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A Girl's Best Friend
''K-9 and Company'' is a one-episode television pilot, for a proposed 1981 television spin-off of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It features former series regulars Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist played by Elisabeth Sladen, and K9, a robotic dog voiced by John Leeson. Both characters had been companions of the Fourth Doctor, but they had not appeared together before. The single episode, "A Girl's Best Friend", was broadcast by BBC1 as a Christmas special on 28 December 1981, but was not taken up for a continuing series. "A Girl's Best Friend" is set in the fictional English village of Moreton Harwood in 1981. In the programme, Sarah and K9 investigate the disappearance of Brendan Richards (Ian Sears), the ward of Sarah's Aunt Lavinia ( Mary Wimbush), in the wake of increasing reports of witchcraft. Under a different production team, the overall concept of a Sarah Jane and K9 series did eventually come to fruition: '' The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Nathan-Turner
John Nathan-Turner (''né'' Turner; 12 August 1947 – 1 May 2002) was an English television producer. He was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. He was also the final producer of the series' first run on television (from 1980 until it was cancelled in 1989). He finished the role having become the longest-serving ''Doctor Who'' producer and cast Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy as the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, respectively.BBC (3 May 2002Doctor Who producer diesBBC. Retrieved 15 August 2008. Early life Born John Turner in Birmingham, he adopted the double-barrelled stage name ''John Nathan-Turner'' to distinguish himself from the British actor John Turner. He was educated at King Edward VI School, at Aston in Birmingham, where he showed an early interest in acting and theatre. His earliest television acting work was as an extra in TV productions for ITV, including ''Crossroads'' and ''The Flying Swan''. Bot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC science fiction on television, television science fiction programme ''Doctor Who'' and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels or shares adventures with the Doctor (Doctor Who), Doctor. In most ''Doctor Who'' stories, the primary companion acts as an audience surrogate. They provide the lens through which the viewer is introduced to the series. The companion character often furthers the story by asking questions (often to help the audience understand too) and getting into trouble, or by helping, rescuing, or challenging the Doctor. This designation is applied to a character by the show's producers and appears in the BBC's promotional material and off-screen fictional terminology. The Doctor also refers to the show's other leads as their “friends" or "assistants"; the British press have also used the latter term. History In the earliest episodes of ''Doctor Who'', the dramatic structure of the programme's cast was rather diffe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coven
A coven () is a group or gathering of witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English until 1921 when Margaret Murray promoted the idea that all witches across Europe met in groups of thirteen which they called "covens".Murray, Margaret (1921). ''The Witch Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology''. Modern paganism In Wicca and other similar forms of modern pagan witchcraft, such as Stregheria and Feri, a coven is a gathering or community of witches, like an affinity group, engagement group, or small covenant group. It is composed of a group of practitioners who gather together for rituals such as Drawing Down the Moon, or celebrating the Sabbats.. The place at which they generally meet is called a covenstead. The number of people involved may vary. Although some consider thirteen to be ideal (probably in deference to Murray's theories), any group of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antony Root
Antony Root is a British television executive and producer. He has worked in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. He is currently the executive vice-president of HBO Europe and head of original production for WarnerMedia EMEA. Education Root was educated at King's College School, Cambridge, Marlborough College and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he read philosophy and English. At Cambridge he was president of the Amateur Dramatic Club (CUADC) and junior treasurer of the Footlights revue group. Career After a brief career in theatre management, he joined the BBC television drama Series and Serials Department as an assistant floor manager. He was subsequently promoted to become a script editor, working on season 19 of ''Doctor Who'' (credited on the serials ''Four to Doomsday'', '' The Visitation'' and ''Earthshock'', broadcast in 1982), ''The Chinese Detective'' (1981–82) and ''Strangers and Brothers'' (1984). In 1984 he was recruited by Euston Films, a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Saward
Eric Saward (; born 9 December 1944) is a British radio scriptwriter who worked for the BBC as a television script editor and screenwriter on the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' from 1982 until 1986. He wrote the stories '' The Visitation'' (1982), ''Earthshock'' (1982), ''Resurrection of the Daleks'' (1984) and ''Revelation of the Daleks'' (1985). Early life Saward was born to a father who was an engineer at de Havilland in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. He was raised in Welwyn Garden City. He cites David Mercer, Brian Moore and Harold Pinter as early influences. Career His career as a scriptwriter began with drama for radio while he was working as a teacher. Later he was able to cross into full-time writing. He was approached by then ''Doctor Who'' script editor Christopher H. Bidmead to submit some ideas to the series on the strength of a recommendation from the senior drama script editor at BBC Radio. He received a commission to write the story '' The Visitation''. This i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Quarmby
John Quarmby (18 June 1929 – 5 April 2019) was an English character actor. Biography Quarmby was born in Liverpool and after two years' national service in the RAF joined RADA in 1949. Repertory work dominated the first twenty years of his career, although he began appearing in television in 1956. Quarmby played a variety of roles from the 1960s to the 1990s appearing in many long-running drama series such as ''Z-Cars'', '' Softly, Softly'', ''Juliet Bravo'' and ''Howards' Way''. He also appeared in the 1982 television film ''The Scarlet Pimpernel''. He appeared as a prison officer in ''Porridge'' in an episode entitled "The Hustler" (1974). He played the role of Mr Carnegie, the Health Inspector in the ''Fawlty Towers'' episode " Basil the Rat" (1979) and Henry Tobias (the newspaper editor) in ''K-9 and Company ''K-9 and Company'' is a one-episode television pilot, for a proposed 1981 television spin-off of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sean Chapman
Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; anglicized ''Shane/Shayne''), rendered ''John'' in English and Johannes/Johann/Johan in other Germanic languages. The Norman French ''Jehan'' (see ''Jean'') is another version. For notable people named Sean, refer to List of people named Sean. Origin The name was adopted into the Irish language most likely from ''Jean'', the French variant of the Hebrew name ''Yohanan''. As Gaelic has no letter (derived from ; English also lacked until the late 17th Century, with ''John'' previously been spelt ''Iohn'') so it is substituted by , as was the normal Gaelic practice for adapting Biblical names that contain in other languages (''Sine''/''Siobhàn'' for ''Joan/Jane/Anne/Anna''; ''Seonaid''/''Sinéad'' for ''Janet''; ''Seumas''/''Séamus'' for ''Jam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Fraser
William Simpson Fraser (5 June 1908 – 9 September 1987) was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play ''When We Are Married''. Early life Fraser was born in Perth and educated at Strathallan School. He began his career as a clerk in a bank before beginning to act. In the early days when acting work was scarce, Fraser was often penniless, frequently sleeping rough on the Embankment in London. Before the Second World War, he ran the Connaught Theatre in Worthing; when called up he served in a Royal Air Force Special Liaison Unit, reaching the rank of flight lieutenant, where he met and became friends with Eric Sykes. Just after the war a chance meeting in a London street led to Fraser's giving Sykes his first work as a writer for radio comedy and the two friends worked together many times over the following years. Fraser is also credited wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Jeavons
Colin Abel Jeavons (born 20 October 1929) is a retired British television actor. Career Jeavons' earliest television role was as Jules Neraud in an episode of the 1956 anthology series of teleplays ''Nom-de-Plume''. Broadcast live, it is unknown if any recordings of the production exist. He began an association with Dickens productions on BBC Television in 1959 with ''Bleak House'' as Richard Carstone, and '' Great Expectations'' (for the first time) as Herbert Pocket. The same year he played Prince Hal/Henry V in the BBC's ''The Life and Death of Sir John Falstaff''. In 1963 he played the extremely reluctant hero Vadassy forced into espionage in '' Epitaph for a Spy'' for BBC Television. Jeavons portrayed Uriah Heep in the BBC's ''David Copperfield'' (1966). Only one episode featuring him (episode 11, "Umble Aspirations") is known to exist. He appeared in a host of 1960s and 1970s TV programmes including '' Doctor Who'' (in "The Underwater Menace"), ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Logopolis
''Logopolis'' is the seventh and final serial of the Doctor Who (season 18), 18th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 28 February to 21 March 1981. It was Tom Baker's last story as the Fourth Doctor and marks the first appearance of Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Janet Fielding as new Companion (Doctor Who), companion Tegan Jovanka. The serial is set on the planets Earth and Logopolis. In the serial, the Doctor, a Time travel in fiction, time traveller from the planet Gallifrey, forms a temporary truce with his arch-enemy The Master (Doctor Who), the Master (Anthony Ainley) to stop the unravelling of the universe which the Master had started by accident. The serial was the last Doctor Who story aired on Saturday nights for 2 years. When Peter Davison took over as the Fifth Doctor from January 1982, the BBC moved Doctor Who from Saturday nights to a new weekday prime tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janet Fielding
Janet Fielding (born Janet Claire Mahoney; 9 September 1953) is an Australian actress who starred in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' as companion Tegan Jovanka. Early life and career Fielding was born in Brisbane. After spending some of her childhood schooldays in America, Fielding studied at the University of Queensland, from which she graduated with a degree in English. She planned to become a reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and journalism had been a major part of her degree course. Instead, she moved to Britain to become an actress. After arriving in Britain she joined an actors' cooperative. As 'Janet Clare Fielding' she made her UK TV debut in the ''Hammer House of Horror'' episode "Charlie Boy", which aired in October 1980 as it was announced she had been cast as the next ''Doctor Who'' companion. She got the Doctor Who companion role after a number of interviews and auditions. Between 1981 and 1984, Fielding played the part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TARDIS
The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior appearance mimics a police box, an obsolete type of telephone kiosk that was once commonly seen on streets in Britain. Paradoxically, its interior is shown as being much larger than its exterior, commonly described as being "bigger on the inside". Due to the significance of ''Doctor Who'' in popular British culture, the shape of the police box is now more strongly associated with the TARDIS than its real-world inspiration. The name and design of the TARDIS is a registered trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), despite the fact that the design was originally created by the Metropolitan Police Service. Name TARDIS is an acronym of "Time And Relative Dimension(s) in Space". The word "Dimension" is alternatively rendered in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
