How my Dad dodged being exterminated by a Dalek... and became the first man to kiss Doctor Who's companion

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Publication: The Mail on Sunday
Date: 2023-11-26
Author: Matthew Bond
Page: 33
Language: English

ASSORTED incarnations of Doctor Who and an ever-changing cast of companions have travelled for 60 years through time and space in the Tardis. Last week I got to do some time-travelling of my own, as the BBC marked the 60th anniversary of the science-fiction TV series by broadcasting a specially colourised version of the Doctor's first encounter with the Daleks.

For there was my actor father, playing Ganatus, a handsome Thal, a former warrior race who had the grave misfortune to share the planet Skaro with the Daleks.

I sat watching, spellbound and somewhat dumbfounded - but very much on my sofa rather than behind it. Mind you, it would have been different if it had been the Cybermen, as they are still truly scary.

The fact that Dad once fought the Daleks has been part of Bond family lore, but none of us had actually seen that episode since it was broadcast. And now there he was, his blond hair dyed even blonder, though the colourisation process seemed to have turned him strawberry blond.

But platinum or strawberry, it was unmistakably Dad, less than half the age I am now and one of the first of thousands of character actors to grace the much-loved series over the decades, scrambling through caves, ambushing Daleks and doing really quite a lot of flirting with the tall, elegant Barbara, one of the Doctor's first companions. Now that's very Philip Bond.

My sister Samantha, who many years later had a starring role in the Doctor Who spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, has gone through life telling people that Dad was the first person to be exterminated by a Dalek. Well - spoiler alert - that turns out not to be true. Ganatus not only survived but went on to share what may be the first kiss in a Doctor Who story, puckering up in front of the Tardis with Barbara, played by Jacqueline Hill.

After 60 years of wondering, I discovered that Barbara's blouse, hitherto only seen in black and white, was pink, just as the bumps on the Daleks' metal casing were a rather fetching shade of blue.

I have strong memories of watching Dad and the Daleks. It captured my imagination and began my 60-year love affair with the show. I haven't a clue why I was allowed to watch it at such a young age (only three), but my mother would never have believed something too scary would be put out by the BBC at Saturday teatime.

Also, Dad knew his character survived and the whole thing was shot at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, which we could see from our flat. Dad used to come out and wave to me at lunchtime.

Like so many love affairs, it hasn't been entirely faithful and my affections for the show wavered during the Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy years. But by then I was in my 20s and working for a Sunday newspaper which meant that in those pre-iPlayer days, Saturday, traditionally Doctor Who night, was my busiest day.

I'm ashamed to admit my affection wavered again during the Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker years, although I thoroughly approved of the Doctor being played by a woman. It's no coincidence that by then my children, who had loved the Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith eras, were in their 20s and finding other things to do on a Saturday evening.

But now, with Russell T Davies, the man responsible for bringing the show back to our screens in 2005, returning as showrunner, I'm confident my love of it will be back on track as Ncuti Gatwa takes over in the title role. Whether he's clad in overcoat, scarf or frilly shirt and armed with nothing more than a sonic screwdriver, I'm sure he'll make the Doctor, that most modest of superheroes, his own.

What Davies and his successor Steven Moffat realised was that as well as a great Doctor, sparky companions and scary aliens, in today's world, where special effects are taken almost for granted, you need stories that move an audience as well as entertain them. Emotion has been at the heart of so many of the best modern-era episodes, and that sometimes means plundering the show's own rich history.

THAT'S why the 60th anniversary is being marked by three specials starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, who returns as one of the best-loved companions of the modern era, Donna Noble.

That's also why the return of the late Elisabeth Sladen in 2006, some 30 years after the actress left the show, was so moving, and why people of my vintage find it quietly emotional that the anniversary specials once again find the Doctor aided by UNIT, led by Kate Stewart (played by Jemma Redgrave), daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, one of the great characters of the 1970s.

My father, who went on to play Albert Frazer in The Onedin Line, died in 2017 at the age of 82. But now he is made young again by the magic of TV. So, thank you, Doctor, thank you, Daleks, and thank you, Dad. What a 60 years it has been.

Doctor Who: The Daleks In Colour is available on BBC iPlayer.

Caption: IN THE PINK: Jacqueline Hill as Barbara and Matthew Bond's father, Philip, together fighting Daleks, left

How my Dad dodged being exterminated by a Dalek... and became the first man to kiss Doctor Who's companion

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