i) births and deaths
21 March 1915: birth of Ian Stuart Black, author of The Savages (First Doctor, 1966), The War Machines (First Doctor, 1966) and The Macra Terror (Second Doctor, 1967).
21 March 1923: birth of Peter Pratt, who played the Master in The Deadly Assassin (Fourth Doctor, 1976).

21 March 1936: birth of Roger Hammond, who played Francis Bacon in The Chase (First Doctor, 1965) and Dr Runciman in Mawdryn Undead (Fifth Doctor, 1983).


21 March 1944: birth of Hilary Minster, who had two rather minor roles as Thals – Marat in Planet of the Daleks (Third Doctor, 1973) and an unnamed soldier in Genesis of the Daleks (Fourth Doctor, 1975), but is of interest to me as the only person to have been semi-regular character in both Secret Army, where he played Hauptmann Muller, and Allo! Allo!, where he played General von Klinkerhoffen – a high ranking Wehrmacht officer in both cases.




21 March 1946: birth of Timothy Dalton, who played Rassilon in The End of Time (2009-2010).

21 March 1970: birth of Chris Chibnall, currently show-runner for New Who, writer of seven other episodes and head writer of first two seasons of Torchwood, first came to prominence as a Doctor Who Appreciation Society critic of the show in 1986.
21 March 1983: birth of Bruno Langley, who played Adam in Dalek and The Long Game (2005).

21 March 2002: death of Neville Barber, who played Dr Humphrey Cook in The Time Monster (Third Doctor, 1972) and Howard Baker in K9 and Company (1981).


ii) broadcast anniversaries
21 March 1964: broadcast of "Rider from Shang-Tu", fifth episode of the story we now call Marco Polo. The Tardis crew are unable to persuade Marco Polo that Tegana is the source of their problems, and he prevents their escape.

21 March 1970: broadcast of first episode of The Ambassadors of Death. An attempt to rescue a lost Mars probe is frustrated by a signal sent from a vacant warehouse; UNIT investigates and is attacked.

21 March 1981: broadcast of fourth episode of Logopolis, ending Season 18: last appearance of Tom Baker and first of Peter Davison as the Fourth Doctor regenerates into the Fifth, after falling from a radio telescope while preventing the Master from blackmailing the people of the Universe.

21 March 2009: broadcast of Fragments (Torchwood), the one with all the flashbacks.

One thought on “Whoniversaries 21 March”