Jon Pertwee on:  
[Wikipedia]  
[Google]  
[Amazon]
John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
and the
Naval Intelligence Division during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. In his early career, he worked as a stage comedian, which included performing at the
Glasgow Empire Theatre
Glasgow Empire Theatre, known as the Glasgow Palace Empire until the early 1900s, was a major theatre in Glasgow, Scotland, which opened in 1897 on the site of the Gaiety Theatre at 31–35 Sauchiehall Street.
It was one of the leading theatre ...
and sharing a bill with
Max Wall and
Jimmy James.
[Cult leader's mission to return to future ](_blank)
'' The Herald''. 15 May 1989. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
As an actor, Pertwee appeared in many comedy roles, including four films in the ''
Carry On
Carry On may refer to:
* ''Carry On'' (franchise), a British comedy media franchise
*Carry-on luggage or hand luggage, luggage that is carried into the passenger compartment
* ''Carry On'' (film), a 1927 British silent film
* ''Carry On'' (novel), ...
'' series, and he became widely known for spending 18 years (1959–1977) playing
Chief Petty Officer
A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards.
Canada
"Chief petty officer" refers to two ranks in the Royal Canadian Navy. A chief petty officer 2nd class (CPO2) (''premier maître de deuxi ...
Pertwee (and three other roles) in the sitcom ''
The Navy Lark
''The Navy Lark'' is a radio sitcom about life aboard a United Kingdom, British Royal Navy Frigate#Modern Age, frigate named HMS ''Troutbridge'' (a play on HMS Troubridge (R00), HMS ''Troubridge'', a Royal Navy destroyer) based in HMNB Portsm ...
'' on
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...
. On television, Pertwee starred as the
third incarnation of
the Doctor in the long-running British science fiction series ''
Doctor Who'' (1970–1974), hosted the game show ''
Whodunnit?'' (1974–1978), and played the title character in ''
Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a scarecrow in British children's fiction, who originally appeared in a series of books by the English novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. '' (1979–1981 and 1987–1989). Towards the end of his life he maintained a close association with ''Doctor Who'' by appearing at many
fan conventions related to the series and giving interviews. He also performed a
one-man show
A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieties, including auto ...
called ''Who Is Jon Pertwee?''
Biography
Early life and education
Born in
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area.
Chelsea histori ...
, and having
French Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Beza ...
ancestry (his surname was an Anglicisation of "Perthuis"; the origins of his surname being "de Perthuis de Laillevault", the family being Counts descended from
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...
), Jon was the son of screenwriter and actor
Roland Pertwee
Roland Pertwee (15 May 1885 – 26 April 1963) was an English playwright, film and television screenwriter, director and actor. He was the father of ''Doctor Who'' actor Jon Pertwee and playwright and screenwriter Michael Pertwee. He was al ...
and distant cousin of actor
Bill Pertwee
William Desmond Anthony Pertwee, (21 July 1926 – 27 May 2013) was a British comedy actor. He played the role of Chief ARP Warden Hodges in the sitcom '' Dad's Army''.
Early life
Pertwee was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, on 21 July 192 ...
.
Pertwee's mother, Avice Scholtz, separated from his father Roland when Pertwee was young. His father remarried, and his mother found a new partner, Louis Auguste De La Garde, with whom Pertwee did not build a relationship; she died in 1951, leaving Pertwee's older brother Michael as her executor. Avice's sister Daphne married Captain Philip Cecil Clowes and became the mother of Pertwee's cousin, the writer
St John Legh Clowes (1907–1951). Actor
Henry Ainley, a close friend of his father, was his godfather. Coincidentally, Ainley's son
Anthony
Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...
appeared as
the Master – a renegade Time Lord who was The Doctor's greatest enemy – alongside Pertwee in the ''Doctor Who'' anniversary story ''
The Five Doctors
''The Five Doctors'' is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', produced in celebration of the programme's 20th anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago ...
'' (1983).
Pertwee was educated at
Frensham Heights School
Frensham Heights School is an independent school and sixth form college located near Farnham, Surrey, England, run by the registered charity, Frensham Heights Educational Trust Ltd. It was founded in 1925 and formed as part of the movement for ...
, an independent school in
Rowledge, near
Farnham in Surrey, at
Sherborne School
(God and My Right)
, established = 705 by Aldhelm,
re-founded by King Edward VI 1550
, closed =
, type = Public school Independent, boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, president =
, chair_label = Chairman of the governors
...
in Dorset, and at some other schools from which he was expelled.
After school, he applied to the
Central School of Speech & Drama, but was denied admittance because of his lisp.
He was admitted to the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...
(RADA), graduating in 1939.
He was accused of writing graffiti about the tutors on the lavatory walls.
Early career
While still at school, Pertwee worked as a circus performer riding the Wall of Death on a motorcycle with a toothless lion in the sidecar. He then worked in
repertory theatre before being contracted with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
at 18 as an actor.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, Pertwee spent six years in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
. He was a crew member of and was transferred off the ship for officer training shortly before she was sunk by the
German battleship ''Bismarck'',
losing all but three men in May 1941. Later, he was attached to the highly-secretive
Naval Intelligence Division,
working alongside future
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
author
Ian Fleming, and reporting directly to Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
and Deputy Prime Minister
Clement Attlee. In an interview conducted in 1994 and published in 2013, he said, "I did all sorts. Teaching commandos how to use escapology equipment, compasses in brass buttons, secret maps in white cotton handkerchiefs, pipes you could smoke that also fired a .22 bullet. All sorts of incredible things." During his time in the Navy, Pertwee woke up one morning after a drunken night out while in port to find a tattoo of a cobra on his right arm.
After the war, he began to work as a comedy actor on radio, becoming known for being able to do a variety of comedic voices and accents.
He did voice work in ''Waterlogged Spa'', alongside
Eric Barker
Eric Leslie Barker (12 February 1912 – 1 June 1990) was an English comedy actor. He is most remembered for his roles in the popular British '' Carry On'' films, although he only appeared in the early films in the series, apart from returning ...
, and ''Puffney Post Office'' in which he played a hapless old postman with the catch-phrase "It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you tears them up." On 15 November 1948, at the Wood Green Empire, he was billed as "The Most Versatile Voice in Radio – Jon ('Tear 'em Up') Pertwee from the Radio Shows ''Merry-go-Round'' and ''Up the Pole''". From 1959 to 1977, he performed the role of the conniving
Chief Petty Officer
A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards.
Canada
"Chief petty officer" refers to two ranks in the Royal Canadian Navy. A chief petty officer 2nd class (CPO2) (''premier maître de deuxi ...
Pertwee in ''
The Navy Lark
''The Navy Lark'' is a radio sitcom about life aboard a United Kingdom, British Royal Navy Frigate#Modern Age, frigate named HMS ''Troutbridge'' (a play on HMS Troubridge (R00), HMS ''Troubridge'', a Royal Navy destroyer) based in HMNB Portsm ...
'' on
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...
. The fictional ship in the series HMS ''Troutbridge'' almost shared its name with the real HMS ''
Troubridge'' whose commanding officer was a relative of Pertwee's who wrote to the BBC to provide details of comic incidents on the ship which were then used in '' The Navy Lark's'' scripts.
After
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George Barker (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as ''Porridge'', ''The Two Ronnies'', and '' Open All Hours''.
...
left the series Pertwee took on various additional roles in the series. These included a villainous character called the Master, whose voice Pertwee said was an impression of
Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager.
Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progr ...
.
Pertwee did not appear in the
1959 film version of ''The Navy Lark''. In his 1996 memoir he attributed this to producer
Herbert Wilcox
Herbert Sydney Wilcox CBE (19 April 1890 – 15 May 1977) was a British film producer and director.
He was one of the most successful British filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best known for the films he made with his third wif ...
refusing to employ his co-star
Dennis Price
Dennistoun Franklyn John Rose Price (23 June 1915 – 6 October 1973) was an English actor, best remembered for his role as Louis Mazzini in the film '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949) and for his portrayal of the omnicompetent valet Jeeve ...
on the grounds that "he was gay", a decision Pertwee made clear that he thought "was ridiculous". Shortly after voicing his support of Price he found out he had been dropped from the film's cast and replaced by
Ronald Shiner
Ronald Alfred Shiner (8 June 1903 – 29 June 1966) was a British stand-up comedian and comedy actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall.
Career Early life and career
When he was seventeen, Shiner joined the Royal Nor ...
.
He was known as a
Danny Kaye look-alike, and his impersonation of Kaye can be seen in the film ''
Murder at the Windmill
''Murder at the Windmill'', titled ''Mystery at the Burlesque'' in the United States, is a 1949 British crime film directed by Val Guest and featuring Garry Marsh, Jon Pertwee, and Peter Butterworth.
It was shot at Walton Studios and was the ...
'' (1949). He played Charlie Sterling in ''
Will Any Gentleman...?'' (1953). Future ''
Doctor Who'' actor
William Hartnell
William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the first incarnation of the Doctor in '' Doctor Who'' from 1963 to 1966. In film, Hartnell notably appeared in '' Bri ...
was also in the film; he played Inspector Martin.
On stage, he played the part of Lycus in the 1963 London production of ''
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' with
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian.
Early life
Howerd was born the son of soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Deat ...
and appeared in the smaller role of Crassus in the 1966
film version
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...
. He appeared as Sidney Tait in the comedy film ''
Ladies Who Do
''Ladies Who Do'' is a 1963 British comedy film directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards and starring Peggy Mount, Robert Morley and Harry H. Corbett.
Plot
Mrs. Cragg (Peggy Mount) works as a charwoman (part-time domestic servant) for retired C ...
'' (1963). In 1966, Pertwee starred alongside
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was a British actor.
Sinden featured in the film ''Mogambo'' (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including ''The Cruel Sea (195 ...
in the original
West End production of the long-running comedy ''
There's a Girl in My Soup
'' There's a Girl in My Soup'' is a 1970 British romantic comedy film based on the stage play of the same name, directed by Roy Boulting and starring Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn. The film was Sellers' last commercial success until '' Return ...
'' and in this period appeared in several
''Carry On'' films: ''
Carry On Cleo
''Carry On Cleo'' is a 1964 British historical comedy film, the tenth in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, and Jim Dale are present and Connor made his l ...
'' (1964), as the soothsayer; ''
Carry On Cowboy
''Carry On Cowboy'' is a 1965 British comedy Western film, the eleventh in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It was the first film to feature series regulars Peter Butterworth and Bernard Bresslaw. Series regulars Sid James, Ken ...
'' (1965) as Sheriff Earp; and ''
Carry On Screaming!
''Carry On Screaming!'' is a 1966 British black comedy horror film, the twelfth in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It was the last of the series to be made by Anglo-Amalgamated before the series moved to The Rank Organisati ...
'' (1966) as Dr. Fettle. (''
Carry On Columbus
''Carry On Columbus'' is a 1992 British comedy film, the 31st and final release in the ''Carry On'' film series (1958–1992). The film was a belated entry to the series, following 1978's ''Carry On Emmannuelle''. It was produced to coincide ...
'', with Pertwee in his fourth ''Carry On'' role, this time as the Duke of Costa Brava, was released in 1992). In 1967, he was chosen by ''
Dad's Army
''Dad's Army'' is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran fo ...
'' producer David Croft for the role of
Captain George Mainwaring, but Pertwee turned it down – possibly because he preferred to extend his role on Broadway in ''There's a Girl in My Soup''. In a lost interview from 1986, which was later rediscovered and published in 2008, he did not want his work on the ''Carry On'' films to overshadow his reputation as a serious actor.
His television career had started off with small parts in children's shows featuring
Richard Hearne
Richard Lewis Hearne (30 January 1908 – 23 August 1979) was an English actor, comedian, producer and writer. He is best remembered for his stage and television character Mr Pastry.
Career
Hearne was born in Norwich, Norfolk, in 1908, the son ...
's Mr Pastry character. Later he made an appearance in ''
The Avengers'' episode "
From Venus With Love" (1967) as Brigadier Whitehead, and later, he guest-starred as a vicar in ''
The Goodies''' episode "
Wacky Wales" (1975).
''Doctor Who''
In 1969, shortly before leaving the series, producer
Peter Bryant
Peter Bryant (27 October 1923 – 19 May 2006) was an English television producer, script editor and former actor. He acted in ''The Grove Family'' as a regular cast member and later became the producer of '' Doctor Who'' from 1967 to 196 ...
cast Pertwee as the
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord fr ...
in ''
Doctor Who''. Pertwee had asked his agent to apply for the role for him and was surprised to find he was already on the shortlist. He was the second choice for the role;
Ron Moody
Ron Moody (born Ronald Moodnick; 8 January 1924 – 11 June 2015) was an English actor, composer, singer and writer. He was best known for his portrayal of Fagin in ''Oliver!'' (1968) and its 1983 Broadway revival. Moody earned a Golden Globe ...
was the first but was unavailable.
In a departure from the Doctor's first two incarnations, Pertwee's era was influenced by the
James Bond film series
James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David Niv ...
. He played the character as an active crusader with a penchant for action and fancy clothes, while the character was exiled to Earth by the
Time Lord
The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, the Doctor, is a member. Time Lords are so named for their command ...
s for much of his tenure and serving as the scientific adviser to
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', created by writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln and ...
and
UNIT
Unit may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''
* Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation
Music
* ''Unit'' (a ...
. He played the Doctor for five seasons from early 1970 to mid-1974, a longer stint than either of his predecessors in the role,
although he ultimately appeared in fewer episodes than William Hartnell as the BBC had reduced the production schedule.
Pertwee credited his performance as the Doctor with helping him work out exactly who he really was when he was not resorting to comedic disguises or voices: a dapper, technologically oriented man of action.
This was because the BBC's Head of Drama,
Shaun Sutton
Shaun Alfred Graham Sutton (14 October 1919 in Hammersmith, London – 14 May 2004 in Norfolk) was an English television writer, director, producer and executive, who worked in the medium for nearly forty years from the 1950s to the 1990s. His m ...
, had advised him to act the Doctor as himself: in effect, to "play Jon Pertwee".
Pertwee's interpretation of the Doctor was described as "a man of action, supremely confident, articulate, yet also warmly reassuring." This incarnation was credited with being more action oriented and scientifically minded than early versions of the Doctor. In ''The Making of Doctor Who'', Pertwee himself said "Doctor Who is me – or I am Doctor Who. I play him straight from me."
On 14 April 1971, Pertwee was the subject of
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992.
Thames Television broa ...
's ''
This Is Your Life''.
During his tenure as the Doctor, Pertwee appeared in the
Amicus horror compendium ''
The House That Dripped Blood
''The House That Dripped Blood'' is a 1971 British anthology horror film directed by Peter Duffell and distributed by Amicus Productions. It stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Nyree Dawn Porter, Denholm Elliott, and Jon Pertwee. The ...
'' (1971), which was filmed in the summer of 1970 between his first and second ''Doctor Who'' seasons. Pertwee played the lead in the last segment of the film as Paul Henderson, an arrogant horror film star who meets his doom thanks to a genuine vampire cloak. In 1973 Pertwee endorsed the
Co-op
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
's ''Baking Your Cake and Eating It'', a recipe book written by Sarah Charles. It has been given the unofficial title of ''The Jon Pertwee Recipe Book''.
In early 1974, Pertwee announced he would step down as the Doctor to resume his stage career in ''The Bedwinner'', also citing potential typecasting in the role as the reason for leaving, though he later said that the catalyst for his departure was the death of his good friend and co-star
Roger Delgado
Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto (1 March 1918 – 18 June 1973) was a British actor. He played many roles on television, radio and in films, and had "a long history of playing minor villains" before becoming ...
(
The Master) and the departures of co-star
Katy Manning
Catherine Ann "Katy" Manning (born 14 October 1946) is an English- Australian actress, television presenter, voice artist and former model. Although she has made many appearances on both screen and stage, Manning is best known for her part as t ...
and producer
Barry Letts
Barry Leopold Letts (26 March 1925 – 9 October 2009) was an English actor, television director, writer and producer, best known for being the producer of ''Doctor Who'' from 1969 to 1974.
Born in Leicester, he worked as an actor in theatre, ...
. Also, according to
Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen (1 February 1946 – 19 April 2011) was an English actress. She became best known as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series ''Doctor Who'', appearing as a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside ...
in an interview on the DVD release of ''
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
''Invasion of the Dinosaurs'', simply titled ''Invasion'' in Part One, is the second serial of the 11th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 12 Januar ...
,'' Pertwee asked for a substantially increased fee for another year on the series which was turned down and he subsequently resigned from the role. Pertwee was also dealing with chronic back pain at the time, and was becoming less interested in the character of the Doctor.
His last full-time appearance in the series was in the story ''
Planet of the Spiders
''Planet of the Spiders'' is the fifth and final serial of the 11th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 4 May to 8 June 1974. It was Jon Pertwee's fina ...
'' in June 1974, which finished with
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1974 to 1981.Scott, Danny. (1 ...
replacing him in the role.
Pertwee later reprised the role in the 20th anniversary story ''
The Five Doctors
''The Five Doctors'' is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', produced in celebration of the programme's 20th anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago ...
'' and the
Children in Need story ''
Dimensions in Time
''Dimensions in Time'' is a charity special crossover between the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'' and the soap opera '' EastEnders'' that ran in two parts on 26 and 27 November 1993. It was filmed on location at Greenwic ...
'', in two radio adventures and on stage in ''
Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
''.
''Worzel Gummidge''
After a stint between 1974 and 1978 as the host of the
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992.
Thames Television broa ...
murder-mystery game show ''
Whodunnit?'', Pertwee took the
starring role in ''
Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a scarecrow in British children's fiction, who originally appeared in a series of books by the English novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. '', based on the books written by
Barbara Euphan Todd
Barbara Euphan Todd (9 January 1890 – 2 February 1976) was an English writer widely remembered for her ten books for children about a scarecrow called Worzel Gummidge. These were adapted for radio and television. The title story was chosen as ...
. Produced by
ITV franchise contractor
Southern Television in the initial run, it was first transmitted on ITV from 1979. Pertwee had first been approached to play the part of Worzel Gummidge in a film to be written by
Keith Waterhouse
Keith Spencer Waterhouse (6 February 1929 – 4 September 2009) was a British novelist and newspaper columnist and the writer of many television series.
Biography
Keith Waterhouse was born in Hunslet, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. H ...
and
Willis Hall
Willis Edward Hall (6 April 1929 – 7 March 2005) was an English playwright and radio, television and film writer who drew on his working-class roots in Leeds for much of his writing. Willis formed an extremely prolific partnership with h ...
. When this project fell through Pertwee encouraged the writers to create a
television pilot
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distr ...
instead and via his
agent
Agent may refer to:
Espionage, investigation, and law
*, spies or intelligence officers
* Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another
** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...
pitched the idea to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
who turned it down and then Thames Television who likewise passed on the project. Pertwee later admitted that he "began to lose faith in the project", until Southern Television's Lewis Rudd heard about it and enthusiastically agreed that the company would make the series.