On This Day... 30th May

 

Romance was brewing for the First Doctor as he got acquainted with elderly Aztec lady Cameca, in The Warriors of Death - the second episode of 1964's The Aztecs.

The Earth was about to move in a different way for the Third Doctor, still trapped on the doomed alternative Earth today in 1970, in the fourth instalment of Inferno.

Today we remember one of the unsung heroes of Doctor Who. Mervyn Pinfield, who died on this date in 1966, aged only 54, was the series' Associate Producer. His role was two-fold - as a technical expert on a programme which was going to feature a lot of VFX, and later as a safe pair of hands to help Verity Lambert settle into her role.

Pinfield was the inventor of the Pini-Prompter - the very first autocue - and was part of the BBC's Langham Group - named after the hotel building opposite Broadcasting House which the BBC had taken over. This group experimented with new televisual techniques.

Pinfield also directed some episodes - the first three instalments of the four part version of Planet of Giants, which involved a lot of VFX, the first four episodes of The Sensorites and The Space Museum.

He was working on Galaxy 4 when he was taken ill, and had to be replaced by Derek Martinus after completing the Ealing filming. Pinfield suffered from a heart condition, which killed him a few months later.

He was portrayed by Jeff Rawle in the 50th Anniversary drama An Adventure in Space and Time.

A few birthdays of note today - Christopher Robbie (the Karkus in The Mind Robber and the first ever Cyber Leader in Revenge of the Cybermen) turns 84; Mark Sheppard (Canton Delaware III in The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon) is 58; Tracy Childs (Metella in The Fires of Pompeii) is 59; and Rachael Stirling (Ada in The Crimson Horror) turns 45.