On This Day... 1st March

 

First of all, a happy St David's Day to any Welsh readers - or Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus even. 

Wales has obviously become very important to Doctor Who since 2005. Prior to that the nation hadn't fared very well in the series. The Green Death was full of stereotypes, the porter at Ashbridge Cottage Hospital was happy to flog confidential information for cash, and Driver Evans in The Web of Fear was a coward.

A new production company will be taking over the making of the programme (with filming possibly starting in May) but they are also based in Cardiff - only a stone's throw from the BBC studios - and Russell T Davies is back as show-runner.

No strongly Welsh episodes making their debut on this day, however.

The Seeds of Death concluded in 1969 with its sixth episode. Also ending today, but after only two episodes, was The Sontaran Experiment in 1975. This saw Kevin Lindsey's final appearance in the programme, and he died just a couple of months after this episode was broadcast.

Another two-parter, the last of the purely historical stories, got underway in 1982. That was Black Orchid.

The following year Enlightenment also got under weigh - the story which would bring the Black Guardian trilogy to a close.

Planet of Fire, meanwhile, had reached its third instalment in 1984.

Last, but by no means least, is 2020's The Timeless Children - without doubt the most controversial episode of Doctor Who ever broadcast. Love it or loathe it, you can't ignore it.

A couple of these episodes featured the Master, as played first by Anthony Ainley and then by Sacha Dhawan. The original, and still the best, was born today in 1918, in the Whitechapel district of East London. He was baptised Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto, but to us he is simply known as The Master, universally.