Tuesday 27 June 2023

Spotlight: Peter Halliday (Crisp in Buddyboy)

 


Peter George Halliday was born on 2nd June 1924 in Llangollen, Denbighshire. His family moved to Welshpool in Montgomeryshire in 1929 and, after attending Oswestry School in Shropshire, Halliday joined the family auction house business. However, he really had no desire to become an auctioneer like his father and set out on his own path. He was briefly employed by Rolls-Royce in Nottingham before being called up at the age of eighteen for service in the army during the Second World War. His tour of duty saw him serve in Iraq, Palestine and Egypt between 1942 and 1947.

Halliday was concerned over his career and direction as his time in the armed forces was coming to an end, but on hearing a soldier in his unit talking about becoming an actor he decided to pursue the same career. Whilst on a period of leave Halliday auditioned to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and much to his surprise, he was duly accepted and began his studies as soon as he was discharged from the army. Whilst at RADA he was a close friend with Patricia Hitchcock, the daughter of Alfred Hitchcock. On his graduation in 1949 Halliday’s career got off to a solid start when he joined the fledgling Royal Shakespeare Company. His peers included Richard Burton, Michael Redgrave and Ralph Richardson. He stayed for four years under the leadership of John Gielgud and Anthony Quayle and was a member of successful tours of Australia and New Zealand. He became a good friend of Sean Connery, who would later attend Peter’s marriage, as well as becoming godfather to his first born son Simon.

During July 1950 he appeared at the Stratford Memorial Theatre in a production of King Lear headlined by John Gielgud in the eponymous role. Halliday had a small role as a servant together with Michael Bates and Geoffrey Bayldon. During December 1951 and January 1952 he appeared at the Memorial Theatre in Stratford upon Avon in a production of Toad of Toad Hall. Halliday was Alfred the horse and provided the character voice as well as acting as the front legs of the costume. During 1952 Halliday was a member of the Stratford Theatre Company (forerunner to the RSC) and was involved in a season of productions which opened with Coriolanus in March in a small role as a Roman soldier[1] and also included Macbeth during June 1952. This was followed by a presentation of Volpone in June and July and Henry V during August in which Halliday played The Earl of Warwick. During November 1952 Halliday played the role of Montano in a production of Othello directed by Anthony Quayle. The production later toured Australia.


Halliday made his screen debut in the short film Fatal Journey (1954), a ‘quota quickie’ supporting feature produced at Merton Park Studios. Halliday can be seen playing a gypsy. In an interview conducted by Alan Stevens for the Doctor Who fan club magazine Celestial Toyroom in 1989 Halliday recalls how he came to be involved in the project. “While still a drama student, I was approached by a young film director called Paul Dickson…At that time it was strictly forbidden to be employed if you were working in a drama school. So I had to have the flu for two weeks. Coughing feebly over the phone to the Registrar.[2]

May 1954 saw Halliday perform in the play The Dark is Light Enough at the Aldwych theatre. During March and April 1955, as part of the Leatherhead Repertory Company, Halliday appeared in the European premiere of American playwright George Batson’s Celia playing the leading role of Moreno. One of his earliest television roles was in the BBC children’s drama The Running Tide (23rd August 1952) playing the role of Classic Jones. This was followed by the BBC play The Star without a Name (3rd November 1955) based on the play by Antoine Bibesco. Halliday appeared as Ursel in a cast that also featured Mai Zetterling and George Cole. The ITV Play of the Week instalment ‘The Anatomist’ (6th February 1956) which also featured Cole with Halliday lower down in the billing. This ATV production saw Alistair Sim play the infamous Doctor Knox who employed Burke (David Blake Kelly) and Hare (Michael Ripper) as body snatchers who provide freshly dug up corpses his scientific research. Halliday played the role of Adolphus Raby.

He had small 'cough and a spit' roles as a sergeant in The Scarlet Pimpernel episode ‘The Flower Women’ (18th May 1956) and as the secretary in The Count of Monte Christo episode ‘The Brothers’ (20th August 1956). His film debut was in an uncredited small role as Guani’s secretary in the war film The Battle of the River Plate (1956). Halliday married fellow actor Simone Lovell, the daughter of the actors Raymond Lovell and Margot Ruddock, in August 1956. The two had met during a stage production of Sabrina Fair and the couple had three children – Simon, Patrick and Ben. They divorced in the early 1970s but remained close friends.

The Dylan Thomas play Under Milk Wood (9th May 1957) was adapted by the BBC featuring an all Welsh born cast including Halliday in the role of Sinbad. He would go on to feature in many science fiction and horror themed productions in the forthcoming years and his first brush with genre was in the form of an episode of the early British horror anthology television series Hour of Mystery. Halliday featured as Jabez in the episode ‘The Man with the Red Hair’ (20th July 1957). He made the first of three appearances in a BBC Sunday Night Theatre production with the role of Tally in ‘Cuckoo’ (1st September 1957). A fortnight later he appeared as a porter in his first edition of Armchair Theatre with the episode ‘Now Let Him Go’ (15th September 1957). Further roles saw Halliday play George Harris in an episode of BBC kidnap drama A Time of Day (4th December 1957), feature as Alfred in The Adventures of Robin Hood episode ‘The Bride of Robin Hood’ (9th December 1957) and cast as a security guard in ‘The Dark Is Light Enough’ (26th January 1958), an instalment of the BBC drama anthology Television World Theatre. He also featured as a soldier in the British war film Dunkirk (1958). He made his second appearance in an ITV Play of the Week instalment when he played Antonanzas in ‘Montserrat’ (19th February 1958). ‘Trial by Candlelight’ (22nd June 1958) was Halliday’s second episode of Armchair Theatre, appearing in the role of Mike Regan in a murder mystery directed by Wolf Rilla. July 1958 saw Halliday portray Lieutenant Joy in a stage production of The Joshua Tree at the Royal theatre in London. Television Playwright was another BBC single play anthology series which ran for thirty episodes. Halliday appeared as Hugh Burnham in ‘Hour of the Rat’ (23rd September 1958) written by fellow Welshman Jon Manchip White. The story deals with the trial of a British civil servant who has killed a member of a Japanese government delegation who was responsible for torturing the civil servant when he was a prisoner of war. His final TV role for the year was in the Ivanhoe instalment ‘The Cattle Killers’ (19th October 1958) as the character Gorman.





The New Year brought some reassuring regular work for Halliday in the form of the dark BBC crime thriller The Scarf. Halliday was hired to play Detective Sergeant Jeffreys, the sidekick of Detective Inspector Harry Yates as portrayed by Donald Pleasance. The sleuthing duo would spend six episodes investigating the strangling of a young woman in a town with dark secrets in the Francis Durbridge scripted programme transmitted between 9th February and 16th March 1959. His second appearance in a BBC Sunday Night Theatre programme was as Paul in ‘The Woodcarver’ (26th April 1959). The Common Room was a BBC drama series set in and around the lives of teachers at the Richard Pater School. Halliday appeared in three episodes of the first season in the role of Mr Turrock (11th April, 9th May and 23rd May 1959) and returned for the second season playing the regular role of Mr Driscoll in all episodes (20th May to 12th August 1959). His third and final appearance in a BBC Sunday Night Theatre instalment was in ‘Where the Wind Blows’ (8th November 1959) as Trevor.

Halliday was cast as Ben Chenkin in a production of The Citadel and would appear in three episodes transmitted on ITV between 30th November and 14th December 1960. This appears to have been his only screen credit for the year. Don Taylor, who would later direct the Beasts episodes ‘During Barty’s Party’ and ‘Buddyboy’, cast Halliday in his BBC single play The Train Set (1961). ‘The Way of Love’ (9th April 1961) was the third, and final, episode of Armchair Theatre which featured Halliday in the credit list. Halliday played the character Peter Sefton alongside an impressive roll call that also included Graham Crowden and Donald Houston in a play written by Alun Owen set in the world of authors, literary agents, film producers and publicists.


A For Andromeda (3rd October – 14th November 1961) was a huge breakthrough for Halliday. Despite toiling away in small roles and character parts for several years it was the role of Doctor John Fleming that would make Halliday a recognisable face due to the success and impact of the programme. The Radio Times welcomed the launch of the series with a short preview describing Halliday’s character as a “brilliant young scientist whose discovery quickly reveals that it can be dangerous to extend the frontiers of human knowledge, too far, too quickly.[3]” Halliday allegedly based his portrayal on the character of the programme’s originator, the astronomer Fred Hoyle. The series was a resounding hit with a peak audience viewing figure of thirteen million which was a very respectable and sizeable figure for early 1960s UK TV. A sequel to A for Andromeda was quickly commissioned and it debuted during summer 1962. Halliday returned as John Fleming in the six part production The Andromeda Breakthrough (28th June – 2nd August 1962) though his original co-star Julie Christie was unavailable and was replaced by Susan Hampshire. Following his role as Fleming Halliday was a popular guest star in series such as Gary Halliday and plays including ‘A Matter of Principle’ (11th September 1962), his third ITV Play of the Week. Dilemma (1962) was a British drama film which gave Halliday a rare leading role as the character Harry Barnes, a teacher who returns home from work on the eve of a holiday to celebrate his wedding anniversary. He finds a stranger dead in the bathroom and his wife missing…

Television guest roles continued; as Ronald Norton in ATV drama 24 Hour Call, Doctor Cato in the Sergeant Cork instalment ‘Case of the Redundant Widow’ (29th June 1963), Ettore Scaccia in ‘A First Class Way To Die’ (13th July 1963), an episode of the adventure series Ghost Squad and ‘The Q Radiation’ (9th and 16th July 1963), two episodes of the adventure series Sierra Nine. Halliday was also a mainstay of plays; Red Sky in the Morning (12th December 1963) reunited Halliday with Susan Hampshire, It’s All Lovely (22nd December 1963) featured Halliday alongside Leonard Rossitter and his final appearance in an ITV Play of the Week production, ‘Three Roads To Rome’ (30th December 1963). In the theatre Halliday appeared as Banquo in a production of Macbeth as part of The Mermaid theatre’s season of Elizabethan drama during April 1964. As part an actor’s company attached to the theatre Halliday also had roles in the subsequently staged plays including The Canker and the Rose, The Maid’s Tragedy and The Shoemaker’s Holiday. The season ended in August 1964.

During the early months of 1965 Halliday was part of a pool of actors who played various roles in the ITV drama anthology series Write a Play which had the unusual angle of being a series of plays written by children under the age of fifteen. The series ran for two seasons and was initially introduced by Jimmy Hanley and latterly Clive Goodwin. Together with fellow ‘Buddyboy’ actor Wolfe Morris Halliday was part of the cast of Doctor Faustus at the Close Theatre Club, Glasgow during December 1965, his final stage engagement for the year. Morris played Faustus whilst Halliday was Mephistopheles. Halliday continued to be an extremely popular guest star in a variety of continuing series including The Saint episode ‘The Reluctant Revolution’. He received a bloody lip during the making of the latter production when lead actor Roger Moore mistimed throwing a punch during a fight scene.



Halliday made his debut in Doctor Who when he was asked to play Packer, the fawning but nasty henchman to Tobias Vaughan played by Kevin Stoney. The Patrick Troughton era adventure ‘The Invasion’ (2nd November – 21st December 1968) pitched the Doctor against the Cybermen in contemporary London. Peter recalled having doubts about his suitability for the role in a Celestial Toyroom interview: “I’m nothing like the character he wanted me to play. Packer was originally meant to be a heavy, a side-kick thug of the villain, Kevin Stoney, dressed in black, with leather jackboots and very macho, but really, I’m not that sort of person at all. So, rather than play him as a straight up and down bad character, I looked for other things that could be interesting, or amusing, or ludicrous even, to make him more human.[4]” Together with Stoney they worked out ways to portray Packer as downtrodden which added an element of comedy and pathos to the role which contrasted with the ruthlessness of the Cybermen who eventually kill Packer in the story climax. Amongst Doctor Who fans Packer became a cult figure thanks to these added character depths. As well as appearing as Packer Halliday also supplied voices for the Cybermen.

More guest star roles in established series continued with credits in Man in a Suitcase (‘No Friend of Mine’ – 14th June 1968), The Avengers (‘Noon Doomsday’), The Main Chance (‘What About Justice’ – 18th June 1969), UFO (‘A Question of Priorities’ – 14th October 1970) and Paul Temple (‘Night Train’ – 24th January 1971). A stand out role of this period was his appearance in the BBC anthology series Out Of the Unknown episode ‘The Last Lonely Man’ (21st January 1969), directed by Douglas Camfield. Halliday portrayed the paranoid and nervy Patrick Wilson opposite his old colleague George Cole in a tale of personality transplants gone wrong.

Between March and April 1969 Halliday played Macbeth at the Theatre Royal in York having taken over the role at short notice when the previous actor left due to creative differences. The Stage review commented on his performance: “A personal triumph is scored by Peter Halliday who took over the title role at about four days’ notice. Not only was he word perfect by opening night, but he commands an absorbed audience.[5]” He returned to the world of Doctor Who to provide voices for the latest monster, The Silurians, to face off against the Doctor in the seven part Jon Pertwee era adventure transmitted February and March 1970. Only a few weeks later returned to the series to provide alien voices for the final two episodes of the Pertwee adventure ‘The Ambassadors of Death’ which was shown April and May 1970.

As the 1970s continued the British film industry collapsed as American funding was withdrawn. The industry turned to cheaper exploitation projects and the British sex comedy came into vogue which helped keep technicians and actors employed. Halliday was no exception to this and took what work he could find with a trio of films produced on low budgets including work in the British sex comedy film With These Hands AKA Sex Clinic (1972)[6]. He continued his association with the saucier end of British films with the racy horror film Virgin Witch (1972) which was also penned by Hazel Adair and directed by ex-stuntman Ray Austin. Halliday appears as a nightclub manager alongside buxom sisters Anne and Vicki Michelle. His third film of the year was The Fast Kill (1972) from the deranged mind of low budget auteur Lindsay Shonteff, who had previously cursed audiences with several James Bond spoofs starring Tom Adams. The Fast Kill features Adams as a criminal mastermind who conducts a diamond heist. Halliday has a small role as the character Fred Chalmers.


Halliday made another Doctor Who appearance when he played the alien Pletrac in the adventure ‘Carnival of the Monsters’ (27th January – 17th February 1973). Written by Robert Holmes the adventure can be seen as a witty parody of television and its viewers. ‘Caucasian Chalk Circle’ (16th May 1973) was a prestigious episode of BBC Play of the Month which was adapted from a play by Bertolt Brecht. Halliday appears in a cast that also includes such heavy hitters as Leo McKern, Beasts alumni Patrick Magee, Peter Jeffrey and Terence Hardiman. The remainder of 1973 saw Halliday continue to be a popular guest star in continuing series including children’s drama The Flaxton Boys, Thames drama series Six Scales of Justice and the George Baker starring sitcom Bowler. The single drama Fixation (17th December 1973) saw Halliday appear alongside future Beasts actor T P McKenna.

The Boy With Two Heads AKA Friends of Chico (1974) was a Children’s Film Foundation production that was shown both as a seven part Saturday morning film serial and as an edited single feature length film. Halliday played Mr Page the father of Chris and Jill (a young Lesley Ash) who find a shrunken head, called Chico, and hide it inside a football! The head turns out to be a valuable collector’s item and also bestowed with magical powers that enables it to speak. Clive Revill supplied the skull’s voice with a strong Spanish accent. The kids are pursued by two thugs, Doug and Des, who want to steal the head and collect the reward offered by collector Stanley Thornton (Lance Percival). The pioneering Les Bowie, who had supplied the special effects for the Hammer film production of The Quatermass Experiment (1955), was responsible for the effects. Also in 1974 Halliday made two British exploitation films; horror film Madhouse (1974), in which he had a small role as a psychiatrist, and The Swordsman (1974) another little seen curio from director Lindsay Shonteff.

In the year before his appearance in ‘Buddyboy’ Halliday entered into a particularly active period starting with a guest role as Jean-Claud de Salle in ‘Knave of Coins’ (7th March 1975), an episode of the adventure series The Hanged Man, and appearing in ‘A Rich And Beautiful Empire’ (31st March 1975), an episode of the lamentable BBC historical drama Churchill’s People. Looking for Clancey was a BBC drama series which charted the rise of the journalist Frank Clancey between the 1930s and the 1960s. Robert Powell starred as Clancey and Halliday guested in the fourth episode which was transmitted 14th June 1975. His next role was as Dave Lincoln in the BBC drama Oil Strike North episode ‘First Lion’ (16th September 1975). He was also cast as Chief Inspector Gordon in ‘I Want the Man’ (10th November 1975) an episode of The Sweeney. Film wise Keep It up Downstairs (1976) was another sex comedy from the pen of Hazel Adair. Halliday can be seen as another policeman, PC Harbottle. His final TV appearance before his role in Beasts was in an episode of the games show Whodunnit presented by Jon Pertwee. Halliday appeared as Sergeant Roper-Evans in the episode ‘Dead Ball’ (9th August 1976). His appearance as the lawyer Crisp in the Beasts episode ‘Buddyboy’ was next. After this hectic period the following year saw Halliday concentrate mainly on theatre work with notable appearances including A Mad World My Masters, staged at the Leeds Playhouse during October and November 1977. December 1977 saw Halliday appeared in a production of Hamlet staged at the Crewe Theatre in Cheshire. His portrayal attracted a rave review from The Stage who commented “Peter Halliday invests the blessing of Polonius on his son Laertes with new meaning in an extremely imaginative performance.[7]

During May 1978 Halliday appeared in The Recruiting Officer at the Oxford Playhouse followed in October 1978 with a production of the Alan Bennett play Habeas Corpus. Previous to this the Oxford Playhouse Company staged a musical production of All’s Well at Poole Arts Centre in May before moving on to a short run of the play at Oxford Playhouse. On television he appeared in Crown Court – ‘In the Heat of the Moment’ (September 1978) and was as a Renaissance era soldier in the Tom Baker era Doctor Who adventure ‘The City of Death’ (29th September – 20th October 1979).



Halliday concentrated on theatre work for the next few years. He was in a production of Uncle Vanya at Theatre Clywd, as part of the resident actor’s company, during February 1979. For the same company and venue he appeared in a presentation of Anthony and Cleopatra during October 1979. He was then cast in a production of the Donald Churchill play Mixed Feelings staged at the Lyceum in Crewe over January and February 1980. Towards the end of 1981 Halliday appeared in Mephisto and then in a new stage production of The Crucible at the Playhouse, Oxford. One of the highlights of his later stage career during this era was taking over the role of politician Roy Jenkins in the play Anyone for Denis? during its run at the Whitehall Theatre in 1982. The satire positioned Jenkins as the butler to Margaret and Denis Thatcher. Committed to his art Halliday actually shadowed the real-life Jenkins as he campaigned in a by-election to ensure he got a feel for the character.

Back on television he took recurring roles as Inspector Miller in the seven-part thriller Watch All Night (1982), produced by Granada, and BBC drama series County Hall (1982) as Lawrence Gilchrist. He was Hedley Graham in a single episode of Granada’s A Kind of Loving – “October 1973: Part One” (30th May 1982) and made a brief appearance as Mr Pettigrew in an episode of BBC medical soap Angels (1st November 1982). R.H.I.N.O. : Really In Name Only (3rd July 1983) was a David Leyland written television play about a troubled girl who is passed from organisation to organisation as the authorities struggle to know what to do with her. Halliday played the headmaster of the school the girl attends. More theatre work at Theatr Clywd included The Virgin and the Bull during June 1983, whilst during October 1983 through to January 1984 Halliday in a stage production at Soho Poly, playing a doctor in the play Shona. Next it was back to the BBC for an episode of the police drama Juliet Bravo with Halliday appearing in the episode ‘No Peace’ (29th September 1984) as a newspaper editor. He could also be seen in The Tripods episode ‘The White Mountains: November, 2089 AD’ (8th December 1984) as a Black Guard interrogator.

By now Halliday had turned sixty and he began to find television roles become rarer. Black Silk was a BBC drama starring Rudolph Walker and Halliday appeared in the episode ‘Without Prejudice’ (26th December 1985). A year later he turned up in the Casualty episode ‘No Future” (13th December 1986) playing the role of Piet. Yesterday’s Dreams was a drama series from Central and Halliday guested in the episode ‘Wishing and Hoping’ (30th January 1987) as Mr Perkins. A few months later he appeared as a hotel manager in ‘Lilies of the Field’ (8th March 1987), an episode of the BBC drama The District Nurse which starred Nerys Hughes. Stage work was still important and for the National Theatre Halliday appeared in a production of Fathers and Sons during July and August 1987 followed by the play Ting Tang Mine in September 1987. During May and June 1988 saw Halliday feature alongside James Ellis in a production of Monsignor Quixote at the Nothcott theatre. The play was based on a book by Graham Greene and had previously been made into a television play which had starred Alec Guiness and Leo McKern.


His final appearance in Doctor Who came in the Sylvester McCoy era adventure ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’. He played the blind vicar, Reverend Parkinson, who administers the blessing at a mysterious burial attended by McCoy’s Doctor during the second episode (12th October 1988). The role of Eric Dearth, another reverend, was essayed by Halliday for ‘The Terrors of the Earth’ (7th February 1989), an episode of the Robert Powell starring adventure series Hannay. In a change of tone Reverend Dearth turns out to be baddie of the episode and has a particularly nasty demise at the end of the story. During the summer of 1989 Halliday was in a stage production of Alan Bleasdale’s No More Sitting on the Old School Bench at the Sherman theatre in Cardiff. Halliday was Mr Grant, the ineffectual headmaster of a small urban school, caught in the chaos of the school changing over to comprehensive status. The Jeffrey Archer play Exclusive starring Paul Scofield and Alec McCowan, was staged at The Strand theatre in London from September 1989. Halliday had a supporting role in the production. He continued with stage roles until he guest starred as Mr Reynolds in an episode of Lovejoy – ‘Out To Lunch’ (19th January 1992).

Screen roles became scarcer, though he was still in demand in theatre. For the 1992 Edinburgh Festival Halliday appeared in the play The Voysey Inheritance at the Royal Lyceum theatre. March 1993 saw Halliday appear in the stage production For Services Rendered in Salisbury. Cinema wise he made an appearance as Canon Tuffnell in the film Remains of the Day (1993). Theatre lovers in Lancaster could see him in a production of Alan Bennett’s Forty Years On, at the Dukes Theatre, during October and November 1994. Halliday played the role that was first performed by John Gielgud.

Hearts and Minds (16th February – 9th March 1995) was a Channel 4 drama series written by Jimmy McGovern which starred Christopher Eccleston as an idealistic teacher working in a tough inner city school. Halliday gave a memorable and moving performance as the alcoholic teacher Mr Shotton. ‘Farewell My Lovely’ (30th August 1995) was an episode of the BBC drama Men of the World which was headlined by John Simm and David Threlfal. The series examined the times of a group of Manchester travel agency employees. Daniel Peacock directed and also co-starred with Halliday appearing in the role of Mr Root. The following year he had a small role as a public speaker in the epic BBC drama Our Friends in the North in the episode ‘1984’ (26th February 1996).

He was back in a dog collar for another role as a vicar in three episodes of the time travel sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart; ‘And Mother Came Too’ (24th March 1997), ‘Easy Living’ (22nd April 1997) and ‘Heartaches’ (6th May 1997). He also played Mr Soper in three episodes of the BBC police drama Dalziel and Pascoe. As the 1990s drew to an end he appeared in The Bill episode ‘Out Of Hand’ (4th June 1998) as Roy Pollock and had another role as a vicar in three episodes of Births, Marriages and Deaths (1999). He then played another vicar, Father Hart, in an episode of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries – ‘A Great Deliverance’ (12th March 2001). Three years after his previous role in The Bill he appeared as Peter Tutton in the two part story ‘Gun Crazy’ (19th and 22nd June 2001) for the long running police drama. He was cast as the wonderfully named Lord Justice Swinton Thomas in the Carlton Television stand-alone drama Anybody’s Nightmare (28th September 2001). This was followed by the role of Papa Sturgeon in Yorkshire Television’s Micawber. He appears in the first episode, ‘Micawber Learns The Truth’ (26th December 2001). He made appearances in small supporting roles in the single drama Night Flight (2nd February 2002) and in ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ (22nd October 2002), an episode of the BBC daytime medical drama Doctors, Halliday appeared in the role of Ken Roberts.

Due to his appearances in Doctor Who over the years he was recruited to appear in Kaldor City – ‘Checkmate’ (2003), a Magic Bullet audio production, set in the universe depicted in the Doctor Who story ‘The Robots of Death’. Halliday played Derhaven. His final television role was as Charlie Balderstone in the ITV drama series Where the Heart Is in the episode ‘Little Boy Blue’ (8th August 2004). His final screen acting role was as a vicar! He appears in the film Lassie (2005) which boasted an impressive cast including Peter O’Toole, Samantha Morton, Edward Fox and Peter Dinklage.

Halliday contributed towards to the BBC DVD extra features detailing the making of some his most celebrated roles for the DVD releases of the Doctor Who story ‘The Invasion’ (2006) and A for Andromeda (2006) as well as recording audio commentaries for both releases. ‘Carnival of Monsters’ and ‘The Ambassadors of Death’ were further Doctor Who DVDs release which benefitted from a Halliday commentary. In 2007 the Powysland Museum in Welshpool curated an exhibition that celebrated his life and career called An Actor’s Life. Halliday had moved to the town whilst still a child and would spend the rest of his life in the area. Halliday died on 18th February 2012, aged 87, in London. Following his death and funeral in London a memorial service was held in Welshpool on 7th April 2012.


[1] The interview is available online at http://www.kaldorcity.com/people/phinterview.html (accessed 12th July 2017)
[2] This was precisely the kind of “spear carrying” role that Kneale also experienced in his career as an actor
[3] Radio Times (30th September 1961), article by Peter Browne
[4] The interview is available online at http://www.kaldorcity.com/people/phinterview.html (accessed 12th July 2017)
[5] The Stage, Wednesday 2nd April 1969, page 16
[6] co-written by the co-creator of Crossroads, Hazel Adair
[7] Review by Raymond Meares, The Stage, Thursday 8th December 1977, page 15


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