Friday, June 27, 2014

Revenge of the Cybermen

Back after six-and-a-half years...
Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Apr 19 to May 10 1975
Average audience for serial: 9.03m

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

Ian Marter (Harry Sullivan) Oct 28 1944 to Oct 28 1986 (diabetes-related heart attack) Click here for Ian Marter's entry on Carnival of Monsters

GUEST CAST

David Collings (Vorus) Jun 4 1940 to Mar 23 2020
Doctor Who credits
Played: Vorus in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)
Played: Poul in The Robots of Death (1977)
Played: Mawdryn in Mawdryn Undead (1983)
Career highlights
David debuted in Crime and Punishment (1964), then took roles in Gideon's Way (1965), The Troubleshooters (1966), Point Counterpoint (1968), The Possessed (1969), Strange Report (1969), Scrooge (1970), UFO (1970), Elizabeth R (1971), The Regiment (1972), For the Love of Ada (1972), Mahler (1974), The Love School (1975), Treasure Island (1977), Midnight is a Place (1977-78), The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978), Breakaway (1980), Look and Read: Dark Towers (1981), Blake's 7 (1981), Airline (1982), The All Electric Amusement Arcade (1983), By the Sword Divided (1985), The Return of the Antelope (1988), Through the Dragon's Eye (1989), Boon (1991), Love Hurts (1992), The Darling Buds of May (1993), Press Gang (1989/93), Persuasion (1995), The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1995), Wren: The Man Who Built Britain (2004), The Invisible Woman (2013) and Holby City (2015). He is perhaps best remembered as Silver in the telefantasy series Sapphire and Steel (1981-82), but fewer people might know he dubbed the English voice for the character of Monkey in the 1978-80 Japanese series of the same name (originally Saiyuki, based on the Chinese novel Journey to the West).
Facts
David's ex-wife was fellow actor Karen Archer, while his son Samuel is also an actor, perhaps best known to TV viewers as Tom in Hex (2005).
In 2017 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with David here.

Brian Grellis (Sheprah) Born Jul 12 1937
Doctor Who credits
Played: Sheprah in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)
Played: Safran in The Invisible Enemy (1977)
Played: Megaphone man in Snakedance (1983)
Career highlights
Brian's earliest credit was in The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre: The Double in 1963, followed by roles in Only When I Larf (1968), The First Lady (1969), Trial (1971), On the Buses (1971), Jason King (1972), Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads (1973), The Brothers (1974), Circus (1975), The Good Life (1976), Survivors (1976), Room Service (1979), A Tale of Two Cities (1980), Bergerac (1983), Threads (1984), Brookside (1986) and Help! (1986). He also regularly played Detective Sergeant Bowker in Z Cars (1974-78).

Melville Jones (Cyberman)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Guard in The Time Monster (1972)
Played: Cyberman in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)
Career highlights
Melville's other work includes Warship (1977), Fathers and Families (1977) and Phoelix (1980).
Facts
Melville gave up acting to become a writer, including plays for BBC Radio, and the first ever dramatisation of an Inspector Morse novel (in 1985), years before the ITV series (it starred Andrew Burt (from Doctor Who story Terminus) as Morse). In the late 1990s Melville began lecturing in creative writing at Cornwall College.

Ronald Leigh-Hunt (Commander Stevenson) Oct 5 1920* to Sep 12 2005 (broncho-pneumonia)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Commander Radnor in The Seeds of Death (1969)
Played: Commander Stevenson in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)
Career highlights
Ronald's first credit was in 1950's Blackout, and he subsequently popped up in Three Steps to the Gallows (1953), Sword of Freedom (1957), Cards with Uncle Tom (1959), Oscar Wilde (1960), The Avengers (1961/65), Emergency Ward 10 (1964), Voodoo Blood Death (1965), Khartoum (1966), The Gamblers (1967), Hostile Witness (1968), Department S (1969), General Hospital (1972), Baxter! (1973), The Brothers (1975), The Omen (1976), The Professionals (1978), Blake's 7 (1980), Airline (1982), Remington Steele (1987), Slinger's Day (1987), Frankenstein (1992) and One Foot in the Grave (1995). Ronald, whose cousin was actress Barbara Leigh-Hunt, also had regular roles as King Arthur in The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956-57) and Colonel Buchan in Freewheelers (1968-71). * Obituaries claim Ronald was born in 1916, but birth records state 1920.

William Marlowe (Lester) Jul 25 1930 to Jan 31 2003
Doctor Who credits
Played: Mailer in The Mind of Evil (1971)
Played: Lester in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)
Career highlights
Debuting in Tunes of Glory (1960), William's other credits include The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse (1962), Emergency Ward 10 (1963), Crane (1964), The Heroes of Telemark (1965), Wuthering Heights (1967), The Avengers (1969), Zeppelin (1971), Villains (1972), The Legend of Robin Hood (1975), Breakaway (1980), Revolution (1985), Cry Freedom (1987) and EastEnders (1991). William also had a regular role as Brian Kettle in Rooms (1977) and DCI Bill Russell in The Gentle Touch (1980-84).
Facts
William had two wives, both of them Doctor Who actresses - Catherine Schell between 1968-77 (who was in 1979's City of Death) and Kismet Delgado from 1979 (who was in Planet of the Spiders (1974) and was also Master actor Roger's widow). Many sources claim he was also married to actress Fernanda Marlowe (who played Corporal Bell in The Mind of Evil and The Claws of Axos in 1971), but this is incorrect.

Christopher Robbie (Cyber Leader) 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.

Kevin Stoney (Tyrum) Jan 22 1921 to Jan 22 2008 (skin cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Mavic Chen in The Daleks' Master Plan (1965-66)
Played: Tobias Vaughn in The Invasion (1968)
Played: Tyrum in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)
Career highlights
Kevin's career began in 1950's The Gentle Gunman, followed by David Copperfield (1956), William Tell (1959), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1958-60), The Six Proud Walkers (1962), Murder at the Gallop (1963), The Prisoner (1967), Doomwatch (1970), Spy Trap (1972), The Tomorrow People (1973), The New Avengers (1976), Quatermass (1979), Bergerac (1981-83), Hannay (1988), Inspector Morse (1993) and Alleyn Mysteries (1993). Kevin also played the character Thrasyllus in both The Caesars (1968) and I, Claudius (1976).
Facts
Kevin was voted the Daily Mail's Villain of the Year in 1965 for his memorable role in The Daleks' Master Plan. In 1985 Kevin's very premature death was announced in a Doctor Who fanzine, but he made an appearance at a 1987 convention to prove he was still alive and kicking!

Alec Wallis (Warner) Dec 2 1920 to Aug 12 2004
Doctor Who credits
Played: Ldg Telegraphist Bowman in The Sea Devils (1972)
Played: Warner in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975)
Career highlights
Debuting in Escape (1957), Alec's other work includes The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling (1964), R3 (1965), Happy Ever After (1969), Colditz (1972), Within These Walls (1975), Dickens of London (1976), Treasure Island (1977), Cowboys (1980), Bognor (1981), RHINO: Really Here In Name Only (1983), The Bill (1985/89), First of the Summer Wine (1988), Grange Hill (1983/89), 2Point4 Children (1992) and London's Burning (1994).

Jeremy Wilkin (Kellman) Jun 6 1930 to Dec 19 2017 (cancer)
Career highlights
Jeremy's first role was in The Cruise of the Toytown Belle in 1950, after which he took work in Hamlet (1955), Producers' Workshop (1955), The Hill (1960), Sergeant Cork (1964), Undermind (1965), Man in a Suitcase (1967), The Troubleshooters (1969), Detective (1969), A Kiss is Just a Kiss (1971), Eyeless in Gaza (1971), The Hanged Man (1975), The New Avengers (1976/77), Blake's 7 (1978), Kessler (1981), Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983), Two (1996) and Just Cause (2002). Jeremy also had a long-standing association with Gerry Anderson's TV series, including providing the voices for Virgil Tracy in Thunderbirds (1966), Captain Ochre in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967-68), various characters in Joe 90 (1968-69), The Bishop in The Secret Service (1969), and playing Gordon Maxwell in the live action series UFO (1969-71).
Facts
Born David Jeremy Wilkin, his mother was actor and dancer Greta Fayne, who, in 1926, was among a clutch of performers immortalised on Murray cigarette cards, along with Mary Pickford, Ivor Novello and Harold Lloyd. A 1934 Rolls Royce 20/25 Windovers Limousine remained in the Wilkin family for decades, being first purchased by Jeremy's engineer father Noel, then given to Greta, and finally to Jeremy, before he auctioned it for sale at Bonhams in 2004. The car, named Peabody, can now be hired for weddings and other events. To series creator Brian Clemens' annoyance, Jeremy vetoed permission to repeat his 1977 New Avengers episode Medium Rare on terrestrial TV. In his latter years, Jeremy valiantly struggled with mental illness/ dementia. A website has been set up in his memory.
In 2016 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Jeremy here.

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

CREW

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

Michael E Briant (director) Born Feb 14 1942 Click here for Michael Briant's entry on Colony in Space

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

4 comments:

  1. It would be good if we could get a full set of dates for Alec Wallis (Revenge of the Cybermen/The Sea Devils). He died in 2004 and yet over the past decade there still hasn't been any successful research done on his birth date.

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    Replies
    1. I've had difficulty finding it on Find My Past & Ancestry. Alec may not have been his birth name - it could have been Alexander or something. Then again, maybe his year of death is wrong. Oddly, for a while I kept adding his death to his Wikipedia page but it kept getting taken down.

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    2. Has it been confirmed that Alec Wallis has actually died? Over the years we have a few people who were supposedly dead but turned out to be alive!

      And yes, sometimes actors change their names and so it can be hard to find the original one. I remember finding out that actor Ric Felgate had a different first name. I forget what it is now, but 'Ric' was not his original first name.

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  2. I think I might have found him! On Ancestry & Find My Past, there are entries for Alec Wallace and Alexander Crichton Wallace, saying he was born on 2 Dec 1920 and died on 12 August 2004. Well, he was credited as Alec Wallace in 1960 and played a pensioner in a 1989 episode of Grange Hill.

    ReplyDelete

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