Meglos

There were reports that Tom
Baker could be a bit spiky
on set...

Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Sep 27 to Oct 18 1980
Average audience for serial: 4.65m

REGULAR CAST

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

Lalla Ward (Romana) Born Jun 28 1951 Click here for Lalla Ward's entry on The Armageddon Factor

John Leeson (Voice of K-9) Born Mar 16 1943 Click here for John Leeson's entry on The Invisible Enemy

GUEST CAST

Bill Fraser (General Grugger) Jun 5 1908 to Sep 5 1987 (emphysema)
Doctor Who credits
Played: General Grugger in Meglos (1980)
Played: Commander Pollock in K-9 & Company (1981)
Career highlights
Bill's first credit was in The Strangler (1941), and later Helter Skelter (1949), Tonight at 8.30 (1952), Terror on a Train (1953), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Fast and Loose (1955), The Tony Hancock Show (1956), Hancock's Half Hour (1957), The Man Who Liked Funerals (1959), Secombe and Friends (1959), What a Crazy World (1963), The Americanization of Emily (1964), Barney is My Darling (1965-66), The Avengers (1966), Vacant Lot (1967), Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969), Father Dear Father (1969), That's Your Funeral (1970-71), Up Pompeii (1971), The Train Now Standing (1972-73), The Goodies (1973), The Amorous Milkman (1975), The Corn is Green (1979), Ripping Yarns (1979), Doctor's Daughters (1981), Cover Her Face (1985), The Giddy Game Show (1985), Looks Familiar (1986) and Little Dorrit (1988). He also had a regular role as Claude Snudge in The Army Game (1959-60) and its spin-offs Foreign Affairs (1964) and Bootsie and Snudge (1960-63 & 1974), as well as Henry Brassington in Flesh and Blood (1980-82), Judge Roger Bullingham in Rumpole of the Bailey (1978-87) and Bert Baxter in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ (1985) and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1987).
Awards
1986: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance (When We are Married)
Facts
Bill served in a Royal Air Force Special Liaison Unit, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant, serving with actor Eric Sykes. His wife was actress Pamela Cundell (best remembered as Mrs Fox in sitcom Dad's Army). During those periods when Bill was not acting, he ran a small sweet shop in Ilford, Essex.
This is Your Life: Bill was the subject of Thames TV's This is Your Life on October 21st, 1981 (just weeks before recording began on K-9 & Company), surprised by host Eamonn Andrews at the Royalty Theatre, London.

Colette Gleeson (Caris) Born Dec 29 1945
Career highlights
Colette's other work includes The Informer (1967), Queen of Hearts (1973), Marti (1977), Hotel du Lac (1986) and sitcom Just Good Friends (1983-86), as Elaine.

Jacqueline Hill (Lexa) Dec 17 1929 to Feb 18 1993 (bone cancer) For a full career biography for Jacqueline Hill, click here

Crawford Logan (Deedrix)
Career highlights
Crawford's other TV credits were for Secret Army (1978), The Chief (1991) and Outlander (2016), although he has been a prolific radio actor since 1982. He is also an occasional member of the Scottish rock band The Martians, whose musical The Sundowe was staged by Cameron Mackintosh in 2007.
In 2014 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Crawford here.

Christopher Owen (Earthling) Born Nov 27 19??
Career highlights
Christopher first appeared in a 1966 Out of the Unknown, followed by Paul Temple (1970), Mandog (1972), It's Murder But Is It Art (1972), Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974), Lucky Feller (1976), Maggie and Her (1979), The Day of the Triffids (1981), The Old Men at the Zoo (1983), Bad Boyes (1987-88), House of Cards (1990), Selling Hitler (1991), Men Behaving Badly (1992), To Play the King (1993), Sharpe's Honour (1994), The Buccaneers (1995), Life As We Know It (2005) and Unlawful Killing (2011).
Facts
Christopher retired from acting in 2014 and is now a playwright.

Simon Shaw (Tigellan guard) Born Aug 19 1956
Career highlights
Simon worked as a bit part actor until the publication of his first novel, Murder Out of Tune, in 1988, since when he has concentrated mostly on writing and journalism. He is assistant editor of The Week and a regular book reviewer for The Mail on Sunday.

Frederick Treves (Lieutenant Brotadac) Mar 29 1925 to Jan 30 2012
Career highlights
Frederick appeared in a great many productions starting with 1953's Wheel of Fate, and including The Grove Family (1956), The Buccaneers (1957), Yorky (1960), A for Andromeda (1961), Garry Halliday (1962), Emergency Ward 10 (1963), The Avengers (1966), The Railway Children (1968), Doomwatch (1971), Tightrope (1972), The Regiment (1973), Follyfoot (1973), The Naked Civil Servant (1975), The Cedar Tree (1977), Suez 1956 (1979), The Elephant Man (1980), Nighthawks (1981), Educating Marmalade (1981), Stalky and Co (1982), The Jewel in the Crown (1984), CATS Eyes (1985), Brat Farrar (1986), Yes, Prime Minister (1986-87), Game, Set and Match (1988), Bomber Harris (1989), Paper Mask (1990), Drop the Dead Donkey (1991), Downtown Lagos (1992), To Play the King (1993), Lipstick on Your Collar (1993), Just William (1994), The Politician's Wife (1995), Mr Bean (1995), The Ambassador (1998), Sunshine (1999), Longitude (2000), The Cazalets (2001) and Rosemary and Thyme (2003).
Facts
On his first voyage with the Merchant Navy, Frederick's freighter the Waimarama was sunk, and he helped save several of his shipmates. Frederick, then just 17, received the British Empire Medal and the Lloyd's War Medal for his actions. He appeared in the film The Elephant Man and coincidentally shares the same name as the man who took John Merrick to hospital (Dr Frederick Treves, 1853-1923). Dr Treves was Frederick's real life great uncle. His son is actor Simon Treves.

Edward Underdown (Zastor) Dec 3 1908 to Dec 15 1989
Career highlights
Doctor Who was Edward's final screen credit, after a long career, debuting in The Warren Case (1934). He later appeared in Girls Please (1934), Inspector Hornleigh (1939), Mail Train (1941), The October Man (1947), Man on the Run (1949), The Dark Man (1951), Recoil (1953), Beat the Devil (1953), The Camp on Blood Island (1959), The Two-Headed Spy (1958), Call Oxbridge 2000 (1961), The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), Dr Crippen (1963), Dr Terror's House of Horrors (1965), Thunderball (1965), Khartoum (1966), Oh in Colour (1970), Follyfoot (1971), Sound an Alarm (1971), Dad's Army (1972), Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973), Survivors (1977) and Tarka the Otter (1979).
Facts
Before entering acting, Edward was a jockey and steeplechase rider; in later life he acted as a steward at Newbury racecourse. Edward was author Ian Fleming's first choice to play his creation James Bond in Dr No, but the film's producers never considered him for the role. In 1950 a survey by Kinematograph Weekly named Edward as Britain's Most Promising Screen Newcomer. Edward's mother was the Honorable Rosemary Sybella Violet Grimston, daughter of 1st Baron Grimston of Westbury (deputy speaker of the House of Commons, 1962-64). Edward was reportedly quite ill during the making of Meglos.

CREW

John Flanagan (writer) Born Apr 30 1947
Career highlights
John trained as an actor at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, where he became friendly with fellow student Andrew McCulloch. John won his first TV role as the title character in Parkin's Patch (1969-70). He became a journalist for the Granada Reports programme, but continued to act in programmes such as The Lovers (1970), Father Brown (1974), The Sweeney (1975), Man About the House (1976), Softly, Softly (1976), The Medusa Touch (1978), Andy Robson (1982), The Brief (1984), Brazil (1985), Late Starter (1985), Emmerdale (1987), Sleepers (1991), Love Hurts (1992), Stanley's Dragon (1994), Peak Practice (1997), Shipman (2002), The Royal Today (2008), Whitechapel (2012) and Endeavour (2013). He also had a regular role as John Lloyd in Crown Court (1973-84). John began a successful writing partnership with Andrew McCulloch in 1977, and has penned scripts for Boon (1986), Robin of Sherwood (1986), The Good Guys (1992), Pie in the Sky (1994), Margery and Gladys (2003), Murder in Suburbia (2004), Heartbeat (1999-2009) and The Royal (2003-11). In 1992 they were nominated for a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Sleepers, directed by Doctor Who TV movie helmsman Geoffrey Sax.

Andrew McCulloch (writer) Born Oct 27 1945
Career highlights
Andrew trained as an actor at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, where he became friendly with fellow student John Flanagan. Andrew's earliest acting role was in a 1969 Wednesday Play, then Kidnapped (1971), Wessex Tales (1973), The Land That Time Forgot (1975), Nicholas Nickleby (1977), Ladykillers (1980), Priest of Love (1981), The Baker Street Boys (1983), Cry Freedom (1987), Tumbledown (1988), Stay Lucky (1990), The Chief (1991-93), Father Ted (1996), Rebus (2000), Down to Earth (2003), Roger Roger (1999/2003), Messiah (2005) and Holby City (2009). He began a successful writing partnership with John Flanagan in 1977, and has penned scripts for Boon (1986), Robin of Sherwood (1986), The Good Guys (1992), Pie in the Sky (1994), Margery and Gladys (2003), Murder in Suburbia (2004), Heartbeat (1999-2009) and The Royal (2003-11). In 1992 they were nominated for a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Sleepers, directed by Doctor Who TV movie helmsman Geoffrey Sax.

Terence Dudley (director) Sep 28 1919 to Dec 25 1988 (cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Directed: Meglos (1980)
Wrote: K-9 & Company (1981), Four to Doomsday (1982), Black Orchid (1982), The King's Demons (1983)
Career highlights
Terence started out in the 1950s as a playwright and soon went into script writing, his early credits including The River Flows East (1962), and then Moonstrike (1963), Detective (1964), Boy Meets Girl (1967), Doomwatch (1970-72), Survivors (1977) and All Creatures Great and Small (1978-80). He became a BBC producer and director in the early 1960s, and in this capacity worked on productions such as The Nightwatchman's Stories (1959), The World of Tim Frazer (1960-61), The Men from Room 13 (1961), Cluff (1964-65), Champion House (1967), Doomwatch (1970-72), Colditz (1972), Survivors (1975-77), Secret Army (1978), To Serve Them All My Days (1980-81), Triangle (1983) and All Creatures Great and Small (1978-83).
Facts
In 1963 he was invited by Doctor Who's original producer, Verity Lambert, to write the very first story (as a replacement for Anthony Coburn's 100,000 BC), but declined. His son is child actor Stephen Dudley, who appeared in over 20 episodes of Survivors (1975-77) as John Millon.

John Nathan-Turner (producer) Aug 12 1947 to May 1 2002 (liver failure) Click here for John Nathan-Turner's entry on The Leisure Hive

Barry Letts (executive producer) Mar 26 1925 to Oct 9 2009 (cancer) Click here for Barry Letts's entry on The Enemy of the World

Christopher H Bidmead (script editor) Born Jan 18 1941 Click here for Christopher H Bidmead's entry on The Leisure Hive