Derek Ware 1938-2015

Actor and Stunt Arranger Derek Ware has died at the age of 77.

Derek Ware was a regular performer on Doctor Who throughout the first ten years of its existence, appearing in at least 21 episodes and acting as Fight Arranger in many more.

He appeared in the very first story, An Unearthly Child, where he doubled for actor Jeremy Young, in the fight scene between the cavemen Kal and Za, arranging Doctor Who's first fight scene. He returned to the series arranging the fight between Marco and Tegana in Marco Polo and between Ian and Ixta in The Aztecs.. As well as Fight Arranging he was back before the cameras in The Crusade playing a Saracen Warrior.

Later that year he played a Bus Conductor in the final scenes of The Chase where Ian and Barbara return to London. He continued with roles in The Myth Makers and the epic The Daleks' Master Plan where he played the Egyptian messenger Tuthmos. He played a Spaniard in The Smugglers

He again arranged the fights in the Patrick Troughton stories The Underwater Menace and The Web of Fear.

In 1970 he formed HAVOC, a team of specialist stunt performers who regularly worked on the third Doctor's era of the show. The Ambassadors of Death, Inferno, where he played Private Wyatt, Terror of the Autons, The Sea Devils and The Claws of Axos all benefited from his skills, with Ware himself playing the tramp Pigbin Josh in the latter story.

Costs and Union problems saw the end of HAVOC after the end of Season 9, and Ware never worked on Doctor Who again.

Ware continued his work as a stunt performer working on series such as Z Cars, Colditz, King Cinder, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Kenny Everett Television Show and Last of the Summer Wine. He appeared with Michael Crawford in a well known clip from the comedy series Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em when he played a window cleaner working alongside the hapless Frank Spencer. The stunt, which featured both actors hanging from a window cleaning platform on the side of a London skyscraper, went wrong when the cradle became stuck, resulting in both actors being trapped 300 feet above the ground.

Film work included The Italian Job, Krull, Willow and Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.

Derek Ware had trained at RADA and for many years a Derek Ware Prize was awarded at the academy for the best fight based around a classical text.