969), then became prolific in the 1970s in series such as The Last of the Mohicans (1971), Z Cars (1971), The Shadow of the Tower (1972), Colditz (1973), The Protectors (1973), Life and Death of Penelope (1976), The New Avengers (1976), Survivors (1977), Return of the Saint (1979) and Secret Army (1979), followed by roles in Fox (1980), The House on the Hill (1981), Kim (1984), Defence of the Realm (1986), Bergerac (1989), Bodyguards (1997), CI5: The New Professionals (1999) and Outlander (2014). He may also be recognised as Lieutenant Saunders in Spy Trap (1972-73), Paul Morrow in Space: 1999 (1975-76) and Arnold Meyer in Chocky's Children (1985) and Chocky's Challenge (1986).
Facts
In 2010 Prentis wrote a children's book called Hotshot - A Chilling Tale.
In 2015 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Prentis here.

Frederick Jaeger (Sorenson) May 9 1928 to Jun 18 2004
Doctor Who credits
Played: Jano in The Savages (1966)
Played: Sorenson in Planet of Evil (1975)
Played: Professor Marius in The Invisible Enemy (1977)
Career highlights
German born Frederick's career began in 1950's Probation Officer and went on to see roles in The Grove Family (1955), The One That Got Away (1957), Ice Cold in Alex (1958), Interpol Calling (1960), Farewell Performance (1963), Hit and Run (1965), The Jazz Age (1968), Ryan International (1970), The Befrienders (1972), Scorpio (1973), The New Avengers (1976), The Omega Factor (1979), Yes, Minister (1980), Remington Steele (1984), The Chief (1990), Selling Hitler (1991), Keeping Up Appearances (1993) and Cold Comfort Farm (1995). He also played Dr James Austen in The Inside Man (1969), Commander Fletcher in Special Branch (1974) and Max Van Der Rheede in The Onedin Line (1980).
Facts
Frederick's family fled Berlin for France when the Nazi party took control in 1933, and then moved to the UK in 1939. He became a naturalized British citizen 11 years later.

Louis Mahoney (Ponti) Sep 8 1938 to Jun 28 2020
Doctor Who credits
Played: Newscaster in Frontier in Space (1973)
Played: Ponti in Planet of Evil (1975)
Played: Old Billy in Blink (2007)
Career highlights
Making his debut in The Sword in the Web (1962), Gambian Louis's CV includes Danger Man (1965), Voodoo Blood Death (1965), Slave Girls (1967), Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition (1970), The Troubleshooters (1970), Adam Smith (1972), Quiller (1975), Fawlty Towers (1975, as Sybil's doctor), Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981), Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1981), Cry Freedom (1987), White Mischief (1987), The Lenny Henry Show (1987, as Jake), The Real Eddy English (1989), Saracen (1989), Love Hurts (1992), Runaway Bay (1992-93), One Foot in the Grave (1993), Turning World (1997), Harbour Lights (1999), Urban Gothic (2000), Oscar Charlie (2001-02), Sea of Souls (2004), Casualty@Holby City (2005), 10 Days to War (2008), Being Human (2012-13), Captain Phillips (2013), The Trials of Jimmy Rose (2015), You, Me and the Apocalypse (2015), River (2015), Holby City (2005/2016), The Dumping Ground (2018), Counterpart (2018-19) and The Split (2020). In 2009 he also wrote and narrated a documentary about Victoria Falls in the Nature series.
Facts
Louis, who initially came to the UK to become a doctor, was a key campaigner within the acting industry in the anti-Apartheid movement, and co-created the Black Theatre Workshop.

Tony McEwan (Baldwin)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Redcoat in The War Games (1969)
Played: Baldwin in Planet of Evil (1975)
Career highlights
Tony's further credits include Z Cars (1972), Hawkeye, the Pathfinder (1973), Juliet Bravo (1982) and Howards' Way (1986).

Ewen Solon (Vishinsky) Sep 7 1917 to Jul 7 1985
Doctor Who credits
Played: Chal in The Savages (1966)
Played: Vishinsky in Planet of Evil (1975)
Career highlights
Ewen was born in New Zealand and first acting credit was in The Fur Coat (1949), followed by roles in Valley of Eagles (1951), Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue (1953), The Dam Busters (1955), Yangtse Incident (1957), Jack the Ripper (1959), The Sundowners (1960), The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), Mystery Submarine (1963), No Hiding Place (1965), The Sandwich Man (1966), Bellbird (1967), The Ugliest Girl in Town (1968), Spyforce (1971), Moving On (1974), The Message (1976), Kidnapped (1978), The Doombolt Chase (1978), Unidentified Flying Oddball (1979), A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979), Into the Labyrinth (1981-82) and Nutcracker (1983). He also played Sgt Lucas in 50 episodes of Maigret (1960-63) and Caesar Smith in almost 40 episodes of The Revenue Men (1967-68).
Facts
Before going into the acting profession, Ewen worked as a farmer, a dock labourer, a door to door salesman, a timber mill worker and a journalist. His wife was actor Vicki Woolf.

Graham Weston (De Haan) Born Sep 10 1944
Doctor Who credits
Played: Russell in The War Games (1969)
Played: De Haan in Planet of Evil (1975)
Career highlights
Graham's debut came in The Hen House (1964), followed by roles in Rainbow City (1967), Parkin's Patch (1969), Ivanhoe (1970), The Brothers (1972), The Dragon's Opponent (1973), My Brother's Keeper (1975-76), Crown Court (1974-77, as DS Fenton), Coronation Street (1978), Empire Road (1978), Tess (1979), Prisoners of Conscience (1981), Angels (1983), London's Burning (1989), Chalkface (1991) and Lovejoy (1992). He regularly played Gregg Harris in soap United! (1965-67) and Colin Dutton in Crossroads (1979).
Facts
Graham's wife was actor Pamela Greenall.

Michael Wisher (Morelli) May 19 1935 to Jul 21 1995 (heart attack) Click here for Michael Wisher's entry on The Ambassadors of Death

Haydn Wood (O'Hara)
Career highlights
Further credits include Fall of Eagles (1974), The Borgias (1981), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1982), Lifeforce (1985) and The Bill (1985). 

CREW

Louis Marks (writer) Mar 23 1928 to Sep 17 2010
Doctor Who credits
Wrote: Planet of Giants (1964), Day of the Daleks (1972), Planet of Evil (1975), The Masque of Mandragora (1976)
Career highlights
Louis's writing career began with Skyport (1959-60), followed by duties on The Four Just Men (1960), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1958-60), Ghost Squad (1963), Danger Man (1964), No Hiding Place (1966), Doomwatch (1971-72), Bedtime Stories (1974) and Silas Marner (1985). He was also a prolific script editor - working on The Four Just Men (1959), No Hiding Place (1965-66), No Exit (1972), The Stone Tape (1972), Orde Wingate (1976), Brensham People (1976) and Premiere (1977) - and producer on programmes such as Centre Play (1974-77), The Lost Boys (1978), Baal (1982), Time and the Conways (1985), Thunder Rock (1985), Precious Bane (1989), The Trial (1993), Middlemarch (1994), Plotlands (1997) and Daniel Deronda (2002).
Facts
In 1955 Louis founded the magazine Books and Bookmen, aimed at authors, illustrators and avid readers, which was published until 1980. Oxford University graduate Louis started out as a history teacher at a boarding school before moving into TV production, and after retiring in 2002 ran a B&B with his wife Sonia.

David Maloney (director) Dec 14 1933 to Jul 18 2006 (cancer) Click here for David Maloney's entry on The Mind Robber

Philip Hinchcliffe (producer) Born Oct 1 1944 Click here for Philip Hinchcliffe's entry on The Ark in Space

Robert Holmes (script editor) Apr 2 1926 to May 24 1986 (chronic liver ailment) Click here to see Robert Holmes's entry on The Krotons