Lambeth Fantastical - July 2025

 Who's Who In Lambeth

Sixty years ago today, on 23rd of November 1963, the BBC broadcast the first episode of it's iconic scifi series Doctor Who.
From the very outset the show had strong Lambeth connections. Let's look at Who's Who in Lambeth.

Raymond Cusick (born in Lambeth 28th April 1928)

In 1963 Cusick was working for the BBC as a production designer. He was initially asked to collaborate with Ridley Scott on the design of the Daleks for the show's second serial. However, producer Verity Lambert decided a single designer would work better. And so Cusick became the sole creator of the iconic pepperpot Dalek design. He was allowed a budget of £250 for each Dalek and had to improvise with sink plungers, gear sticks and chicken wire. Yet his design has stood the test of time with the Daleks appearing in more Doctor Who episodes than any other of the show's extensive pantheon of monsters.

Peter Hawkins (born in Brixton 3rd April 1924)

The Daleks needed a distinctive voice to go with their distinctive design, and it had to be scary. The BBC turned to Lambeth's Peter Hawkins. Hawkins was already an established voice actor, having invented the strange nonsense language of Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men for Watch With Mother and provided all of the voices for the animated Captain Pugwash series. Hawkins developed the soulless monotone Dalek voice which rises to a higher pitch when they are agitated and their famous 'exterminate' catch phrase. Like Cusick's design these have stood the test of time over six decades.

Peter Davison (born in Streatham 13th April 1951)

Davison played the fifth regeneration of the Doctor from 1981 to 1984.

At the time he was married to the actress Sandra Dickinson. They'd met while playing a brother and sister on another iconic scifi TV show, The Tomorrow People. Dickinson went on to play the role of Trillion in both the radio and TV adaptations of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Their Daughter, Georgia, played, Jenny, the daughter of David Tennant's Doctor Who (created from stolen DNA) in the 2008 episode The Doctor's Daughter. In real life they became husband and wife in 2011, making her the Doctor's daughter who played the Doctor's daughter and went on to marry the Doctor. And making Peter Davison the Doctor who is the father in law of the Doctor.

Colin Baker (born in Waterloo 8th of June 1943)

Born in Waterloo's Lying In hospital during an air raid in the blitz Baker took over the role from Davison as the sixth regeneration and played the Doctor from 1984 to 1986.
At the time he was cast Baker had established some impressive TV scifi credentials. One of his first roles was an appearance in the second episode of the 1970 show The Adventures of Don Quick, a series based on Don Quixote but set in outer space. He appeared as the villain Bayben the Butcher in a 1980 episode of Blake's 7, a series written by Dalek creator Terry Nation.
He'd also gained notoriety as the man who shot Doctor Who. Appearing in the 1983 storyline Arc of Infinity as Commander Maxil, he shot Peter Davison's Doctor in the chest with a stun gun.
Baker fell foul of BBC director general Micheal Grade who disliked the show and Baker in particular, famously issuing an ultimatum that if Baker wasn't replaced the show would be cancelled.

Pearl Mackie (born in Brixton 29th May 1987)

Mackie, of mixed West Indian and English heritage, played Bill Potts, companion to the twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) for thirteen episodes in 2017. She played the Doctor's first openly gay companion. Her love interest Heather played by Stephanie Hyam, is transformed into creature who, like the Doctor, can travel through time and space. In the final arc of Mackie's tenure as Bill Potts she and Heather set off to share their own  adventures across the universe.
Mackie's grandfather, Philip Mackie, wrote the screenplay for the TV adaptation of Quentin Crisp's The Naked Civil Servant.
Since appearing in Doctor Who she has had roles in Friday Night Dinner, Urban Myths and The Diplomat.