Mark Strickson (born 6 April 1959) is a British TV producer and actor best known for his acting role as the character of

Vislor Turlough Vislor Turlough is a fictional character played by Mark Strickson in the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. He was a companion of the Fifth Doctor, being a regular in the programme from 1983 to 1984. Turloug ...

, a companion of the

Fifth Doctor The Fifth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Peter Davison. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord fro ...

, on the television series '' Doctor Who.''

Early life

Strickson was born in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-w ...

, England. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School in his home town, the same school as

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, and was also a chorister at

Holy Trinity Church Holy Trinity Church may refer to: Albania * Holy Trinity Church (Berat), Berat County * Holy Trinity Church, Lavdar, Opar, Korçë County Armenia * Holy Trinity Church, Yerevan Australia * Garrison Church, Sydney, South Wales, also known as ''H ...

(Shakespeare's Church), where his father, John Strickson, was organist and choirmaster. He studied drama at

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sena ...

in London. After he left ''Doctor Who,'' Strickson emigrated to Australia, where he studied

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

at the

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands, New South ...

campus of the

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 18,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 3,000 students See also *New England Colle ...

, part-funding his education by teaching theatre studies for 5 years. He subsequently relocated to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, where he took up residence.

Career

As an actor, he appeared in the BBC medical series ''

Angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

'' before landing his part in ''Doctor Who,'' in which he starred for two years. He also played the young Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1984 version of '' A Christmas Carol.'' Strickson subsequently became a documentary producer and director, especially of wildlife documentary programmes. He has produced programmes for, amongst others, the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

, the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

, ITV,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

and

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily d ...

. It was he who, in this capacity, brought

Steve Irwin Stephen Robert Irwin (22 February 19624 September 2006), known as "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian zookeeper, conservationist, television personality, wildlife educator, and environmentalist. Irwin grew up around crocodiles and ot ...

, the "Crocodile Hunter", to public attention with such shows as ''The Ten Deadliest Snakes in the World.'' Strickson appeared at '' Doctor Who'' 20th-anniversary celebrations in Longleat in 1983 alongside many other cast and crew members from the series. He has reprised the role of Turlough in the

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...

''Doctor Who'' audio dramas. He has also contributed interviews and voiceover commentaries for DVD releases of his various ''Doctor Who'' serials.

Filmography

Television

Video games

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strickson, Mark 1959 births 20th-century English male actors Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art British expatriate male actors in Australia British expatriate male actors in New Zealand English documentary filmmakers English expatriates in Australia English expatriates in New Zealand English male television actors English television directors English television producers Living people Actors from Dunedin People from Stratford-upon-Avon University of New England (Australia) alumni