Barry Letts - Doctor Who producer of Jon Pertwee era, dead at 84 (1925-2009)

I was in the process of writing another article when I learned the sad news that Barry Letts, producer of Doctor Who from 1969 until 1974, has died at the age of 84. Letts was succeeded Derrick Sherwin as producer of the series in 1969, and under his guidance and with the partnership of script editor Terrance Dicks, he presided over Jon Pertwee's era of the series.

During Letts's time as producer, the series saw the Doctor emerge for the first time in color stories. Then in his Third incarnation, the Time Lord was trapped on Earth in exile, and he worked with companions Liz Shaw (Caroline John), Jo Grant (Katy Manning), and Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen, star of the CBBC series The Sarah Jane Adventures). Other fan favorite companions Capt. Mike Yates (Richard Franklin), who debuted under Letts's tenure, Sgt. John Benton (John Levene), and the iconic Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), also made up the rest of the Doctor's Earthbound team, dubbed in later times as the "UNIT Family" of the "UNIT Years."

The Time Lord villain the Master as played by Roger Delgado featured prominently during this time, and many other popular Doctor Who monsters debuted in the Letts era, including Silurians, Sea Devils, Autons, Axons, Daemons, Sontarans, Giant Spiders, Giant Maggots, Draconians, and the Time Lord Omega. Notables races such as the Daleks, Ice Warriors, and the Cybermen (albeit briefly in cameo) also returned to the screen. The first multi-Doctor event for the tenth anniversary of the program also aired under Letts's supervision, The Three Doctors, which united actors William Hartnell (in his last television performance), Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee to fight the above-mentioned Omega. Letts also contributed his fascination of Buddhist philosophy to Jon Pertwee's regeneration story, Planet of the Spiders.

Barry Letts began his association with Doctor Who in 1967 as the director of the Patrick Troughton adventure The Enemy of the World, which required Letts to organize filming around Troughton's double role as both the heroic Doctor and his look-alike villain Salamander. After replacing Derrick Sherwin as producer of the series beginning with the story The Silurians (also known as Doctor Who and the Silurians due to a title card error), although as Letts was connected to another project during the filming of that story, he was unable to assume full producer responsibilities until the following story The Ambassadors of Death; Terrance Dicks and his assistant Trevor Ray covered for Letts for location filming during the interim. Letts would go on to produce the remainder of Pertwee's era, and even direct several of his adventures, including: Terror of the Autons, Carnival of Monsters, and Planet of the Spiders. He also directed portions of the story Inferno when assigned director Douglas Camfield fell ill. Letts also contributed with writer Robert Sloman some of the most acclaimed scripts to Pertwee's television era: The Daemons (as Guy Leopold), The Time Monster, The Green Death, and Planet of the Spiders. With the arrival of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Letts produced the first story for the new incarnation, Robot, before handing over production reins to Phillip Hinchcliffe. Letts left Doctor Who as its longest serving producer. he returned to direct the 1975 story The Android Invasion, and even served as Executive Producer to the series for Tom Baker's final season in 1980.

Letts's contributions to Doctor Who continued into the 1990s and 2000s with two Jon Pertwee radio plays scripts: The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space, both of which he also novelized, for the Virgin Missing Adventures ranges, and several BBC Past Doctor Adventure novels, including Deadly Reunion in 2003, which was written with Terrance Dicks as a celebration of Doctor Who's 40th anniversary; and Island of Death in 2005. Both novels featured the Third Doctor. He also contributed in 2002 to Big Finish Productions's audio range Sarah Jane Smith, writing the second story for the first series: The TAO Connection. After his work in Doctor Who, Letts returned to directing and producing for the BBC before becoming the producer of the "Sunday Classics" series. In an eight year period, he oversaw the production of twenty-five serials, including Nicholas Nickelby, Great Expectations, Alice in Wonderland, A Tale of Two Cities, Gulliver in Lilliput, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Invisible Man, Sense and Sensibility, and the BAFTA-nominated Jane Eyre starring Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke. He was the director of East Enders from 1990 until 1992, and also produced and co-created with Terrance Dicks Moonbase 3. With the return of Doctor Who to television in 2005, Letts, at age 80, engaged in a gauntlet of press interviews to promote the returning program which he had helped to thrive thirty-five years prior. He also was a regular contributor to Doctor Who DVD commentaries up until his death in 2009 and was an attendee of Doctor Who conventions.

In summary, it is safe to say Barry Letts was one of the most prominent and prolific directors, producers, creators, and writers of the BBC, and Doctor Who has lost one of its best and most beloved producers. An era has ended. Below is a brief video clip of Barry Letts (with Terrance Dicks) discussing The Daemons. A link here provides a 2004 BBC text interview with Barry Letts. Photo source: The Doctor Who News Page