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.

The actress Anne Ridler has died.

Anne Ridler played Gemma Corwyn the second-in-command of Space Station W3 in the 1968 Doctor Who story The Wheel in Space. After appearing in five episodes of the story she sacrificed her life to help the Second Doctor defeat the Cybermen.

Anne Ridler had a long and distinguished career first appearing on television in 1955 and going on to work on over 5 movies and 29 TV serials. Her first screen role was on TV with a regular spot alongside Francis Matthews in the Francis Durbridge series My Friend Charles. Her breakthrough came as a regular in Dixon of Dock Green, appearing as WP Sgt. Chris Freeman from 1962 to 1964. She had guest roles in Moonbase 3 in 1973 and The Tomorrow People in 1975 abd in the 1980' s she played voice of Kate Kestrel, Cy-Star and It-Star in Gerry Anderson's puppet-animated Terrahawks series.

She had small roles in the Hammer film Camp on Yangtse Incident (1957), the Michael Anderson-directed Blood Island (1958) and 633 Squadron (1963).

She played Jacqueline Shaffer in the Big Finish story Master.

The actor Noel Collins has died at the age of 74.

Noel Collins appeared in 3 episodes of the 1989 Doctor Who story Battlefield where he played Pat Rowlinson, the landlord of the hotel in which the Seventh Doctor and Ace stayed while investigating an inter-dimensional distress call.

Collins was best known for his role in the long running BBC police series Juliet Bravo, where he played Sergeant George Parrish throughout the six year run of the show. He also appeared in Play for Today, When the Boat Comes in and the comedy series Bread.

Collins retired at the age of 60 after being diagnosed with lung cancer and undergoing an operation which involved removing a lung. In the 1990's he joined 52 other claimants in a £17million lawsuit against cigarette giants Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco arguing that the companies had been negligent in not reducing the tar content in their cigarettes between 1957 and 1971 once it became obvious that smoking caused lung cancer.

Although the case was dropped in March 1999 Collins retained his anti smoking stance until his death. His widow Helen Collins paid tribute to her husband's bravery in the face of his illness. "He was content in his life but also stoic during the bad times. He became very anti-smoking but he lived through his illness as best he could. Even in his last week he was still getting Juliet Bravo fan mail which he found amusing. He loved the theatre and really enjoyed his career, but without being pretentious or boastful."

Noel Collins died on 15 August after losing his long battle with cancer.

Voice actor Roy Skelton, who contributed to dozens of Doctor Who episodes across the eras of all seven of the classic series Doctors, has died at the age of 79. BBC News reports that the actor suffered from a stroke.

Best known in Doctor Who circles for his Dalek and Cyberman voices, he was also well-known in British television for his voice work on the famous children's series Rainbow, where he famously provided the vocal characterisation of the puppets George and Zippy.

Born in Oldham in July 1931, Skelton's first involvement with Doctor Who came when he provided voices for the Monoids in the 1966 William Hartnell serial The Ark. He returned to the series later that year to provide voices to the first ever Cybermen in Hartnell's finale as the Doctor, The Tenth Planet. It was in 1967 that he first took on the role he became most associated with on Doctor Who, when he voiced the Daleks in Evil of the Daleks, lining up against Second Doctor Patrick Troughton. He then provided Dalek voices right through until their final classic series appearance in 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, starring Sylvester McCoy. He also made the occasional on-screen appearance, such as briefly playing the body of the Spiridon Wester, whose voice he had provided, when the character became visible on his death in the Jon Pertwee serial Planet of the Daleks in 1973.

Skelton's ability to provide Dalek voices in different registers which he could switch between as recording was in progress enabled a variety of characterisation and conversation to be played in Dalek scenes. This ability to quickly switch between voices also served him well on Rainbow, a series he stayed with from its origins in the early 1970s through to the 1990s, where he was frequently called on to voice quick-fire conversations between his two characters of George and Zippy.

His association with two such long-lasting series fondly remembered by the British public meant that Skelton often appeared in documentaries and interviews, and he even returned to voice Zippy for a surreal guest appearance in a 2008 episode of the BBC One drama series Ashes to Ashes, set in an illusory version of the early 1980s.

His Rainbow co-star Geoffrey Hayes told the BBC:

Oliver Elmes, the man who designed the Seventh Doctor's title sequence, has died.

In 1987 producer John Nathan Turner commissioned BBC designer Oliver Elmes to design a new opening for the show. Elmes worked with CAL Video to produce the first Doctor Who logo to be designed entirely on computer.

The basic concept was the 'Big Bang', with stars exploding to form a multi-coloured galaxy, and features a spinning TARDIS and Sylvester McCoy's face painted silver. The sequence, which cost £20,000 and took three months to create, ran for the duration of McCoy's era, from Time and the Rani to Survival, appearing on 12 stories, some 42 episodes.

A short documentary explaining the history of the sequence, Helter Skelter, is included on the DVD release of Time and the Rani.

After the series was put on hold in 1989, the new logo continued to be used for the Virgin New Adventures novels until Bad Therapy in 1996.

In addition to his work on Doctor Who, Elmes designed title sequences for Elizabeth R, The Goodies, and The Good Life. He also worked on Multi Coloured Swapshop and Top of the Pops, and designed the BBC2 idents with the two lines and one of the early spinning globe idents

With the sad news of the death of Elisabeth Sladen still raw in many people's minds and so difficult to comprehend, many fans around the world have been making their own tributes to a woman who was such a central part of so many childhoods.

British folk singer Talis Kimberley has recorded her own tribute, Goodnight Sarah Jane, available as a download from her website. Kimberley says "this is my tribute to the actor Lis Sladen. Along with many other people I was desparately saddened to hear of her death; her portrayal of Sarah-Jane Smith was an inspiration during two periods of my life."

Other tracks released include Companion by Parralox and What's the Story Sarah Jane by New Magnet.

The tribute page in Gallifrey Base now stands at over 2000 posts and a special thread has been setup where fans can post their own artwork. Meanwhile a whole new generation of fans have been expressing their sense of loss on the BBC's Newsround page, which has had its biggest response ever to a story covered on the site. Some of the messages from children are read out by the co-stars of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Tommy Knight and Daniel Anthony, who are mourning the loss of the woman they called their "Mother Hen, ...always smiling, always laughing".

Many fans have made their own tribute videos which can be found on YouTube. Dork Tower, the online comic, has also produced its own cartoon in tribute.

A group of fans have launched a JustGiving site raising money for the charity Cancer Research UK, in memory of the actress. To date over £3000 has been raised. Other fans have been donating to the Lymphoedema Support Network, which was understood to be a charity the actress supported. A JustGiving site has been set up to buy an imaginary pint to toast Sarah Jane.

The BBC's programme in memory of Elisabeth Sladen, My Sarah Jane, which contains contributions from many of those who worked with her, can be seen in the UK on CBBC at 6.45pm Saturday, directly after Doctor Who finishes on BBC One.


News links: Obituary, Doctors pay tribute, Elisabeth Sladen Tributes, Press Roundup

The three surviving actors to play Sarah Jane Smith's "Doctor" have paid tribute to their former co-star Elisabeth Sladen, who died yesterday morning.




Sixth Doctor Colin Baker has also paid tribute via Twitter:

Greatest Doctor Who girl ever, is how the British tabloid The Sun reports the sad death of Elisabeth Sladen yesterday, at the age of 65. The paper reports how Doctor Who fans are in mourning over the loss of one of the most popular actors to have worked on the series. The Guardian confirms the tribute stating Sladen is widely regarded as the most beloved companion in the show's 48-year-history.

BBC News interviewed former Doctor Who showrunner, Russell T Davies, who spoke of her love for the character of Sarah Jane and how devastated the Doctor Who family are at the loss. "It was a joy to know the woman", he said "and an honour to work with her".

Sladen had been suffering with Cancer, something known only to her close family and friends. Davies spoke of her privacy and how she hated any fuss. "She would give me a good nudge in the ribs for talking about her on the Radio" he said. "She was a great great woman and a great actor... If I'm glad about anything in my career I'm so glad we brought her back, so a whole new generation of children could fall in love with her"

The loss has made headlines around the world, reported in publications from the US to Australia and from Canada to New Zealand, with the news trending on Twitter for much of the evening - a number of media articles are listed below.

The BBC's heavyweight news programme Newsnight closed its Tuesday edition with Jeremy Paxman reading a tribute to Sladen and a clip from The Sarah Jane Adventures. The following morning saw a tribute running on BBC Breakfast and the BBC News channel throughout the morning - this is available to watch via the BBC News website. The Classic Doctor Who channel on YouTube features a section highlighting her work on Doctor Who.

Other broadcasters also covered the news, with items running on Sky News, ITV's Daybreak and Lorraine shows, and even on Channel 10's news in Australia.

Many fans and colleagues have also posted tributes, which are reported in our earlier article.

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