The Brain of Morbius

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker)
ponders what it might be like to have
the head of a leather-coated skinheaded
Northern thug.

Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Jan 3 to 24 1976
Average audience for serial: 9.78m

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

Sue Bishop (Sister) Born 1948
Career highlights
Sue first appeared in a 1968 Z Cars, then The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), The Benny Hill Show (1970), Scott On... (1971), Dad's Army (1973), Legend of the Werewolf (1975), Are You Being Served? (1979), Blake's 7 (1979/81) and Nancy Astor (1982).

Gilly Brown (Ohica) Born Jul 17 1944
Career highlights
Gilly debuted in The Newcomers (1965), then appeared in The Heroism of Thomas Chadwick (1967), Jock on the Go (1967), Casanova (1971), Sex and the Other Woman (1972), Frustrated Wives (1973), Hunter's Walk (1976), Angels (1976), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1978), Grange Hill (1979) and The Madness Museum (1986).
Facts
Gilly's proper name is Gillian Brown, but for a time in the mid-1970s she was also a songwriter and preferred to be Gilly as an actress, and Gillian as a musician. The distinction didn't last long. Among her musical work was composing and arranging songs for the BBC Midlands TV play Jock on the Go, adapted from Arnold Bennett's short story Jock-at-a-Venture.

Colin Fay (Condo) May 19 1939 to May 12 2024
Career highlights
Doctor Who was Colin's screen debut, followed by 1990 (1977), All Creatures Great and Small (1978/80), The Dick Emery Christmas Show (1980), Emery Presents (1982), Don't Wait Up (1984), Dogfood Dan and the Carmarthen Cowboy (1988), The Bill (1989) and Alfonso Bonzo (1990).

Stuart Fell (Morbius monster) Born 1942 Click here for Stuart Fell's entry on The Curse of Peladon

Cynthia Grenville (Maren) Apr 7 1931 to Nov 21 2021 (infection)
Career highlights
Cynthia's further credits include The Money Machine (1962), The Main Chance (1970), Within These Walls (1975), Poldark (1975-76, as Lady Constance Bodrugan), Kessler (1981), The Citadel (1983), Rumpole of the Bailey (1988), The Gift (1990), Jeeves and Wooster (1991), Ivanhoe (1997), Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1998) and Dad (1999).

Janie Kells (Sister)
Career highlights
Janie's other work includes Three Hats for Lisa (1965), Macbeth (1971), The Slipper and the Rose (1976) and The Elephant Man (1980).
Facts
Janie was principally a dancer, having performed on The Rolf Harris Show (1968) and Were Those the Days? (1969). She was also a member of the Young Generation troupe which performed on International Cabaret in 1968, and a member of the Gillian Lynne Dancers on 1964's Seaside Swingers.

Philip Madoc (Solon) Jul 5 1934 to Mar 5 2012 (cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Brockley in Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD (1966)
Played: Eelek in The Krotons (1968-69)
Played: War Lord in The War Games (1969)
Played: Solon in The Brain of Morbius (1976)
Played: Fenner in The Power of Kroll (1978-79)
Career highlights
Prolific Philip made his debut in 1961's On the Fiddle and went on to appear in Out of This World (1962), The Monsters (1962), The Scarlet and the Black (1965), A High Wind in Jamaica (1965), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1965), The Power Game (1966), five episodes of The Avengers (1962-69), Man in a Suitcase (1968), The Tyrant King (1968), Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969), Manhunt (1970), UFO (1970-71), Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971), Woodstock (1973), Dad's Army (1973), The Inheritors (1974), Barlow At Large (1973-75, as Rizzi), Space: 1999 (1975), Porridge (1975),Survivors (1976), Another Bouquet (1977), Target (1977-78, as DS Tate), Flickers (1980), The Life and Times of David Lloyd George (1981, as the title character), Ennal's Point (1982), If Tomorrow Comes (1986), The Ronnie Corbett Show (1987), First Born (1988), Moonacre (1994), A Mind to Kill (1991-2002, as Detective Chief Inspector Noel Bain), Best (2000), Spine Chillers (2003), He Knew He Was Right (2004), Midsomer Murders (2007), Y Pris (2007) and Hawk (2011).
Facts
Between 1961-81 he was married to Welsh actress Ruth Madoc (of Hi-De-Hi! and Little Britain fame). In 2001 Philip - who acted as an interpreter in languages such as Welsh, Swedish, German and even Huron Indian and Mandarin before becoming an actor - was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Glamorgan.

John Scott Martin (Kriz) Apr 1 1926 to Jan 6 2009 (Parkinson's Disease) Click here for John Scott Martin's entry on The Web Planet

Gabrielle Mowbray (Sister)
Her only other credit was two episodes of the Peter Davison sitcom Holding the Fort (1980-81).

Veronica Ridge (Sister)
Her only other credit was Menace (1970).

Michael Spice (Voice of Morbius) May 20 1931 to Nov 2 1983 (cancer of the lining of the organs of the digestive system, caused by asbestos)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Voice of Morbius in The Brain of Morbius (1976)
Played: Magnus Greel in The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977)
Career highlights
Michael also appeared in Hamlet (1961), Cross-Roads (1964), Seeing and Believing (1966), A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), Edward II (1970), Advent of Steam (1971), Brett (1971), The Pallisers (1974), Z Cars (1975), The Brothers (1976), Love Lies Bleeding (1977), Blake's 7 (1979), Frost in May (1982) and Number 10 (1983).
Facts
Michael worked extensively on radio as an accomplished voice actor. If you've ever wondered what he actually looked like, here's a screencap of him in The Pallisers. His wife was actor Polly Murch, who died in 1978 aged just 45.

CREW

Terrance Dicks (writer, under the pseudonym of Robin Bland) Apr 14 1935 to Aug 29 2019 Click here for Terrance Dicks's entry on The Invasion

Robert Holmes (writer (under the pseudonym of Robin Bland) and script editor) Apr 2 1926 to May 24 1986 (chronic liver ailment) Click here to see Robert Holmes's entry on The Krotons

Christopher Barry (director) Sep 20 1925 to Feb 7 2014 (following a fall) Click here for Christopher Barry's entry on The Daleks

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

The many faces of Morbius... or is it the Doctor? Or both? Or neither?!