The actress Mary Tamm - who played the first incarnation of Romana - died this morning aged 62 after a long battle with cancer, her agent Barry Langford has announced.

Born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, on 22nd March 1950, she graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and then acted with the Birmingham Repertory Company. Stage roles included Amanda in Private Lives and Beverly in Abigail's Party. Film and television roles followed, including Tales That Witness Madness, two appearances in Coronation Street, The Odessa File, and the film version of The Likely Lads.

She joined Doctor Who in the role of Romanadvoratrelundar, aka Romana (or Fred!), alongside Tom Baker as the Doctor for the sixteenth year of the show, which revolved around the search for the Key to Time. During the run she had the chance to play another character in the form of the identical Princess Strella in The Androids of Tara (not to mention android versions of both!). She only played the role of Romana for one year, citing that the character could not develop any further from its 'traditional' companion role, with The Armageddon Factor's guest actress Lalla Ward continuing the character from the following story.

Post-Doctor Who, Tamm continued her TV career with a recurring role as Jill Fraser in The Assassination Run and The Treachery Game, Jennifer Reynoldston in The Hello Goodbye Man, Yvonne Edwards in Paradise Heights and a stint in Brookside as Penny Crosbie. Other guest appearances included Casualty, Holby City, Jonathan Creek, Crime Traveller, Heartbeat, and adding EastEnders to her CV as Orlanda in 2009. She was due to play a judge in the film Far Out Far In but illness forestalled that role.

Though departing from Doctor Who in 1979, Tamm continued her association with the show through the audio plays of Big Finish, reprising the role of Romana - as well as the villainous Time Lord Imperiatrix Pandora - in the Gallifrey audio series. Later, she again reprised her original role for the Companion Chronicle The Stealers from Saiph in 2009, followed by Ferril's Folly and Tales from the Vault in 2011. She is also set to feature posthumously alongside Tom Baker once more, with the pair starring in the second series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, due to be released from January 2013.

The first volume of her autobiography First Generation (Fantom Films) was published in 2009. Her official website can be found here.

Update 9th August: Tragically, her husband Marcus Ringrose also passed away this week, a few hours after Mary's funeral on Tuesday 7th August. They are survived by their daughter Lauren and family, including grandson Max.

Tributes

Her agent Barry Langford said:Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor alongside Tamm, said:David Richardson, producer for Big Finish, told us:Dexter O'Neill, whose company Fantom Films published her autobiography, said:Ian Fraser, Mary's photographer, told us:Steven Moffat, current lead writer of Doctor Who, said:
On Twitter

• Colin Baker (The Doctor): Shellshocked to hear Mary Tamm is gone. A funny, caring, talented, lovely and down to earth lady. My heart goes out to Marcus and Lauren
• Nicola Bryant (Peri): Just heard the terrible news that Mary Tamm has died. Completely shocked. Very sad. Thoughts go to Marcus & Lauren. RIP Mary.
• Anneke Wills (Polly): Mary Tamm - How sad! A brave, beautiful woman, she will be greatly missed. I'm grateful to have known her. Love Anneke x
• Frazer Hines (Jamie): I'm still reeling from the shock of Mary passing away!always a smiley friendly person whenever we met at cons.
• Edward Russell (brand manager): My condolences to Mary Tamm's family. As a companion, Romana was my hero when I was 8 years old. So very sad. Guess we've reached that point in Doctor Who's history where it's time for many of its rich cast to say goodbye. Thank you for taking part.
• Nicholas Briggs (actor, Big Finish): Very sad indeed about the death of Mary Tamm. She was so much fun and lovely to work with. I shall miss her.
• Barnaby Edwards (actor): Very sad to hear of the death of Mary Tamm. A lovely actress and a sharp, witty person.
• Nicholas Pegg (actor): Raising a glass to the beautiful, talented, funny Mary Tamm. So young. What sad news.
• Paul Cornell: I'm so sorry to hear about Mary Tamm. It's an obit every month in DWM these days. How terrible.
• Andy Pryor (casting director): Sad times. Caroline John and now Mary Tamm. We salute you both.
• Mark Ayres (composer): Sad news to wake up to: RIP Mary Tamm, Doctor Who's first Romana, aka Fred. She was of the few Doctor Who girls I never met properly, though I did "music" her Myth Makers, which she played as Alice in Wonderland.
• Gary Russell (script editor): Mary Tamm, funny, sweet, smart and utterly outrageous. Will miss her so much RIP xxx
• Toby Hadoke (performer): Reeling from the news that Mary Tamm has passed away. RIP. And what?!
• Kai Owen (Rhys): Sad news indeed. RIP Mary Tamm.
• Benjamin Cook (DWM): Such sad news about Mary Tamm. I interviewed her once, in 2009. (Couldn't believe she was old enough to be a grandmother.) RIP. "I never, ever thought of Romana as a sex symbol," she said. "Glamorous, but not sexy… An old-fashioned, movie star style."
• Gary Gillatt (DWM): Mary Tamm now. Another tragedy. What an awful year it's been to be a Doctor Who fan. This terrible silence, slowly rolling over it all.

The man behind the Fifth Doctor's costume, Colin Lavers, has died.

Colin Lavers was a costume designer for the BBC. In 1982 he was scheduled to work on the Doctor Who story Four To Doomsday, which just happened to be the first story recorded by Peter Davison, and therefore the realisation of the Fifth Doctor's costume became his responsibility.

The cricket motif came out of discussions with Davison and producer John Nathan-Turner, who insisted the question-mark lapels sported by Tom Baker's Doctor should remain.

Lavers was also the costume designer on the 20th-anniversary story, The Five Doctors, which gave him the responsibility of creating costumes for a large number of Doctor Who alumni, some of whom had not been seen on television in colour before. He also worked on the 1978 story The Power of Kroll and the 1983 story The King's Demons.

Other productions in his long career included EastEnders, Last of the Summer Wine and Judge John Deed.

The actress Caroline John - who played companion Liz Shaw - has died aged 71, it was announced today. The news came via a tweet from the BBC on the Doctor Who Twitter feed.

She passed away on 5th June but the news was not made public by her family until after the funeral, which took place yesterday in south-west London. The cause of death is unknown as yet.

Born in York in September 1940, John trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama then worked in theatre, touring with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

In 1969, she won the part of scientist and companion Dr Elizabeth Shaw opposite Jon Pertwee as the Doctor when the show was revamped for its seventh season, seeing the title character exiled to Earth. Liz Shaw appeared as a regular character for one season in 1970, with John playing two roles in the final story of that year, Inferno, the other character being Shaw's parallel-universe counterpart, Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw.

After leaving the series she had many theatre and television roles, including, in 1982, appearing in the BBC TV adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, which starred Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes. John returned to Doctor Who in 1983 for the 20th-anniversary special The Five Doctors, in which she played a fake Shaw. She reprised the role of Shaw for the 1993 BBC Children In Need special Dimensions In Time.

Married to Geoffrey Beevers, John appeared as Madame Salvadori with him in the Big Finish audio drama Dust Breeding, which was released in 2001. She also portrayed Liz Shaw for Big Finish for four stories in the Companion Chronicles range, starting with The Blue Tooth in 2007 and most recently in Binary, which was released just three months ago in March. In addition, she appeared as Shaw in the straight-to-video P.R.O.B.E. stories of the 1990s, which were written by Mark Gatiss and co-starred Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy.

Paying tribute, Companion Chronicles producer David Richardson said: Colin Baker tweeted: while Mark Gatiss also paid tribute via Twitter: and on the official site Steven Moffat wrote: Big Finish executive producer Nicholas Briggs said: John and Beevers also starred together in the Agatha Christie's Poirot episode Problem At Sea on ITV in 1989. In addition, the couple had roles in the Channel 4 adaptation of the political thriller A Very British Coup in 1988. They had three children: a daughter, Daisy, and sons Ben and Tom.

Her most recent screen appearances included the 2003 rom-com film Love Actually (written and directed by Richard Curtis and featuring Bill Nighy as well as Steven Moffat's Curse of Fatal Death Doctors Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Grant) and the ITV drama series Vital Signs (with Gugu Mbatha-Raw) in 2006 and the BBC daytime drama Doctors (with Malcolm Tierney and Matthew Chambers) in 2008.

She also narrated the audiobook of Elisabeth Sladen's autobiography, which was released last November, and narrated the audiobooks of Doctor Who And The Auton Invasion (2008) and Doctor Who And The Cave Monsters (2007), which were adaptations of her first and second Doctor Who stories respectively.

UPDATE (22nd June): A spokeswoman at Caroline John's agency, Shepherd Management Ltd, confirmed to Doctor Who News that John had died of cancer.

The actor Philip Madoc has died, aged 77.

Born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1934, during his teenage years Philip Madoc took an interest in becoming an actor, studying at RADA and then taking on a number of television roles from the 1960s, making him a familiar face. Programmes included The Monsters (1962), For Whom The Bell Tolls (1965), The Power Game (1966), The Tyrant King (1968), Manhunt (1969), The Last of the Mohicans (1971), Target (1978), and fantasy shows likeThe Baron, Randall and Hopkirk Deceased, UFO, and five different parts during the course of The Avengers.

His first brush with Doctor Who was actually in the 1966 film spin-off Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD alongside Peter Cushing, in which he played the smuggler Brockley. He was then to appear in two stories for Patrick Troughton's last series, as the Gond Eelek in The Krotons and then in a leading role as the War Lord in Troughton's swan-song The War Games. However, his next role is considered by many as his greatest contribution to the series, portraying the obsessive, manic scientist Mehendri Solon in the Fourth Doctor story The Brain of Morbius. His final appearance was as Fenner in The Power of Kroll, a role he'd often criticised as not being as meaty as he would have liked.

Madoc later returned to the Doctor Who fold, appearing in two audio adventures for Big Finish Productions: first opposite Sylvester McCoy and Geoffrey Beevers in the 2003 audio "Master," and later opposite Colin Baker and India Fisher in the special release "Return of the Krotons".

He became a leading actor in 1981 when he took the eponymous role in the BBC TV drama The Life and Times of David Lloyd George, and continued to appear in series including A Very British Coup (1988) and First Born (1988); he also played DCI Noel Bain in A Mind To Kill (1994-2002), and more recently Y Llywydd in the Welsh series Y Prid (2007). And of course no acting CV is complete without a guest appearance in Doctors (2003)!

No stranger to the stage, Madoc appeared in a number of productions, working at 'home' at Theatr Clwyd and Theatre Wales and throughout the UK, including the West End, on tour, and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Notables roles include Iago in Othello, Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, and co-starring in The Forsyte Saga. Film-wise, as well as his encounter with the Daleks, he also often popped up in small German-oriented roles, such as in Operation Crossbow, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Hell Boats, plus others like The Assassination Bureau and Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde.

Amongst his talents Madoc was a linguist (having studied languages at the Universities of Wales and Vienna) and had worked as an interpreter. The actor had also narrated a number of television series, such as Egypt Uncovered for the Discovery Channel, and audio books such as The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He most recently lent his vocal talents to The Scarifyers, an audio series also broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

In addition, he was patron to a St Albans-based theatre school for children, Best Theatre Arts.

Publicly, though, perhaps his most famous appearance on TV was in the Dad's Army episode The Deadly Attachment in a familiar guise of a German officer, this time as the captured U-Boat commander who threatens the platoon with his infamous "List".

Madoc was married twice (his first to actress Ruth Madoc from 1961 to 1981), and leaves behind his widow Diane and four children from his marriages.

Tributes

The news was reported by Madoc's agent, Michael Hallett, who said that the actor passed away in hospital in Hertfordshire early this morning, surrounded by family.

The BBC reported the news on their website, and have also put together a photo album of his career.

Toby Hadoke said on Facebook: "Sad to report that the mighty Philip Madoc's name will also go on the list of excellent actors to leave us this year. RIP and thanks for all the menace. May there be no soggy chips where you are now." Writer/actor Mark Gatiss said on Twitter: "'What a magnificent head!' Farewell to the always wonderful Philip Madoc. What presence. RIP.«". Writer Paul Cornell: "It's terrible to hear that Philip Madoc has died. A great actor who made some wonderful Doctor Who contributions.«" Actor Nicholas Pegg: "Very sad to hear of the death of Philip Madoc. A truly brilliant actor and a lovely, funny, generous fellow.«". Actress Frances Barber: "So sad to hear about Philip Madoc. I played Regan when he was King Lear on the radio. Saw him just last Dec. lovely man. RIP Philip.«" Actress Susan Penhaligon: "Many many moons ago I worked with Philip Madoc. He was lovely and had a Richard Burton Welsh voice. RIP Phillip.«"

The actor Dennis Chinnery has died, aged 85.

Chinnery trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, after which he took on roles in the West End, including understudying Paul Scofield in Ring Round The Moon and alongsider Margeret Rutherford in Time Remembered. After some five years he then entered repertory for two years at The Old Vic, which included him playing "Macbeth" opposite Beatrix Lehmann as "Lady Macbeth".

He appeared in a number of films in small roles, such as Constable Christian in The Plague of the Zombies (whose cast included Jacqueline Pearce), and in All The Way Up (playing chauffeur to Bill Fraser's Makepiece). On television, he played roles in series like Hancock's Half Hour, Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, Softly, Softly, and also appeared fantasy series like The Avengers, The Saint and The Prisoner.

His first appearance in Doctor Who was in 1965 as Albert C Richardson, the ill-fated first mate of the Mary Celeste in The Chase; however, he took on a much more prominent role ten years later as Kaled scientist Gharman in 1975's Genesis of the Daleks. He was to return to the series for a third time in 1984's The Twin Dilemma as Professor Sylvest, the hard-pressed father of the eponymous twins.

In later life, Chinnery devoted his time to his other passion, painting, based at his home in Headley Down that overlooked the green fields of East Hampshire, Southern England.

He was married to South African newscaster Pat Kerr.

Tributes

Former actor and agent Robert Gray, announcing the news via Twitter, said "Very sad to have just been informed that the very fine actor Dennis Chinnery has died. He had a long career including several Dr Who serials.« I worked with Dennis Chinnery several times as an actor and was his last agent.« A gent with a good naughty sense of humour.«"

The Sixth Doctor Colin Baker - who worked with him in The Twin Dilemma - said: "Oh dear - sad news about Dennis Chinnery. Nice chap and good actor.«". Frequent DVD contributor Toby Hadoke said: "a fine, dignified actor who tried his best to stop the Genesis Of The Daleks."« Dalek operator Nicholas Pegg said: "Oh dear. We're losing far too many good people. Just heard the sad news about Dennis Chinnery, a fine actor who livened up many a fine show.«"

Eve Myles talks about her audition for her role in All New People, the play by Zach Braff: "It was one of the strangest auditions of my life. On the Friday my agent phoned me up very excited because I was desperate to get back to doing theatre, and I wanted to do some comedy because I've never done comedy. She said 'I've got this wonderful script, I'm going to send it to you and they're going to have a look at some of your stuff over the weekend. And if they like what they see then on Monday you might get a phone call and you might have to read for them.' Monday came and they were very interested in me. They arranged for me – on the Wednesday – to audition on Skype, which I’d never done before. Anybody who knows me knows that I have difficulty with a mobile phone, never mind the internet! So I had a Skype audition with Peter DuBois, who was in New York, which lasted an hour and a half, then I had another 40-minute audition with Zach in Los Angeles. So the audition lasted nearly three hours with these two geniuses. In the meantime my babysitter had let me down so we put Alice In Wonderland on for Matilda. So I’m doing all these big scenes on Skype and my daughter is screaming, 'Off with her head!' in the background. But within 20 minutes they'd made an offer." [SFX, via Dave Golder, 21 Feb 2012]

Sylvester McCoy talks about his role in the play Plume, opening at the Tron Theatre Company on Thursday 1st March: "It's a beautifully written play about loss and sadness, and the change in a human being because of that loss. The man I play is a retired teacher, who's widowed, and his son being blown up in a plane affects and changes him from being a lovable, nice, kind, caring human being into an angry person. (On the influence of the real-life Lockerbie tragedy) Lockerbie is there, but it's not principal to the story. It's not a political play in that way, but there's the final straw that releases all this anger in him. One of the reasons for me wanting to do it was that I've got sons, and when I was reading it, I thought, well, how would I feel if that happened to me? I was touched." [The Herald, 28 Feb 2012]

David Morrissey will appear in the next series of The Walking Dead, playing the role of "The Governor". The series is due to start filming in Atlanta in the spring. [News in Time and Space, 26 Feb 2012]

Bill Pullman is returning to a familiar role ... the Independence Day star will be once again assuming the mantle of US President, this time in the new NBC comedy series 1600 Penn set around 'ordinary' life in the White House. [TV Guide, 24 Feb 2012]

A performance of Arthur Darvill's Cinderella forms part of the Nabokov Arts Club's Fable event at Battersea Arts Centre on 2nd/3rd March. The composition is described as a rock-opera, and is "a musical subversion of the Cinderella story". [Nabokov Online. A Younger Theatre]

Roger Lloyd-Pack has been named as patron of the 2012 Breckland British Film Festival. The festival aims to bring classic films to local villages, with the actor attending a screening of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (in which he played Inspector Mendel) in Garboldisham on 14th March. [Norwich Evening News, 27 Feb 2012]

Katherine Jenkins is to appear as one of the contestants on the US version of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing With The Stars. The singer is about to begin training for the show, saying on Twitter: "So now I have a spare day to prepare myself for DWTS and for my first day of training with Mark Ballas" [Katherine Jenkins, 29 Feb 2012]

Visual effects designer/supervisor Tim Barter (between Smith and Jones and The End of Time) has made a remarkable recovery from a skull fracture he suffered in 2009. Reflecting on his accident, he said: "Life stopped for a number of months. I couldn't work and I had double vision. I was frightened that my eyesight would never go back to normal and that I would have to give up my job for good. I'm making the most of everything now where I didn't before." [Standard, 28 Feb 2012]

We'll Take Manhattan, starring Aneurin Bernard as David Bailey and Karen Gillan as Jean Shrimpton will premiere in the United States on 3rd March on cable channel Ovation.

The channel have provided links to three interview segments with Gillan: in the first, Karen talks about the impact of Jean Shrimpton and David Bailey; in the second she discusses the differences between her two characters, Amy and Jean; finally, she talks about the real Jean Shrimpton.

Matt Smith on Top Gear

Matt Smith demonstrated his driving skills on last Sunday's Top Gear as the "star in the reasonably priced car", and achieved the fastest lap-time of all the 'modern' Doctors that have appeared on the show so far, completing the circuit in 1:43.7, as compared to David Tennant with 1:48.8 and Christopher Eccleston with 1:52.4. Billie Piper has also completed the circuit, with a 'controversial' time of 1:48.3 (a three second penalty was overturned). The lap can be watched in the UK via the BBC iPlayer until 22nd April (starts at 30:32).


The 'current' Doctors aren't the only ones to take the challenge, however; back in 2003 the Sixth Doctor aka Colin Baker participated in a special 'sci-fi' item on the show, appearing in costume in a competition against a Dalek, Cyberman, Klingon, Darth Vader and Ming the Merciless to find the "Master of the Universe"! Unfortunately he ended up in 4th place, with the Cyberman being the fastest - the Dalek was disqualified for not fitting in the car! Baker was reported as completing the lap in 1:43, but the missing decisecond makes it unclear if he actually beat Smith's own lap time ...

In Memoriam

BAFTA-winning costume designer Michael Burdle, who worked on Colony In Space and The Armageddon Factor, has died at the age of 69. Other programmes he was involved with included Dad's Army and Don't Wait Up, but his great passion was period dramas and in 1985 he won a BAFTA for the BBC's Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of Bleak House. [The Stage, 23 Feb 2012]

Actor, director, and producer Malcolm Taylor, who played Walters in The Ice Warriors, has died aged 74. Among his many credits, he was the dialogue coach for Richard Harris in This Sporting Life - the 1963 film that also included William Hartnell and brought the latter to the attention of Verity Lambert when she was casting the role of the Doctor. [The Stage, 21 Feb 2012]

One of Doctor Who's most prolific actors, Peter Halliday, has died at the age of 87.

Peter Halliday had a long and productive career, working in theatre, film and Television. He had credited roles in 23 Doctor Who episodes, working alongside the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th Doctors.

Halliday was born near Llangollen in Wales, but spent much of his life in Welshpool, Powys. After serving in World War II he won admission to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.Three years later he joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, now known as the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Television roles followed including parts in Z Cars, Armchair Theatre and The Citidal, but it was as Dr John Fleming in A for Andromeda that Halliday really made his name. Made in 1961, the science fiction series featured Halliday as a young scientist alongside Julie Christie. A follow up series, The Andromeda Breakthrough followed in 1962.

Halliday made his first appearance in Doctor Who in 1968 playing Packer in the Cyberman story The Invasion. Packer was the security chief of International Electromatics who assisted Tobias Vaughn. Halliday returned to Doctor Who in 1970, providing voices for both The Silurians and the aliens in Ambassadors of Death.

It was as Pletrac in the 1973 story Carnival Of Monsters, that Halliday is probably best remembered. His portrayal of the leader of the tribunal charged with safeguarding Inter Minor's border control is widely appreciated and Halliday appeared on the recent Special Edition DVD release of the story talking about the role.

In 1979 he joined Tom Baker in the classic story City of Death playing a Soldier and providing the Jagaroth Voice. His final appearance in Doctor Who came in 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, where he played a Vicar.

Outside of Doctor Who, Halliday had roles in The Saint, The Avengers, Goodnight Sweetheart and Dalziel and Pascoe on TV as well as appearing in the Oscar-nominated movie Remains of the Day.

Peter Halliday died earlier this week. His funeral will be held in London on Tuesday and a memorial service is planned in Welshpool at a later date.

He leaves three sons and five grandchildren.

The actor Frederick Treves has died at the age of 86.

Frederick Treves appeared in four episodes of Doctor Who, playing Lieutenant Brotadac in the 1980 Tom Baker story Meglos. Brotadac was second in command to Gaztak mercenary General Grugger, played by Bill Fraser.

Born in 1925, Treves served in the Merchant Navy in World War II where he was caught up in the Operation Pedestal Convoy to Malta. When his ship was sunk in 1942 he helped save several of his shipmates, actions which saw him receive the British Empire Medal and the Lloyd's War Medal.

After the war he trained at RADA before embarking on a career which saw him appear in some of the best-loved dramas in British television. His 100-plus television credits included roles in The Cazalets, The Jewel in the Crown, A Dance to the Music of Time, The Politician's Wife, To Play the King, Lipstick on Your Collar, Bomber Harris, Yes, Prime Minister, Bergerac, Midsomer Murders, Follyfoot, Miss Marple, Minder, Z-Cars, The Avengers, Doomwatch and The Railway Children.

His films included: Paper Mask, Defence of the Realm, Sunshine, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Afraid of the Dark, A Flame to the Phoenix, Nighthawks, The Elephant Man and Sweeney 2.

His last screen appearance was as Professor Mullins in a 2003 edition of Rosemary & Thyme.

Treves is survived by his wife, Jean, along with two sons, Simon (who followed him into acting) and Patrick; a daughter, Jeni; and 11 grandchildren.

Frederick William Treves, actor and writer, born 29 March 1925; died 30 January 2012

The actress Jenny Tomasin has died at the age of 75.

Tomasin played the role of Tasambeker, an employee of Tranquil Repose, in the 1985 Doctor Who story Revelation of the Daleks.

She was best known for her portrayal of the long-suffering Ruby in the London Weekend Television production Upstairs Downstairs, appearing in 41 episodes. Her role, as the put-upon kitchen maid who nurtured dreams of running away with Rudolph Valentino, made her one of the most popular characters in the series.

In 1981 Tomasin had a small part in Emmerdale Farm as Naomi Tolly. She also had parts in Crossroads and Martin Chuzzlewit. During the nineties she performed in many regional pantomimes, and in 2005 she returned to Emmerdale, this time playing Noreen Bell, a cantankerous villager, who was eventually killed off in July 2006.

Jenny Tomasin was born on November 30, 1936 in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It is believed she died earlier this week.

UPDATE - 3rd February 2012: Upstairs, Downstairs co-star Simon Williams, who appeared in the following Dalek story Remembrance of the Daleks, has paid tribute to Jenny Tomasin in an obituary in The Stage. The Independent has also run an obituary.

UPDATE - 12th February 2012: Jenny Tomasin died on 3rd January from hypertensive heart disease, according to the coroner's office. Confirmation of her death was delayed because she had no immediate survivors. [The Washington Post]

The actor George Baker has died at the age of 80.

George Baker was a well known English actor who appeared is some of British Televisions most fondly remembered dramas. He appeared alongside Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, in the 1980 story Full Circle, where he played Decider Login,

He is best known for playing Inspector Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and the emperor Tiberius in the acclaimed BBC drama I Claudius.

Other parts included roles in the films The Dam Busters, The Ship That Died of Shame with Richard Attenborough and The Moonraker. He was the second actor to portray the role of "Number Two" in the series The Prisoner and appeared in his own TV comedy series Bowler. He was also in the first episode of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.