British Science Fiction Series

[Bibliogryphon 9,569]

10 hours ago, YoungWillz said:

Graeme Curry gets a Guardian Obit: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jun/06/graeme-curry-obituary

Three months but now I am spitting blood about David Fisher last year.

[msc 18,435]

OK, something of possible interest: Joan Ellacott is allegedly still alive aged 99. Costume designer on Deadly Assassin, but also a whole bunch of Guardian friendly meritorious productions.

[msc 18,435]

Damaris Hayman is 90 today!

 

 

On 04/06/2018 at 03:07, YoungWillz said:

I often wonder "Whatever happened to Damaris Hayman?".

 

Ah......

 

 

 

PS Another appears to be an alive ancient name is Hugh Lund (b. 1925) who played a Zarbi.

[YoungWillz 21,024]

26 minutes ago, msc said:

Damaris Hayman is 90 today!

 

 

 

PS Another appears to be an alive ancient name is Hugh Lund (b. 1925) who played a Zarbi.

Damaris shares her birthday with another of my Hare's Pool picks, Michael Kilgarriff, who is 82, and of course the Doctor's granddaughter Susan, Carole Ann Ford, who is 79.

[YoungWillz 21,024]

21 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

William Simons, best known as PC Alf Ventress in Heartbeat, beats his heart no more: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/people/in-memory-of-yorkshire-actor-william-simons-who-starred-in-every-heartbeat-series-1-9834750

 

Was also in The Sun Makers for Doctor Who.

 

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0800749/

 

Cross-posting here so I can post this to mark William Simons death:

 

 

[msc 18,435]

On 16/05/2019 at 08:46, msc said:

 

 

 Glyn Houston

 

Glyn Houston's agents have announced the great actors death aged 93.

[CoffinLodger 1,248]

1 hour ago, msc said:

 

Glyn Houston's agents have announced the great actors death aged 93.

Very sad news. Will always fondly remember him on Hand of Fear , hiding behind the army jeep to avoid a nuclear explosion at the power plant. If only that worked at Chernobyl ! 

[YoungWillz 21,024]

Awful news but he had a good long life, again one of those reliable actors with an amazing voice. Though in Hand Of Fear he did have his hammy moments...if you can't do it on Who, well.....RIP.

[Bibliogryphon 9,569]

11 hours ago, YoungWillz said:

Awful news but he had a good long life, again one of those reliable actors with an amazing voice. Though in Hand Of Fear he did have his hammy moments...if you can't do it on Who, well.....RIP.

The Hand of Fear is one big hammy moment

[YoungWillz 21,024]

David Graham is 94 today!

[YoungWillz 21,024]

William Hurndell who played Ike Clanton in The Gunfighters for Doctor Who, reportedly died on 4th July:

Appearances in Secret Agent and Adam Adamant Lives! also. And Carry On...Follow That Camel.

[YoungWillz 21,024]

Belated 75th birthday wishes to Catherine Schell - The Countess in City Of Death for Who and sometime regular on Space:1999.

[YoungWillz 21,024]

It is my sad duty to inform the house that Bonnie Langford is 55 today.

[YoungWillz 21,024]

Happy 80th birthday to Bob Baker, co-writer of those "favourite" 1970s Who classics.

 

Also wrote for some animated series of films, but really, they're terrible.

[msc 18,435]

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society bring up a short video of now 88 year old actor Cy Town:

 

 

Guaranteed QO when he goes.

[Bibliogryphon 9,569]

Really bad news Klaxon

 

Twitter is suggesting that the day we have feared for so long has come to pass and Terrance Dicks has died.

 

Awsiting confirmation

[msc 18,435]

8 minutes ago, Bibliogryphon said:

Really bad news Klaxon

 

Twitter is suggesting that the day we have feared for so long has come to pass and Terrance Dicks has died.

 

Awsiting confirmation

 

Just heard the same. Looks true.

 

Needless to say, a terrible loss.

 

EDIT-  Confirmed by the DWAS lot.

 

 

[RolandDeschain 91]

I was thinking that we hadn't seen anything of Terence for a while.  He didn't look too well on the last Dr Who documentaries he did either.

 

RIP to a Dr Who and Science Fiction legend -. He is one of the important, influential and long-serving people who ever worked on the show either in front of or behind the camera (along with Robert Holmes, Barry Letts, Douglas Camfield, etc).  He also did so much on other Dr Who projects - the Target books and too many other things to mention.

[YoungWillz 21,024]

Mirror Obit: https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/breaking-terrance-dicks-dead-doctor-19169731

[YoungWillz 21,024]

Well, that's a blow.

 

A name constantly in the credits from my youth. Also, I had many many Target novelisations by him. A fount of Whoness. RIP.

[CoffinLodger 1,248]

This is one of those deaths that genuinely sadden me and which I've been dreading. .I have spent countless hours listening to Terrance Dicks doing commentaries or documentaries for the classic episodes of Doctor Who ,almost to the point where I thought of him as a sort of friend even though I never met him ! Always reminded me of reading those Dr Who novels as a boy.

  I feared the worst when he didn't take part in the 'behind the Sofa' commentaries on the recent season 10 blu ray release. I knew he wouldn't miss that unless he was ill or something. He will certainly be sadly missed by me on those commentaries if nothing else, even if he did repeat the same anecdotes about Pertwees hair or whatever time and time again !   R.I.P and thanks for all the pleasure your writing gave us Who fans ! 

[msc 18,435]

Right been floored by a chest infection this week, but, yes, Terrance Dicks is, for me, the saddest loss of 2019 on a personal level. He (and RL Stine) was one of the biggest inspirations for me to get into books as a small child. He spent 50 years being asked the exact same questions by kids (and adults who took kids TV too seriously!) and never once talked down to them, or acted like a star. He was also a top class editor in his own right, which is why he was in demand for Play of the Day and the Dickens adaptations as script editor until retirement, and why he was writing and editing kids books (hundreds of them, The Baker Street Irregulars were good fun iirc) till he was in his 70s.

 

He was also highly unassuming about his own talents. Once asked to produce 100 minutes of TV script in 3 days to replace something that fell through, he wrote a highly engaging ripping yarn about murders in a lighthouse which holds up far better than the stuff which had months of planning. His reputation for fixing problems actually produced his fast tracked career in the 1960s, as whenever scripts went down on Crossroads or The Avengers (or both at the same time) and then later stuff at the Beeb, the call would be "Terrance'll fix it!" and then he did. And then would say anyone could have done it! In his role of getting TV on the TV, he was the best, and he's the reason Dr Who is still going on.

 

There's also his invaluable advice to writers: "If in doubt, bung in more characters. Then... you can bump them off!"

 

So yeah 2 quick anecdotes.

 

One night, Terrance was working late on scripts for Dr Who's big finale that season, The Daemons. (It's basically a Hammer Horror spoof.) One set piece involved the destruction of a demonic gargoyle, and the Brigadier's quote "Chap with wings - five rounds rapid!" Naturally, Terry went to axe that line from the script, and popped into a meeting with Producer Barry Letts and the BBC head honchos. Now, Barry Letts had actually written The Daemons but under union rules of the 1970s, couldn't have his own name on it or admit to writing it, so it went under a pseudonym. Dicks goes through his cuts to the episode and adds the "lousy line 'chap with wings". Barry Letts face fell and he apparently said "Oh I really enjoyed writing tha... reading that line when I first saw the script." The line got kept.

 

Years later, when he was leaving Doctor Who, he had a quick meeting with his successors, and ended on the line: "And of course, I'll be happy to carry on with the precedent of the last showrunner writing the first new story, unless you guys have someone else in mind." The new pair were delighted and quickly lined up a contract for 4 episodes.

 

"And that", said Terrance Dicks with a huge smile a few decades later, "Is how I got myself more work, with a precedent I had just invented!"

 

He was a talent and character and he'll be much missed. RIP.

[Bibliogryphon 9,569]

5 hours ago, msc said:

Right been floored by a chest infection this week, but, yes, Terrance Dicks is, for me, the saddest loss of 2019 on a personal level. He (and RL Stine) was one of the biggest inspirations for me to get into books as a small child. He spent 50 years being asked the exact same questions by kids (and adults who took kids TV too seriously!) and never once talked down to them, or acted like a star. He was also a top class editor in his own right, which is why he was in demand for Play of the Day and the Dickens adaptations as script editor until retirement, and why he was writing and editing kids books (hundreds of them, The Baker Street Irregulars were good fun iirc) till he was in his 70s.

 

He was also highly unassuming about his own talents. Once asked to produce 100 minutes of TV script in 3 days to replace something that fell through, he wrote a highly engaging ripping yarn about murders in a lighthouse which holds up far better than the stuff which had months of planning. His reputation for fixing problems actually produced his fast tracked career in the 1960s, as whenever scripts went down on Crossroads or The Avengers (or both at the same time) and then later stuff at the Beeb, the call would be "Terrance'll fix it!" and then he did. And then would say anyone could have done it! In his role of getting TV on the TV, he was the best, and he's the reason Dr Who is still going on.

 

There's also his invaluable advice to writers: "If in doubt, bung in more characters. Then... you can bump them off!"

 

So yeah 2 quick anecdotes.

 

One night, Terrance was working late on scripts for Dr Who's big finale that season, The Daemons. (It's basically a Hammer Horror spoof.) One set piece involved the destruction of a demonic gargoyle, and the Brigadier's quote "Chap with wings - five rounds rapid!" Naturally, Terry went to axe that line from the script, and popped into a meeting with Producer Barry Letts and the BBC head honchos. Now, Barry Letts had actually written The Daemons but under union rules of the 1970s, couldn't have his own name on it or admit to writing it, so it went under a pseudonym. Dicks goes through his cuts to the episode and adds the "lousy line 'chap with wings". Barry Letts face fell and he apparently said "Oh I really enjoyed writing tha... reading that line when I first saw the script." The line got kept.

 

Years later, when he was leaving Doctor Who, he had a quick meeting with his successors, and ended on the line: "And of course, I'll be happy to carry on with the precedent of the last showrunner writing the first new story, unless you guys have someone else in mind." The new pair were delighted and quickly lined up a contract for 4 episodes.

 

"And that", said Terrance Dicks with a huge smile a few decades later, "Is how I got myself more work, with a precedent I had just invented!"

 

He was a talent and character and he'll be much missed. RIP.

 This is right. Terrance is the writer who I have read most books by. This had the same impact for me as Terry Pratchett's death and this year ties with Paul Darrow for personal impact from a celebrity. His talent is simplicity and he books are so light and effortless to read he deserves to be mentioned alongside Isaac Asimov, John Wyndham, Enid Blyton and Jane Austen. 

[YoungWillz 21,024]

Flagging this one up, simply because I don't know.

 

There's a death notice for a Doreen James (92): http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/236121/james

 

I have no idea how old the costume designer Doreen James was, who worked on significant Who stories, as well as many other TV shows. Toby doesn't seem to have mentioned it. Could it be the same person?

[YoungWillz 21,024]

Audrey Ardington who appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures as The Abbess and in Amy's Choice for Doctor Who as Mrs Poggit (the possessed slaughterer of children and killer of Rory), died on 13 June 2019: https://www.funeralguide.co.uk/obituaries/63979