Nicholas Courtney

William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was best known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.

Early life

Nicholas Courtney was born 16 December 1929 in Cairo, Egypt, the son of Major Geoffrey William Courtney, a British army officer and diplomat, and Evelyn (née Stout). His paternal grandparents were the Oxford academic and journalist William Leonard Courtney and his first wife, Cordelia (née Place). His grandfather, W. L. Courtney, had been an amateur actor during his tenure at Oxford University and was involved in the early productions in the New Theatre by the Oxford University Dramatic Society. The Lethbridge-Stewart character returned in the next season in The Invasion, promoted to the rank of brigadier,

In this recurring role, he appeared semi-regularly in 101 episodes between 1970 and 1975. The character proved popular enough to return in 1983, first in Mawdryn Undead and in the official 20th anniversary special "The Five Doctors". Courtney made his final appearance in the 1989 serial Battlefield (although like many other former cast members, he reprised the role for the charity special Dimensions in Time). He appeared with Jean Marsh in both his first and last regular Doctor Who television appearances. Jean Marsh portrayed the character of Sara Kingdom in Courtney's first appearance, The Daleks' Master Plan, playing his character's sister. In Courtney's final appearance on the show, Marsh portrayed the villainous Morgaine in the Arthurian-inspired Battlefield. Marsh also appeared in the earlier story The Crusade for which Courtney had been considered. Courtney played Lethbridge-Stewart, either on television or in spin-off audio plays, alongside every subsequent Doctor up to and including Paul McGann, as well as substitute First Doctor Richard Hurndall. He did not act in the revived series, but appeared in archive footage. While he acted with Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant in the Big Finish audio dramas Sympathy for the Devil and UNIT: The Wasting, Tennant was playing a different character, Colonel Ross Brimmicombe-Wood, on both occasions.

Fifteen years after Dimensions in Time, Courtney returned as Lethbridge-Stewart (now, Sir Alistair), freshly returned from Peru, in Enemy of the Bane (2008), a two-part story in the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, starring Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. The Sarah Jane Adventures production team intended that Courtney would reappear in the following year's The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith so that Lethbridge-Stewart would meet the Tenth Doctor, but Courtney was recovering from a stroke and unable to take part.

Following Courtney's death on 22 February 2011, Lethbridge-Stewart was written out as having also died; when the Eleventh Doctor wanted to contact him in "The Wedding of River Song", he was informed that Sir Alistair has died some months earlier at his nursing home. The Brigadier was mentioned several times in the series' golden anniversary episode, "The Day of the Doctor", and quoted once; and, with a prominent close-up of his archival portrait, Courtney is the only individual to appear in all the Doctor Who anniversary stories prior to "The Day of the Doctor".

In a 2008 interview, Courtney criticised the pacing of the new series of Doctor Who, saying: "It’s all a bit rushed sometimes. It’s a heck of a lot to get in in three quarters of an hour, the whole story. In the old days, it used to be half an hour every Saturday for four Saturdays, or six Saturdays, so it does all seem to be a bit of a rush. In fact, it leaves me rather gasping for breath sometimes." Courtney also commented: "I think people’s attention span is more limited than it used to be."

After Doctor Who

Courtney continued to act extensively in theatre and television after his main Doctor Who appearances, guest-starring in television programmes including Whodunnit? in 1977, where he appeared again with Jon Pertwee, Minder (1984), All Creatures Great and Small (1980, episode "Matters of Life And Death"), Only Fools and Horses (1988) and Yes, Prime Minister (1986), and the 1984 television movie To Catch a King. In 1982 he was cast alongside Frankie Howerd in the World War II-set comedy series Then Churchill Said to Me but the series remained untransmitted for over a decade due to the outbreak of the Falklands War. He also had a regular role in the comedy French Fields between 1989 and 1991.

Courtney also appeared in an episode of the long-running BBC TV series The Two Ronnies alongside Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett as the character of 'Captain Dickie Chapman', a fellow prisoner-of-war (POW) in Colditz during World War II, in a sketch based on the original BBC serial, Colditz.

In 1985, Courtney played 'The Narrator' in The Rocky Horror Show. In 1989 he portrayed Temple in the BBC Radio 4 adaption of John Wyndham's Survival. He also appeared briefly in the 1990 film Bullseye!, directed by Michael Winner.

Courtney also appeared in the Big Finish Productions audio drama Earthsearch Mindwarp, based on a James Follett novel, broadcast on the digital radio station BBC 7. Courtney starred as Inspector Lionheart opposite fellow Doctor Who actor Terry Molloy in the audio series The Scarifyers, from Cosmic Hobo Productions. The first two Scarifyers adventures, The Nazad Conspiracy and The Devil of Denge Marsh, were broadcast on BBC 7 in 2007; the third, entitled For King and Country in 2008, and fourth, The Curse of the Black Comet, in 2010. He also appeared in three episodes of Kaldor City as the newscaster Danl Packard. He regularly made personal appearances at science fiction conventions and in 1997 was made the honorary president of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. Courtney also appeared in BBC Radio 4's five part chilling radio drama "Outbreak of Fear" by R.D. Wingfield in the 1980s (repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra up to August 2017 in stereo only on TV and online - not DAB).

In 1998, Courtney released his autobiography, titled Five Rounds Rapid! after a line of dialogue the Brigadier had in the 1971 Doctor Who serial The Dæmons. He recorded his memoirs, subtitled A Soldier in Time for release on CD in 2002 by Big Finish.

In 2008 he appeared in his final film role in Incendiary, as the Archbishop of Canterbury, alongside Ewan McGregor. 2008 also saw his final TV role, reprising Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and reuniting with Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, in the Doctor Who spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, in the Series Two finale, Enemy of the Bane.

Courtney's updated autobiography, Still Getting Away With It , was published in 2005, The BBC reported that he had "died in London at the age of 81".

According to Courtney's official website, he died following a brief illness. Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss called him "a childhood hero and the sweetest of gentlemen".

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1966 The Brides of Fu Manchu Sergeant Film debut, Uncredited 1969 Doppelgänger Medical Data Analyst Uncredited 1970 Take a Girl Like You Panel Chairman 1971 Endless Night Second Auctioneer Uncredited 1974 Soft Beds, Hard Battles French Intelligence Officer 1990 Bullseye! Sir Hugh 1995 Downtime Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart Direct-to-video Doctor Who spin-off 2008 Incendiary Archbishop of Canterbury Final film

Television Year Title Role Notes 1962, 1967 The Avengers Captain Gifford/Captain Legros 2 episodes 1965 The Saint Alain/Policeman 1965Doctor WhoBret VyonSerial: The Daleks' Master Plan 1968, 1970–1975, 1983, 1988, 1989 Colonel/Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart 107 episodes Man chatting with other sightseers in the queue to visit Windsor Castle Uncredited cameo; serial Silver Nemesis 1966 Watch the Birdies Bill Page 5 episodes 1968 The Champions Doctor Farley 1 episode 1969 Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) Max Episode: "The Ghost who Saved the Bank at Monte Carlo"1973 The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Hutchinson Hatch Episode: "Cell 13" The Two Ronnies Dickie 1 episode 1977 Whodunnit? Peter Hampshire Episode: "The Last Tango in Tooting" 1980 All Creatures Great and Small Paul Cotterell Episode: "Matters of Life and Death"1984 To Catch a King de Oliveira TV movie Minder Raymond Wilkins Episode: "The Balance of Power" 1987 Yes Prime Minister Police Commissioner Episode: "A Diplomatic Incident"1988 Only Fools and Horses Charles Episode: "Dates" 1989–1991 French Fields Marquis 5 episodes 1991, 2007 The Bill Dr Nigel Botterill/Judge 2 episodes 1992 Screen One Tim Aying Episode: "Born Kicking" 1993 Then Churchill Said to Me Lt. Col. Robin Witherton 6 episodes, filmed in 1982 Children in Need Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart Special: Dimensions in Time 1996 Satellite City English Stan Episode: "The Other Side" 2005 Doctors Edmund Black Episode: "Heart on His Sleeve" 2007 Casualty Claude Devigny Episode: "The Fires Within" 2008 The Sarah Jane Adventures Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart Serial: "Enemy of the Bane"