Former Doctor Who Producer Barry Letts Dies
Written by Ian Cullen on October 10, 2009 – 3:21 am -
It saddens us to report that former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts has passed away at the age of 84.
Over his long distinguished career Letts was among the group of people that helped Doctor Who gain in its popularity as it went into the unexplored territory of Colour Television.
Letts began his career as an actor at York Repertory Theatre, and worked for Radio in Leeds before finding his way into writing, producing and directing for television.
His first work on Doctor Who was in 1967 when he directed the six part Patrick Troughton adventure The Enemy of the World. In 1969 Letts accepted the job as producer on Doctor Who and was teamed with script editor Terrence Dicks. A teaming which would be responsible for turning the fortunes of Doctor Who around from having mediocre ratings during the tail end of the Troughton era.
During his time as producer Letts directed such classic stories as: Terror of the Autons, Carnival of Monsters and Planet of the Spiders. Added to this Letts was also largely responsible for much of the direction of Inferno after original director Douglas Camfield was taken ill.
After leaving the series in 1974 Letts would return as a freelance director to work on an episode for producer Philip Hinchcliffe in which he would direct Tom Baker in The Android Invasion. He would also go on to co – write The Daemons with Robert Sloman (under the nondeploom ‘Guy Leopold’). Letts would continue to collaborate with Sloman and other writers for the program.
Letts also produced much work outside of Doctor Who in the late seventies when he was asked by the BBC to take over as producer on their classical serials for BBC 1. During this time he produced serials such as: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1978), The Mill of the Floss (1979) and The Old Curiosity Shop (1980).
Barry Letts leaves behind a huge legacy in British Television. It is largely due to Letts that fans can enjoy the modern Doctor Who Spin – Off series The Sarah Jane Smith Adventures, due to the fact that it was he who created the character and cast Elizabeth Sladen in the role for the 1973/74 season of Doctor Who. He is also the man who was responsible for taking a chance on a relative unknown actor by the name of Tom Baker who would go on to become the most popular Doctor Who of the classic series.
Letts returned to Doctor Who for a short stint as an executive producer during the eighties, and would continue to direct for the classic serials during the better part of the eighties.
Over the years Letts remained fond of Doctor Who and was always more than happy to answer fan questions at various conventions, and continued his connection with the series by lending his voice for Commentaries on the TwoEntertain DVD collection of the classic series.
Letts continued to write Doctor Who novels and produce radio and audio productions based on and around the series long after leaving the show.
We here at SciFiPulse our immensely grateful for the work that Barry Letts produced and directed and wish to pass on our sincerest condolences to Mr. Letts family and friends.
You can read what is perhaps Barry Letts final interview, which was conducted in 2004 here at the BCC’s Doctor Who website.
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Tags: Barry Letts R.I.P, BBC1, Doctor Who, Jon Pertwee, Terror Of The Autons
Posted in SF-TV & Movie News | 2 Comments »
By John Freeman on Oct 10, 2009 | Reply
Very sad news. I only met him a couple of times, but he was instrumental in taking Doctor Who into the age of colour TV, helping create the Third Doctor and so much more. Another great loss.
By Ian Cullen on Oct 10, 2009 | Reply
John,
I never met him myself but do remember being totally blown away by many of the episodes that he did during the Jon Pertwee era.
Like a lot of people my age I didn’t really get to glimpse the Pertwee episodes until they were shown on UK Gold. Same goes really for pretty much everything prior to the Tom Baker run.