The Doctor was engaged in A Race Against Death today in 1964 - presumably a reference to his attempts to identify the poison which was killing Ian and The Sensorites, and find its antidote.
Today we remember the director David Maloney, who passed away on this date in 2006, aged 72.
He was involved with the series in the more junior capacity of Production Assistant during the William Hartnell era, on stories directed by Christopher Barry, Richard Martin and Douglas Camfield.
He got to direct his first story with The Mind Robber, in 1968. He cast Bernard Horsfall in this, and would go on to use him in a further three stories. Another favoured actor was Philip Madoc, whom he first cast in The Krotons. His last Troughton story was The War Games which featured both of them in its final episode.
He was lured back to Doctor Who in 1973 when offered the chance to direct a Dalek story - Planet of the Daleks. He was also keen to use the new technologies like CSO which colour had ushered in.
It will be his partnership with Philip Hinchcliffe / Robert Holmes / Tom Baker for which he will be best known, however. Over the course of a couple of years he directed Genesis of the Daleks, Planet of Evil, The Deadly Assassin and The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
Tom Baker became a great friend of Maloney and his family. On a holiday together Maloney's daughter saved Baker from drowning in a swimming pool.
He broke with Doctor Who when he was appointed producer on Blake's 7. He wanted to bring Holmes with him as script editor, but he recommended Chris Boucher in his place.
We are very fortunate that Maloney took the time to feature in the commentaries and documentaries on almost all of his stories when released on DVD.
No comments:
Post a Comment