Nicholas Courtney: A Soldier in Time

After his first appearance in Doctor Who, Nicholas returned to the stage before playing Bill Page in the 1966 thriller, Watch the Birdies. Although this was his first lead in a television serial, he became a familiar face on the small screen throughout the 1960s, appearing in classic shows such as The Avengers, The Saint, Callan, The Champions and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) where he starred opposite Roger Delgado, soon to be famous as the Master.

Director Douglas Camfield brought Nicholas back to the world of Doctor Who in 1968 for the Second Doctor adventure, The Web of Fear. Originally down to play the short-lived Captain Knight, Nicholas ended up with a promotion when the actor due to appear as a certain colonel dropped out. And so on 17 February, 1968, Nicholas Courtney appeared as Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart for the first time. Shortly afterwards it was decided that the character should be elevated to Brigadier and become a regular as the head of UNIT's UK branch with the Doctor operating alongside the organisation. The premise was tested in the Cyberman story, The Invasion. It worked well and when Doctor Who returned in 1970 for the Third Doctor's debut season, Nicholas was onboard as a regular.

As Doctor Who's Lead Writer and Executive Producer, Steven Moffat, recently noted, 'Nicholas Courtney... as the Brigadier carved a very special place in the history of Doctor Who. Not just because he could be grave and funny at the same time, and wise and silly in the same moment, and not just because you could still love him when he was clearly in the wrong, or because he could point a gun at you and still somehow twinkle - but because out of all the people the Doctor has met, in all of space and time, Nicholas Courtney's Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was the only one who was ever his boss.'

The Brigadier was a military man with a heart, frustrated by the Doctor but fond of him. His scenes with the Time Lord were always a treat with Nicholas delivering beautifully nuanced performances, deftly conveying humour and gravitas as the moment demanded. He became an integral part of the Third Doctor's era and the show's central relationship for most of that period - the Doctor, his companion, the Brigadier and a handful of lower ranking soldiers - became affectionately known as the UNIT family.

For the Third Doctor's swansong, Planet of the Spiders, the Brigadier was scripted as entering the final scene as the Doctor was mid-regeneration, demanding to know what was going on. Appropriately enough it was Nicholas who suggested the version that was ultimately shot. In this, Lethbridge-Stewart is with Sarah Jane when the Doctor collapses and begins to change. As the Fourth Doctor appears before them, the Brigadier declares, 'Well, here we go again!'

And with those prophetic words, a new era was being ushered in, for Doctor Who and for Nicholas Courtney...

Source - BBC Dr who