Barry Letts

Barry Letts is a British actor, television director and producer best known for his work on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. Indeed, he is one of the people associated with the programme on a long basis, with active involvement in each of the programme's decades.

Related Topics:
British - BBC - Science fiction - Television series - Doctor Who

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Letts' first involvement was when he directed the 1968 Patrick Troughton serial The Enemy of the World. This was a complex serial to direct as Troughton played both the Doctor and the Mexican dictator Salamander in the same story and sometimes in the same scenes - a rare and demanding directorial requirement for the 1960s.

Related Topics:
1968 - Patrick Troughton - The Enemy of the World - The Doctor - Salamander - 1960s

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He became the show's producer in 1970 in succession to Derrick Sherwin. Jon Pertwee had just been cast as the Doctor. Letts remained the producer for the majority of the Pertwee serials and was the father figure in the 'family' atmosphere that had developed on the show at that time. It was an exciting era for Doctor Who, with episodes broadcast in colour for the first time. He also oversaw the celebrations of the programme's tenth anniversary in 1973.

Related Topics:
1970 - Derrick Sherwin - Jon Pertwee - 1973

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Barry Letts formed a particular partnership with two other contributors to the programme: Terrance Dicks, who was the script editor on the programme at that time; and Robert Sloman, with whom he contributed four stories to the Pertwee era: The Daemons (credited as Guy Leopold); The Time Monster ; The Green Death ; and Planet of the Spiders, which was Pertwee's swan song. Barry Letts is a Buddhist, and this has influenced several of his contributions to Doctor Who.

Related Topics:
Terrance Dicks - Robert Sloman - The Daemons - The Time Monster - The Green Death - Planet of the Spiders - Buddhist

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He was still producer when Tom Baker was cast as the Fourth Doctor, taking a strong role on the casting. After one story with Baker, Robot (Doctor Who) he left the position of producer in 1975, having been the longest serving producer on the programme to that time.

Related Topics:
Tom Baker - Robot (Doctor Who) - 1975

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Barry Letts also directed several Doctor Who stories during his period as Producer: Terror of the Autons, Carnival of Monsters, Planet of the Spiders and part of Inferno after Douglas Camfield had been taken ill. He returned in 1976 to direct The Android Invasion during the era of Philip Hinchcliffe as programme producer.

Related Topics:
Terror of the Autons - Carnival of Monsters - Inferno - Douglas Camfield - 1976 - The Android Invasion - Philip Hinchcliffe

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In the 1980-81 series, he returned to be executive producer alongside John Nathan-Turner as the producer. This was for one season between The Leisure Hive and Tom Baker's final story Logopolis. Letts' return to the programme was because it was assumed that Nathan-Turner did not have enough experience to produce the programme alone. As it happened, 'JNT' as he was known stayed for nine years, overtaking Letts as the longest serving producer on Doctor Who. When the programme returned in 2005, Letts was involved in the hectioc round of interviews to promote the show, most unusually appearing for a lengthy discussion piece on The Daily Politics with Andrew Neill on BBC2.

Related Topics:
1980 - 81 - John Nathan-Turner - The Leisure Hive - Logopolis - The Daily Politics - Andrew Neill - BBC2

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Barry Letts also wrote two scripts for two radio plays broadcast in the 1990s — The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space. He has written several Doctor Who spin off novels including Deadly Reunion with Terrance Dicks, The Ghosts of N-Space novelisation, Paradise of Death novelisation and The Daemons novelisation for Target Books.

Related Topics:
1990s - ''Doctor Who'' spin off novels - Terrance Dicks - Target Books

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His other work includes producing and co-creating Moonbase 3 Dicks, producing Nicholas Nickleby 1977, A Tale of Two Cities 1980, The Hound of the Baskervilles 1982 and The Invisible Man 1984, all as part of the BBC's "Sunday Classics"" strand.

Related Topics:
Moonbase 3 - 1977 - 1980 - 1982 - The Invisible Man - 1984

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He was also a director on the soap opera Eastenders from 1990 to 1992.

Related Topics:
Soap opera - Eastenders - 1990 - 1992

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