On This Day... 11th March

Today in 1966 The Macra Terror got under way with its first instalment.

In 1972 The Sea Devils arrived at its third episode, and in 1978 Season 15 drew to a close as The Invasion of Time delivered its sixth and final episode. Louise Jameson stepped down as companion Leela, and K9 Mark I also elected to leave, staying behind on Gallifrey with his mistress. This was merely a way for the production team to introduce an improved version of the prop for the next season

11th March has been a propitious day for Doctor Who related birthdays. Two actors who portray recurring time-travelling characters share birthdays. 

First of all we have Captain Jack Harness - John Barrowman. Currently a bit of a persona non grata, he was last seen in the series during Series 12 and its subsequent New Year Special, Revolution of the Daleks. His present problems stopped him from featuring in Flux. Barrowman first appeared as Jack back in 2005 when RTD needed a soldier figure. He then got his own spin-off series, Torchwood, which ran for four seasons. The Captain also returned to Doctor Who on a number of occasions (the trilogy which concluded Series 3, the Series 4 finale, and David Tennant's final episode). 

Barrowman turns 55.

The other recurring character is River Song. Alex Kingston is 59 today.

She first appeared in Series 4, on which occasion River actually died. The arrival of her creator as show-runner led to her frequent returns, always meeting the Doctor in reverse order. It later transpired that River was the grown up child of companions Amy and Rory Williams. Kingston's final appearance to date was opposite the Twelfth Doctor in a Christmas Special - The Husbands of River Song. She has recently written a River Song novel.

Moving behind the scenes, today would also have been the 70th birthday of writer and Script Editor Douglas Adams. World famous for The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (which has been a radio series, multiple novels, a TV series, a record and a movie) he was Doctor Who's Script Editor for Season 17. He only ever had one televised credit in his own name - The Pirate Planet - but also co-wrote City of Death under a pseudonym. What would have been his second solo credit was the ill-fated Shada, which was never completed and so never broadcast. He was only 49 when he died of a heart attack following a trip to a gym in LA, where he had settled to get the Hitch-Hikers movie project off the ground.

Staying behind the camera, it is also the birthday of one of the series' best loved directors. Graeme Harper started off as a production assistant, working on stories such as Colony in Space, Planet of the Spiders and The Seeds of Doom. Problems on Warriors' Gate saw him having to step in and temporarily direct some of the action. A couple of years later he was rewarded with his first directing job on the series, the highly regarded The Caves of Androzani. The following year he was back to direct Revelation of the Daleks - arguably the best story of the Colin Baker era.

When the series returned in 2005, Harper was the only director to be invited back, such was the regard for his two classic era stories. In 2006 he directed four episodes - the two Cyberman / alternative Earth two-parters, which included series finale Doomsday.

For Series 3 he directed 42 and Utopia, for Series 4 Planet of the Ood, The Unicorn and the Wasp, Turn Left, nd The Stolen Earth / Journey's End - reuniting him with Davros and the Daleks. He also helmed Time Crash, reuniting him with Peter Davison, and his final story was The Waters of Mars. He was too busy to direct any Torchwood, but did direct a couple of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

And finally, one of the actors Harper cast in Caves was Robert Glenister who also just happens to have a birthday today. He is 62. He returned to the series in 2020 to portray inventor Thomas Edison in Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror.