Anthony Head (1954 - 2026)

It has been announced today that actor Anthony Head has died, aged 72.

He is best known for his role as Giles in Buffy The Vampire Slayer but first came to notice through a series of romantic coffee adverts.

In Doctor Who he played headmaster Hector Finch in 2006's School Reunion, and also narrated Doctor Who Confidential. His name frequently came up when the starring role was due to be recast.

RIP

Inspirations: Smile

As with previous new companions up to this point, the usual pattern of (mostly) contemporary Earth setting, followed by far future adventure, followed by a trip to a historical period, was decided on for Bill. Smile would be her future story.

The reason we concentrate on just her and the Doctor for much of the running time was simply to establish their relationship.

Writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce had previously contributed the story In the Forest of the Night in Series 8 - a fantastical premise which would surely have seen Chris Bidmead's head explode on DWM's "Bidmead-O-Meter", which rated stories with utterly daft science.

For his next submission, he decided to provide something based much more on real science.

Preparing for an anthology of science fiction short stories, Cottrell-Boyce had approached a scientist working at the Jodrell Bank radio telescope, to discuss how humans might in future colonise other planets. He was advised that this would likely be done by sending robots on ahead to prepare the way.

Noting the preponderance of dystopian futures laid out in the genre, the writer wanted to present a utopian society, in which the lives of the human colonists were regulated by robots and artificial intelligence, working to their benefit. This then led to thoughts about what rights these robots / AI would have were they to become self-aware.

Steven Moffat was pleased with this as a backdrop to a story, which does not surprise as "AI gone wrong" had already been used by him on more than one occasion. It had taken over from the "mad computer" style of story, variations of which ran throughout the classic series.

Cottrell-Boyce had noted the increasing use of emojis which were being employed more widely. He saw these as a new language, which had begun to grow beyond social media.

Peter Capaldi and Moffat both explained on Doctor Who Extra that they neither used nor fully understood emojis, but Jenna Coleman had used them all the time, rendering some of her texts to them near unintelligible.

The Emojibots were originally envisioned as simple boxes with arms, with a screen on the upper surface on which they would communicate by displaying emoji icons. They were not intended to have any human-like form.

As well as the Emojibots, Smile features nanobots named Vardies. This derived from the scientist Dr Andrew Vardy, who researched swarm robotics at the University of Newfoundland in Canada. He had attended a conference in 2013, one of whose aims was to link scientists with authors. Vardy and Cottrell-Boyce collaborated on a story the following year.

Insect-like in the final programme, they were originally intended to be hedgehog-like in appearance.

The writer named the colony world Erewhon - an anagram and near palindrome of "nowhere". There are two possible inspirations for this. 

The first is the 1872 novel Erewhon: or, Over the Range, by Samuel Butler. This told of a utopian country and acted as a satire on Victorian society. One aspect of this was that the sick were branded as law-breakers, as they could not uphold the general happiness expected of the inhabitants.

Then there is News From Nowhere (Or an Epoch of Rest), written by William Morris in 1890 which told of another utopian society.

As the working title for Smile was "News From Nowhere", we can assume the latter - though Morris may have himself been inspired by Butler's work.

In the finished story, it is only the colony ship which is named Erewhon, and the planet has the designation Gliese 581D. Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star around which a "Super Earth" exoplanet was discovered in 2007 - Gliese 581c. It is 20.4 light years from Earth in the constellation of Libra, makes a complete orbit in 13 days, and has one hemisphere permanently facing its star. In terms of surface conditions, it is thought to resemble those on Venus.

An Earth colony in which the populace are forced to be happy is not a new idea for the show. The concept featured in The Macra Terror, and in The Happiness Patrol.

At one point the Doctor quotes David Bowie: "I'm happy, hope you're happy too", from his 1980 hit Ashes to Ashes.

The Doctor states that the Scots seek independence on every planet colonised. A referendum was underway at the time of writing. Scotland going it alone after abandoning Earth had also been mentioned in The Beast Below.

Steadfast is said to be a MedTech One grade. 'MedTech' was the designation given to Vira in The Ark in Space - suggesting that these colonists may have left Earth not long before the solar flares which led to the setting up of space station Nerva as a sanctuary.

Ralf Little had featured in the movie 24 Hour Party People - which was also written by Cottrell-Boyce.

The colony ship is said to have a Fleishman Cold Fusion Engine. This was named after Martin Fleishman, a chemist who had claimed to have discovered cold fusion.

Noting how the seats in the TARDIS are so far from the console, Bill asks the Doctor if he has stretchy arms like Captain Fantastic of Marvel's Fantastic Four. She also asks if they have to wear seatbelts whilst in flight. The TARDIS had been seen to have safety belts, which attached to the console itself, in Timelash.

Next time: The Doctor and Bill return to Earth and meet with a frosty reception...

R is for... Raak

A marine creature native to the planet Thoros Beta, home to the Mentors. One specimen was surgically altered by the corrupt Earth scientist Crozier as part of an experiment to find a new host body for the brain of the Mentor leader Lord Kiv. It was then employed to operate a tidal control machine. When the Doctor and Peri entered the chamber where it worked, it attacked them and the Doctor was forced to kill it with a phaser.

Crozier was alarmed to hear that it had regressed and become aggressive, as this meant that his experiment was a failure.

In appearance it had a bulbous head, clawed tentacles and sharp fangs.

Played by Russell West. Appearances: Trial of a Time Lord - Mindwarp (1986).

Q is for... Qurunx

The Qurunx was a powerful sentient energy form which had almost become extinct throughout the universe. One was being transported through the Toraji system in a space-going train. It was in the physical form of a little girl. The train was hijacked by Cybermen under the command of the Master. A small moon had been converted into a Cyber-conversion planet which had been moved into an orbit around the Earth of 1916, and the Qurunx was required to power this. 

The Qurunx had taken on the form of a child as a defence mechanism - appearing as something which needed protecting.

The Doctor was later able to deactivate its humanoid shield and free it, and in its natural form the Qurunx resembled a mass of glowing tendrils of energy. She ordered it to begin destroying the planet. The Master regained control over it temporarily, and its energies struck the Doctor - triggering her regeneration. The energy form then drifted off into space once the planet had been destroyed.

Played by Neo-Rae Gardener. Appearances: The Power of the Doctor (2022)

Q is for... Quinn

Dr John Quinn was chief scientist at the Wenley Moor research centre, built beneath the Derbyshire countryside. Here, a Cyclotron was being developed which could produce vast amounts of cheap electricity. UNIT were brought in to provide additional security after a series of nervous breakdowns were reported amongst the staff, accompanied by unaccountable power losses. Two of the staff who went potholing in the nearby cave systems were then involved in an incident which left one dead and the other mentally disturbed. Quinn knew the cause of these incidents, but confided only in his friend and fellow scientist Miss Dawson.

He was also a keen potholer, and during one of his expeditions he had discovered a race of intelligent bipedal reptiles, living in a shelter built within the cave system. They were the ancient race of Silurians, who had ruled the Earth before the ascent of the human race. Eager to learn from them, he agreed to assist them in syphoning off power from the Cyclotron to reanimate their hibernating kin - promised scientific secrets in return. He carried out small acts of sabotage, such as tampering with the centre's logbooks so no pattern in the power losses could be discerned.

When one of the Silurians was wounded and forced onto the moors, they sought his help in rescuing it. He was given a summoning device which would attract it to him. After the creature had attacked and killed a farmer at a remote farm, the Doctor and Liz Shaw became suspicious of him as he appeared to have driven well out of his way to visit the scene. UNIT troops then heard the summoning device being activated, and tyre marks indicated that Quinn had been in the vicinity.

The Doctor went to his cottage and found the temperature inside extremely hot, which Quinn dismissed as due to a faulty thermostat - but the scientist had already told Miss Dawson that he had found the Silurian and was going to hold it hostage until its people gave him the knowledge they had promised.

Guessing as much, the Doctor tried to talk him into co-operating with him, but Quinn declined.

The wounded Silurian recovered and killed him.

Played by Fulton Mackay. Appearances: The Silurians (1970)

• Mackay was a strong contender to replace Jon Pertwee as the Fourth Doctor. Producer Barry Letts had met him at a dinner party hosted by Roger Delgado and was impressed by him. However, he was worried that he would give an acting performance as the Doctor, whereas what he really wanted was a natural eccentric whose personality would feed into the role. It became a moot point anyway as Mackay had recorded the pilot for a prison-set sitcom - Porridge - starring Ronnie Barker, and this was to go into series. Mackay became famous for his role as the officious Chief Warden Mr Mackay, also appearing in a movie spin-off and the sequel series Going Straight.
• Other TV roles include an appearance in "The Return of the Cybernauts" for The Avengers, and he was a regular in Special Branch. There were also guest appearances in Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em, Dad's Army and roles in Z-Cars and Coronation Street. He hosted the UK version of children's series Fraggle Rock as the Captain.
• In 1983 he featured in the film Local Hero, appearing opposite Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster and future Doctor Peter Capaldi.
• He died, aged 64, in 1987, and is buried in East Sheen Cemetery. 
• Quinn has the first name Matthew in the novelisation by its writer Malcolm Hulke. His backstory was that he was the son of a famous scientist who bullied him into Physics when he really wanted to be a palaeontologist. He had been married but his wife had died in a car crash.

Q is for... Quillam

Quillam was the sadistic technical director and deviser of programmes on the planet Varos, which had once been a penal colony for the criminally insane. His role was to come up with new forms of torture and execution which would be broadcast to the public as a means of social control. Varos now relied entirely on its mineral wealth - a substance named Zeiton 7, which was essential for space / time vessels. The populace worked under harsh conditions in the mines. The government of the planet were hoping to add the sale of their punishment videos to other planets as an extra source of income.

Quillam's latest experiments were with a transmogrifier, which mutated people into whatever their subconscious desired. Early tests on himself had led to his face becoming horribly scarred, and he wore a mask to conceal his disfigurement. The transmogrifier owed its existence to the observation that the miners grew claws to help them dig better. 

It was tested on the Doctor's companion Peri and her friend Areta, wife of rebel leader Jondar. The latter began to transform into a reptile, whilst Peri became bird-like - assumed to be a desire to fly away from her ordeal.

Pursuing the Doctor and his friends into the very heart of the Punishment Dome, Quillam and the Chief Officer of Varos fell into a trap and were killed - the Doctor having tied up highly toxic vines which were then cut free and swung into their faces.

Played by Nicholas Chagrin. Appearances: Vengeance on Varos (1985)

• Quillam only appears in the second episode of the story.
• Chagrin is the son of composer Francis Chagrin, who wrote the music for The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
• Other TV work included the BBC Shakespeare adaptation of The Comedy of Errors and the 2001 made-for-television version of Murder on the Orient Express.