George Romero, director, dies
Pioneering horror film director George A. Romero dies at the age of 77 after a battle with lung cancer. In 1968, his low-budget shocker Night Of The Living Dead all but gave birth to the zombie horror genre. Some of his later films attempted to tackle different subject matter, meeting with box office indifference until he returned to the zombie genre with Dawn Of The Dead (1976), which earned back more than 100 times its production budget. High-profile works after that included the Stephen King-written Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988), and a third film in his zombie cycle, Day Of The Dead (1985). Sticking this time with his connection to the genre, Romero continued to be involved in spinoffs for comics, internet shorts, and further films, including Road Of The Dead, a movie he promoted shortly before his death. His movies remain immensely influential in the horror genre.
Martin Landau, actor, dies
Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau, a fixture of genre TV and movies since the late 1950s, dies at the age of 89. The star of such series as Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999, Landau was also a renowned acting teacher, and was in demand both before and after his TV heyday with roles in North By Northwest, Crimes And Misdemeanors, and Ed Wood, in which his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in his waning years brought him an Academy Award. He worked steadily through his eighties, in both on-screen roles and voice roles, with some projects yet to be released at the time of his death.
Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor
In a specially shot trailer aired after BBC1’s live coverage of the Wimbledon men’s tennis finals, the first female Doctor Who is unveiled in the form of actress Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch, Black Mirror, Attack The Block). Her first appearance in the role proper will presumably take place at the end of outgoing star Peter Capaldi’s final episode, to be aired on Christmas Day 2017. The transition to a new Doctor also includes the transition to new showrunner Chris Chibnall, whose first season will be broadcast in 2018.
Trevor Baxter, actor, dies
British actor Trevor Baxter, best known in genre circles for a one-off appearance in the 1970s Doctor Who story The Talons Of Weng-Chiang as Professor George Litefoot, dies at the age of 84. Though his guest role on Doctor Who lasted six half-hour episodes, his double-act chemistry with fellow guest star Christopher Benjamin was memorable enough that there was brief discussion at the BBC of possibly launching the two Victorian-era characters in their own TV spinoff. That idea was quickly shelved, but Big Finish Productions, the makers of audio Doctor Who, would revive it in the 21st century, leading to the popular audio series Jago & Litefoot, which ran for nearly a decade. Baxter’s list of guest starring roles spans almost the entirety of classic British TV, and he acted on stage on the West End and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was also a prolific playwright in his own right.