Dr Who's Who's Who (Radio Times)
- Publication: Radio Times
- Date: 1970-05-09
- Author: Deirdre MacDonald
- Page: 50
- Language: English
Dr Who wouldn't be so remarkable without the enemies, and the enemies wouldn't be so spectacular without the people who stitch and dab on the horror. On you left, a handful of Silurians, the Silurian Monster, 40 feet high in his stocking soles, a couple of deceptive astronauts, a Cyberman, with Dr Who - intrepid and gallant - floating in adversity. On your right, the make-up and costume team at work on the astronauts who feared in the last series, 'The Ambassadors of Death.'
Stripped of their anonymous space-age uniform and their helmets, the alien astronauts are not pretty sight, thanks to Marion Richards, make-up supervisor on Dr Who. Creating the alien with the space suit meant building the actor's face with very fine are rubber, with blue make-up foundation underneath, to make the face appear irradiated when the special electronic colour overlay process was used, Marion explained: 'On some parts of his face we used tissue and wet latex. Only the human eyes remained recognisable.'
It's all a bit uncomfortable for the actor, but Marion says she tried to leave it to the last minute before he was due to go on- ' so that he wouldn't have to suffer too long.' Removing it is less complicated: 'It all comes off very quickly, with a special solvent that we use.'
The costume supervisor, Christine Rawlins, works closely with the visual effects department. Designing costumes for the alien astronauts was a relatively straightforward job.
Because the story was set late in the 70s, I designed a simplified version of the sort of spacesuit Silurian costumes required more imagination: Christine was responsible for the bodies, heavy scaled rubber skins. She did all she could to minimise discomfort. But despite her efforts, veteran monster Pat Gorman did suffer. 'You lose weight pretty fast in some of these costumes,' he said.
They are pretty wet and sticky, but you do get used to it eventually... All I wanted afterwards was a long soak in the bath!'
Pat has played a Yeti and a Cyberman as well as the Silurian. For the Cyberman he wore a diver's wet suit, painted silver, which stopped air getting in or out. 'It was a bit claustrophobic because the glass-fibre head had to be screwed on from the back, so if there was no one around to help me out, I was stuck in there!' Undaunted by all these parts, Pat has another monstrous part in Dr Who lined up.
The rest of the monsters, and other peculiarities required for Dr Who, are the creations of the Visual Effects team of designers. Rockets, computers, explosions, Silurian heads, space helmets - all these and other oddities pour out of their workshop at the back of Television Centre. Tools of their trade range from pots of glue to buckets of dry ice. Says boss Jack Kine: Our motto is "anything that can be imagined can be made" it has to be! This place may look like a schoolboy's dream but it can be very hairy and hysterical.'
James Ward designed the Silurians' heads, and it was the only girl in the team, Anna Braybrooke, who worked on the Silurian monster itself. Peter Day was responsible for the rocket in the last series - which he made of corregated cardboard, lots of silver paint, and dry ice to puff launching steam from below.
More technical and electronic was required for the opening of the programme. The came from Ron Grainer the Radiophonic Workshop. The music was constructed from electronic sources. No musician played a note. The dissolving graphics that open the programme are the work of graphic designer Bernard Lodge and Ben Palmer. Lodge explains: 'Self-generating electronic patterns, and various images were fed into a special system and then recorded in black and white. It was then fed through optical processes which disolved the images and added colour!
"This is an exciting gutsy part, is one of the most sought-after leading man's roles in television." So says Jon Pertwee, who has been Dr Who since the begin this year.
Like the production team, he is anxious that Dr Who should be more in the realms of science fact than it used to be. But that exclude total fantasy. 'There's nothing more frightening and alarming,' he says, 'than a Yeti or some such creating on the loo in Tooting Bec.'
Jon's children - Sean, 5 1/2, and Dariel, 8 - whom I met at the home in Barnes, are delighted that their dad is Dr Who. When Jon first appeared in the role, Sean sat on the sofa beside his father, with his eyes darting from the screen to Jon - 'Just to make sure that Papa was all right still.'
Now that there's a bit of both fact and fantasy, the Dr Who audience has settled into a fairly mixture of adults and children.
All the terror appeals to both: only once did Jon encounter a child who recognised him in the street. He reassured the child by saying: 'But I'm the kills all the nasty monsters all was well again.
One professional child guidance expert said of the Dr Who series: "It releases a child's aggressive impulses and is essentially moral, because right triumphs over might. When Dr Who defends the human race against horrors, he do it by brains not brawn."
Captions:
Dr Who make-up supervisor Marion Richards (centre) at work alien astronaut with Christine Rawlins, costume supervisor.
The visual effects team plus monster. James Ward is in front of the rocket, with Anna Braybrooke on his right, and Peter Day on his left
'Keeping a fatherly eye on what's going on'- Producer Barry Letts (left) with secretary Sandra Brenholz and script editor Terrance Dicks
Don Houghton.....he wrote Inferno the story beginning this week
Jon Pertwee with his wife, Ingeborg, Sean and Dariel in the garden of their home at Barnes
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: MacDonald, Deirdre (1970-05-09). Dr Who's Who's Who (Radio Times). Radio Times p. 50.
- MLA 7th ed.: MacDonald, Deirdre. "Dr Who's Who's Who (Radio Times)." Radio Times [add city] 1970-05-09, 50. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: MacDonald, Deirdre. "Dr Who's Who's Who (Radio Times)." Radio Times, edition, sec., 1970-05-09
- Turabian: MacDonald, Deirdre. "Dr Who's Who's Who (Radio Times)." Radio Times, 1970-05-09, section, 50 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Dr Who's Who's Who (Radio Times) | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Dr_Who%27s_Who%27s_Who_(Radio_Times) | work=Radio Times | pages=50 | date=1970-05-09 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=6 December 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Dr Who's Who's Who (Radio Times) | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Dr_Who%27s_Who%27s_Who_(Radio_Times) | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=6 December 2025}}</ref>
