Norman Taylor, one of the men behind the original iconic Doctor Who title sequence, has died.

Norman Taylor was a BBC Technical Operations Manager on Crew 9 based at Lime Grove in London. He was the man who, while experimenting with a camera looking at a monitor showing its own picture, made the serendipitous discovery of "visual howlaround" - the effect that was subsequently used for Doctor Who's original title sequence.

The original titles for Doctor Who are believed to have been recorded in August 1963 in an empty TC5 at Television Centre. Bernard Lodge, who was credited for the sequence, was in the gallery and Norman Taylor lighting matches to trigger the howl-round. Hugh Sheppard was on the camera at the time.

Taylor was later given a Technical Suggestion award of £25.00 for his howl-round idea which featured in various forms in the title sequence until 1980, when it was replaced by the star-field effect.

You can read more about his contribution to the series on the Tech-Ops History site.

The actress Ingrid Pitt has died at the age of 73.

Ingrid Pitt had two roles in Doctor Who. She played the role of Galleia in the 1972 third Doctor story The Time Monster. Galleia was Queen of Atlantis and the wife of King Dalios. In 1984 she returned to the series to play Solow in the fifth Doctor story Warriors of the Deep. During the eighties she also co-wrote a Doctor Who story The Macros with her husband Tony Rudlin which, though it never progressed into a televised production at the time, was later produced by Big Finish as part of their Lost Stories series.

Pitt was best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s. She was born in Poland on 21 November 1937 as Ingoushka Petrov. She had a German father and a Jewish mother and as a result she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp during the second World War. In 1965 she made her film debut in Doctor Zhivago, playing a minor role. In 1968 she co-starred in the low budget science fiction film The Omegans and in the same year played in Where Eagles Dare opposite Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.

Her work with Hammer Film Productions elevated her to cult figure status. She starred in The Vampire Lovers, and Countess Dracula, as well as having a small part in the cult film The Wicker Man. She founded her own theatrical touring company and starred in successful productions of Dial M for Murder, Duty Free, and Woman of Straw.

Pitt made her return to the big screen in the 2000 production The Asylum. The film starred Colin Baker and Patrick Mower. In 2003, Pitt voiced the role of 'Lady Violator' in Renga Media's production Dominator. The film was the UK's first CGI animated film.

She died earlier today at a hospital in south London after collapsing a few days ago.

We are saddened to report the death of the writer Mervyn Haisman.

An actor in his early career, Mervyn Haisman turned his hand to writing, forming a partnership with Henry Lincoln where together they penned three Doctor Who stories for the Patrick Troughton era of the series. The Abominable Snowmen saw the first appearance from the slopes of the Himalayas of the Yeti - robotic servants of the Great Intelligence. The strength of this first story subsequently led to the sequel The Web of Fear, which also saw creation of one of the most enduring guest characters in the series, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart (The Brigadier). Their third outing The Dominators introduced the Quarks, but artistic disagreements with the production team ended further contributions to Doctor Who. However, their association with the show was to be marked once again with a credit on The Sarah Jane Adventures story Enemy of the Bane for Sir Alistair.

Haisman went on to script-edit a number of television series, notably Sutherland's Law (alongside future Doctor Who producer Graham Williams), Jubilee, and some seventeen episodes of The Onedin Line. He also wrote a number of episodes for the popular 1980s drama Howards' Way.

The actor Graham Crowden has died at the age of 87.

Graham Crowden has had an expansive career in film, television and theatre. He has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and appeared in variety of films such as The Amazing Mr Blunden, Jabberwocky, For Your Eyes Only, The Company of Wolves, Out of Africa, and Calendar Girls. On television he is probably best remembered for two major roles, alongside Peter Davison as head of medical department Jock McCannon in the series A Very Peculiar Practice, and as Tom Ballard in the comedy series Waiting for God.

He was one of the actors considered to take on the role of the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who in 1974, but felt he couldn't commit to many years in such a role. However, he did get to appear in the series in 1979 for the Season Seventeen adventure The Horns of Nimon playing Soldeed, the leader of the planet Skonnos and ally of the titular Nimon - his death throe has been considered one of the most 'memorable' in the classic series! The story was released earlier this year as part of the Myths and Legends boxed set, and featured the actor on the commentary.

Graham Crowden (30 November 1922 – 19 October 2010)

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The actor Frank Jarvis has died at the age of 70.

Jarvis played characters in three Doctor Who stories. He first appeared in the 1966 story The War Machines as a corporal; then it wasn't until Tom Baker assumed the role that he returned to the series to play Ankh in the 1978 CSO-laden story Underworld. A year later he featured as swampie Skart in The Power of Kroll.

Outside of Doctor Who, he had a variety of roles in film and television, including the character of Roger in the original The Italian Job film with Michael Caine, and alongside former Doctor Colin Baker in the BBC series The Brothers.

Frank Jarvis died on 15th September 2010.

The writer Louis Marks has died at the age of 82.

Louis Marks wrote four stories for Doctor Who. In 1965 he wrote the first story of Season Two, Planet of Giants, the first contemporary story in the series since the first episode. He returned to the series in 1972 to plot the return of the Daleks after a gap of several years in Day of the Daleks a story which saw the introduction of the Ogrons.

For the Fourth Doctor he penned two stories, Planet of Evil in 1975 was set on the far distant planet Zeta Minor on the edge of the universe, while The Masque of Mandragora a year later was set in 15th century Italy.

His work away from Doctor Who included The Man Who Finally Died (1967) for the BBC and Special Branch for Thames Television (1970). He wrote for Danger Man with Patrick McGoohan, and for the Doomwatch series. His work as a producer included The Lost Boys (1978), Fearless Frank (1979) and the BBC's adaptation of George Eliot's Middlemarch (1994).

Louis Marks died on 17th September, 2010.

Film and television composer Geoffrey Burgon has died, aged 69.

Burgon composed the music for the Doctor Who stories Terror of the Zygons and The Seeds of Doom.

He went on to win Ivor Novello awards for his scores to the BBC's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in 1979 and for Granada's Brideshead Revisited in 1981.

More recently Burgon had won BAFTAs for Best Television Music to Granada's The Forsyte Saga and Channel 4's Longitude.

Amongst many other works, Burgon scored the BBC's Chronicles of Narnia adaptations and the cult Monty Python film The Life of Brian.

Alongside his commercial success, Burgon continued to produce many acclaimed serious works, two of which were an opera based on Dickens's Hard Times in 1991, and a concerto for the percussionist Evelyn Glennie in 1994.

James Rushton, of his publishers Chester Music, said: "Geoffrey Burgon was one of very few composers in recent times whose music has truly touched the hearts of the international public.

"The music and unforgettable melodies that Geoff wrote for the great classic BBC and ITV TV series over the past 40 years have established themselves as standards, both within their genre and as pure music."

Burgon was interviewed for the DVD release of The Seeds of Doom, which is due to be released in the UK on October 25th.

Doctor Who Live has launched an official Twitter account. The feed provides news and updates from the team behind the live show, due to tour the UK this Autumn.

Details of David Tennant's new 4 part drama series, Single Father, have been released by the BBC Press Office. In the series, filmed in Glasgow, Tennant plays a photographer facing the seemingly impossible job of bringing up four kids alone after the sudden death of his wife, Rita. The Daily Record has been reporting on how Tennant prepared for the role.

A Doctor Who inspired stage adventure is being performed at the Charles Cryer Studio Theatre in Carshalton in South West London. Hell Blossom, by Ian Wheeler, is part of a trilogy of Doctor Who plays. It runs from 30th September - 2nd October.


The actress Margaret Hickey has died. Hickey played Mary Smith, an inhabitant of Salamander's underground community, in the Second Doctor story The Enemy Of The World.

The actor Derek Pollitt has died at the age of 83.

Derek Pollitt had three roles in Doctor Who. In 1968 he played Driver Evans in the Second Doctor story The Web of Fear. Evans was part of Colonel Lethbridge Stewart's team, and the only survivor, other than the Colonel himself, from a fight with the Yeti. Evans always sang when scared. Pollitt returned to the series in 1970 playing Private Wright, a UNIT officer, in the third Doctor's second story Doctor Who and the Silurians. His final role in the series was not broadcast as he played A. St. John D. Caldera, a neurologist whose mind was stolen, in the cancelled story Shada.

Pollitt had a long association with Llandudno in Wales, where he and his then wife Pamela Rayner ran the Galleon Theatre Company for many years staging plays at the Grand Theatre in the in the 1960s. A keen sportsman, he played a couple of times in the 1960s for the Llandudno Second X1 cricket team and at the age of 64 he did a sponsored walk from John O’Groats to Land’s End to raise money for a London hospital. He died in hospital in Surrey on July 11.

The actor Richard Shaw has died at the age of 90.

Richard Shaw had three appearances in Doctor Who. In 1965 he played the role of Lobos, the Morok governor of Xeros, in the William Hartnell story The Space Museum. He returned to the series in 1973 working with Jon Pertwee on the story Frontier in Space where he played Cross the leader of a section of the prisoners at the Lunar Penal Colony. His final role in the series was in the 1978 story Underworld, where he played Lakh, a Seer on the planet which coalesced around the P7E.

Away from Doctor Who, Shaw had an extensive career in British television spanning over 40 years. He played Sladden in the 1959 classic Quatermass and the Pit, appeared in many classic plays on BBC and ITV and appeared in such series as Crossroads, Freewheelers, Dixon of Dock Green and the film Carry On Don't Lose Your Head.

Actor Toby Hadoke has posted a tribute to Richard Shaw on his website.