On This Day... 9th April

 

Steven and Dodo had moved on to The Hall of Dolls today in 1966, as they endeavoured to outwit The Celestial Toymaker.

In 2005 the revived series brought us the first "Celebrity-Historical". There had been a few of these in the days of the classic series, such as Marco Polo or The Crusades, before they moved on to more "Genre-Historical", such as The Smugglers and The Highlanders, before settling on "Pseudo-Historicals", like The Time Warrior or The Visitation.

The Unquiet Dead saw the Doctor meet Charles Dickens in the first story to be written by Mark Gatiss.

The classic series had rarely ventured into the Victorian era, though it has more than made up for it since.

Today's birthday of note has played a Victorian character - the Silurian Madam Vastra of the Paternoster Gang. Before this Neve McIntosh, who turns 50 today, played another two Silurians - siblings Aleya and Restac in Series 5's The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood.

She shares her birthday with fellow Scot Hannah Gordon, who played Kirsty in The Highlanders. She is 81 today.

Two actors who each appeared twice in the series passed away on this date. They are Arthur Cox (The Dominators and The Eleventh Hour - died 2021 aged 87); and Richard Shaw (The Space Museum and Underworld - died 2010 aged 90).