The Awakening

The Malus, possibly trying to get through
a crack in time...?

Two episodes (Part One, Part Two)
First broadcast Jan 19 to 20 1984
Average audience for serial: 7.25m

REGULAR CAST

Peter Davison (The Doctor) Born Apr 13 1951 Click here for Peter Davison's entry on Logopolis

Janet Fielding (Tegan) Born Sep 9 1953 Click here for Janet Fielding's entry on Logopolis

Mark Strickson (Turlough) Born Apr 6 1959 Click here for Mark Strickson's entry on Mawdryn Undead

GUEST CAST

Jack Galloway (Joseph Willow) Born May 14 1947
Career highlights
Jack debuted in The Duchess of Malfi (1972), and was then cast in War and Peace (1973), Moll Flanders (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1978), Codename Icarus (1981), Under the Volcano (1984), The Mistress (1985), Roll Over Beethoven (1986), Three Up, Two Down (1987), No Frills (1988), Grange Hill (1989), Casualty (1991), Dirty Weekend (1993), Highlander (1994), The Ice House (1997), Parting Shots (1998), Poirot (2003), Blackbeard: Terror at Sea (2006), Speed Love (2016) and A Reel Life (2018). He had regular roles as Robert Mackenzie in Mackenzie (1980), DS Jack Nesbit in The Paradise Club (1990) and Inspector Janvier in Maigret (1992-93).
Facts
Jack's son John J Galloway works in visual effects, and has been credited on films such as The Da Vinci Code, Casino Royale, Avengers: Age of Ultron and various Star Wars films.

Frederick Hall (Andrew Verney) May 10 1923 to Nov 28 1995
Career highlights
Frederick's earliest credit was in Passage of Arms (1955), after which he took roles in Wideawake (1957), No Hiding Place (1964), Curtain of Fear (1964), Death is a Good Living (1966), The Jazz Age (1968), Big Breadwinner Hog (1969), The Black Tulip (1970), Doomwatch (1971), On the Buses (1972), The Edwardians (1972), Emmerdale Farm (1973-74), Father Brown (1974), Survivors (1975), Eleanor Marx (1977), A Question of Guilt (1980), The Gentle Touch (1982), Hold the Back Page (1985) and Boon (1989).

Glyn Houston (Colonel Wolsey) Oct 23 1925 to Jun 30 2019
Doctor Who credits
Played: Professor Watson in The Hand of Fear (1976)
Played: Colonel Wolsey in The Awakening (1984)
Career highlights
Glyn's first work was uncredited in Choir Practice (1949), after which he appeared in The Blue Lamp (1950), Wide Boy (1952), The Cruel Sea (1953), The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954), Colonel March of Scotland Yard (1956), Secombe and Friends (1959), The Bulldog Breed (1960), How Green was My Valley (1960), Mill of Secrets (1960), Deadline Midnight (1961), Panic (1963), Taxi! (1964), The Secret of Blood Island (1964), Cooperama (1966), Girl in a Black Bikini (1967), Softly Softly (1966-69, as DS Arthur Jones), Paul Temple (1969), The Befrienders (1972), The Long Chase (1972), Reg Varney (1973), My Name is Harry Worth (1974), Nigel Kneale's Beasts (1976), The XYY Man (1977), A Horseman Riding By (1978), It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1980), The Jim Davidson Show (1982), Inspector Morse (1988), After Henry (1990), Troublemakers (1990), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1993) and The Beach Inspector (1996). He also had a regular role as Duncan Thomas in Keep It in the Family (1980-83).
Awards
2008: BAFTA Cymru Special Award
Facts
His brother was fellow actor Donald Houston. Glyn had the "honour" of officially opening the new pedestrianisation scheme in his Welsh hometown of Tonypandy in 2000. That same year he unveiled a memorial to the thousands of miners who lost their lives in the mines of South Wales at Rhondda Heritage Park. His wife is actress and former model Shirley Lawrence.

Polly James (Jane Hampden) Born Jul 8 1941
Career highlights
Polly's first credit was on The Merv Griffin Show (1965-66), followed by The Spoken Word (1966), Send Foster (1967), Z Cars (1967), Password (1974), Whodunnit! (1975), Churchill's People (1975), Our Mutual Friend (1976), Star Turn (1976), Baal (1982), Pob's Programme (1985), Finding Sarah (1991), That's Love (1992) and The Bill (1993/98). She will be best remembered for her role as Beryl Hennessey in the sitcom The Liver Birds (1969-74 and 1996), and most recently as Miss Crotchet in the children's series The Worst Witch (2000-01).
Facts
Between 1978-88 Polly was married to actor Clive Francis. Now Polly is a specialist in performance coaching for Skyros Holistic Holidays.

Keith Jayne (Will Chandler) Born Dec 10 1960
Career highlights
Keith's debut was in a 1974 episode of Upstairs, Downstairs, after which he appeared in Robin Hood Junior (1975), Survivors (1975), The Glitterball (1977), Sammy's Super T-Shirt (1978), Jack on the Box (1979), How's Your Father? (1979), Kids (1979), Sink or Swim (1981), Scarf Jack (1981), Murphy's Mob (1982), Driving Ambition (1984) and Casualty (1986). Keith's most memorable roles were as Tom Arnold in The Onedin Line (1979-80) and the title character in Stig of the Dump (1981).
Facts
When he was a child Keith suffered a slow growth rate due to a pituitary gland problem, and so immersed himself in acting to escape bullying. By the late 1980s he was being typecast as yokels and so decided to retrain in finance and investment, but this coincided with him being contacted by doctors to say that the growth hormone treatment he received as a child may have given him CJD. Keith was interviewed for ITN on the issue, which effectively killed his acting career dead. He now works in financial planning, specialising in managing inheritance tax.

Denis Lill (Sir George Hutchinson) Born Apr 22 1942
Doctor Who credits
Played: Dr Fendelman in Image of the Fendahl (1977)
Played: Sir George Hutchinson in The Awakening (1984)
Career highlights
New Zealand born Denis's earliest acting credit was for Crime of Passion (1970), and he has since appeared in a great many productions, including Dead of Night (1972), The Train Now Standing (1972), Warship (1973), Moody and Pegg (1974), The Gathering Storm (1974), The Main Chance (1975), The Haunting of Julia (1977), Lillie (1978), The Professionals (1980), Bergerac (1984), Jenny's War (1985), Mapp and Lucia (1985-86), Blackadder the Third (1987), Gentlemen and Players (1988), Batman (1989), Waterfront Beat (1990-91), Bernard and the Genie (1991), The 10 Percenters (1993), Red Dwarf (1993), Outside Edge (1994), The Upper Hand (1996), Evita (1996), Where the Heart Is (2002), Bertie and Elizabeth (2002) and 24: Live Another Day (2014). He has had regular roles as Alfred Slingsby in The Regiment (1972-73), Charles Vaughan in Survivors (1975-77), Mr Bernard in Rumpole of the Bailey (1983-92), Cassandra's dad Alan Parry in Only Fools and Horses (1989-92) and Mr Rose in The Royal (2003-09/11).

Christopher Saul (Trooper)
Career highlights
After debuting in Robert's Robots (1973), Christopher went on to appear in The Changeling (1974), Buccaneer (1980), Dempsey and Makepeace (1985), Bust (1987), Simon and the Witch (1987-88), Watching (1988), Wilt (1990), One Foot in the Grave (1990), Between the Lines (1992), 99-1 (1995), Coronation Street (1998), Judge John Deed (2003), Sahara (2005), Emmerdale (2014) and Born a King (2019). Christopher, who has also had extensive stage experience, especially performing Shakespeare, enjoyed recurring roles as Douglas Evans in soap Triangle (1982-83) and Ian in London's Burning (1991-98).

CREW

Eric Pringle (writer) Apr 5 1935 to Apr 13 2017 (lung congestion)
Career highlights
Eric, who started out in the insurance business, had previously written for Pretenders (1972), Kate (1972) and The Carnforth Practice (1974), and submitted a storyline to the Doctor Who production office entitled The Angurth in 1975, which was not developed. In 1981 Eric was encouraged by his agent, former Doctor Who producer Peter Bryant, to submit further scripts, which were entitled The Darkness and War Game, which eventually became The Awakening. Eric also worked for radio, including adaptations of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and J B Priestley's The Good Companions (2002). His 2001 BBC Radio 4 play Hymus Paradisi, about the life of composer Herbert Howells, won a Sony Award. That year also saw the publication of his children's novel Big George. This was followed by three sequels, Big George and the Seventh Knight, Big George and the Winter King, and The Great Big Big Book of George Stories.
Facts
Eric's 1993 BBC Radio 4 play Meeting Bea, about Beatrix Potter, was suggested by comedian Victoria Wood to be adapted as a stage play to mark the author's 150th anniversary in 2016. Eric also fought and beat oral cancer in his later years.

Michael Owen Morris (director)
Doctor Who credits
Production assistant: The Pirate Planet (1978)
Directed: The Awakening (1984)
Career highlights
Michael had previously worked as production assistant on series such as Survivors (1975), Secret Army (1977) and Blake's 7 (1980), before becoming a director on Angels (1983), Tenko (1984), Juliet Bravo (1985), Vanity Fair (1987), Campion (1989-90), Medics (1994), Wycliffe (1995-96), The Upper Hand (1996), Holby City (1999-2000), Casualty (1988-2015), The Bill (1989-2002) and more than 230 episodes of EastEnders (2003-19, which he also produced for a time in 2004, and wrote for in 2019).

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

Eric Saward (script editor) Born Dec 9 1944 Click here for Eric Saward's entry on on Castrovalva