A third of the way through the year, and although these posts don’t get a lot of feedback, I’m enjoying them for myself which is the main thing.

i) births and deaths

31 October 1922: birth of Talfryn Thomas, who played the hospital porter Mullins in Spearhead from Space (Third Doctor, 1970) and mine Dave Griffiths in The Green Death (Third Doctor, 1974).

31 October 1958: birth of Ian Briggs, who wrote the Seventh Doctor stories Dragonfire (1987) and The Curse of Fenric (1989).

ii) broadcast anniversaries

31 October 1964: broadcast of “Planet of Giants”, first episode of the story we also now call Planet of Giants, starting Season 2 of Classic Who. The Doctor, Ian, Susan and Barbara arrive in contemporary England, but miniaturised; they witness a murder and face peril from a cat.

31 October 2009: broadcast of Regeneration, the first episode of the K9 spinoff series. In a totalitarian London in 2050, where civilisation has degenerated so badly that most people now speak with Australian accents, K9 Mark 1 appears, regenerates, and teams up with teenagers Starkey and Jorjie.

31 October 2015: broadcast of The Zygon Invasion. The peace between humans and Zygons is breaking down…

[update]

31 October 2021: broadcast of The Halloween Apocalypse. The Doctor and Yazz meet Dan Lewis; the Lupari protect Earth from the Flux.