Michael Craze biography

Michael Craze (Ben Jackson) Nov 29 1942 to Dec 7 1998 (heart attack)

Doctor Who credits
Played: Ben Jackson in The War Machines, The Smugglers, The Tenth Planet, The Power of the Daleks, The Highlanders, The Underwater Menace, The Moonbase, The Macra Terror, The Faceless Ones (1966-67)
Michael also appeared in archive footage/ images in Resurrection of the Daleks (1984)

Career

Michael's earliest screen acting work was as Boy at Vaccination Centre in the now missing Armchair Theatre The Pillars of Midnight, written by Dail Ambler from the novel by Elleston Trevor. Shown on September 14th, 1958 - when Michael was just 15 years old - it concerned an outbreak of smallpox in an English city, and also starred George Baker (Full Circle) and Edward Dentith (The Invasion).

Michael, aged 15, in Blow Your Own Trumpet (1958)

The next month, Michael's first appearance in a feature film was released to cinemas, Blow Your Own Trumpet, although sadly he would not be credited on screen. Michael played Bert in a film which sounds like a cross between Billy Elliott and Brassed Off - Jim and Tony want to play the cornet in their local brass band, but while Jim's hard-up family works and saves hard to buy him an instrument, wealthy Tony does all he can to prevent Jim from succeeding. It was a Children's Film Foundation production which also starred Michael Crawford and Peter Butterworth (The Time Meddler and The Daleks' Master Plan). You can see Michael in scenes from the film on YouTube:

On August 23rd, 1959 Michael appeared in an episode of the ABC family comedy Sunday's Child entitled The Star, playing a page boy. The production also starred child star Mandy Miller and Daphne Anderson as her scatty widowed mother, with future Doctor Who director Fiona Cumming and Patrick Godfrey (The Savages and The Mind of Evil) also on the cast list. Sunday's Child is now thought to be missing from the archives.

Michael, aged 17, as Geoff (left) in the
children's SF series Target Luna (1960)

In 1960 Michael got his first regular role in a TV series, entitled Target Luna. In six episodes of the children's adventure serial (broadcast between April 24th and May 29th, 1960), Michael played Geoffrey Wedgwood, whose brother Jimmy (Michael Hammond) secretly replaces an astronaut and is launched into space on a mission to the moon, along with his pet hamster Hamlet. No footage of this serial is known to survive, but it also featured Frank Finlay and Angus Lennie (The Ice Warriors and Terror of the Zygons), and was co-written by Doctor Who writer Malcolm Hulke (who would go on to co-write Michael's Doctor Who swansong). On producing duties was Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman. Target Luna was so popular that it spawned three sequel series - Pathfinders in Space, Pathfinders to Mars and Pathfinders to Venus (1960-61), but these did not feature Michael (the role of Geoffrey was recast with Steward Guidotti).

Michael (back left, next to Jeremy
Bulloch) aged 18, in Spare the Rod (1961)

In April 1961 the film Spare the Rod was released in cinemas, based on the 1954 book by Michael Croft and directed by Leslie Norman. It concerns an idealist anti-punishment teacher (played by Max Bygraves) starting a new job at a tough East London slum-area school but who is faced with problems by his bored and sometimes unruly pupils. Also on the cast list was Donald Pleasence, Jean Anderson, Richard O'Sullivan, Aubrey Woods (Day of the Daleks), Annette Robertson (The Massacre) and Jeremy Bulloch (The Space Museum and The Time Warrior), while Michael played Thatcher (uncredited). You can watch the film on YouTube here (Michael can first be seen clearly at the 11m mark):

Michael's next project was in the TV series Family Solicitor in the episode First Eleven Plus, (now missing), broadcast on August 30th, 1961. It also featured Bernard Horsfall (The Mind Robber, The War Games and The Deadly Assassin), Geoffrey Palmer (Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Mutants and Voyage of the Damned), John Normington (The Caves of Androzani and The Happiness Patrol) and Ann Davies (The Dalek Invasion of Earth), while Michael played the part of Stonehouse.

On February 3rd 1962, Michael made his first of four appearances in the popular police procedural series Dixon of Dock Green. In The Flemish Giant, Michael played a character called Jimmy, and shared the screen with star Jack Warner, Robert Cawdron (The Ambassadors of Death), Larry Dann and Stanley Meadows. This episode is, of course, missing from the BBC archives.

Michael's second episode was Facing the Music, shown on September 19th, 1964 and also featuring James Beck, Jack Cunningham (The Reign of Terror) and George Tovey (Pyramids of Mars). Michael played Fleming, and this episode is also missing.

Michael in Two Left Feet (1965)

There was then a three-year gap in his TV and film CV, with his next appearance being the film Two Left Feet, released on March 1965. Written (for screen) and directed by Roy Ward Baker, it starred Michael's former co-star Michael Crawford as Alan, a callow youth desperate for any girl who can give him the experience he lacks. The film also starred Nyree Dawn Porter, Julia Foster, David Hemmings, Bernard Lee, David Lodge, Aimee Delamain (The Two Doctors), Neil McCarthy (The Mind of Evil and The Power of Kroll) and Michael Ripper. Michael played Ronnie, one of the local lads who, it is inferred, has a complicated romantic relationship with Hemmings' character (you even get to see Michael snog Hemmings in this old trailer!). The film was actually finished in 1963 but stayed on the shelf for two years as Baker was unable to secure a distributor. In the end it was given an X certificate and, despite being aimed squarely at the youth audience of the time, did not perform well.

Michael's next work was in the BBC detective series Cluff, starring Leslie Sands as the Yorkshire copper, based on the books by Gil North. All of series 1 is now missing, but the second series survives, including the one Michael appears in, The Dictator (shown on August 8th, 1965) - in which there's more to a broken window and a petty theft than meets the eye! Michael plays Eric Liddler, and his parents are played by John Barron and Yvonne Bonnamy; also on the cast list are Michael Bates, John Rolfe (The War Machines, The Moonbase and The Green Death), Stephen Jack (Terror of the Autons) and Judy Bloom.

On December 4th, 1965 Michael appeared in his third of four episodes of Dixon of Dock Green, playing Hyett in The Late Customer (missing), which concerned the question of whether a convicted man was actually innocent. The episode also featured Michael Goldie (The Dalek Invasion of Earth), Duncan Lamont (Death to the Daleks), Reg Lye (The Enemy of the World), Hugh Morton (The Seeds of Death), Peter Sanders (The Space Museum), Peter Thomas (The Savages) and Reg Lever (The Celestial Toymaker).

Ways with Words was a Thames TV series for younger secondary school children for learning English grammar, and Michael appeared in the (missing) first episode broadcast on New Year's Eve 1965, entitled Fighting. He played a soldier in a dramatisation which also featured Diane Grayson and Gladys Dawson; the programme was presented by Geoffrey Russell.

Michael in Fragment (1965)

In 1965, aged just 22, Michael founded a film company called Mantic Films, and released an 11-minute short film entitled Fragment, written and directed by Norman J Warren and produced by Michael himself. Exhibited at the Commonwealth Film Festival, it concerns a depressed young woman's unhappiness about a failed love affair, and starred Maureen Roche, Simon Brent and Michael too. It was the only film to come out of Mantic. Fragment, which features no dialogue, sees her wandering through a wintry landscape, reflecting her internal state of mind, and the locations are bleak and industrial. Michael appears in it only briefly, right at the end, but in a somewhat heroic role! You can watch it on YouTube, but the film is also available on the BFI DVD and Bluray for the Warren film Her Private Hell:

Michael in Gideon's Way, aged 23

On Boxing Day, 1965, Michael appeared in the lost Wednesday Play A Piece of Resistance, written by future Doctor Who writer and director Terence Dudley. The play concerned a retired colonel on the Channel Islands whose home is invaded by a German officer who takes a shine to his daughter. It starred William Kendall, Lally Bowers, Frederick Jaeger (The Savages, Planet of Evil and The Invisible Enemy), Gerald Cross (The Stones of Blood) and Gabor Baraker (Marco Polo and The Crusade). Michael played the part of Ernst.

On February 27th, 1966, Michael appeared in an episode of ITC's Gideon's Way (aka Gideon CID) called Boy with Gun. The series starred John Gregson as Commander George Gideon, and saw Michael play Vince Kelly, an escapee from Borstal who teams up with a lad who accidentally shoots a thug in self-defence and goes on the run. The episode also featured George Sewell (Remembrance of the Daleks), Michael Standing, Anthony Bate and Royston Tickner (The Daleks' Master Plan and The Sea Devils). You can see the episode on YouTube, or buy it on DVD:

Michael's fourth and final missing Dixon of Dock Green was Face at the Window, broadcast on March 5th 1966 and also starring Brian Badcoe (Invasion of the Dinosaurs), Harry Fowler (Remembrance of the Daleks) and Thora Hird. Michael was credited as simply Boy.

On May 4th 1966, Michael appeared in an episode of police series No Hiding Place entitled A Bottle Full of Sixpences, which co-starred Raymond Francis, Johnny Briggs and Michael McStay (The Seeds of Doom). Michael played Conner alongside Milton Johns (The Enemy of the World, The Android Invasion and The Invasion of Time), Reg Lye (The Enemy of the World), Jimmy Gardner (Marco Polo and Underworld) and Graham Ashley (The Underwater Menace), Simon Cain (The Enemy of the World and Doctor Who and the Silurians) and David Arlen (The Mutants). Doctor Who writer Louis Marks was script editor. The episode is missing from the archives.

Michael with Patrick Troughton and Anneke Wills on location
for The Highlanders (1966)

On May 26th, 1966, Michael (along with Anneke Wills) was contracted to appear in 18 episodes of Doctor Who as sailor Ben Jackson, which would take him through four stories, to the end of Patrick Troughton's first adventure, The Power of the Daleks. On June 10th, recording began for his first story, The War Machines, at Riverside Studio 1, and a fortnight later (on June 23rd), Michael and Anneke were introduced to the press as Doctor Who's new companions at a special media launch. Two days later, Michael's debut episode was broadcast on BBC1.

Ben and Polly's departure scene in the
Doctor Who story The Faceless Ones

Michael's contract was extended for three more stories on November 2nd, the same day that Frazer Hines was contracted for The Highlanders, with an option on three further serials. Michael's contract would take him up to The Moonbase, but little did he know when he was signing the contract that producer Innes Lloyd was already planning his character's departure. Lloyd believed Hines's Jamie McCrimmon worked better than Ben Jackson, and hoped to continue the series with companions Polly and Jamie after Ben was written out. Anneke Wills' contract was renewed on December 12th, and Michael's for a further 12 episodes on January 27th. Michael's final day of recording on the series was on April 8th, 1967 in Lime Grove Studio D for The Faceless Ones episode 2. A pre-filmed insert of Ben and Polly's leaving scene was included in episode 6, but neither character appeared in episodes 3, 4 or 5 as the actors were out of contract.

Michael appeared in 36 episodes of Doctor Who in total, of which just 12 exist in the archives today. In fact, the only complete story which exists is his debut, The War Machines - his other eight stories are either completely or partially lost.

It would be five months before Michael's next screen acting work would be broadcast, playing a character called Archie King in a (now lost) episode of the ITV series Send Foster called Off the Record (shown September 8th, 1967). His co-stars included Patrick Newell (The Android Invasion), Eric Francis (The Sensorites) and Polly James (The Awakening). The series concerned the adventures of junior reporter Johnny Foster (played by Hayward Morse).

On November 11th and 12th, 1967, Michael appeared in a two-part story called Seminar on Communications in the ABC series Sat'day While Sunday (now missing from the archive). Michael played Roger and appeared alongside John Gill (Fury from the Deep) and Derek Waring (Castrovalva) in the series which starred Malcolm McDowell and focused on the tribulations of first-year university students.

Also in 1967, Michael appeared in the short film A Long Spoon, produced by Rediffusion and adapted from an original 1956 story by John Wyndham. Michael was a member of the six-strong cast in a story about a demon which is summoned in error, and the lengths the couple who invoked him have to go to to get rid of him without losing their souls into the bargain. Sadly, I can find no further information about this film online.

Michael in Journey to
the Unknown

Journey to the Unknown was a horror anthology series produced by Hammer, who were better known for their big screen outings with the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein. On January 2nd, 1969, Michael appeared in the episode The Last Visitor, written by Alfred Shaughnessy and directed by Don Chaffey, in which a young woman tries to recover from a nervous breakdown at a seaside resort, where someone appears to be stalking her. Michael played Fred alongside Patty Duke, Geoffrey Bayldon (The Creature from the Pit), John Bailey (The Sensorites, The Evil of the Daleks and The Horns of Nimon) and Sally James. This is the only episode of Journey to the Unknown in which nobody dies! Michael's role is tiny, and he spends most of his screen time obscured in motorcycle leathers, but there is a brief moment where his smiling face is revealed for a kiss! You can see his footage here:

On September 29th, 1969 Michael appeared in an ITV Sunday Night Theatre called That Woman is Wrecking Our Marriage, which starred Ray Brooks (Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD) and Clare Jenkins (The Savages, The Wheel in Space and The War Games), with Michael playing the role of David. The play is now lost.

Next up was an episode of Detective called Mr Guppy's Tale, broadcast on November 9th, 1969. Michael played Charles Knottage, and co-starred with Hamilton Dyce (Spearhead from Space), Bill Fraser (Meglos and K9 & Company), Esmond Knight (The Space Pirates), Jenny McCracken (Carnival of Monsters) and Jeremy Wilkin (Revenge of the Cybermen). Mr Guppy was a character from Charles Dickens's novel Bleak House, and although he was a law clerk by trade, he also acted as an unofficial detective in the book. Knottage does not appear in Dickensian fiction, so was a creation of screenwriter Hugh Whitemore. Typically, this episode of Detective does not exist.

In 1970, Michael appeared in episodes 3, 6 and 7 of the 10-part BBC adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's book Ivanhoe, playing the character of Thomas. In the episodes Unmasked (January 18th), Condemned (February 8th) and The Black Knight (February 15th), Michael was joined on screen by other Doctor Who alumni such as Eric Flynn (The Wheel in Space), Terence Bayler (The Ark and The War Games), Noel Coleman (The War Games), Francis De Wolff (The Keys of Marinus and The Myth Makers), John Franklyn-Robbins (Genesis of the Daleks), Inigo Jackson (The Ark), Michael Napier Brown (The War Games), Tim Preece (Planet of the Daleks), Graham Weston (The War Games and Planet of Evil), Bernard Horsfall (The Mind Robber, The War Games and The Deadly Assassin), Hugh Walters (The Chase and Revelation of the Daleks) and Clare Jenkins (The Savages, The Wheel in Space and The War Games). The episodes were directed by David Maloney (unsurprisingly, given the number of actors from The War Games).

On July 9th, 1970 Michael had a guest role in an episode of medical series The Doctors, playing Charlie in episode 66, written by Frank Moore and directed by Desmond McCarthy. The episode is, of course, now missing, but it co-starred Barry Justice (The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve), Isla Blair (The King's Demons), June Bland (Earthshock and Battlefield), Terry Scully (The Seeds of Death) and Christine Pollon (Underworld). The producer was Bill Sellars, director of The Celestial Toymaker.

Sentimental Education was an adaptation of the 1869 novel by Gustave Flaubert concerning the romantic life of a young man during the French Revolution of 1848. The series starred Robert Powell, and in the first episode, A Start to Loving (broadcast on August 9th, 1970), Michael played the small role of an agitator, alongside Glyn Owen (The Power of Kroll), Eric Flynn (The Wheel in Space), David Garfield (The War Games and The Face of Evil), Philip Ray (The Seeds of Death), Patrick Tull (The Krotons), Hugh Walters (The Chase, The Deadly Assassin and Revelation of the Daleks) and Graham Weston (The War Games and Planet of Evil). The series was directed by David Maloney.

On December 8th, 1970 Michael appeared in his first of three Z Cars, entitled Strictly Cash (now missing). He played a character called Jack, alongside Ian Cullen (The Aztecs), James Ellis (Battlefield), Harry Fowler (Remembrance of the Daleks), Bernard Holley (The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Claws of Axos) and Jonathan Newth (Underworld). The episode was directed by Gerald Blake (The Abominable Snowmen and The Invasion of Time).

Michael in A Family at War, aged 28

Sadly, the promise Michael's career showed in the 1960s - notably before he was in Doctor Who - all but fizzled out in the 1970s and beyond. The roles were generally small and forgettable, such as the part he played in A Family at War: Hope Against Hope on December 16th, 1970. Michael played a Corporal in an episode set in Liverpool in 1941 when an aerial bomb hits a house and injures a pregnant woman. It also starred Colin Douglas (The Enemy of the World and Horror of Fang Rock) and Mark Jones (The Seeds of Doom), and was directed by Gerry Mill (The Faceless Ones).

The series Bel Ami was based on the 1885 Guy de Maupassant novel about Georges Duroy (played by Robin Ellis) who cynically exploits women, and his position as a journalist, to gain power in 19th century France. In the first episode, Georges - shown on May 8th, 1971 - Michael appeared as Max, alongside John Bryans (The Creature from the Pit) and Peter Sallis (The Ice Warriors), while it was directed by John Davies, who'd worked with Michael on the Doctor Who story The Macra Terror (1967).

Michael next played a sailor (familiar territory!) in an episode of Rules, Rules, Rules, a drama-documentary for teenagers showing the rules of society they will encounter when they grow up. In the episode Rules and the Generation Gap (shown on May 13th, 1971, but now missing), Michael co-starred with none other than former Doctor Who buddy Frazer Hines. Such a pity we can't watch this!

Rules of the Game was the title of Michael's second of three Z Cars appearances, on November 29th, 1971 (now missing). He played Nick in a story co-starring Ken Barker (Revelation of the Daleks), John Collin (The Leisure Hive), Ian Cullen (The Aztecs), James Ellis (Battlefield), Sheila Fay (The Time Warrior), Mark Jones (The Seeds of Doom) and Graham Weston (The War Games and Planet of Evil).

Michael's next assignment was playing a reporter in the third episode of the Granada series Holly, a psychological thriller starring Brigit Forsyth (The Evil of the Daleks), shown on September 15th, 1972. Coming so soon after Michael's co-billing with Frazer Hines in Rules, Rules, Rules, this job saw him sharing the bill with none other than future Doctor Who companion Ian Marter, as well as Peter Birrel (Frontier in Space), William Gaunt (Revelation of the Daleks), Michael Hawkins (Frontier in Space), Ray Lonnen (Frontier in Space) and Kenneth Watson (The Wheel in Space).

Pathfinders was a Thames series about an RAF squadron behind enemy lines during World War Two, starring Robert Urquhart and Jack Watling (The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear). In the episode Fog (shown on October 11th, 1972, and written by Peter "The Mind Robber" Ling), Michael played Flight sergeant Tom Searle, alongside William Marlowe (The Mind of Evil and Revenge of the Cybermen), Jack May (The Space Pirates) and Kate O'Mara (The Mark of the Rani and Time and the Rani). The series has been released on DVD.

Michael in The Exorcism of Hugh,
aged 30.

In November 1972, Michael had a part in the film The Exorcism of Hugh (aka Neither the Sea Nor the Sand), written by broadcaster Gordon Honeycombe based upon his own novel. The film was directed by Fred Burnley and concerned a troubled wife who travels to the isle of Jersey to sort out her life. There, she meets a lighthouse keeper and falls in love with him, only for him to die while they are making love on a beach. Then her troubles really begin... The film starred Susan Hampshire, Frank Finlay and Michael Petrovitch, and Michael Craze played Collie Delamere, alongside other Doctor Who alumnus David Garth (The Highlanders, Terror of the Autons).

Ooh La La! was a BBC series based upon the short farces written by Georges Feydeau, and Michael appeared in a still-extant episode in the third series, A-Hunting We Will Go, shown on May 19th, 1973. Adapted by Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin, the comedy featured Michael as Gontran, alongside Patrick Cargill, Barbara Murray (Black Orchid), Tony Britton and Joan Hickson.

Two Women was a TV series set in wartime 1945, and starred Margaret Whiting as a woman who struggles to support herself and her daughter, played by Jenny Twigge. In episode 2, broadcast on July 5th 1973, Michael played a British naval officer. Also on the cast list was Godfrey James (Underworld), Margaret John (Fury from the Deep and The Idiot's Lantern), Jon Laurimore (The Masque of Mandragora), Carmen Silvera (The Celestial Toymaker and Invasion of the Dinosaurs) and Reg Lye (The Enemy of the World).

Michael, aged 31, in Crown Court

Between January 30th-31st 1974, Michael appeared in a two-part Crown Court called Do Your Worst, in which he played Michael Pollitson, club captain of Fulchester Rovers, where the manager is sacked because, he claims, three players deliberately performed badly to achieve just such an outcome. Also in the story was Roy Holder (The Caves of Androzani), Maureen Lipman (The Idiot's Lantern) and William Mervyn (The War Machines)

Next up was a sadly small and uncredited role in the Amicus horror film Madhouse, released in May 1974 and starring Vincent Price as a horror movie star released from a mental institution who finds that his murderous character Dr Death is killing independently. It co-starred big screen Dr Who Peter Cushing, Adrienne Corri (The Leisure Hive), Ian Thompson (The Chase) and Peter Halliday (various between 1968-88), and Michael played a reporter.

On September 8th, 1974, Michael secured a role in the BBC Play of the Month, entitled The Linden Tree, written as a play by J B Priestley in 1947. Concerning the conflicting opinions within one family, the play also featured Simon Lack (The Mind of Evil and The Androids of Tara), and Michael played the part of Bernard Fawcett.

Michael's final appointment of 1974 was two episodes of Intimate Strangers, a series about a man who suffers a heart attack which changes both his career and his relationships, particularly his marriage. It starred Anthony Bate and Patricia Lawrence, and Michael appeared in episodes 9 (shown on November 15th) and 11 (November 29th) as a character called Steve. Other Doctor Who alumni included Neil Hallett (Timelash), Ivor Roberts (Genesis of the Daleks), Bruce Purchase (The Pirate Planet) and Gordon Sterne (The Ambassadors of Death).

Michael's only work in 1975 was en episode of The Dick Emery Show, shown on September 27th. It's not clear what role Michael played in this perennial sketch show, but he shared billing with the likes of Graham Armitage (The Macra Terror), Victor Maddern (Fury from the Deep), Alan Tilvern (Planet of Giants) and Debbie Watling's sister Dilys.

Michael, aged 35, on the set of Satan's
Slave/ Evil Heritage

Satan's Slave (aka Evil Heritage) was a horror film directed by Norman J Warren and written by David McGillivray which concerned a young girl who got caught up in a devil-worshipping cult run by her evil uncle and cousin. The evil uncle was played by Michael Gough (The Celestial Toymaker and Arc of Infinity) and the cousin by Martin Potter (Terminus), while Michael played the character of John, boyfriend of starlet Candace Glendenning, who meets a grisly end by jumping off the top of a tower block. Satan's Slave also starred James Bree (The War Games, Full Circle and The Trial of a Time Lord). The film is available on DVD, and although he doesn't speak, Michael can be briefly glimpsed in the behind-the-scenes making of documentary All You Need is Blood, viewable on YouTube (he can be spotted at 11m 30s).

On May 10th, 1977 Michael appeared in his third and final edition of Z Cars, entitled Scavengers. He played Detective Constable Johnson alongside Keith Drinkel (Time-Flight), Brian Grellis (Revenge of the Cybermen and The Invisible Enemy) and Ray Lonnen (Frontier in Space).

Michael in Terror (1978), aged 36

In 1978 Michael appeared in another horror film, called simply Terror, again directed by Norman J Warren and written by David McGillivray. The story concerned the royal descendants of the condemned witch Mad Dolly, all of whom meet grisly ends by having their heads or limbs chopped off in various ways. Elaine Ives-Cameron from The Stones of Blood also appeared, as did Michael's brother Peter Craze (The Space Museum and Nightmare of Eden) and fellow Doctor Who companion William Russell. Michael played the part of Gary, a mesmerist who hypnotises starlet Carolyn Courage into maiming her cousin, played by John Nolan.

After that there was a gap of eight years in Michael's CV (although he was asked by Doctor Who director Graeme Harper to play Krelper in Peter Davison's swansong The Caves of Androzani, but this was vetoed by producer John Nathen Turner). He had given up on making acting his main career and became the manager of a pub in Shepperton. However, he did make very occasional acting appearances, firstly in the mini-series The December Rose, a period children's drama about the adventures of a young Victorian chimney sweep, Barnacle Brown, played by Courtney Roper-Knight. Michael played a Gentleman in the episode The Last Birthday, the final episode of six, broadcast on April 16th, 1986. Also on the bill was Judy Cornwell (Paradise Towers), Ian Hogg (Ghost Light) and Tracey Eddon (stuntwoman for, among others, Sophie Aldred).

Michael in The Diary of
Anne Frank, aged 45

Michael next appeared in The Diary of Anne Frank episode 1 (broadcast on January 4th 1987) playing a telephone engineer, alongside Emrys James (State of Decay) and Ghost Light's Katharine Schlesinger as the title character. There was a whole host of Doctor Who related faces behind the scenes too, including Terrance Dicks as producer, Dudley Simpson as composer, costumes by Dinah Collin, and design by Raymond London. Michael's appearance was fleeting.

There was then a seven year gap until April 1994, when Michael played Maudie in a TV movie adaptation of G F Newman's The Healer, about a Colombian immigrant working in London who has the gift of healing but cannot heal his own past. It was directed by Mike Hodges and also featured Helen Griffin (Rise of the Cybermen) and David Garfield (The War Games and The Face of Evil). The film won two BAFTA Cymru awards for Best Actor (Paul Rhys) and Best Drama.

Michael's last acting role was in the 31-minute film The Patient (1994), written by Andy Love and Omid Nooshin (who also directed). Parts of The Patient were edited into the 90-minute horror anthology Virtual Terror, but it's thought Michael's scenes were not used. I'm unable to find either of these productions online.

Michael on The Time, The Place in
1996, aged 53

On January 18th, 1996, Michael was among a number of Doctor Who actors and fans (or "freaks" as they were called on air) to appear on the daytime talk show The Time, The Place, hosted by John Stapleton. The discussion was prompted by the announcement of the casting of Paul McGann in a new Doctor Who TV movie, and the show asked whether the programme was still popular.

Appearing alongside Michael in the audience was Carole Ann Ford and William Hartnell's real-life granddaughter, Jessica Carney. You can watch the whole episode on Dailymotion here (Michael appears 21m 42s in).

Is this Michael in Victoria
Wood As Seen on TV?

I've always been intrigued by a fleeting cameo appearance by who I think is Michael Craze in an old Victoria Wood sketch. In Victoria Wood As Seen on TV series 1 episode 3 (transmitted on January 25th, 1985), there's a spoof documentary called To Be an Actress, in which a girl named Sarah Wells trains to become a thespian. We see her attend an audition, and one of the fellow attendees is a character called Tony, who I am convinced is Michael Craze. There's a screengrab here and a link to the sketch too. What do you think?

Michael continued to run his pub in Shepperton until his tragically early death on December 7th, 1998. The previous day he had suffered a heart attack and fallen down some steps while picking up his neighbour's newspaper for her, but because of a pre-existing heart condition, doctors were unable to operate, and he sadly passed away the next day, aged just 56. The Doctor Who theme was played at his funeral. He left first wife Edwina (who he'd met on the set of The Tenth Planet where she was working as a production assistant), second wife Helen (from whom he was separated at the time) and son Ben, named after his Doctor Who character. Edwina Craze (nee Verner) died of cancer the following year, aged just 60.

A memorial to Michael can be found in the form of a plaque on one of the stalls seats in the Gaiety Theatre, Douglas, on the Isle of Man, placed there by the Isle of Man Doctor Who Group. It was officially unveiled by his son Ben.

Michael and Anneke pictured for the Radio Times in 1973

Addendum: In November 1973 Doctor Who celebrated its 10th anniversary, and to celebrate Radio Times held photoshoots with a number of previous companions, including Michael Craze and his co-star Anneke Wills. Michael, Anneke and two Cybermen were photographed at Stiffkey Marshes and Cley Beach in Norfolk, and afterwards went for lunch at the Jolly Farmer's pub in North Creake. It was the first time Michael and Anneke had been reunited since they left Doctor Who in 1967.

Anneke was interviewed about it in 2011: "I didn't see him again until 20 years later, in 1993. We got on a train to Manchester and he said, 'How are you, Duchess?', and we picked up again. We were really good friends. Of course, all the Doctor Who people wanted us to be romantic, but we weren't. Having adventures was much more interesting!"

Michael's intro for The Tenth Planet
from 1992

In 1992 Michael recorded two versions of an introduction to a planned VHS release of The Tenth Planet after a fan claimed they'd recovered the missing episode 4. However, this was soon revealed to be a hoax, and the release was shelved. Michael's unused intro can be seen on YouTube.

Michael/ Ben has been depicted twice since his death. The first time it was for his brief appearance in the 2013 drama An Adventure in Space and Time, where he was played by Robin Varley, and the second time was in Doctor Who's 2017 Christmas special, Twice Upon a Time, where he was portrayed by Jared Garfield. Both are pictured below and neither bear a very strong resemblance to Michael!