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.

Doctor Who Director Pennant Roberts has died at the age of 69.

Pennant Roberts was well known as a director in British television working throughout the seventies and eighties on such classic programmes as The Onedin Line, Survivors, Angels, Blake's 7, Juliet Bravo, Tenko and Howards' Way.

For Doctor Who he directed six stories. His first, in 1977, was the fourth Doctor story The Face of Evil, which saw the introduction of the character of Leela played by Louise Jameson. He returned later in the year to direct The Sun Makers , and then a year later he directed the Douglas Adams story, The Pirate Planet. He directed another Douglas Adams story, Shada, which was intended to end the seventeenth series of the programme, but which was not completed due to industrial action at the BBC. Parts of the story were later used in twentieth anniversary story The Five Doctors.

In 1984 he was given the task of bringing back The Silurians and The Sea Devils in the Fifth Doctor story, Warriors of the Deep, and in 1985 his final story for the series was the sixth Doctor story, Timelash.

Louise Jameson worked with Roberts in both Doctor Who and Tenko. Speaking to Gallifrey Base and The Doctor Who News Page she paid this tribute.

The actor David Kincaid has died at the age of 70.

David Kincaid appeared in the 1981, fourth Doctor story, Warrior's Gate, where he played the role of Lane, a member of Rorvik's crew.

Born David Eaglesham Kincaid, he was the son of the poet John Kincaid. He started his working life as a porter on a Clyde paddle steamer before winning a place to train as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Kincaid worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre under Lord Olivier at the Old Vic. He appeared in many film adaptations of the works of Shakespeare and many television roles including Dixon of Dock Green, Dr. Finlay's Casebook and The New Adventures of Robin Hood as well as playing as the Scottish shopkeeper in the Not for girls series of Yorkie Bar commercials.

Kincaid died on May 12th and is survived by a son, a daughter and three grandchildren.

The actor Jonathan Battersby has died at the age of 57.

Jonathan Battersby recently appeared in the second story of the current series playing Winder in The Beast Below. He also appeared in an uncredited role in Victory of the Daleks.

Battersby, as well as being a well respected actor, was well known in financial circles. After graduating from RADA in 1972, he worked as an actor for a number of years, including a spell in the National Theatre. In 1981 he left acting and joined the financial industry, rising to become president of the Life Insurance Association.

He retired from the LIA in 2004, and returned to his previous career as an actor, winning roles in Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Emmerdale as well as Doctor Who.

Battersby was first diagnosed with prostate cancer during his LIA presidency. He died peacefully on 22nd May 2010, at Trinity Hospice, Clapham.

The actor Jimmy Gardner has died at the age of 85.

Jimmy Gardner had two roles in Doctor Who. In 1964 he played the role of Chenchu, the manager of the way station at Tun-Huang, in the fourth story of the series Marco Polo. He returned to the series in 1978 to play the role of Idmon in the fourth Doctor story Underworld. Idmon was a Trog on the planet formed around the P7E, and the father of Idas. He tried to encourage the other Trogs to rebel, but was arrested by the Guards and selected for sacrifice. He was rescued by the Doctor and escaped his planet's destruction on board the R1C.

Gardner had a long eventful life. He was a war hero, a survivor of two shipwrecks and numerous escapades on land. After the war he trained as an actor at The Central School and had a long career in television, film and stage. He appeared in many classic TV series including The Forsyte Saga, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars and The Onedin Line. In film he worked on Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and had his most notorious role as Ernie the bus driver in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Independent Obituary

Set designer David Myerscough-Jones has died at the age of 75.

David Myerscough-Jones was Designer for three stories in the classic series. He first worked on the 1968 second Doctor story The Web of Fear. Set in a London tube station, the BBC refused to pay the high fee demanded to film in the actual location so Myerscough-Jones was given the task of replicating the London Underground system in a television studio. He achieved this so admirably, with a replica so lifelike, that the BBC recieved a letter of complaint from London Underground alleging that filming had taken place on their property without permission.

In 1970 he returned to the series working on the third Doctor story The Ambassadors of Death and two years later he worked on Day of the Daleks were he was responsible for designing rooms in a stately home as wall a a futuristic control centre.

Outside of Doctor Who, Myerscough-Jones has a long successful career. His most notable achievement was designing the sets for a television version of Britten’s opera Peter Grimes.

He died of cancer on April 21, 2010, and is survived by his wife, Pelo, to whom he was married in 1963, and their four children.

Times Obituary

Two alumni of the classic series of Doctor Who have recently died.

Hubert Rees had three roles in the series working with two different Doctors.

He first appeared in the 1968 story Fury from the Deep, working alongside Patrick Troughton. He played the Chief Engineer, the head of engineering at a Euro Sea Gas refinery who assisted the Doctor in his efforts to defeat the Weed Creature. Rees returned to the series the following year in Troughton's swan song, The War Games, in which he played Captain Ransom, an officer in the British Army. His final appearance was in the 1976 Tom Baker story The Seeds of Doom, playing John Stevenson, a botanist at a scientific expedition in Antarctic.

Outside of Doctor Who he had roles in many well-known dramas, including Paul Temple, The Sweeney, The Duchess of Duke Street, By the Sword Divided and Howards' Way.


Max Faulkner, born in 1931, was a stunt man and actor who has small roles in six Doctor Who stories. He played a UNIT soldier in the 1970 Jon Pertwee story The Ambassadors of Death, and a miner in the 1974 story The Monster of Peladon. In Jon Pertwee's final story, Planet of the Spiders, he played the Guard Captain.

Faulkner appeared with Tom Baker in three stories. In the 1975 story Genesis of the Daleks he played a Thal Guard before returning later in the year in The Android Invasion as Corporal Adams, a UNIT officer stationed at Devesham. His final appearance in 1978 was in The Invasion of Time where he played Nesbin, the leader of a group of Outsiders.

He was the fight arranger in the 1976 story The Hand of Fear.

Faulkner appeared in many British dramas such as Ivanhoe, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Richard the Lionheart, Colditz, Lorna Doone, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Secret Army, Blake's 7 and Robin of Sherwood.