GOODBYE, NICHOLAS COURTNEY...

Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier in DOCTOR WHO. Images: BBC TV

The worldwide DOCTOR WHO community lost one of its most popular actors, as well as an iconic character and overall promotional ambassador, with the sad news of Nicholas Courtney's passing yesterday at the age of 81. Courtney was, of course, the splendid foil to the Doctor on many of his adventures set on Earth, playing the military leader of UNIT, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, and worked alongside six Doctors on TV from Patrick Troughton to Sylvester McCoy (and appearing in the shows Tenth Anniversary story, THE THREE DOCTORS, in 1973 and the Twentieth Anniversary adventure, THE FIVE DOCTORS, in 1983), on DOCTOR WHO audio form with Eighth Doctor Paul McGann, and playing a futuristic secret agent, Bret Vyon, in a classic William Hartnell Dalek tale prior to winning his long term role alongside Troughton and Jon Pertwee's Time Lord incarnations several years later. Sadly not appearing in modern DOCTOR WHO series, he did at least go on to make a worthy appearance as the Brigadier in the CBBC series/WHO spin-off THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES in 2008-his last appearance on TV- and, prior to and after WHO appeared in many numerous popular series including ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, THE AVENGERS, WHAT CHURCHILL SAID TO ME, ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES, SINK OR SWIM, YES, MINISTER, THE BILL and CASUALTY, as well as many radio drama and comedies.

Courtney as the Brigadier, part of the UNIT family of 70's WHO, alongside Jon Pertwee as The Doctor, Katy Manning as Jo Grant, and Roger Delgado as the evil Master. 

I met the actor several times at press launches and can say he was an extremely nice guy, very personable and always full of witty anecdotes and great stories about life and acting-a brilliant person to have as a pub companion, and an all round fan of DOCTOR WHO and its fandom, regularly supporting the series and making worldwide sci-fi convention appearances to the delight of thousands of people.

We will miss you, Nicholas Courtney. Your appearances and contributions to classic TV and DOCTOR WHO has been indelibly marked.