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STOP PRESS for all Doctor Who fans in Suffolk and Norfolk.
Thursday 29th May 10.30am
VENUE: The CUT, Halesworth Suffolk.
I will be giving an illustrated talk at the Cut entitled “THE FIRST DOCTOR”. In this 50th anniversary year of the iconic TV show Doctor Who
I will be telling the story of the genesis of the programme together
with some anecdotal material of my 46 episodes as the Doctor’s
companion, Steven Taylor. Michael Imison, The director of “The Ark”,
one of the cleverer serials in which I took part, will join me for an
informal and entertaining 90 minutes.
The Original Series |
| Peter
appeared in 44 episodes of Doctor Who - all with the original Doctor,
William Hartnell. |
| After
joining the cast for a one-off appearance in 1965 as Morton Dill, Peter
very soon had the opportunity of becoming Steven Taylor, one of the
ever-present "companions" of Doctor Who, appearing in the following
serials. |
- The
Time Meddler - 4 episodes
- Galaxy 4 - 4 episodes *
- The Myth Makers - 4 episodes *
- The Ark - 4 episodes
- The Massacre - 4 episodes *
- The Dalek Master Plan - 12 episodes *
- The Gunfighters - 4 episodes
- The Celestial Toymaker - 4 episodes *
- The Savages - 4 episodes
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| The
continuing interest in the Early series of Doctor Who is considerable
both in the UK and around the world. There are Appreciation Societies,
numerous websites and large conventions for the show's aficionados
which Peter sometimes attends. |
| Those
who want to start exploring the web for information on Doctor Who might
want to start with the following links: |
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| The huge interest that
the new series of Doctor Who has generated means that there has been
renewed interest in some of the older and original stories and serials.
Consequently I have now made audio
versions, with producer Mark
Ayres, of all the serials in which I took part, and they do make
excellent radio plays. I have also recorded an original Doctor Who
story featuring my character, Steven
Taylor, for Big Finish
Productions. It is called Mother
Russia, and I act as narrator of the story. |
| Another recent
innovation has been the production of DVD’s
with alternative audio tracks to existing video footage. I have
just completed the Space Museum
with William Russell (Ian), Maureen O’Brien (Vicki) and the writer of the serial Glyn Jones;
and also The Chase (which was
where I played two characters in the same serial - in episode three I
was an American Hillbilly, Morton Dill who had contact with the
Tardis
and the Daleks on top of the Empire State Building in New York);
and in episode six, I joined the series as Steven Taylor, a new regular cast
member – and the director,
Richard Martin joined me, Russ
and Maureen in the backroom discussion. It is all very
enlightening I can assure you. |
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| Peter's Memories |
"Following a couple of leading roles in
TV plays I heard that Doctor Who was looking for actors who could
'move' to play giant butterflies and other insects in one of the
serials. I went along to meet the director, Richard Martin, who very
kindly told me that with the work I had been doing previously it wasn't
worth me playing one of the non-speaking roles. However, he told me
that if ever he was casting proper acting parts, he would think of me.
A few months later Richard was true to
his word when he cast me as Morton Dill
in The Chase. I was thrilled to be
playing the part, but even more thrilled when I was asked to go with
the Producer, Verity Lambert, for a drink at Studio 3, the pub opposite
the Riverside Studios. I was dumbfounded when she asked me if I would
be interested in joining the cast on a regular basis. Naturally I said
'Yes' and Steven Taylor made his debut
appearance three weeks later.
Of all the serials the historical ones
were my favourites - particularly The Massacre
and The Myth Makers - and I have quite an
affection for The Celestial Toymaker.
I finally left the cast of the show in
June 1966.
More recently it has been a delight to
be involved again. The remastered CDs being launched required some new
commentary to add continuity to the original sound tracks and it has
been a privilege to have narrated all of the stories in which I took
part."
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