Timelash

Peri (Nicola Bryant) was less than
enamoured with her latest admirer,
the Borad (Robert Ashby)

Two episodes (Part One, Part Two)
First broadcast Mar 9 to 16 1985
Average audience for serial: 7.05m

REGULAR CAST

Colin Baker (The Doctor) Born Jun 8 1943 Click here for Colin Baker's entry on Arc of Infinity

Nicola Bryant (Peri Brown) Born Oct 11 1960 Click here for Nicola Bryant's entry on Planet of Fire

GUEST CAST

Robert Ashby (The Borad) 1940 to Feb 7 2019 (natural causes)
Career highlights
Robert's earliest credit was in a 1976 Centre Play called Commonwealth Season, after which he worked on Joseph Andrews (1977), Everyman (1978), The Professionals (1980), Juliet Bravo (1980), The Borgias (1981), By the Sword Divided (1985), Lovejoy (1986), Gentlemen and Players (1988), House of Cards (1990), Dressing for Breakfast (1995), Jinnah (1998), Silent Witness (2006), The Queen (2009), Legacy (2013), God the Father (2014), Nova (2015), Undercover (2015), Legend (2015) and Tomorrow, When the War Began (2016). In 1992, Robert wrote and produced the documentary Our World, Their World.
Facts
During the 1970s, Robert and Leela actress Louise Jameson were married. Robert's birth name was Rashid Suhrawardy, and he was the son of politician Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, who served as the Premier of Bengal in the 1940s, and was Prime Minister of Pakistan between 1956-57. Robert was a child in Calcutta when his father's political connections allowed him to meet Gandhi in 1947. His mother was the Russian actress Vera Alexandrovna Tiscenko Calder, who became one of the foremost tutors in the Stanislavski acting method as Vera Vlasova. Robert was executive director of the organisation The Actors' Children's Trust, which supports the children of actors.

David Ashton (Kendron) Born Nov 10 1941
Career highlights
David debuted in Z Cars in 1969, followed by work in The Shadow of the Tower (1972), The New Road (1973), The Mackinnons (1977), The Voyage of Charles Darwin (1978), Spy! (1980), The House on the Hill (1981), Maggie (1981-82), The Mad Death (1983), Out of Time (1984), The Flying Doctors (1987), The Bill (1989), All Creatures Great and Small (1990), Waterfront Beat (1991), Alive and Kicking (1996), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Knight School (1998), The House of Mirth (2000), Sea of Souls (2004), Vital Signs (2006) and The Savage Canvas (2010). Recurring roles include Inspector Hamish Macduff in Brass (1983-84/90) and Major Roddy Maclean in Hamish Macbeth (1995-97). David has also written for TV and film, including Casualty (1987-88), God on the Rocks (1990), Freddie as F.R.0.7 (1992), The Hello Girls (1998), Dalziel and Pascoe (1999) and Badger (1999). David also created the BBC Radio 4 detective series McLevy (1999-2016), starring Brian Cox, and has written McLevy novels since 2006. In 1968, David was a presenter on the programme Hullabaloo, and later on children's series You and Me (1974-77).
Awards
1985: Radio Times Drama Award (The Old Ladies at the Zoo)
Facts
David is married to actress Jonina Scott, who appeared in The Sun Makers (1977).

Dicken Ashworth (Sezon) Born Jul 18 1946
Career highlights
Dicken's earliest screen credit was in 1977's Second City Firsts, followed by Hazell (1978), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Tess (1979), A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979), The Talisman (1981), Blake's 7 (1981), Nanny (1983), CATS Eyes (1985), Return to Treasure Island (1986), Vroom (1988), Saracen (1989), We Are Seven (1991), I, Lovett (1993), The Riff Raff Element (1993), Grange Hill (1994), Seaforth (1994), Dangerfield (1995), Common as Muck (1997), Thunder Road (2001), The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Room at the Top (2012). Dicken, who started out as an English and drama teacher, has enjoyed regular roles in soaps, as Alan Partridge in Brookside (1983-85), Jeff Horton in Coronation Street (1992-94) and Duke Woods in Emmerdale (2007-08).
Facts
He is married to casting director Jane Ripley, one of those responsible for the success of Channel 4's teen series Skins. In 1986 he appeared in the video for the Pretenders' single Don't Get Me Wrong.

Denis Carey (Old man) Aug 3 1909 to Sep 28 1986
Doctor Who credits
Played: Professor Chronotis in Shada (1980, unbroadcast)
Played: The Keeper in The Keeper of Traken (1981)
Played: Old man in Timelash (1985)
Career highlights
Denis started out as a dancer and choreographer on films such as The Red Shoes (1948), The Queen of Spades (1949) and Oh... Rosalinda! (1955), then moved into acting in productions such as Serjeant Musgrave's Dance (1961 & 65), Champion House (1967-68), A Beast with Two Backs (1968), Codename (1970), Elizabeth R (1971), The Shadow of the Tower (1972), The Day of the Jackal (1973), I, Claudius (1976), Rooms (1977), Blake's 7 (1979), The Borgias (1981), Stalky and Co (1982), Big Deal (1984), Lamb (1986) and Hard Travelling (1986).
Facts
His wife was actress Yvonne Coulette.

David Chandler (Herbert [HG Wells])
Career highlights
David's other work includes Stars of the Roller State Disco (1984), Casualty (1987) and playing PC Locket in The Bill (1991-92).

Jeananne Crowley (Vena) Born Dec 18 1949
Career highlights
Ireland-born Jeananne's earliest role was in 1973's 2nd House, followed by work in Zodiac (1974), The Legion Hall Bombing (1978), The Onedin Line (1979), Shoestring (1979), Educating Rita (1983), Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983), The Venus de Milo Instead (1987), The Real Charlotte (1990), Shrinks (1991), The Fifth Province (1997), Dead Bodies (2003), Proof (2005) and The Clinic (2004-05). She also regularly played Nellie Keene in Tenko (1981).
Facts
Jeananne is now a writer, having penned stage plays and also written for national newspapers such as the Sunday Times and the Guardian on subjects such as Shakespeare and J.R.R Tolkien. In 1991, Jeananne stood for the Progressive Democrats in local elections for the Pembroke ward of the Dublin Corporation. She scored 7.7% of the overall vote, placing sixth. In 1995, she was seriously injured in a car accident, but recovered to continue her career in writing and acting. In 2002 she was a judge for the Irish Novelist of the Year contest. Jeananne was an early exponent of internet chatrooms in the early 1990s. Her nephew is the actor David Crowley, best known as Garda Sean Holden in Red Rock.

Paul Darrow (Tekker) May 2 1941 to Jun 3 2019
Doctor Who credits
Played: Captain Hawkins in Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970)
Played: Tekker in Timelash (1985)
Career highlights
Paul debuted in The Odd Man (1963), then took roles in The Saint (1967), Coronation Street (1969), Manhunt (1970), The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971), Murder Must Advertise (1973), The Legend of Robin Hood (1975), Couples (1976), Killers (1976), Rooms (1977), Hammer House of Horror (1980), The Adventure Game (1980), Dombey and Son (1983), Making News (1990), Haggard (1992), The Strangerers (2000), Hollyoaks (2002), Die Another Day (2002), Little Britain (2004), Emmerdale (1991-92 & 2009), Law and Order: UK (2009-2014, as Justice Prentice) and Toast of London (2014). Paul played Mr Verity in 53 episodes of Emergency Ward 10 (1965-66), but his most memorable role was as Kerr Avon in 51 episodes of the BBC sci-fi show Blake's 7 (1978-81) - he appeared in all but the very first episode.
Facts
Paul's birth surname was Birkby, but he changed it professionally to Darrow, named after American criminal defense lawyer Clarence Darrow. In 1990, a species of extinct Australasian crocodile was named after Paul, the Baru Darrowi, which lived around 15 million years ago, and grew up to five metres in length. In 2003, Paul was part of a consortium called B7 Enterprises which acquired the rights to Blake's 7 from the widow of creator Terry Nation, but due to disagreements, he has since left the group. Until her death in 2012, Paul was married to actress Janet Lees-Price. In October 2015, Paul suffered an aortic aneurysm which caused a severe loss of blood to his legs. As a result he had to have both legs partially amputated, leaving him wheelchair-bound.

Eric Deacon (Mykros) Born May 25 1950
Career highlights
Eric made his credited debut in The Sex Thief (1974), after which he appeared in The Venturers (1975), Let's Get Those English Girls (1976), Rentaghost (1976), Survivors (1977), Television Club (1977), Spearhead (1978-79), Yesterday's Hero (1979), Penmarric (1979), Smuggler (1981), CATS Eyes (1985), Dempsey and Makepeace (1985), London's Burning (1986/88), Stay Lucky (1991), Medics (1992), Prime Suspect 3 (1993), Heartbeat (1998), Down to Earth (2003) and Casualty (1987/2006). Eric also had recurring roles as Robert/ Tom King in King's Royal (1982-83), Ross Kennedy in Hard Cases (1988-89) and Detective Inspector Hardwick in Lovejoy (1991-94). Since the 1990s Eric has also been writing for the screen, including A Statement of Affairs (1993), Lovejoy (1994), Prime Suspect (1995), Heartbeat (1999), Blind Ambition (2000), The Bill (1991/2002), Murder in Mind (2003), Holby City (2005), Brackish Water (2015) and Still Standing (2018).
Facts
His younger brother is actor Brian Deacon, once husband to fellow Doctor Who guest star Rula Lenska. Eric has also been a drama teacher, as Head of Acting at the London Academy of Media Film and Television, a lecturer of screenwriting at Queen Mary’s University, and a visiting lecturer of acting at Redroofs Drama School and Central St Martins, London. He has also written novels, including 2019's The Coop (writing as E C Deacon), and lives in a house once occupied by the judge that jailed Oscar Wilde, Sir Alfred Wills.

Martin Gower (Tyheer & Bandril ambassador) Born Jul 31 1955
Doctor Who credits
Played: Tyheer in Timelash (1985)
Played: Voice of the Bandril ambassador in Timelash (1985)
Career highlights
Martin's first role was in Thomas and Sarah (1979), after which he appeared in Holding the Fort (1980), The Winds of War (1983), Big Deal 91986), Drummonds (1987), Bellman and True (1987), Singles (1989), Waterfront Beat (1990-91), Inspector Morse (1993), A Touch of Frost (1999) and Lloyd & Hill (2003).

Facts

Martin's real surname is Johnson, but he had to change it when he joined Equity. After quitting acting, Martin became an author under the pen name M J Johnson.

Neil Hallett (Maylin Renis) Jun 30 1924 to Dec 5 2004
Career highlights
Belgium-born Neil's career began with Three Steps in the Dark (1953), followed by roles in The Brain Machine (1955), X: The Unknown (1956), Potts and the Phantom Piper (1957), The Adventures of Ben Gunn (1958), Top Floor Girl (1959), Operation Cupid (1960), The Cheaters (1961), Dentist on the Job (1961), Crying Down the Lane (1962), Thunderball (1965), The Saint (1968), Z Cars (1969), UFO (1970), Virgin Witch (1972), The Protectors (1973), Intimate Strangers (1974), Keep It Up Downstairs (1976), The Girl Who Walked Quickly (1978), Bergerac (1981), Airline (1982) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990). Recurring roles included Bosun Bassett in The Buccaneers (1956-57), Tony Miller in Ghost Squad (1962-64), Detective Sergeant Piper in The Informer (1966-67) and Charles Turner in The Newcomers (1968-69).
Facts
Neil was married to actress Tracy Reed between 1970-73. After serving in World War Two, he took a two-year preparatory course in sheep farming, with an ambition to move to Australia to pursue such a career, but acting took a hold instead.

Dean Hollingsworth (Android) Born May 26 1961
Doctor Who credits
Played: Android in Timelash (1985)
Played: Bus conductor in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1988-89)
Career highlights
Debuted in Doctor Who, and also appeared in Casualty (1987).
Facts
Dean left acting in the 1990s and went into business intelligence, and today specialises in designing and training in IBM Cognos business insight tools, having worked for the likes of BAE Systems, G4S Security and Vodaphone. He is now based on Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

Christine Kavanagh (Aram) Born Mar 24 1957
Career highlights
Christine's earliest appearance on the screen was in 1980's The Onedin Line, after which she grew in stature and prominence through roles in Minder (1984), Howards' Way (1985), The Bretts (1987-88), A Very British Coup (1988), Chimera (1991), Underbelly (1992), The Blackheath Poisonings (1992), Seaforth (1994), The Glass Virgin (1995), Jonathan Creek (1998), Manchild (2002), Sweet Medicine (2003), Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking (2004), A Room with a View (2007), Doctors (2006/09), Titanic (2012) and Vera (2014).
Facts
Her estranged husband is actor Jack Ellis, while her son Theo Ellis is bassist in the Brit- and Grammy-nominated rock band Wolf Alice, which won the Mercury Music Prize in 2018. She founded The Voicehouse, which trains people in public speaking and speech-giving.

Steven Mackintosh (Gazak) Born Apr 30 1967
Career highlights
Steven's debut came in Nanny (1983), after which he went on to become on the UK's busiest character actors, including in Summer Season (1985), The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ (1985), The Browning Version (1985), The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1987), Prick Up Your Ears (1987), The Woman in Black (1989), Memphis Belle (1990), London Kills Me (1991), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), The Buddha of Suburbia (1993), Princess Caraboo (1994), Karaoke (1996), House of America (1997), Our Mutual Friend (1998), Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Care (2000), The Other Boleyn Girl (2003), The Mother (2003), The Jacket (2005), Underworld: Evolution (2006), First Born (2007), The Escapist (2008), Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), Criminal Justice (2009), Mo (2010), Luther (2010), Camelot (2011), Inside Men (2012), The Sweeney (2012), Kiss-Ass 2 (2013), The Thirteenth Tale (2013), The Game (2014), Bone in the Throat (2015), Urban Hymn (2015), The Halcyon (2017), Modern Life is Rubbish (2017), National Treasure: Kiri (2018), Wanderlust (2018), Rocketman (2019) and The Postcard Killings (2020). Steven is also a prolific narrator for TV documentaries, such as Explorations (2003), Cutting Edge (2001-10), Alone in the Wild (2011), Horizon (2007-14) and An Hour to Save Your Life (2014), plus many more.
Awards
2001: BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actor (Care)
2001: Royal Television Society Award for Best Actor - Male (Care)
Facts
He is married to actress Lisa Jacobs, and their daughter is actress Martha Mackintosh (best known as Katie in Stella (2014-16)).

James Richardson (Guardolier) Born 1951
Career highlights
James's other work includes This is the Life (1974), Shelley (1980), The Prisoner of Zenda (1984), Only Fools and Horses (1986) and Strange But True? (1994).

Peter Robert Scott (Brunner) Born Jul 14 1945
Career highlights
Peter's further credits include The Kids from 47A (1974), Holding On (1977), Prince Regent (1979), Letty (1984), Who, Sir? Me, Sir? (1985) and Never Come Back (1990). He is also credited as having written the Late Night Theatre instalment The Carrier Bag in 1972.
Facts
Peter moved to France in 1990 and went on to write several novels, including Adieu la Vie, The Old Man on the Roof, and Sister Anna, the Juggling Nun. He is also the creator of the naval strategy board game Flagships. Here he is, on Twitter!

Tracy-Louise Ward (Katz) Born Dec 22 1958
Career highlights
After debuting in Dance with a Stranger (1985), Tracy-Louise went on to appear in Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985), Cluedo (1990, as Miss Scarlett) and Trainer (1991). She also had a regular role as Tessa Robinson in CATS Eyes (1986-87).
Facts
Tracy-Louise comes from impressive stock: her great-grandfather was the 2nd Earl of Dudley and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1902-05, as well as Governor-General of Australia between 1908-11. Her paternal grandfather was William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley, while her maternal grandfather was English cricketer Giles Baring. Her father was the Hon. Peter Alistair Ward, who became director of the family business, Baggeridge Brick. Tracy-Louise's first husband, between 1987-2018, was Henry John Fitzroy Somerset, the Marquess of Worcester and heir to the 11th Duke of Beaufort, which made her her the Marchioness of Worcester (Prince Charles and Lady Diana attended their wedding). She is now known formally as Her Grace Tracy, Duchess of Beaufort, and more usually as Tracy Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort. Her ancestry is truly fascinating, and can be read better here. Tracy-Louise is a director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture, a trustee of Friends of the Earth and the Gaia Foundation, an advisor to The Ecologist magazine and a patron of the UK Soil Association. Her sister is actress Rachel Ward (wife of Australian actor Bryan Brown). In 2009, Tracy-Louise Worcester was director and producer of the documentary Pig Business, which investigated the corporate takeover of the pig farming business and its impact on animal welfare. Before going into acting, Tracy-Louise was a model in Paris, then worked at Christie's in London, then worked in art galleries in New York. And as if all this wasn't enough, Tracy-Louise backed Wikileaks' Julian Assange by pledging £10,000 bail in December 2010 - she lost the money in June 2012 when a judge ordered it to be forfeited, as Assange had sought to escape the jurisdiction of the English courts by entering the embassy of Ecuador. Not bad for a guest star in one of Doctor Who's least loved serials!

CREW

Glen McCoy (writer) Born Apr 10 1954
Career highlights
Glen's other writing work includes Angels (1983), Eldorado (1992) and EastEnders (1985/86/2000).
Facts
At the age of 19, in 1973, Glen was one of the very first batch of trained paramedics for the Ambulance Service in the UK. In later years he has worked in business coaching and public speaking, having written books such as Jobs in the Ambulance Service and Hospitals, Getting Out of Debt and Extraordinary Customer Care. He has worked for companies such as Vodaphone, Mars and Land Rover. Here he is on Twitter.

Pennant Roberts (director) Dec 15 1940 to Jun 22 2010 (cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Directed: The Face of Evil (1977), The Sun Makers (1977), The Pirate Planet (1978), Shada (1980, unfinished), Warriors of the Deep (1984), Timelash (1985)
Career highlights
Pennant's directing career began with Doomwatch in 1972, followed by work on The Regiment (1973), Sutherland's Law (1974), Oil Strike North (1975), Survivors (1975-76), Blake's 7 (1978), The Onedin Line (1979), Juliet Bravo (1980), Tenko (1981), Cold Warriors (1984), Howards' Way (1985), The Snow Spider (1988, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Children's Drama), The Bubblegum Brigade (1989), Emlyn's Moon (1990), The Chestnut Soldier (1991), Crime Story (1992), Wycliffe (1993) and The Sherman Plays (1993-97). He also acted as producer on a handful of these latter series.
Facts
Pennant was also chairman of the Directors' and Producers' Rights Society (now Directors UK), vice-president of the Strasbourg European Film Forum, chair of Media Skills Wales, a governor of the Welsh College of Music and Drama, and a board member of Sgrîn, the Welsh audiovisual media agency. He campaigned for many years for the rights of actors and directors to receive fees when programmes are repeated on television.

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