3 March 1924: birth of John Woodnutt, who played George Hibbert in Spearhead from Space (1970), the Draconian Emperor in Frontier in Space (1973), Broton and the Duke of Forgill in Terror of the Zygons (1976), and Seron in The Keeper of Traken (1981).
3 March 2004: death of Sheila Dunn, who played Blossom Lefavre in The Daleks’ Master Plan (1965), the computer voice of the Electromatic company in The Invasion (1968), and Petra Williams in Inferno (1970). She was married to television director Douglas Camfield.
ii) broadcast anniversary
3 March 1973: broadcast of second episode of Frontier in Space. The Doctor and Jo are brought to Earth for questioning, where the Doctor is captured by the Draconians and then recaptured by the humans.
iii) date specified in canon
3 and 4 March 1215: setting of The King’s Demons (1983).
Listened to Luxor this week finally. Was really looking forward to it; was kind of disappointed. Although it’s always fun to have a “new” Hartnell adventure – voiced by two of the original actors, no less – the script was the major weakness, and I can see why it was rejected (unlike the stellar “Farewell, Great Macedon). Coburn really doesn’t seem to have understood the narrative pacing of a six-parter, and the plot is both all over the place and interminably slow. Bunch of great ideas, but not executed very well; it really does seem like a very, very early stab at sci-fi.
I have a question for you though, since you’ve both read the original script and have listened to the audio. The writer & crew mention that one of the changes made in adapting the original piece was to downplay or remove the religious matters, as they felt this would be “inappropriate” for a modern audience. I think that’s a bit of a shame; as a “Lost Story” it’s already an artifact out of its time, and would have been interested in seeing that how such a theme was casually layered in as well. Did you notice the difference when you listened to the story? Do you remember which bits were taken out or changed?