We’re sorry to report the death of Nicholas Courtney, an actor probably best known to downthetubes readers as Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart in Doctor Who, after a long illness. He was 81.
I met Nicholas Courtney many times during my editorship of Doctor Who Magazine and he will be remembered as an absolute gent: always helpful, regularly able to regale fans with stories of his time on Doctor Who.
He was extremely helpful to me, as leading member of Equity, in helping out with contacts for actors who the Magazine owed payments for BBC photo use, and willingly gave up his time for interviews for the title.
He was also happy to let us feature him in both comic strips and in illustrations, such as the cover, above, for the 1991 Doctor Who Winter Special and the art below by Paul Vyse, used to illustrate an encounter between him and the Sixth Doctor, specially written for the Magazine by Colin Baker himself.
As the team over at Big Finish note, he was warm, generous and, most of all, great fun. Our thoughts are with his wife Karen and his family at this time – he will be very much missed.
• Nicholas Courtney – Official Web Site
A special page to post messages of condolence will be added to the site.
• Doctor Who News page Obituary
- About the Author
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Doctor Who, Obituaries
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