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(Duncan was also in the last series of Graceless and was responsible for the awesome song.)
A blog for Simon Guerrier
"The Doctor Who production team originally wanted Pauline Collins - Samantha Briggs in The Faceless Ones - to stay on as the new companion. When she declined, they quickly promoted a character in the next story, The Evil of the Daleks, so that Victorian orphan Victoria joined the TARDIS. Unlike companions before or since, she wasn't gutsy and wise-cracking and often spent her adventures in abject terror. But perhaps because of that, and definitely because of the way Deborah Watling played her, Victoria enjoyed scenes and stories that would never have suited anyone else. There's the magical moment in The Tomb of the Cybermen where the Doctor finds a quiet moment to comfort her, and speaks of his long-lost family. There are the stink bombs she brews up to battle the Ice Warriors and her screams - so often a cliche of a "weak" Doctor Who girl - are what defeat the evil seaweed in Fury from the Deep. (To help explain how, writer Victor Pemberton devised the sonic screwdriver, so we owe that to Victoria too.)
I got to meet Debbie Watling a handful of times, and we talked about the delights - and frustrations - of playing Victoria. I'll especially remember her telling me about Dimensions in Time, after I'd told her how much I enjoyed it. She explained that under her shawl in that she's hiding her arm being in plaster cast - because she'd fallen off a skateboard."
The first panel... |
... accompanied by this snap. |
Me, Lady Vader and BB-8. |
Han in Carbonite |
Bad guy spaceships |
More spaceships |
Yet more spaceships |
Slave I, including dinky Boba Fett |
I should like a hat like that |
Millennium Falcon, round radar dish |
It is your destiny. |
The skull of Darth Vader |
No, I am your father. |
"The Devil knows corners of us all of which Christ himself is ignorant. Indeed, I am sure Christ learned a great deal that was salutary about Himself when He met the Devil in the wilderness. Of course, that was a meeting of brothers; people forget too readily that Satan is Christ's elder brother and has certain advantages in argument that pertain to a senior."
Robertson Davies, Fifth Business (1970) in The Deptford Trilogy, p. 240.
A THRILLERThe following year, Hartnell had a role in Miss Elizabeth's Prisoner, alongside the actress Heather McIntyre. They married in 1929. In 1932, Hartnell made his first appearance on film in Say It With Music.
“The Man Responsible” at Exeter Theatre.
SENSATIONAL PLAY
The Theatre Royal, Exeter, during the past season or so has staged a number of “thrillers”, but they have been, with the possible exception of “Dracula”, thrillers of a wholesome character. We recall such dramatic sensations as “The Ghost Train”, “The Bat”, “No. 17” and “The Cat and the Canary.” This week a thriller of a totally different character is being presented in “The Man Responsible.” The play, it is true, is full of thrills, but thrills of a nature which hardly appeal to the ordinary theatre-goer we should imagine. It opens upon an unpleasant note, and as the play develops situations arise which are unpleasant in the extreme. The drugging and hypnotising of a promising young doctor by a specialist driven mad by revenge for the death of a daughter by an illegal operation, and the forcing of the young medico to perform a critical operation on his mother, who dies while under the influence of the anaesthetic, form sensational thrills, but whether they are of a wholesome description is another matter. The reference to the “Justice of the Almighty being too slow” in the “trial scene” is not pleasant, to put it mildly, even though it be the ravings of a madman. To our mind “The Man Responsible” strikes the note of “melodrama gone mad.” Probably we shall be hauled over the coals for our opinion, but the duty of a critic seems to us to be to express his opinion, and this is the opinion of our critic. By the way, what has Exeter done to be mentioned as near the scene of the play?
The company who present the play have a difficult task, and the most difficult of all is that which falls to the lot of Mr. William Hartnell, to whom is entrusted the all-important role of Dr. Ronald Warden, the tortured young medico. It was a realistic playing of the part for which Mr. Hartnell was responsible. First there was the brilliant young medical man, eager and enthusiastic, standing at the threshold of what promises to be a useful and splendid career. Then there comes the transformation into the drugged, nervous wreck, the tool of the medical maniac. A wonderful realistic presentation Mr. Hartnell gave, and his audience accorded him the whole-hearted applause he deserved. Miss Mabel Heath gave a sympathetic rendering of Annie Ritter – another part calling for careful handling. Mr. A Fellows Bassett gave a “Svengalistic” touch to the role of the hypnotising maniac, Dr. Morris Morton, while Mr. Harold Greaves was convincing as Dr. Felex Gordon. Miss Hazel Morne did well as Marion, and the minor roles of Vernie (Miss Dulcie French), Mrs. Warden (Miss Eugenie Vernie), and Jensen (Miss Sylvia Rimmer) were well presented. There will be the usual Friday matinee.
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Portrait by Sarah McIntyre |
Episode | Tx date | Audience (BBC) | Audience (TAM) |
1 | 20 May 1967 | 8.1 million | 4.3 million |
2 | 27 May 1967 | 7.5 million | |
3 | 3 June 1967 | 6.1 million | |
4 | 10 June 1967 | 5.3 million | under 4.45 million |
5 | 17 June 1967 | 5.1 million | |
6 | 24 June 1967 | 6.8 million | 3.4 million |
7 | 1 July 1967 | 6.1 millions | 2.9 million |