Stuart Humphryes (born 10 December 1969) is an English multimedia artist for print, film and television, and a

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

content creator, chiefly known for his work enhancing early colour photography. He first rose to prominence colourising the British television series ''

Doctor Who ''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 ...

''. He is widely known by his alias "BabelColour", a public persona which was created in 2006 with the launch of his YouTube channel.

Photographic Enhancement Process

Humphryes is principally known for the enhancement of early colour photography, such as Autochromes and Paget plates. He has popularised the autochrome process amongst the general public, with over 200,000 followers on his autochrome-enhancement Twitter feed. In interviews, Humphryes has stated that his photographic enhancement work includes the following steps: The digital removal of physical flaws; the restoration/recreation of any missing sections of the image; removal of dirt and blemishes; removal of staining or colour bleed; re-adjustment of saturation and luminance levels; colour rebalancing; noise reduction; and the employment of deep learning neural-network algorithms to remove grain whilst enhancing detail definition.

In print

On 18 July 2022, the Portuguese news magazine ''

Visão ''Visão'' is a Portuguese news magazine published weekly in Lisbon, Portugal. History and profile ''Visão'' was first published on 25 March 1993. The magazine is the successor to the weekly newspaper ''O Jornal'' which was published between 197 ...

'' ran a feature and interview with Humphryes, exploring his photo enhancement work On 3 September 2021,

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

ran a 2-page article about the

optical illusion Within visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide v ...

of colour assimilation, prompted by a viral tweet by Humphryes, whom they interviewed about the phenomenon. In August 2021, ''The Simple Things'' Magazine, issue #110, featured Humphryes' autochrome enhancements with a recommendation to follow his Twitter and Instagram accounts. However, the magazine unintentionally published the wrong Twitter account details The June 2021

Doctor Who Magazine ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the followi ...

issue #564 published a 4-page article written by Humphryes on his search for, and eventual restoration of, missing photographs of director Christopher Baker. In March 2021, the French youth magazine ''Topo'' ran a 2-page feature on his photo enhancement work, focusing on the French roots of the autochrome process and its use during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The December 2020 and January 2021 issues of the US-based ''Wild West'' magazine included restoration and photo colourisation work by Humphryes, who had employed artificial neural networking to reconstruct and enhance the face of Billy the Kid from the only verified

tintype A tintype, also known as a melainotype or ferrotype, is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with a dark lacquer or enamel and used as the support for the photographic emulsion. Tintypes enjoyed their wi ...

photograph of the outlaw. In October 2020 '' The National'' newspaper printed a feature on Humphryes and his autochrome enhancement work. The article focused on the Gulf region and consisted of an interview and restoration galleries. In May 2020 - to mark the 75th anniversary of

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

- the

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

issued commemorative coin presentation packs which included colourisation work by Humphryes. In February 2019 the ''

London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' ran a feature on his colourisation work. Humphryes stated, "I try to be bold with my colours – most colourisers seem frightened of the medium and make their work pastel and faded. I’m of the opinion that if I’m going to add colour I may as well go the whole hog and make it bold and bright and colourful. That’s what real life should be, after all!" In August 2018 the ''

Edinburgh Evening News The ''Edinburgh Evening News'' is a daily newspaper and website based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded by John Wilson (1844–1909) and first published in 1873. It is printed daily, except on Sundays. It is owned by JPIMedia, which also ...

'' ran an interview with Humphryes about his restoration of colour film of 1930s Edinburgh. In 2015 Humphryes colourised the cover of Mark Iveson's biographical reference book ''Cursed Horror Stars''. In 2012 Humphryes wrote a treatise on Doctor Who entitled 'Teatime and an Open Mind' for the non-fiction book ''You and Who''. The book's editor J. R. Southall wrote in ''

Starburst Magazine ''Starburst'' is a British science fiction magazine published by Starburst Magazine Limited. ''Starburst'' contains news, interviews, features, and reviews of genre material in various media, including TV, film, soundtracks, multimedia, books, ...

'', "That internet legend from YouTube, known usually as BabelColour, submitted a much longer essay. It was an excellent piece of writing, and very important for a couple of reasons... it kind of gave the whole project a feeling of legitimacy. Now I could tell people that Stuart Humphryes had made a submission already, and even quote an extract from it as an example". In November 2014 Humphryes was one of the "big names in the Whovian community" interviewed by the Houston Press for his positive critical opinion of Series 8 of

. In 2005 Humphryes colourised

Tele-snaps Tele-snaps (often known as telesnaps) were off-screen photographs of British television broadcasts, taken and sold commercially by John Cura (born Alberto Giovanni Cura in Clapham, South London, England; 9 April 1902 – 21 April 1969). From 194 ...

for issue 2 of ''Nothing at the End of the Lane'' – the magazine of Doctor Who Research and Restoration – in which he was interviewed about his colourisation work. He returned to this publication in 2008 to colourise the cover of their omnibus reprint of issues 1 and 2.

Social media

Twitter

Humphryes runs the Babelcolour account on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. In June 2020 he began tweeting early colour photographic enhancements. He has over 200,000 followers (as of October 2022)

Notable Tweets

On 15 September 2022, Humphryes tweeted original colour footage from the 1952 Lying-in-state and funeral procession for the late

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

. This tweet went viral and was subsequently featured by

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, the

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

, the Daily Star and

LADbible LADbible Group part of LBG Media is a British digital publisher. Its headquarters are in Manchester and it has offices in London, Dublin, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. Founded in 2012 by Alexander "Solly" Solomou and Arian Kalantari, LADbible ...

and was discussed on Jazz FM radio. In October 2021, his series of enhanced

Paget plate The Paget process was an early colour photography process patented in Britain in 1912 by G.S. Whitfield and first marketed by the Paget Prize Plate Company in 1913. A paper-based Paget process was also briefly sold. Both were discontinued in the e ...

s, originally taken by Frank Hurley during

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...

's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, were featured by

Live Science Live Science is a science news website run by Future via Purch, which it purchased from Imaginova in 2009. Stories and editorial commentary are typically syndicated to major news outlets, such as Yahoo!, MSNBC, AOL, and Fox News.{{fact, date=Marc ...

On 30 August 2021, his viral tweet of Øyvind Kolås's colour assimilation grid prompted an article in various tabloids and

. On 8 November 2018 Humphryes tweeted his own recitation of the Great War poem " In Flanders Fields" to mark the centenary of Armistice Day. This video was used by the ''

'' to head its article on war poetry. On 30 September 2018, his tweet of a 1943 photograph, apparently showing the anachronous use of a

mobile device A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

, made international news. In the UK it was covered by media sites such as

and tabloid newspapers including the ''

'', and '' The Sun'', whilst in the US it was picked up by

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

. Other international coverage included stories in Russia, Taiwan, Hungary, China and Vietnam. On 29 August 2018 he tweeted colour film of 1930s Edinburgh which also prompted an article and interview in the ''

''.

Film colourisation

''The Daleks' Master Plan''

In 2005 Humphryes collaborated with James Russell, a design engineer who was one of the founder members of the

Doctor Who Restoration Team The ''Doctor Who'' Restoration Team is a loose collection of ''Doctor Who'' fans, many within the television industry, who restore ''Doctor Who'' episodes for release on DVD. The Restoration Team was formed in 1992 when a small group of ''Doctor W ...

and the son of film director

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

to colourise the surviving 35mm film from the 1965 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''

The Daleks' Master Plan ''The Daleks' Master Plan'' is the Doctor Who missing episodes, mostly missing third serial of the Doctor Who (season 3), third season in the British Science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which orig ...

''. The colourised footage was incorporated into "The Dalek Tapes" documentary on the 2006 DVD release of ''

Genesis of the Daleks ''Genesis of the Daleks'' is the fourth serial of the twelfth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was written by Terry Nation and directed by David Maloney, and originally broadcast in six weekly parts from ...

''. and as an extra on the '' Destiny of the Daleks'' blu-ray release in 2022

''The Mind of Evil''

In 2009 Humphryes and Russell reunited to assess the viability of re-colourising the first episode of the 1971

serial ''

The Mind of Evil ''The Mind of Evil'' is the second serial of the Doctor Who (season 8), eighth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 January to 6 March 1971. In th ...

'' which only existed in the BBC Archives as a monochrome film print. Their test sequence eventually led to the

commissioning Humphryes in 2011 to recolourise the entire episode. According to ''Doctor Who: The Complete History'', it was achieved "by a combination of hand colouring by multimedia artist Stuart Humphryes, and motion estimation software". Between 2011–2013 Humphryes was the sole colourising artist working alongside the video restoration company SVS Resources to complete the commercial colourisation of ''

'' for the

BBC #REDIRECT 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 ex ...

Screenings

The newly colourised '' Mind of Evil'' was premiered at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

on 10 March 2013. Humphryes was in attendance to answer questions on stage about the re-colourisation process The recolourised episodes also received a special screening, with a Q&A Restoration Panel, at Birmingham's annual

Flatpack Film Festival Flatpack Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Birmingham, England. During the festival a varied collection of different films and media forms are shown, including animation, documentaries, short films, music videos and e ...

on Saturday 30 March 2013 and at the

Belfast Film Festival The Belfast Film Festival is Northern Ireland's largest film festival, attracting over 25,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1995, the festival has grown to include the Docs Ireland international documentary festival, as well as an Audi ...

on Thursday 18 April 2013 Following its original release on DVD in 2013, the re-colourised version became the broadcast default, being subsequently televised in the US on

Retro TV Retro TV (stylized as retrotv), formerly known as Retro Television Network, is an American broadcast television network owned by Get After It Media. The network mainly airs classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through th ...

on 15 October 2014 and

KBTC KBTC may refer to: * KBTC (AM), a radio station (1250 AM) licensed to Houston, Missouri, United States * KBTC-TV KBTC-TV (channel 28) is a television station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area as a member ...

Public Television on Saturday 23 January 2016. It is also the version currently available for subscription download in the US on

BritBox BritBox is an online digital video subscription service, founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, operating in nine countries across North America, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

and was live-streamed by

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...

on four occasions in June 2018 and January 2019. It was later released on blu-ray in 2021. Clips and details of the serial's recolourisation were covered by a special feature on the BBC evening news on 12 June 2013

''Terror of the Zygons''

In February 2012 Humphryes was engaged by SVS Resources to recolourise monochrome footage from the 1975 Doctor Who serial

Terror of the Zygons Terror of the Zygons is the first serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was the first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 August to 20 September 1975. It was the last regular ...

in preparation for a special extended "director's cut" of the story on DVD. The monochrome film - consisting of a cutting copy and dub track in mixed colour and monochrome formats - had been discovered amongst the estate of the serial's film editor Ian McKendrick and returned to the BBC in 2008 The recolourisation work was completed to a tight deadline and consequently employed some shortcut techniques, including flat colour washes for certain elements such as clothing, which would not normally be employed by Humphryes.

Colourisation process

Most commercial colourisation processes involve the use of either masks, layers or the segmentation method. The process used by Humphryes however, is unusual in that it does not employ these methods of separating colour to produce each

key frame In animation and filmmaking, a key frame (or keyframe) is a drawing or shot that defines the starting and ending points of a smooth transition. These are called ''frames'' because their position in time is measured in frames on a strip of film ...

but instead each individual frame is colourised as a single completed image. A consequence of this means that although the finished product can achieve greater realism the work is very labour-intensive, with around 7000 fully colourised key frames required to produce 20 minutes of footage. This equates to an average of 1 in every 5 frames being fully colourised as key frames for

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

video. According to an interview with Humphryes in the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' it consequently took him 18 months to recolourise the required quantity of key frames for 'The Mind of Evil' episode one

Critical reception

Humphryes was dubbed a "colourisation and compositing legend" by the BBC's AfterShow.

stated Humphryes was an “internet legend” whilst the Edinburgh News noted that Humphryes was lauded by industry chiefs as a "composition legend". The '' Houston Press'' asserted: "His work is almost unrivaled in popularity" ''

'' stated, "Stuart's work on colours is exceptionally good, especially with difficult areas like skin and hair and this sets a new benchmark for the colourisation of film recordings" ''

SFX Magazine ''SFX'' is a British magazine covering the topics of science fiction and fantasy. Its name is a reference to the abbreviated form of "special effects". Description ''SFX'' magazine is published every four weeks by Future plc and was founded in 19 ...

'' stated, "The results are seriously impressive", with ''

'' considering his work "astonishing". On-line reviews of his output have stated "The result is stunning... with skin tones looking particularly impressive" 'Telly Tech'' "Babel's work is astonishing" 'Immaterial'' "the depth and accuracy of colour application is superbly observed and as delicate as the brushstrokes of a Constable or a Rembrandt" 'Eye of Horus'' "the results are really quite stunning." hilled Monkey Brainzand "Skin tones and hair colour is rarely done well, even by professional colourising companies, but Stuart seemed to have nailed it" 'Home Cinema Choice'' His DVD colourisation work was praised by ''

'', ''

'', the ''

'',

Doctor Who Online Doctor Who Online (or DWO by its users) has, since 1996, been a UK-based news, information, and forum site dedicated to the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. A regular feature on the website is the Doctor Who: DWO W ...

, DVD Talk,

Nerdist Nerdist Industries, LLC is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast (The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a network of podcasts, a premium conte ...

and an array of on-line genre sites and blogs He received commendation for his colourisation work in 2015 from the Doctor Who showrunner, head writer and producer

Steven Moffat Steven William Moffat (; born 18 November 1961) is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the science fiction television series ''Doct ...

, who cited Humphryes as one of "the next generation of creatives". In September 2017 Moffat recorded an anniversary tribute to Humphryes on YouTube, stating his colourisation output was "beautiful, impeccable, gorgeous work and genuinely among my favourite things on the internet" He has also received recommendations for his colourised work from BBC America and the '' Houston Press'' with his contributions to Doctor Who and the field of colourisation being the subject of numerous interviews and podcasts

YouTube

Humphryes established The BabelColour Channel on YouTube on 10 August 2006, focusing entirely on ''

'' content. His final upload was in March 2018, followed by a three-year hiatus. He has announced that he is currently working on new YouTube content for release in 2022/2023. Seventy-four videos are currently available, which have accrued 10 million views (as of September 2020). The '' Houston Press'' asserted: "BabelColour is one of the top producers of on-line video content. His work is almost unrivaled in popularity", with the BBC's '' AfterShow'' and the ''

'' both citing Humphryes as a "colourisation and compositing legend". Twenty-three of his videos have been featured as the monthly YouTube recommendation in the official ''

''. and three have been the monthly recommendations in ''

''. Two of his videos were listed in the "Top Ten Doctor Who Videos on YouTube" by ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'', while he was nominated by

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

in its article "8 Most Amazing Fan Videos on YouTube", and the '' Houston Press'' cited Humphryes as one of "5 Fans Who Do Doctor Who Better than the BBC". His memorial tribute to

Nicholas Courtney William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Ear ...

was shared by ''

'', and his Christmas tribute was included in the ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

s article "8 things we'd like to see in the Doctor Who Christmas Special". His "Every Doctor Who Story" video and updates have over 1.6 million views and received recommendations from the io9 website, BBC America,

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...

Nerdist.com Nerdist Industries, LLC is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast (The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a network of podcasts, a premium conte ...

and

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its primary office in Ogden, Utah. ''Scr ...

amongst many others. in September 2017, the ''

'' ran a feature on the appearance of

in Humphryes' 11th Anniversary YouTube upload – a story which was widely covered by other news sites, including ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'',

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...

, and

and recommended in ''

'' issue 517 (November 2017). His YouTube videos have included contributions from ''Doctor Who'' producers

and

Philip Hinchcliffe Philip Michael Hinchcliffe (born October 1944) is a retired English television producer, screenwriter and script editor. After graduating from Cambridge University, he began his career as a writer and script editor at Associated Television befo ...

, impressionist and comedian

Jon Culshaw Jonathan Peter Culshaw (born 2 June 1968) is an English actor, comedian and impressionist. He is best known for his work on the radio comedy '' Dead Ringers'' since 2000. Culshaw has voiced a number of characters for ITV shows including ''2DT ...

, the actors John Levene,

Nicholas Briggs Nicholas Briggs (born 29 September 1961) is an English actor, writer, director, sound designer and composer. He is associated with the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs, particularly as the voice of the Dale ...

and

Nathan Head Nathan Head (born 8 October 1980) is a British actor, known for his work in the independent horror film ''Theatre Of Fear'' as well as the Netflix Robert The Doll series. He trained in Manchester, where he took acting classes at the Northern ...

, director Graeme Harper, producer

George Gallaccio George Gallaccio (born 23 December 1938) is a retired British television producer who previously worked as a production assistant and production unit manager. His most prominent work was as the producer on two BBC detective drama series, ''Miss Ma ...

, former ''Doctor Who Magazine'' editors Clayton Hickman and

Tom Spilsbury Tom Spilsbury (born 1976) is a British writer, magazine editor and journalist. As of 2021, he is a feature writer for ''TV Choice'' and '' Total TV Guide'' magazines. A former pupil of Bristol Cathedral School, he was, for ten years, editor of ' ...

, writers and historians

David J. Howe David J. Howe is a British writer, journalist, publisher, and media historian. Biography David Howe was born 24 August 1961 and established himself (in the early 1980s) as an authoritative media historian through writing articles for fanzin ...

and Richard Bignell, producer and presenter Christel Dee and the voice artists

Jacob Dudman Jacob Stanley Dudman (born 22 August 1997) is an English actor, writer and filmmaker. He is known for his roles in Netflix programs '' The Stranger'' (2020), ''Medici'' (2019), '' Fate: The Winx Saga'' (2021-2022) and the BBC iPlayer series '' ...

, John Guilor and Jonathon Carley.

The Ten Doctors

Between 2009 and 2015 Humphryes uploaded a four-part

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

entitled ''The Ten Doctors''. It was an unofficial Doctor Who drama incorporating re-edited archival material from TV shows and movies connected by newly recorded dialogue and special effects. Episode three was premièred at the "Armada Con 23" Doctor Who Convention before its on-line release. The trailers and episodes have exceeded 950,000 views on YouTube. The web series has been recommended by ''

'' and the Doctor Who Fan Club of Australia. Humphryes has been interviewed about the project a number of times, including in the '' Houston Press'' and the on-line magazine ''Theta Morbius Times'' (Issue 1; 2010), with the opening episode being nominated as one of the "8 Most Amazing Fan Videos on YouTube" by

The Timeless Doctors

A re-imagining of ''The Ten Doctors'' as a new feature-length web film entered production in 2020 under the title ''The Timeless Doctors''. Its extended cast list includes

as the voice of the Daleks, impressionist and comedian

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 fro ...

, actor John Guilor (reprising his role as the

First Doctor The First Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time L ...

from the BBC's 50th anniversary story

The Day of the Doctor ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

) as well as three erstwhile members of the Doctor Who production team: producers

and

with the director Graeme Harper (all reprising their roles as The Doctor from the 1976 ''

'' serial ''

The Brain of Morbius ''The Brain of Morbius'' is the fifth serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 24 January 1976. The screenwriter credit is given ...

'') The production's three trailers were recommended in ''Doctor Who Magazine'' issue 546 (January 2020), issue 573 (February 2022) and issue 577 (June 2022), and the project's use of AI upscaling prompted the inclusion of Humphryes in an article on

neural network A neural network is a network or circuit of biological neurons, or, in a modern sense, an artificial neural network, composed of artificial neurons or nodes. Thus, a neural network is either a biological neural network, made up of biological ...

ing by Digital Trends. The 2021 Doctor Who fiction anthology ''Forgotten Lives'', edited by Philip Purser-Hallard, promoted the forthcoming fan-film by way of the book's afterword

The Almost Doctors

In 2017 - at the suggestion of actor and screenwriter

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series ''Doctor Who'', '' Sherlock'', and '' Dracula''. Together with ...

- Humphryes created a two-part web series entitled "The Almost Doctors". It incorporated newly recorded voice work by Jonathon Carley and

to chronicle the list of actors shortlisted for the role of Doctor Who in the 1960s and '70s. The series employed a combination of editing, CGI and video compositing techniques to lift actors from archive film and place them into contemporary episodes of ''Doctor Who''. In June 2017 the BBC's '' AfterShow'' promoted the series, referring to Humphryes as a "colourisation and compositing legend", with BBC America promoting episode two as "exceptional". Episode one was also recommended as a monthly pick in ''Doctor Who Magazine'' issue 514 and episode two was recommended in ''Doctor Who Magazine'' issue 512.

Webcast

In April 2020, Humphryes was thanked in the credits of two ''Doctor Who'' lockdown webcasts – firstly a special 13-minute ''

The Sarah Jane Adventures ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC sc ...

'' minisode entitled " Farewell, Sarah Jane", billed by its writer,

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies (born 27 April 1963), better known as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer whose works include '' Queer as Folk'', '' The Second Coming'', ''Casanova'', the 2005 revival of the BBC One scie ...

, as "The final Sarah Jane Adventure", and also in a sequel to "

The Girl in the Fireplace "The Girl in the Fireplace" is the fourth episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 6 May 2006. Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Euros Lyn, the epis ...

", which was entitled "Pompadour", starring

Sophia Myles Sophia Jane Myles (; born 18 March 1980) is an English actress. She is best known in film for portraying Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in Thunderbirds (2004 film), ''Thunderbirds'' (2004), Isolde in ''Tristan & Isolde (film), Tristan & Isolde'' (2 ...

and written by

Television appearances

In 1996 he appeared as a contestant in two episodes of the

UK Gold Gold is a British pay television channel from the UKTV network that was launched in late 1992 as UK Gold before it was rebranded UKTV Gold in 2004. In 2008, it was split into current flagship channel Gold and miscellaneous channel, W, with clas ...

TV quiz series ''Goldmaster''. In 1999, his role as fallback contestant for BBC1's prime-time evening game show ''Whatever You Want'' was reported in ''Doctor Who Magazine'' issue 276, which ran with a photograph of Humphryes in costume alongside the other contestants.

Background information

Humphryes graduated from Suffolk College with a

BA(Hons) Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in Design Communications. Despite having risen to prominence in the fields of colourisation and photographic enhancement, Humphreys has done so on an amateur basis and states that such work is a hobby. After 14 years with the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...

he currently works as a

Local Government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

Officer and has worked for

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton ...

since 2007. Between 2006–2008 he produced work for the BabelFish Colourisation Website In 2012 he established his own colourisation website at babelcolour.com In 2014 Humphryes assisted researchers of the

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

documentary series 'The Secret History of My Family', which was broadcast on Thursday 10 March 2016. Episode one chronicled the family and descendants of his 4 x Great-Grandfather Robert Gadbury, tracing their lineage from 1830s London to present-day Tasmania. Humphryes is second cousin (twice removed) to former Tasmanian premier

Albert Ogilvie Albert George Ogilvie (10 March 1890 – 10 June 1939) was an Australian politician and Premier of Tasmania from 22 June 1934 until his death on 10 June 1939. Ogilvie was the elder son of James Ogilvie. He was educated at St Patrick's Co ...

References

External links

Official website
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Humphryes Feature & Interview - July 2022 Visão news magazine

Humphryes Feature - Oct 2020 The National

Humphryes Interview – March 2015 "Regeneration Who"

Humphryes Interview – October 2013 "Huston Press"

Humphryes Interview – June 2013 "Outpost Skaro"

Humphryes Interview – June 2013 "Time Warriors"

Humphryes Interview – June 2013 "Human Centipede"

Humphryes Interview – June 2005 "Nothing At The End Of The Lane" Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphryes, Stuart 1969 births Living people People from Basingstoke English YouTubers British digital artists British video artists Contestants on British game shows