Time and the Rani

The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy)
looks rightfully annoyed that the script
for his first story was awful. The Rani
(Kate O'Mara) and Mel (Bonnie Langford)
were oblivious.

Four episodes (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)
First broadcast Sep 7 to 28 1987
Average audience for serial: 4.63m

REGULAR CAST

Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor) Born Aug 20 1943
Doctor Who credits
Played: The Doctor in Time and the Rani, Paradise Towers, Delta and the Bannermen, Dragonfire, Remembrance of the Daleks, The Happiness Patrol, Silver Nemesis, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Battlefield, Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric, Survival (1987-89). Return appearances in Dimensions in Time (1993), Doctor Who (1996), Death Comes to Time (webcast, 2001), The Power of the Doctor (2022) and Tales of the TARDIS (2023).
Career highlights
Sylvester - birth name Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith - started out as a variety performer and comedian, appearing on shows such as Vision On (as Pepe, who lived in a mirror) in the late 1970s and early 80s, as well as Robert's Robots, Tiswas, Eureka, No 73, What's Your Story? and Jigsaw (as one of the two O-Men, with David Rappaport). Acting roles include Lucky Feller (1975), For the Love of Albert (1977), Dracula (1979), All the Fun of the Fair (1979), Big Jim and the Figaro Club (1979-81), Electric in the City (1980), Starstrider (1984), Dramarama: Frog (1985), The Last Place on Earth (1985), Three Kinds of Heat (1987), Jackanory (1979/93), The Airzone Solution (1993), Frank Stubbs Promotes (1994), Leapin' Leprachauns! (1995), Rab C Nesbitt (1996), Spellbreaker: Secret of the Leprachauns (1996), Ghostlands (1996), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1997), Beyond Fear (1997), The Mumbo Jumbo (2000), See It Saw It (1999/2001), Hollyoaks (2002), Still Game (2004), Griffin (2004), Mayo (2006), The Bill (2002/06), Doctors (2008), Casualty (2001/08), Punk Strut: The Movie (2010), The Christmas Candle (2014), Crims (2015), Slumber (2017), When the Devil Rides Out (2017), Sense8 (2017-18), Holby City (2018), Zapped (2017-18), The Circuit (2019) and Conjuring: The Book of the Dead (2020). Aside from the Doctor, his other memorable role is Radagast the Brown in the three Hobbit films - An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies (2012-14). He also appeared in The Secret Policeman's Ball in 1981, on Comic Relief in 1988, Space Cadets in 1997, Hell's Kitchen in 2004 and Tiswas Reunited in 2007. He has regularly played his Doctor in a number of fan audio adventures since 1999.
Facts
Before becoming an actor, he trained as a priest (1955-59), sold insurance and acted as a bodyguard for the Rolling Stones. Sylvester was second choice for the role of Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the early 1990s Sylvester was to play Governor Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl when the film was to be made by Steven Spielberg, but Disney refused permission and made it a decade later with Jonathan Pryce in the role. His stage name originates from when he was a part of Ken Campbell's variety roadshow, playing a stuntman by the same name (the name was dreamed up by roadshow colleague, actor Brian Murphy).

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

Karen Clegg (Sarn) Born Oct 18 1966
Karen's only other roles were in Out of Sight (1997) and Casualty (2005). She started out as a child performer on Junior Showtime at the age of four, and has since appeared in West End musicals such as Cats and 42nd Street. More recently she entertained the elderly in residential homes and hospitals by singing music from the 1940s.

Richard Gauntlett (Urak) Born Sep 9 1963
Career highlights
Richard made his debut in Barnum! (1986), and later took roles in Motormouth (1990), Pigsty (1990), The Grand (1998), Shakespeare 4 Kidz (2003) and Dealers (2012). He has also written several episodes of children's series Sooty! (2013-18), and appeared as Bob Hoskins's stunt double in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988).
Facts
Richard performs widely on the stage as an actor, entertainer and comedian, including in musicals and variety shows, and also writes and provides pantomime scripts. He has a particular interest in music hall and silent film. Here he is, on Twitter!

Mark Greenstreet (Ikona) Born Apr 19 1960
Career highlights
Mark made his debut in Family Ties Vacation (1985), followed by roles in Time for Murder (1985), Brat Farrar (1986), Pulaski (1987), Dream Demon (1988), The Bill (1989) and Freddie and Max (1990). He finally found the leading role he sought playing Mike Hardy in the horse racing series Trainer (1991-92), after which he quit acting and moved behind the camera to write and direct Caught in the Act (1997) and Silent Hours (2017) - both of which he also wrote.
Facts
Mark - whose great-uncle was the actor Sydney Greenstreet - is married to assistant director Emma Pounds, who has worked on productions such as Mrs Dalloway and Human Traffic. In 1986, Mark was shortlisted for the role of James Bond in the 007 films, but the role ultimately went to Timothy Dalton.

Kate O'Mara (The Rani) Aug 10 1939 to Mar 30 2014 (ovarian cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Played: The Rani in The Mark of the Rani (1985), Time and the Rani (1987), Dimensions in Time (1993)
Career highlights
Kate's first role was Home and Away (1956, credited as Merrie Carroll), followed by roles in Emergency Ward 10 (1957), Danger Man (1965), Weavers Green (1966), Adam Adamant Lives! (1967), Great Catherine (1968), The Desperados (1969), The Avengers (1969), The Main Chance (1969), The Vampire Lovers (1970), The Horror of Frankenstein (1970), Spy Trap (1973), The Tamarind Seed (1974), The Two Ronnies (1977), The Plank (1979), Dempsey and Makepeace (1986), Cluedo (1990), Bad Girls (2001), Absolutely Fabulous (1995/2003), Crossroads (2003), Family Affairs (2005) and Benidorm (2012). Kate had regular roles as Jane Maxwell in The Brothers (1975-76), Katherine Laker in Triangle (1981-82), Cassandra Morrell in US soap Dynasty (1986) and Laura Wilde in Howards' Way (1989-90). In 1971 Kate, who started her career as a speech therapist, appeared in the stage version of The Avengers, playing the villainous Madame Gerda. Kate reprised the role of the Rani in the 2000 audio play The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind, and was expected to do so again for Big Finish in 2014 in the story The Rani Elite, but she died before recording took place. The character was recast in the form of Siobhan Redmond.
Facts
Kate's mother was actress Hazel Bainbridge. Between 1961-76, Kate was married to actor Jeremy Young, who appeared in An Unearthly Child and Mission to the Unknown. In 1965, she had a brief liaison with an actor called David Orchard (he can be seen as the swimmer in the title sequence of the Bond film Thunderball), and as a result had a baby son which she had to have adopted. Her second husband was also a Doctor Who actor: between 1993-96 she was married to Richard Willis (who appeared in Full Circle). Her sister is actress Belinda Carroll, which made her brother-in-law the actor Michael Cochrane (who appeared in Black Orchid and Ghost Light). Belinda was previously married to actor Simon Williams (who appeared in Remembrance of the Daleks), making Simon Kate's ex brother-in-law (are you following this?). Kate founded The British Actors' Theatre Company in 1987, for which her son Dickon Young worked as a set designer. Kate had Dickon following an affair with the actor Ian Cullen (who appeared in The Aztecs), but Dickon was brought up by his stepfather, Jeremy Young. On New Year's Eve 2012, Dickon - who for years had suffered from alcohol and drug abuse, which had worsened since he sustained brain damage after being hit by a car - was found hanged at the family home, aged 48 (Kate was in hospital with double pneumonia at the time so her son's body was not found for three weeks).

Donald Pickering (Beyus) Nov 15 1933 to Dec 19 2009
Doctor Who credits
Played: Eyesen in The Keys of Marinus (1964)
Played: Captain Blade in The Faceless Ones (1967)
Played: Beyus in Time and the Rani (1987)
Career highlights
Donald's prolific career began with an appearance in Woman in a Dressing Gown (1956), after which he took roles in Sykes in a ... (1964), Gideon's Way (1965), A Challenge for Robin Hood (1967), Barlow At Large (1971), The Pallisers (1974), Wings (1977-78), Zulu Dawn (1979), Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (1980, as Watson to Geoffrey Whitehead's Holmes), The Professionals (1982), Yes, Prime Minister (1986), Executive Stress (1986-87), The Camomile Lawn (1992), Lovejoy (1994), The Brittas Empire (1997), Heartbeat (2001) and Holby City (2004).
Facts
Donald once said in an interview that he did not recall ever working on The Keys of Marinus!

John Segal (Lanisha)
Career highlights
Debuted in People Like Us (1978), followed by Inseminoid (1981), Secret Places (1984), Slaughter High (1986), The New Statesman (1989) and Eldorado (1992). John changed his stage name to John Walf and was subsequently credited on The Weight of Water (2000), Footsteps (2003), That's What She Said (2017), Augury (2018) and Meeting (2020).

Peter Tuddenham (Brain voice) Nov 27 1918 to Jul 9 2007
Doctor Who credits
Played: Computer voice in The Ark in Space (1975)
Played: Mandragora Helix Titan voice in The Masque of Mandragora (1976)
Played: Brain voice in Time and the Rani (1987)
Career highlights
Peter's earliest role was in An English Summer (1949), followed by roles in Our Marie (1953), The Granville Melodramas (1955), followed by roles in Musical Playhouse (1959), The Valiant Varneys (1965), Weavers Green (1966), Nearest and Dearest (1968), The Nine Tailors (1974), Quiller (1975), The Expert (1976), Backs to the Land (1977-78), The Onedin Line (1980), Nanny (1981-82), Maelstrom (1985), Only Fools and Horses (1986), Campion (1989), The Camomile Lawn (1992), Waiting for God (1993), One Foot in the Grave (1995) and The Bill (1995). Peter's most famous role was voicing ship computers Zen and Slave, as well as the mobile computer Orac, in 49 episodes of sci-fi series Blake's 7 (1978-81) - and he reprised the role of Orac in 2004 for the Blake's 7 spoof Blake's 7 Junction.
Facts
Prolific voice actor Peter was an authority on the East Anglian dialect, and coached performers in the Suffolk accent for Glyndebourne operas.

Wanda Ventham (Faroon) Born Aug 5 1935
Doctor Who credits
Played: Jean Rock in The Faceless Ones (1967)
Played: Thea Ransome in Image of the Fendahl (1977)
Played: Faroon in Time and the Rani (1987)
Career highlights
Wanda is a stalwart of British TV and film, first appearing in 1956's Teenage Bad Girl. Over her long career she popped up in The Navy Lark (1959), Carry On Cleo (1964), Hit and Run (1965), The Likely Lads (1965), The Avengers (1965), Death is a Woman (1966), The Prisoner (1967), Carry On Up the Khyber (1968), The Blood Beast Terror (1968), A Family at War (1970-71), The Troubleshooters (1967-71), Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974), Rutland Weekend Television (1975), Emmerdale Farm (1976), Fallen Hero (1978-79), The Two Ronnies (1980), Union Castle (1982), Don't Wait Up (1987), Executive Stress (1986-87), Capstick's Law (1989), Only Fools and Horses (1989-92, as Rodney's mother-in-law (coincidentally, her husband in this is played by Denis Lill, who she plays against in Image of the Fendahl)), Next of Kin (1995-96), Heartbeat (1996-97), Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1998), Coupling (2001), Oscar Charlie (2001-02), Mrs Caldicott's Cabbage War (2002), Lewis (2007), Run for Your Wife (2012), Sherlock (2014/17, as Sherlock's mum - which she is, of course!), Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016), Father Brown (2018), Holby City (2018), Departure (2019) and Penance (2020). She regularly played Shirley in The Rag Trade (1962-63), Virginia Lake in UFO (1970-73) and Ann Shepherd in The Lotus Eaters (1972-73).
Facts
Wanda's son is actor Benedict Cumberbatch (best known for Sherlock), and her husband actor Timothy Carlton. Wanda is a collector of barn owl memorabilia.

Jacki Webb (Brain voice)
Career highlights
Jacki's other work includes Champion House (1967), The Death Wheelers (1973), The Brothers (1975), The Enigma Files (1980), Angels (1983), Juliet Bravo (1985), Knights of God (1987), Soldier Soldier (1992), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1995), Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1998) and Heartbeat (1996/2005).

CREW

Pip Baker (writer) Jan 3 1929 to Apr 14 2020 (coronavirus)
Doctor Who credits
Wrote: The Mark of the Rani (1985), The Trial of a Time Lord (episodes 9-12 & 14, 1986), Time and the Rani (1987)
Career highlights
As part of a highly successful husband and wife writing team, Pip co-wrote for The Pursuers (1961), The Third Alibi (1961), Dilemma (1962), Detective (1968), Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969), Circus (1975), Space: 1999 (1976), Z Cars (1976-77), Watt on Earth (1991-92) and The Last 28 (1999). Pip was also an accomplished playwright and novelist, co-writing Doctor Who novelisations of their TV stories, as well as a Make Your Own Adventure book entitled Race Against Time (1986), which also featured the Rani. In 2000, Pip and Jane resurrected the Rani once more for the audio drama The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind.
Facts
Pip was named after the Dickens character in Great Expectations. He suffered a fall early in 2020 and was ill for some time before being admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties shortly before he died.

Jane Baker (writer) Dec 30 1924 to Aug 29 2014
Doctor Who credits
Wrote: The Mark of the Rani (1985), The Trial of a Time Lord (1986), Time and the Rani (1987)
Career highlights
As part of a highly successful husband and wife writing team, Jane co-wrote for The Pursuers (1961), The Third Alibi (1961), Dilemma (1962), Detective (1968), Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969), Circus (1975), Space: 1999 (1976), Z Cars (1976-77), Watt on Earth (1991-92) and The Last 28 (1999). Jane was also an accomplished playwright and novelist, co-writing Doctor Who novelisations of their TV stories, as well as a Choose Your Own Adventure book entitled Race Against Time (1986), which also featured the Rani. In 2000 Jane and Pip resurrected the Rani once more for the audio drama The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind.

Andrew Morgan (director) Born Oct 20 1942
Doctor Who credits
Directed: Time and the Rani (1987), Remembrance of the Daleks (1988)
Played: Windsor Castle tourist in Silver Nemesis (1988)
Career highlights
Andrew's career began as a production assistant on 1974's The Gathering Storm, followed by similar work on The Onedin Line (1976), Wings (1977) and Who Pays the Ferryman? (1977). His first directing job was on The Onedin Line, followed by Sutherland's Law (1975), Everyday Maths (1978-79), Blake's 7 (1980), Triangle (1981), King's Royal (1982-83), Swallows and Amazons Forever! (1984, which was BAFTA-nominated), One By One (1987, which he also produced), Knights of God (1987), Hard Cases (1989), Casualty (1989-90), Rides (1992-93), EastEnders (1993-94), The Famous Five (1995), The Prince and the pauper (1996, which was BAFTA-nominated), Children of the New Forest (1998), Urban Gothic (2000), The Worst Witch (1998-2000), Harry and the Wrinklies (2000-02), Heartbeat (2003-09) and That's English (2011-14).
In 2016 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Andrew here.

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
Doctor Who credits
Script edited: Time and the Rani, Paradise Towers, Delta and the Bannermen, Dragonfire, Remembrance of the Daleks, The Happiness Patrol, Silver Nemesis, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Battlefield, Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric, Survival (1987-89)
Career highlights
Andrew's other TV work includes script editing Casualty (1990) and Dark Knight (2001), after which he left the industry to work on several computing magazines. He has also written comic strips for Doctor Who Magazine (1990-93) and Judge Dredd Megazine (1995), as well as Doctor Who novels (1992-2005) and audios (2000/11).
Facts
Here he is, on Twitter, and here's his film review blog. Andrew also writes a series of crime novels featuring The Vinyl Detective, writing four so far between 2016-19.
In 2016 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Andrew here.