#people of who

Simon Fisher-Becker is such a nice man that I do sincerely hope he’ll forgive the lateness of this actually being posted.

(But huzzah, almost a year, a major house move, a good half-dozen jobs, the theft of most of my tech, and a wedding later, here it is!)

He is, of course, familiar to Doctor Who viewers as having played the magnificently blue (and eventual disembodied head) Dorium Maldovar opposite the Eleventh Doctor.  No need to worry, however, as his body seemed to have grown back quite admirably by the time I met him at a pleasant summer shindig on the Wirral.

Indeed, Mister Fisher-Becker had spent some quality time on the Wirral last year filming Puppy Love, the sweet BBC Four series in which he starred opposite the equally fabulous Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine, and a host of precious puppies, as well as touring his one-man show, “My Dalek Has A Puncture”.  You can see what he’s up to on his twitter, and if you see him, tell him I said hello.

Eddie Robson will, I hope, forgive me for the lateness of this post.  To say that the last few months for this poor photographer have been tumultuous would be a gross understatement.

(Plus, I swear my blog ate at least 3 drafts of this post.  That’s basically the adult equivalent of “the dog ate my homework,” isn’t it?  I am suitably ashamed.  But enough about me.)

It was by fortunate chance that I met the illustrious Eddie Robson at a BBC event for comedy writers just up the road from my home at the time, in a shining and labyrinthine building amid the television things at Media City in Manchester.  Eddie, a Lancashire-dweller himself, was invited because comedy writing happens to be a thing he knows quite a bit about, he’s written for That Mitchell and Webb Sound, worked for many seasons on Newsjack, and he’s the writer behind the brilliant Radio 2 series Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully.

Readers of this blog in particular will, of course, be aware of Mr. Robson’s contributions to the world of Doctor Who: he’s written a host of Short Trips and Big Finish audios, for a number of Doctors and companions (including a few for my very favourite companion Charley, yay!), as well as Bernice Summerfield.  And he’s a very nice chap to boot.

After the event wound down, we chatted further about writing and life over the tram journey back into town.  I assume that my directions to the train station were clear, as he safely arrived home and has been quite happily living and working since.  I sent him on his way with a supply of muesli cookies I’d baked that morning, to share with his children.  Apparently they got a thumbs-up from everyone.  Good times.

It was a characteristically grey Lancashire morning when I met up with the lovely Stephen Gallagher, who was speaking that afternoon at the university in Preston.  After a nice wander around the campus shooting the breeze and taking getting photographical, we found ourselves in the audience of a talk about the science behind Doctor Who.  I’m fairly sure that the target demographic was considerably younger than Stephen and myself, mind, as the young chap of about 6 or so was excitedly whispering the names of all the monsters on the Doctor Who quiz sheet we had all been given.

(I swear we’d have aced the quiz too, even without the young gentleman inadvertently feeding us all the answers.)

I’m not normally one given to egregious displays of fangirl behaviour, but  I must admit that I was so pleased that this gentleman agreed to be a part of this project, as he wrote the fascinating, beautiful departure stories for two of my very favourite companions : Warrior’s Gate, which sees Romana’s farewell, with K-9 in tow, and Terminus, where Nyssa says goodbye to the TARDIS.  Both of these stories see our heroines departing in order to go on to bigger and better things, where they feel they will be able to affect significant positive change, to do something meaningful with their lives.  It’s always heartwarming to see companions get the farewell that they deserve, and these two serials served their departing companions admirably.  He’s been quite busy since as well, writing for a number of shows as well as novels (including the novelizations of his two Doctor Who stories, albeit under the pseudonym John Lydecker, for some reason) and two short story collections, as well as directing, creating and writing for The Eleventh Hour, both in its UK and US incarnations, and serving as co-executive producer on The Forgotten.  And he’s delightful company to boot.  You can keep up with his many adventures on his blog, and I highly encourage you do.  What a wonderful fellow!

He’s been an invaluable presence on several series of Doctor Who, and he’s probably died nearly as many times as Rory Williams. His name is Matthew Jay, and he’s an extra.

It was by chance that I met Matthew one evening at a Doctor Who pub quiz in Cardiff. None of my usual teammates were in attendance that day, and I was invited to join a group of friendly regulars. I happened to mention People Of Who, and my quest to photograph the people who have been a part of making Doctor Who happen.

“Does that include extras?” he asks me. “Because I’ve been an extra on Doctor Who.”

Wizard. I’m sure I was beaming with delight as Matthew and his friends told me of all the times he’d been killed on the show - by Daleks, Slitheen, the Master, and so on - and even once or twice when he’s managed to escape a day’s filming unscathed. He also gives tours of various Doctor Who filming locations in and around Cardiff, and Gosh knows there are a lot of them.

Extras really are the unsung heroes of the Doctor Who world. They unobtrusively populate the world around the story: without them, it would seem strangely quiet indeed. And the frequency with which they bravely sacrifice their lives to many and various alien menaces is really something. It tells us those aliens are properly dangerous without having to introduce a new Doctor every week, and that’s important. So thank you for letting yourself get killed all those times, sir. You rock.

(Also, that night was the first and only time I’ve been on the winning team at a pub quiz.)

Wendy Padbury tows a perfect line between effortless elegance and profound cuteness. She’s about as tiny as I am, which is always a refreshing change to having to crane my neck at unhealthy angles to talk to people, but I digress.

Lovely Wendy is, of course, fondly remembered for her portrayal of spangly futuristic girl genius Zoe, playing opposite Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines. Much to the delight of this TARDIS Team Cute fangirl, it is a role she continues to reprise in the Big Finish audio range. And what’s more, in her subsequent work as an agent, she represented a number of later Who actors, and went on to discover Matt Smith, so Eleventh Doctor enthusiasts owe her a big hug, wouldn’t you agree?

We meet on an overcast patio on a grey but comfortable autumn day, where she is enjoying the most elegant cigarette I think I’ve ever seen. It surprises a fellow patiomate that someone who was on children’s television in the 60s occasionally uses grown-up language. Of course she does, but with such affable, down-to-earth grace. Keep being fabulous, Wendy. We love you.

Not only is Andrew Smith a sparklingly talented writer, he’s also someone I’m blessed to call a good friend.

It is an overcast and fairly drizzly early autumn afternoon when he meets me in central London, the weather slightly forcing me to rethink the exciting photo locations I’d been considering, ducking instead into bookshops and out of the rain.

(But also, bookshops are totally wizard and it’s always fun to find the Doctor Who section and compare which Target novelisations you own, isn’t it?)

Did I mention he’s a fantastically good writer? You may remember that time when he, as a young gentleman, wrote the Tom Baker serial Full Circle. You may also more recently remember that he’s written quite a bit for Big Finish. If you haven’t listened to The First Sontarans, for instance, do correct this. It’s brilliant.

It is with an adventurous twinkle - or rather, since I’m pretty sure he mentioned it in an email, I like to imagine there was an adventurous twinkle as he typed - that he mentioned having discovered, of all things, a Canadian-themed pub in London. Neither of us felt quite brave enough to try what passes for poutine in England that day, however, and we chatted instead over an afternoon pint.

One of these days, though. Poutiiiiiiiine.

Jeremy Bulloch is an absolutely, absolutely delightful gentleman.

Absolutely.

His first involvement with Doctor Who was in the brilliant William Hartnell story The Space Museum, fighting against the Moroks as the rebel Tor; he also has the distinction - and it is an impressive distinction indeed - of having shot and killed the Sontaran Linx in The Time Warrior, in his role as Hal The Archer.

(And he was Boba Fett, to any Starwarsians out there.)

And, as a gentleman with such an impressive acting CV, we ended up discussing at some length how much it really matters in the creative disciplines that you do it because you have a genuine passion and love for the craft, or it’s not worth putting up with. And you can read about the kinds of things he’s put up with his website, where you can also find his cheeky, charming book.

(My brother, a classicist who lives with his wife and son back in Canada, is a Starwarsian. I’m pretty confident that he’s never been more jealous of my art before.)

And as always, if you’ve been involved in the Doctor Who universe, or know someone who has, do get in contact!

It’s Mat Irvine!

His camera was much fancier than mine - a D, what was it, 6100? Please feel free to jog my memory, Mat - which I’ve had kicking around since the 1984 Olympics or so. But then, he’s also been working in Visual Effects for many years now, and knows a thing or two about cameras as well, it turns out. Doctor Who fans will recognise his handiwork every time K-9 appears onscreen, as it’s Mr. Irvine behind the scenes taking the beloved puppy for walkies.

(Or to put it in less syrupy cute terms, if I have to, I suppose, Mat operated the K-9 model both during its original run with Tom Baker, and then later in its subsequent outings. But I still think walkies is a perfectly apt description.)

Plus, he’s done loads of other visual effects design besides, on a host of programmes, and has written a number of books on the subject to boot. And here’s his website!

And as always, if you’ve been involved in the Doctor Who Universe, or know someone who has, do drop me a line!

Paul Darrow invited me to join him on a smoke break, just after lunchtime, on a pleasant September Sunday.

“Do you smoke?” he asks me. We’re stood out the back entrance of the venue, some twists and turns of the corridor past the green room.

“Sometimes,” I tell him.

“Do you want one?” He offers the pack to me, but I politely decline.

“I’m trying to cut down,” I reply.

“I’ve been trying to cut down since I started,” he laughs, in that deadpan way that is, it seems, almost exclusively the domain of distinguished older gentlemen.

Doctor Who fans will know him as Captain Hawkins in The Silurians, and later as Tekker in Timelash, though he is best known for his role as Avon in the British sci-fi classic Blake’s 7, a role he has since reprised for the Big Finish audio range based on the series. This year, he’s taken his involvement in Blake’s 7 a step further: his Blake’s 7 novel, Lucifer, was released in May of 2013, with further volumes to follow. Exciting times, Mr. Darrow!

My quest to photograph the people of Who continues, and as such, if you’ve been involved in the Who universe, or know someone who has, do get in contact!

Say hello to the wonderful John Leeson.

In addition to a rare onscreen appearance as Dugeen in The Power Of Kroll, it is, of course, his voice most people are familiar with; as the voice of K-9, he has appeared as companion to the Doctor, and as best friend to Leela, Romana, and later, Sarah Jane. He continues to voice K-9 in audio dramas from Big Finish, opposite Tom Baker in the Fourth Doctor adventure range, and the brilliant Gallifrey series.

And he’s written a wonderful book! I’m normally quite shy meeting people for the first time, but there’s a certain affable, eloquent sparkle about this gentleman that makes you feel like you’re chatting to a dear friend.

I’m chuffed to bits to be able to share these portraits, and the project is still very much ongoing, so if you’ve been involved in the Doctor Who universe, or know someone who has, on camera or behind the scenes, I want to hear from you!