Rex Tucker (20 February 1913 – 10 August 1996) was a British

television director A television director is in charge of the activities involved in making a television program or section of a program. They are generally responsible for decisions about the editorial content and creative style of a program, and ensuring the prod ...

in the 1950s and 1960s.

Early life

He was born in

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

in the

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an Administrative counties of England, administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

. He attended

Cheltenham Grammar School Pate's Grammar School is a grammar school with Academy (English school), academy status in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. It caters for pupils aged 11 to 18. The school was founded with a fund bestowed to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, ...

and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

Career

Tucker joined the BBC in 1937 to work in radio where he remained for several years before moving to TV work. In 1954 Tucker wrote and directed ''The Three Princes'' which featured future Doctor Who producer

Barry Letts Barry Leopold Letts (26 March 1925 – 9 October 2009) was an English actor, television director, writer and producer, best known for being the producer of ''Doctor Who'' from 1969 to 1974. Born in Leicester, he worked as an actor in theatre, ...

and actor

Roger Delgado Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto (1 March 1918 – 18 June 1973) was an English actor. He played many roles on television, radio and in films, and had "a long history of playing minor villains" before becoming ...

who later became well known for playing the Doctor's opponent The Master. In 1961 he wrote, produced and directed the historical serial '' Triton'', which was remade in 1968. Tucker also wrote a sequel ''

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

'' for broadcast in 1969. Amongst his work, he was a driving force during the formative stages of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' in 1963, acting as a caretaker producer prior to the arrival of

Verity Lambert Verity Ann Lambert (27 November 1935 – 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer. Lambert began working in television in the 1950s. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of t ...

. Tucker's friend, the actor and director

Hugh David Hugh David (17 July 1925 – 11 September 1987) was a British actor and television director. His directorial credits include ''Compact'', ''Z-Cars'', '' The Pallisers'' and ''Doctor Who'', for which he directed two stories in the Patrick ...

— whom Tucker had actually approached about playing the leading role in the series — later claimed in interviews that it was Tucker who had named the series ''Doctor Who'', although Tucker himself credited

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (; April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian producer and screenwriter who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, he was app ...

with this. Tucker was also the director originally assigned to the first serial, ''

An Unearthly Child ''An Unearthly Child'' (sometimes referred to as ''100,000 BC'') is the first serial of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One, BBC TV in four weekly parts from 23 November to 14 Decem ...

'', and later it had been planned that Tucker would direct more of the programme's introductory season. However, these commitments did not work out, and ultimately he directed only '' The Gunfighters'' in 1966. During the last episode, ''The O.K. Corral'', a dispute arose between Tucker and then producer

Innes Lloyd George Innes Llewelyn Lloyd (24 December 1925 – 23 August 1991) was a Welsh television producer and former actor. He had a long career as a producer in BBC drama, which included series such as ''Doctor Who'' and ''Talking Heads''. Early li ...

over the editing of the episode, leading to Tucker requesting that his credit be excised. In 2013 the BBC commissioned a

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...

about the creation and early days of ''Doctor Who'', called ''

An Adventure in Space and Time ''An Adventure in Space and Time'' is a 2013 British Biographical film, biographical television film, starring David Bradley (English actor), David Bradley, Brian Cox (actor), Brian Cox, Jessica Raine and Sacha Dhawan. Directed by Terry McDono ...

'', as part of the programme's fiftieth anniversary celebrations. Tucker appears as a character in the drama, played by actor

Andrew Woodall ''The Sugar Syndrome'' is a 2003 play written by British writer Lucy Prebble. It has won several awards and as of 2009 has been sold in seven languages. Synopsis The play has four main characters: Dani, Tim, Lewis and Jan. At the beginning, ...

. His daughter Jane Tucker was part of the Rod, Jane and Freddy musical trio.

References

External links

*
''Rex Tucker - The Forgotten Producer'', by Paul Scoones (''Time Space Visualiser'' issue 49, November 1996)
1913 births 1996 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge People educated at Pate's Grammar School People from March, Cambridgeshire British television directors {{UK-tv-bio-stub