Paradise Towers

The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) dreams
of a time when he'll get better guest actors

Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Oct 5 to 26 1987
Average audience for serial: 4.93m

REGULAR CAST

Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor) Born Aug 20 1943 Click here for Sylvester McCoy's entry on Time and the Rani

Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush) Born Jul 22 1964 Click here for Bonnie Langford's entry on The Trial of a Time Lord Parts 9-12

GUEST CAST

Julie Brennon (Fire Escape) Born Jul 14 1960
Career highlights
Julie's other TV credits include medical soap Angels (1983), The Front Line (1984-85), Strike It Rich! (1987) and Flying Lady (1987). She had a regular role as Alison Caswell in 48 episodes of soap Emmerdale Farm (1984-85).
Facts
Julie was once married to Mark Strickson, who played companion Turlough in Doctor Who. In 1988, they moved to Australia together.

Richard Briers (Chief Caretaker) Jan 14 1934 to Feb 17 2013 (cardiac arrest caused by emphysema)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Chief Caretaker in Paradise Towers (1987)
Played: Henry Parker in Torchwood: A Day in the Death (2008)
Career highlights
Richard debuted in She Stoops to Conquer (1956), followed by roles in Girls At Sea (1958), Murder She Said (1961), Brothers in Law (1962), The Bargee (1964), Charley's Aunt (1965), Rookery Nook (1970), Birds on the Wing (1971), Rentadick (1972), Watership Down (1978), Goodbye, Mr Kent (1982), Minder (1988), Mr Bean (1990), Peter's Friends (1992), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), If You See God, Tell Him (1993), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Down to Earth (1995), Hamlet (1996), Spice World: The Movie (1997), Victoria and Albert (2001), Peter Pan (2003), Dad (2005), New Tricks (2006), Holby City (2007), Kingdom (2008), Run for Your Wife (2012), Cockneys vs Zombies (2012) and Mouse and Mole at Christmas Time (2012). Richard had very many regular leading roles as one of the UK's most respected and popular actors. His earliest headlining series was The Marriage Lines (1961-66) in which he played George Starling, followed by Reg in The Norman Conquests (1977), Tom Good in The Good Life (1975-78), Stephen Potter in One-Upmanship (1976-78), Ralph Tanner in The Other One (1977-79), Reverend Philip Lambe in All in Good Faith (1985-88), Martin Bryce in Ever Decreasing Circles (1984-89) and Hector MacDonald in Monarch of the Glen (2000-02). As well as live action comedy and drama series, Richard's voice was used on many animated series, including Roobarb (1974) and Roobarb and Custard Too (2005), Noddy (1975), Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk (1976), Alias the Jester (1985), Little Red Tractor Stories (1993) and Bob the Builder (2005-07). He may also be remembered by British readers as the voice of the Midland Bank's Griffin in TV commercials.
Awards
1989: Officer of the order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama
2003: Commander of the order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to drama
Facts
Richard was married to actress Ann Davies (who appeared in The Dalek Invasion of Earth); their daughter is actress Lucy Briers. Richard's second cousin was film star Terry-Thomas. Richard claimed to have smoked more than half a million cigarettes in his lifetime until, in 2001, a routine chest x-ray suggested he would soon be in a wheelchair, and he quit.
This is Your Life: Richard was twice the subject of Thames TV's This is Your Life, firstly on May 3rd, 1972, and secondly on March 9th, 1994 during an interview at the UK Living studios.

Brenda Bruce (Tilda) Jul 7 1919 to Feb 19 1996
Career highlights
Brenda's earliest appearance was in Laugh With Me (1938), then They Came to a City (1944), A Yank in London (1945), Night Boat to Dublin (1946), When the Bough Breaks (1947), The Final Test (1954), I Spy (1958), Mary Britten, MD (1958), Peeping Tom (1960), Nightmare (1964), The First Lady (1968), The Virgin Soldiers (1969), Budgie (1971), Country Matters (1972), Cheri (1973), Alice Through the Looking Glass (1973), Swallows and Amazons (1974), The Man in the Iron Mask (1977), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1978), Quiet as a Nun (1978), The Home Front (1983), The Mad Death (1983), Connie (1985), Steaming (1985), David Copperfield (1986), The Return of the Antelope (1988), Jeeves and Wooster (1990), December Bride (1990), The New Statesman (1991), Harnessing Peacocks (1993), Growing Rich (1992), Riders (1993), Men of the World (1994-95), The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd (1995) and The Vet (1996). In 1957, Brenda co-hosted a chat show called Rich and Rich with her first husband, Roy Rich. Brenda also appeared as a panellist on the series Why? (1953) and The Name's the Same (1953-54).
Awards
1963: BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress
1985: Officer of the order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama
Facts
Brenda's first husband was Roy Rich, one of the BBC's pioneering radio presenters, while her second husband was actor Clement McCallin. She adopted a son with McCallin, but he died of asthma in childhood. Both her husbands died of cancer. Before breaking into screen acting, Brenda was a chorus girl.

Simon Coady (Video commentary) 1949 to sometime after 2008
Career highlights
Simon's other credits include The Man with Two Heads (1972), State of Emergency (1975), The Mouse and the Woman (1980), Elizabeth Alone (1981), Giro City (1982), Milwr Bychan (1986), The Angry Earth (1989), Inspector Morse (1991), Civvies (1992) and Holding On (1997).
Facts
There are reports that Simon died sometime after 2008 (the date of the last electoral roll he was listed on).

Howard Cooke (Pex) Born Sep 29 1960
Career highlights
Howard's only other credits are Pythons on the Mountain (1985), Dempsey and Makepeace (1985) and The Face of Trespass (1988).
Facts
Howard is now a theatrical agent.

Judy Cornwell (Maddy) Born Feb 22 1940
Career highlights
Judy debuted in Friends and Neighbours (1959), followed by a 1960 episode of Dixon of Dock Green, The Younger Generation (1961), The River Flows East (1962), Paris 1900 (1964), Dr Terror's House of Horrors (1965), Mickey Dunne (1967), Cry Wolf (1968), Every Home Should Have One (1970), Wuthering Heights (1970), Man of Straw (1972), Cakes and Ale (1974, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA), Supernatural (1977), The Mill on the Floss (1978-79), The Good Companions (1980-81), Good Behaviour (1983), Jane Eyre (1983), Santa Claus: The Movie (1985, as Mrs Claus), The December Rose (1986), Farrington of the F.O (1987), Cry Freedom (1987), Nice Town (1992), Persuasion (1995), The Bill (1998), Mad Cows (1999), David Copperfield (2000), The Mayor of Casterbridge (2003), The Royal (2003) and Birds of a Feather (2014). She had a regular role as Daphne Pegg in Moody and Pegg (1974-75) and Queenie in EastEnders (2007-08), but will always be recognised as Daisy in 44 episodes of the sitcom Keeping Up Appearances (1990-95).
Facts
She has written several novels, including Cow and Cow Parsley (1985), Fishcakes at the Ritz (1989) and The Seventh Sunrise (1996), and an autobiography in 2005 called Adventures of a Jelly Baby. In the late 1950s Judy worked as a dancer and comedienne at the Windmill Theatre in London ("amongst the nudes"!). Judy was a close friend of Doctor Who's first producer, Verity Lambert.

Catherine Cusack (Blue Kang leader) Born Dec 21 1968
Career highlights
Catherine's first role was in Doctor Who, after which she appeared in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987), Sophia and Constance (1988), The Chief (1994), Cadfael (1997), Boxed (2002), Finding Neverland (2004), Doctors (2008/10/12), The Last Days of Anne Boleyn (2013) and Hollyoaks (2019). She also had a recurring role as Frankie Sullivan in Ballykissangel (1999-2001) but will be best remembered as "nanny from hell" Carmel Finnan in soap Coronation Street (1992-93).
Facts
Catherine comes from the prolific Cusack acting family - her father was Cyril, while Sinead, Sorcha and Niamh are her half-sisters, and Padraig her half-brother (as Sinead is married to actor Jeremy Irons, this makes their son, actor Max Irons, Catherine's nephew). Her own husband is actor Alex Palmer.

Clive Merrison (Deputy Chief Caretaker) Born Sep 15 1945
Doctor Who credits
Played: Jim Callum in The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967)
Played: Deputy Chief Caretaker in Paradise Towers (1987)
Career highlights
Doctor Who was Clive's first TV credit, after which he appeared in Frontier (1968), Counterstrike (1969), Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), The Glittering Prizes (1976), A Christmas Carol (1977), Prince Regent (1979), The Borgias (1981), Maybury (1981), The Kit Curran Radio Show (1984), Shine on Harvey Moon (1984-85), The District Nurse (1987), The Labours of Erica (1989-90), Chancer (1990), Heavenly Creatures (1994), Space Precinct (1995), The Tomorrow People (1995), An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), The English Patient (1996), Lexx (2001), The Brief (2004-05), The History Boys (2006), Monday Monday (2009), Peep Show (2010), Bert & Dickie (2012), Lewis (2014), The Lady in the Van (2015), Midsomer Murders (2003/2016) and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018). He also had the role of Damien Appleby in The Kit Curran Radio Show (1984) and Kit Curran (1986).
Facts
Clive played the role of Sherlock Holmes on BBC Radio against Michael Williams and Andrew Sachs as Watson more than 75 times between 1989-2010, and is the only actor ever to play the detective in all of Conan Doyle's stories. Until she died in 2003, Clive was married to the actor Gillian Barge. Here he is on Twitter.
In 2016 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Clive here.

Astra Sheridan (Yellow Kang) Born Aug 25 1964
Career highlights
Astra's only other appearances are SWALK (1982), Miss Marple: The Body in the Library (1984) and Dramarama: Tam (1987).
Facts
Astra married in 1989, quit acting and became Astra Rogers; she is now a director of Sound Impressions Ltd (with her husband Mark), which provides vocal coaching and confidence to performers.

Elizabeth Spriggs (Tabby) Sep 18 1929 to Jul 2 2008 (complications following surgery)
Career highlights
Debuting in Lysistrata (1964), Elizabeth's extensive CV took in All's Well That Ends Well (1968), Work is a 4-Letter Word (1968), Three Into Two Won't Go (1969), Black and Blue (1973), Village Hall (1974), The Glittering Prizes (1976), The Dybbuk (1980), Richard's Things (1980), Bognor (1981), Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981), An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1982), The Haunting of Cassie Palmer (1982), Frost in May (1982), Bergerac (1985), Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (1990), The Old Devils (1992), Anglo Saxon Attitudes (1992), The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992), Jeeves and Wooster (1993), Middlemarch (1994), Takin' Over the Asylum (1994), Martin Chuzzlewit (1994), The Tomorrow People (1995), Sense and Sensibility (1995, for which she received a BAFTA nomination), The Snow Queen's Revenge (1996), Alice in Wonderland (1999), A Christmas Carol (1999), Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (2000), Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone (2001), The Royal (2003-04), Jericho (2005), Love Soup (2008) and Is Anybody There? (2008). She has also enjoyed regular roles as Connie Fox in Fox (1980), the Witch in Simon and the Witch (1987-88), Aunty Peggy in Watching (1988-91), Nan in Shine On Harvey Moon (1982-85/95), Mrs Mullen in Playing the Field (1998-2002) and Toni's mother in Swiss Toni (2003-04). Elizabeth also wrote and adapted a handful of plays for TV, including Miss Julie (1956/65/66) and The Dance of Death (1966).
Facts
The role of the cannibal Chessene in The Two Doctors was originally written for her, but in the end she played a cannibal in another story instead! Elizabeth, who trained as a mezzo-soprano but had to give up singing due to suffering bronchial asthma, was also a respected stage and Shakespearean actress. She was nominated for Broadway's 1975 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for London Assurance. Her second of three husbands was Marshall Jones, best known as Cyril Watkins in Crossroads (1979).
This is Your Life: Elizabeth was the subject of BBC TV's This is Your Life on November 23rd, 1998, surprised by host Michael Aspel on set for Alice in Wonderland at Shepperton Studios. Doctor Who actor James Ellis paid tribute to her on the show.

Joseph Young (Young caretaker) Born Jun 26 1960
Career highlights
Joseph's only other credit is Lytton's Diary (1986).
Facts
These days, Joseph sometimes goes by the name of Giuseppe Marinetti, and is a composer and sound designer, writing electro-acoustic soundtracks for theatre, TV and film productions, as well as sound-based art installations. His work has been seen (or heard!) at the Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Joseph is a founder member of the Neo-Futurist Collective, which celebrates urban noise in all its forms. Here's his website and Twitter, and you can listen to his work here.

Annabel Yuresha (Bin Liner) Born Jul 30 1962
Annabel's only other credit was Unmasked Part 25 (1988).
Facts
Annabel's parents were both ballet dancers: mum Belinda Wright was a prima ballerina, working for companies such as Rambert, Royal Ballet and Ballet de Paris, while Jelko Yuresha was a Croatian born ballet dancer who toured with his wife in the 1960s as the British Government's Ambassadors of Dance. Here they are in 1967.

CREW

Stephen Wyatt (writer) Born Feb 4 1948
Doctor Who credits
Wrote: Paradise Towers (1987), The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1988-89)
Career highlights
Stephen's other writing work includes the Sunday Premiere Claws (1987), The House of Eliott (1994), soap Family Affairs (1997) and several episodes of Casualty (1990-97). He started out in children's and community theatre, and now works predominantly in radio.
Awards
2007: Tinniswood Award for Best Original Radio Script (Memorials to the Missing)
2008: Sony Radio Academy Silver Award for Best Drama (Memorials to the Missing)
2011: Tinniswood Award for Best Original Radio Script (Gerontius)

Nicholas Mallett (director) May 6 1945 to Jan 30 1997 (AIDS-related illness)
Doctor Who credits
Directed: The Trial of a Time Lord Parts 1-4 (1986), Paradise Towers (1987), The Curse of Fenric (1989)
Career highlights
Nicholas started out as a production assistant on series such as Oppenheimer (1980) and Icebound in the Antarctic (1982) but then graduated to directing on series such as Late Starter (1985), Black Silk (1985), Crossroads (1987-88), Children's Ward (1989), Ruby (1991), The Bill (1993-95) and Take the High Road (1993-95).

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

Andrew Cartmel (script editor) Born Apr 6 1958 Click here for Andrew Cartmel's entry on Time and the Rani