Post by Ed Brown on Feb 14, 2017 11:25:41 GMT
Strictly off-topic, as this has nothing whatever to do with Dr Who.
Roger Delgado was a well established character actor, long before he first appeared in Who in 1971. His early film and television career is well known, as is the fact that so many of the early (live) tv productions in which he appeared are lost from the archives. Many were never recorded at all.
However, he had a long career in radio, too. Whilst he was in Who, he was still making radio appearances in situation comedies. Almost everyone will have heard him in a 1972 edition of 'Parsley Sidings' with Arthur Lowe, which is periodically repeated on Radio 4 Extra.
His work in a 1960's science fiction serial for radio called 'The Slide', written by a well-known Who scriptwriter, Victor Pemberton, is also pretty well known.
But his radio career began in the 1940s. I'm not sure whether it is widely known, but one of his early radio recordings has recently been discovered. As this recovery has not been making news, I'm presuming the few people who do known of it are not big Who fans!
In 1950, he was appearing on the BBC Light Programme in a popular detective drama series called 'Paul Temple' (which ran on BBC radio from 1938 to 1968). One of the early Paul Temple serials, and one which was not retained in the BBC Sound Archives, this was 'Paul Temple and the Vandyke Affair', which aired between October 30th and December 18th, 1950, in 8 episodes.
Those who have heard 'The Vandyke Affair' on BBC Radio 4 Extra recently, will probably not have noticed Delgado's name among the credits -- because he isn't in it! The BBC only hold a remake of the serial, starring Peter Coke, made many years later with a different cast.
In 1950, the character of Paul Temple was still being played by a now largely unknown actor called Kim Peacock (and the BBC only preserved those serials which starred the more popular Peter Coke). The 1950 serial, long believed lost, has turned up, and Delgado plays one of the suspects in it, a character named Philip Drosty.
For those of you who've known about this already, sorry for rabbiting on. For anyone who hasn't heard it, Roger Delgado appears in episode 3 ('Introducing Mr Drosty'), and is then in most of the rest of the serial.
This 8-part serial can be found at: www.mediafire.com/?pfkcmf5559lb4
Don't be deceived by the odd co-incidence that Peter Coke (pronounced Cooke) is also named among the cast. He has a small role in this lost 1950 serial, which is one of two serials in which he played minor characters prior to being cast as the new series lead (which happened in 1954).
For reasons unknown, although the 1959 remake features many of the same actors who appear in the 1950 original, Delgado is one of a few whose character was recast (presumably because he was, by 1959, too big a name to be offered only a supporting part).
Addendum: For anyone who can't quite place Inspector Eden (played by Donald Gray), the reason he may sound familiar is that, some years later, he appeared on tv as the Voice of the Mysterons in "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" (as well as Colonel White... and Captain Black).
Roger Delgado was a well established character actor, long before he first appeared in Who in 1971. His early film and television career is well known, as is the fact that so many of the early (live) tv productions in which he appeared are lost from the archives. Many were never recorded at all.
However, he had a long career in radio, too. Whilst he was in Who, he was still making radio appearances in situation comedies. Almost everyone will have heard him in a 1972 edition of 'Parsley Sidings' with Arthur Lowe, which is periodically repeated on Radio 4 Extra.
His work in a 1960's science fiction serial for radio called 'The Slide', written by a well-known Who scriptwriter, Victor Pemberton, is also pretty well known.
But his radio career began in the 1940s. I'm not sure whether it is widely known, but one of his early radio recordings has recently been discovered. As this recovery has not been making news, I'm presuming the few people who do known of it are not big Who fans!
In 1950, he was appearing on the BBC Light Programme in a popular detective drama series called 'Paul Temple' (which ran on BBC radio from 1938 to 1968). One of the early Paul Temple serials, and one which was not retained in the BBC Sound Archives, this was 'Paul Temple and the Vandyke Affair', which aired between October 30th and December 18th, 1950, in 8 episodes.
Those who have heard 'The Vandyke Affair' on BBC Radio 4 Extra recently, will probably not have noticed Delgado's name among the credits -- because he isn't in it! The BBC only hold a remake of the serial, starring Peter Coke, made many years later with a different cast.
In 1950, the character of Paul Temple was still being played by a now largely unknown actor called Kim Peacock (and the BBC only preserved those serials which starred the more popular Peter Coke). The 1950 serial, long believed lost, has turned up, and Delgado plays one of the suspects in it, a character named Philip Drosty.
For those of you who've known about this already, sorry for rabbiting on. For anyone who hasn't heard it, Roger Delgado appears in episode 3 ('Introducing Mr Drosty'), and is then in most of the rest of the serial.
This 8-part serial can be found at: www.mediafire.com/?pfkcmf5559lb4
Don't be deceived by the odd co-incidence that Peter Coke (pronounced Cooke) is also named among the cast. He has a small role in this lost 1950 serial, which is one of two serials in which he played minor characters prior to being cast as the new series lead (which happened in 1954).
For reasons unknown, although the 1959 remake features many of the same actors who appear in the 1950 original, Delgado is one of a few whose character was recast (presumably because he was, by 1959, too big a name to be offered only a supporting part).
Addendum: For anyone who can't quite place Inspector Eden (played by Donald Gray), the reason he may sound familiar is that, some years later, he appeared on tv as the Voice of the Mysterons in "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" (as well as Colonel White... and Captain Black).
