The actor Prentis Hancock has died at the age of 83.

Prentis Hancock appeared in four roles in Doctor Who.

In 1970, he had a small role in the Third Doctor's debut story Spearhead from Space, where he played a journalist sent to cover the meteorite shower which accompanied the third Doctor's arrival. 

He had a much larger role when he played Vaber in the 1973 story Planet of the Daleks. Vaber was the hothead member of the Thal task force sent to Spiridon to defeat the Daleks.

His third appearance was in the Fourth Doctor story Planet of Evil where he played Salamar, the captain of the Morestran probe ship sent to Zeta Minor to make contact with Professor Sorenson's expedition.

His final appearance came in 1978 in The Ribos Operation where he played the Shrieve captain guarding the crown jewels of Ribos.

Hancock's best-known role was in the first season of science fiction series Space: 1999 where he played Paul Morrow. Other appearances included roles in Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962)Dr. Finlay's Casebook, Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, Colditz, The New Avengers, Danger UXB, Minder, Secret Army, The Professionals, The Bill, Bergerac and Bodyguards

Prentis Hancock was born in 1942. He died peacefully in hospital surrounded by his sister, neice and daughter on Friday 30th May

The actress Jean Marsh has died at the age of 90.

Jean Marsh appeared in three different roles in Doctor Who, including as short-time companion to the first Doctor, Sara Kingdom.

She is best known for co-creating and starring in the London Weekend Television series Upstairs Downstairs. 

She was the first wife of Third Doctor Jon Pertwee.  

Marsh was born in Stoke Newington, London, England. As a child, she studied acting and mime, later working as a cabaret singer and photo model.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Marsh made many appearances on British and American television including an episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Lonely" (1959), in which she played Alicia, a very lifelike and attractive female robot; The Wonderful World of Disney (1961); Gideon's Way (1965); I Spy (1967); The Saint (4 episodes between 1964 and 1968); and UFO.

In 1965, she appeared in Doctor Who alongside William Hartnell in The Crusade, playing Joanna, the sister of King Richard the Lionheart. She returned later that year as companion Sara Kingdom in nine episodes of the 12-part serial The Daleks' Master Plan. He third appearance in the series came in 1989 when she played Morgaine: in the seventh Doctor story Battlefield. 

In 1970, along with actress Eileen Atkins, she created the British period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. The series detailed the lives of the wealthy Bellamy family and their servants living at 165 Eaton Place, London. The series was incredibly popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Marsh played the role of the house parlourmaid Rose Buck for the duration of the series, winning the 1975 Emmy award for outstanding actress in a drama series. She reprised the role when the series was resurrected by the BBC at the end of 2010.

Her success in Upstairs Downstairs led to a period working in Hollywood in the 1970's appearing in popular TV shows such as The Waltons, Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat and Trapper John, M.D.

In film, she had a featured role in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972) and played Mrs Grey in The Eagle Has Landed (1976), as well as the villain in the fantasy films Return to Oz (1985) and Willow (1988). Other film work included Cleopatra and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Marsh and Atkins created a second television series The House of Eliott, which was produced during 1991 and 1992. This time, Marsh did not act in the series, but she did write some of the episodes. In 1994, she starred as a villain in the Nickelodeon remake of The Tomorrow People, and appeared in the television productions of Fatherland and The Pale Horse.

From 2000 until 2002, Marsh appeared in The Ghost Hunter, and in 2007 she played in the West End stage revival of Boeing Boeing at the Comedy Theatre. She also made an appearance in the 2007 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Marsh appeared as Lizzie in Baby Cow Productions' Sensitive Skin in 2005 and 2007 alongside Joanna Lumley. She also appeared in an episode of BBC Four's Crooked House in December 2008.

Marsh was married to Jon Pertwee from 1955 until their divorce in 1960. They had no children and Marsh did not remarry. 

She was awarded an OBE for services to drama in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Jean Marsh died from complications of dementia at her London home on 13 April 2025.

The actor Simon Fisher-Becker has died at the age of 63.

Simon Fisher-Becker is best known for his portrayal of the blue-skinned Dorium Maldovar in three episodes of Doctor Who starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, The Pandorica Opens, A Good Man Goes to War and The Wedding of River Song. 

Away from Doctor Who his best-known role was as Tony Fazackerley in Puppy Love, a British comedy television series broadcast on BBC Four. Other TV appearances include Getting On, Afterlife, Love Soup, One Foot in the Grave, Doctors, Sedgfield Park, 99-1, Hale & Pace, The Good Guys, The Bill, Crimewatch Factfile and London’s Burning.  

Films included a role as The Fat Friar in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and appearances in The Great Director (playing the Ghost of Alfred Hitchcock), Pundemic and Les Misérables.

He published three volumes of memoirs, My Dalek Has a Puncture, My Dalek Has Another Puncture, and Let Zygons Be Zygons

Simon Fisher-Becker died in London on 9th March 2025. He is survived by his husband Tony Dugdale. 

The actor Christopher Benjamin has died at the age of 90. 

Christopher Benjamin is best known to Doctor Who fans for his virtuoso performance in the 1977 Fourth Doctor story The Talons of Weng-Chiang. He played Henry Gordon Jago the owner of the Palace Theatre who teams up with Professor George Litefoot, as played by Trevor Baxter, to help the Doctor defeat Magnus Greel and his acolyte Li H'sen Chang. 

The chemistry between Benjamin and Baxter ensured that the couple were given their own spin-off audio series by Big Finish, with fourteen series of Jago & Litefoot being released between 2010 and 2017. 

Benjamin's first appearance in Doctor Who was in the 1970 story Inferno, where he played Sir Keith Gold the director of the Inferno Project.

He was one of the few actors who appeared in both the original series and the revived 2005 series appearing with the Tenth Doctor in the 2008 story The Unicorn and the Wasp where he played Colonel Hugh Curbishley.

Born in Trowbridge in Wiltshire, Benjamin was a familiar face on British Television for over forty years. His passion for acting was developed while at school and he joined a local amateur group in Bath before doing his National Service. 

His professional debut was in repertory at the Manchester Library Theatre followed by a stint at the Salisbury Arts Theatre. He spent several seasons working at the Bristol Old Vic and was a regular performer for the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

His Television work included three appearances in the cult series The Prisoner and guest appearances in The Avengers, The Saint and Jason King. In 1967 he played Prosper Profond in the BBC's acclaimed series The Forsyte Saga. He was Sir Hugh Bodrugan in the original series of Poldark and Sir William Lucas in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice. 

Other series he appeared in include Heartbeat, Rosemary & Thyme, Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War, Leonardo, EastEnders, Treasure Island, Lovejoy, Magic Grandad, The Tomorrow People, London's Burning, Casualty, Maigret, Rumpole of the Bailey, Brass, King & Castle, Yes, Prime Minister, Casanova, The Diary of Anne Frank , Dempsey and Makepeace, Blott on the Landscape, Minder, Shoestring and The History of Mr. Polly.

Christopher Benjamin is survived by his wife, actress Anna Fox, and their three children.

The writer Barbara Clegg has died at the age of 98.

Barbara Clegg wrote the fifth Doctor story Enlightenment first broadcast in 1983.

Clegg was born in Manchester in March 1926 the niece of the founder of the Littlewoods empire. After graduating from Oxford she worked as an actress performing in many Shakespeare plays and touring across the UK and Australia

In the 1960s, she began writing for Radio starting with scripts for Mrs Dale's Diary.

Television followed where she contributed scripts for both Coronation Street and Crossroads. 

In 1981 she wrote her first Science Fiction story, The Chrysalids, adapted from the novel for Radio 4.

In 1983 she was asked to contribute a script for Doctor Who and therefore became the first woman to write a script for the series. The story would be the final one in the Black Guardian Trilogy.

It was the only script commissioned for the television series but one of her ideas Point of Entry was later used by Big Finish in the audio range. 

Barbara Clegg died on 7 January 2025

Toby Hadoke has published his annual memoriam of those who have delighted us both in front of and behind the scenes of Doctor Who and its extended worlds, who sadly died in 2024.

Doctor Who In Memoriam 2024

The actor and writer Arnold Yarrow has died at the age of 104.

Arnold Yarrow was the oldest surviving cast member of Doctor Who, appearing in the series in 1974 at the spritely age of 53. He is believed to be the longest-lived actor to have ever had a credited role in the series and one of only six actors to have reached the age of 100. 

Arnold Yarrow was born in the east end of London in April 1920, just 17 months after the end of the First World War. He served in the Second World War fighting in the army in India and China.

In the 1940's he became an actor working in weekly rep where he met the future Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. It was under Letts's stewardship of Doctor Who that Yarrow was cast as Bellal in the Third Doctor story Death to the Daleks. The role required Yarrow to be stitched into an all-enveloping costume made of several strips of material glued together. He told Toby Hadoke 

He also talked about the movement he put into the character

Doctor Who was a tiny part of the actor's long career, first appearing on television in the early 1950's. Appearances included roles in London's Burning, One by One, The Chinese Detective, Wainwright's Law, The Onedin Line, Dr. Finlay's Casebook, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Coronation Street, Boyd Q.C., The Andromeda Breakthrough, Dial 999, Macbeth. He returned to his Jewish roots in London when he played Benny Bloom in EastEnders. 

As a writer, he contributed scripts to EastEnders, Warship, Crown Court, Z-cars and  Softly Softly Task Force where he was script editor. 

He was proudest of his stage work and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Arnold Yarrow died peacefully in his sleep at Herne Bay, Kent, at the age of 104 years, 236 days.

He is survived by his brother who is aged 100 and by a number of nephews and nieces, many of whom work in the entertainment business. 

The oldest surviving Doctor Who actor is now believed to be Laurie Webb who is 100

The cinematographer Ernie Vincze has died at the age of 81.

Ernie Vincze was the Director of Photography on 38 episodes of Doctor Who between 2005 and 2009, responsible for the Camera work and the lighting on each episode.

He was in charge for the entire first series of the revived show in 2005 looking after each episode of the Ninth Doctor's era before completing the Christmas special introducing the Tenth Doctor.   

He shared the load over the next three years, with his final episode, The Waters of Mars, in 2009.

His Doctor Who episodes were  

Ernie Vincze was born in Hungary in 1942. He spent most of his working life in Britain with over 80 credits. Some of his best-known work includes Jeeves and Wooster, Holby City, Robin Hood, Macbeth, Screen Two and The South Bank Show. 

He was elected to the British Society of Cinematographers in 1978, and is a fellow of the BKSTS. He served on the BAFTA council for 20 years, and was Head of Cinematography at the NFTS from 2000 - 2002

He won the 2008 Cymru BAFTA for his work on Doctor Who: Voyage Of The Damned

Showrunner Russell T Davies paid tribute to Vincze on Instagram

The designer and producer Richard Morris has died. 

Richard Morris designed the 1974 Third Doctor story Invasion of the Dinosaurs.  

His work on the six-part story included offices and meeting rooms in a deserted London and a mocked-up spaceship under the city. He spoke about his experiences with Doctor Who on the DVD Extra People, Power and Puppetry released with the story. 

After training at the Hammersmith School of Art and Building, Morris had a long career with the BBC, joining as an Assistant Designer in 1964, recruited to help service the new channel BBC Two. 

Over the next 40 years, his drama credits included, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, Middlemarch, The Onedin Line, Secret Army, Angels, The Survivors, Wings, The Venturers, Artists and Models, The Women in White and Noel Coward’s Bon voyage,  He was BAFTA nominated for the designs for When the Boat Comes In.

He worked on many light entertainment shows such as The Royal Variety Performance(1988) at the London Palladium, five series of Bruce Forsyth’s Generation Game, shows for The Two Ronnies (The worm that Turned & By The Sea, Kenny Everett, Terry Wogan, Michael Parkinson, Ken Dodd, Dave Allen, Paul Daniels,

One of his best-loved creations was the set for Acorn Antiques for Victoria Wood, As Seen on TV

Moris also designed Call Up the Stars, Going for Gold, Take Your Pick, Raise the Roof, Beyond Belief with David Frost and Some Mothers Do Have ‘Em 

In 2003 he set up Richard Douglas Productions a joint venture with his friend, Marketing Executive, Doug Pinchin. Together they produced several shows for London's West End including Hey, Old Friends, an 85th Birthday tribute to Stephen Sondheim, performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. 

The designer Ken Ledsham has died. 

Ken Ledsham designed three stories for Doctor Who. 

In 1978 he worked on the first story of the Key to Time series, The Ribos Operation creating the ice world where the first segment of the key was hidden. He returned the following year to design the return of the Daleks after a five-year gap in Destiny of the Daleks. His final commission for Doctor Who was on The King's Demons in 1983 designing the court of King John and introducing the robot Kamelion.

Earlier in his career, he had been a design assistant on the Third Doctor story The Time Monster.

Ledsham had a long career with BBC Television working on stories such as Tenko, Blake's 7, When the Boat Comes In, Diana, The House of Elliot, Campion, Bergerac, Secret Army and several episodes of Blake's 7.

He was nominated for a BAFTA for his work on House of Cards, the political series directed by Paul Seed, who had played the Graff Vynda-K in The Ribos Operation.