Dave Carter (Dresser in The Dummy)

 

Ginger haired and bubble chinned actor Dave Carter had a career that spanned three decades in small roles, often without a character name or any dialogue. Perhaps his most enduring and remembered roles were his varied appearances in Doctor Who during the 1960s and 1970s.

His earliest traceable credits are in two Lindsey Shonteff directed British films in uncredited small roles starting with the James Bond cash in Licensed to Kill (1965) and followed by Run with the Wind (1966). He made his debut appearance on television in the Adam Adamant Lives episode 'Death Has a Thousand Faces' (30th June 1966) with uncredited background roles of a tourist and party goer. He also had an uncredited role as a rebel in the first episode of the newly regenerated Doctor Who incarnation Patrick Troughton’s debut story 'The Power of the Daleks' (5th November 1966). He would make several appearances in the series all the way through to the Fourth Doctor’s era.

His next TV appearances was in the ATV drama series The Informer which starred Ian Hendry as a disgraced ex-lawyer, who having spent time in jail, now uses his knowledge to earn a living from both sides of the law. Carter appeared in the episode 'Undisclosed Sources' (25th September 1967) as the character Dawson. His other TV role for the year was in the ITV Playhouse production 'A Whistle and A Funny Hat' (28th December 1967) in the role of Jack opposite actors Martin Jarvis and Patrick Mower.

He was back with Patrick Troughton’s Doctor Who for a further uncredited role as a guard the first episode of the adventure 'The Invasion' (2nd November 1968). He appeared in the film The Strange Affair (1968), a drama featuring Michael York as police constable Strange who becomes embroiled in police corruption. Carter has a small uncredited role as a foreman on a building site. The film also featured the actress Madge Ryan who appeared in the Beasts episode 'What Big Eyes'.

1969 would see Carter in small roles in several highly regarded drama series including being a barman in the Softly Softly episode 'A Quantity of Gelignite' (30th January 1969), playing a guard (uncredited) in the Callan instalment 'Death of a Hunter' (16th April 1969), a prisoner in The Expert episode 'A Question of Guilt' (16th May 1969), a shop customer in the Dixon of Dock Green episode 'Notify If Found' (18th October 1969), an electrician in the first Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) episode, 'My Late, Lamented Partner', and playing a policeman in the Codename episode 'Warhead' (12th May 1970). Film wise Carter made an appearance credited as “1st Torpedo” in the Lindsey Shonteff film Clegg AKA The Bullet Machine (1970).

Carter entered the era of the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, playing an old Silurian in 'The Silurians'. For the same story he also made a small appearance without a rubber monster suit as an ambulance man in episode six of the adventure. He stayed with Pertwee to appear under make up as one of the Primords in episodes five and six of the storyline 'Inferno'. Carter started a new year with a small role as a museum attendant in the first episode of 'Terror of the Autons' (2nd January 1971), the latest adventure for Jon Pertwee’s Doctor Who. Later in the season he could be seen as a prison guard in 'The Mind of Evil' (30th January – 6th March 1971).

Later in the year Carter appeared as Dave in 'A School For Grievances' (4th June 1971), an episode of the BBC sitcom Take Three Girls and this was followed with the role of Dennis Rack in 'The Missing Witness Sensation' (27th September 1971) an episode of the detective anthology series The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes.

The Love Box (1972) was a saucy British sexploitation film which was actually a portmanteau with individual stories derived from a lonely hearts column. Carter appears in the vignette 'The Bored Housewife' as the husband of Kathy. The film also features Marianne Morris who also appeared in the Beasts episode 'Buddyboy' as an usherette. Carter’s work on television during 1972 would see him undertake his first recurring character role in an ongoing series, but first were several small roles in episodes of established programmes including a billing as Kazakov in 'Zenia', an episode of adventure series Jason King, a small role in 'Hawk Street Horror' (14th July 1972) - an episode of the BBC series The Man Outside, playing a prison officer in 'Papa Charlie' an episode of the crime drama New Scotland Yard and featuring as Mr Heyes in 'Last Bus To Newtown' (3rd January 1972), an episode of Z Cars. He also made another uncredited Doctor Who appearance as a skybase guard in the first episode of the Pertwee era storyline 'The Mutants' (8th April 1972) followed by a tiny role as a Roundhead soldier in episode of 'The Time Monster' (3rd June 1972).

His biggest TV role to date was as Brigadier Stribos who appeared in several episodes of Van Der Valk starting with the first episode, 'One Herring’s Not Enough' (13th September 1972), and continuing with 'Blue Note' (27th September 1972), 'Elected Silence' (4th October 1972) and 'The Adventurer' (18th October 1972) for the first season of the show. He returned for two more appearances over the second season. Elsewhere on television he could be seen as a driver in The Adventures of Black Beauty episode 'Battle of Wills' (28th October 1973) and as Ted Soames in episodes seven (20th November 1973) and eight (21st November 1973) of Marked Personal, an afternoon drama from Thames Television. He made a single film appearance for the year as a jeweller in The Sex Thief (1973).

His penultimate appearance in a Jon Pertwee Doctor Who story saw Carter promoted to a role with a character name when he Sergeant Duffy in part one of 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs' (12th January 1974). Carter must have had excellent driving skills as he was cast as a minibus driver in episode of Special Branch, 'Something about A Soldier' (14th March 1974), and as a driver in the Comedy Playhouse episode 'Happy Ever After' (7th May 1974). His other TV role for the year was in the BBC children’s drama series The Chinese Puzzle. Carter turns up in the episode 'Show Down' (18th December 1974) as the character Wallace. His solitary film role for the year was in another sexploitation classic, Eskimo Nell (1974), as laboratory assistant.

His final appearance in Doctor Who was in the Tom Baker era adventure 'The Android Invasion'. Carter appears as Grierson in episode four (13th December 1975). Carter made his annual appearance in a “slap and tickle” sexploitation film as a police inspector in The Sexplorer AKA The Girl from Starship Venus (1975) a sci-fi comedy showing the exploits of a female alien in London’s Soho. For director Barry Letts, who had worked with Carter on 'The Android Invasion', he appeared as a street vendor in the first episode of The Prince and the Pauper (4th January 1976). Apart from his role in 'The Dummy' Carter also made two films during the year; The Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976) and It Could Happen to You (1976) – an educational film about sexually transmitted diseases. Carter played a workman whilst a young actor called Bernard Hill (later to appear in Boys from the Blackstuff and the Lord of the Rings films) played a personification of syhphillis!

Post-Beasts Carter continued with roles in low budget British films – a police sergeant in Adventures of a Private Eye (1977), a thief in Adventures of a Plumber’s Mate (1978) and the role of Finger Patch in another opus by Lindsay Shonteff, Number One of the Secret Service (1977), a Bond spoof featuring Nicky Henson as the super spy Number One. On television he had a recurring supporting role as Harry Harry in the second season of Poldark which aired during 1977 and also found time to pop up in small roles in other series such as Petty Officer Grigg in 'Steel Hand From The Sea' (11th February 1978), an episode of wartime drama Enemy At The Door which also featured his 'The Dummy' co-star Bernard Horsfall in one of the main roles.

Other appearances included being a guard in 'Cold War' (13th November 1978), an episode of The Tomorrow People, playing the innkeeper in two episodes of the BBC adaptation of Pinocchio (3rd and 17th December 1978) - having been cast by his old colleague Barry Letts, and playing Fred in 'The Silver Ghost' (21st January 1979) an episode of the Upstairs Downstairs spin-off Thomas and Sarah. His role as a removal man in the Worzel Gummidge episode 'The Return of Dolly Clothes-Peg' (19th June 1980) would his last appearance for several years. He would next be seen as Lionel in two episodes of second season of the drama series Auf Wiedersehn Pet – 'Scoop' (25th April 1986) and 'Law and Disorder' (2nd May 1986). His final role I have been able to trace was as an injured workman in The Bill story 'Subsequent Visits' (18th July 1989).