Tuesday 5 April 2022

On This Day... 5th April


The Space Pirates reached its penultimate episode today in 1969, as did Genesis of the Daleks in 1975.
After starring in the 2006 Christmas Special - The Runaway Bride - Catherine Tate resurrected Donna Noble for the whole of Series 4, starting with Partners in Crime which made its debut today in 2008.


Today we remember John Wiles, who was the programme's second producer. He passed away on this date in 1999, aged 73. Wiles took over from Verity Lambert early in Season Three, working alongside Donald Tosh as his Story Editor. Theirs was a period of great experimentation, although they both felt lumbered with the 12-part The Daleks' Master Plan. Very few stories actually reflect their vision of the programme. Wiles also famously clashed repeatedly with his star, Hartnell disliking him from the outset. Wiles tried unsuccessfully to get rid of him. He quit before the end of his first season, to be replaced by Innes Lloyd.
Someone else we lost today, in 1991 at the age of 62, was director Gerald Blake. He helmed The Abominable Snowmen and The Invasion of Time. When Tom Baker was playing up on the latter, Blake shut him up by reminding him that he used to know him when he was Patrick Troughton.

Two of today's birthdays are Jane Asher, who featured in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane Smith? and who portrayed Susan in the radio drama Whatever Happened to... Susan Foreman?; and Tom Riley - Robin Hood in Robots of Sherwood. She turns 76, whilst he turns 41.

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