Hello everyone 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley.

I’d like to pay tribute to three people that we sadly lost this year – Christopher Hamilton Bidmead, Nabil Shaban and Prunella Scale. I never got to meet these three in real life, sadly, but I have enjoyed their contributions to certain TV shows I’ve watched many times.

Christopher H. Bidmead was the script editor of ‘Doctor Who’ for Tom Baker’s seventh and final season as the Fourth Doctor from 1980 to 1981 – Season 18. He also wrote the season finale ‘Logopolis’ and penned the opening story to Season 19 called ‘Castrovalva’.

He later wrote ‘Frontios’, a story in Season 21 of the classic TV series with Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. Since writing for the TV series, Chris Bidmead contributed the story ‘Renaissance of the Daleks’ for Big Finish audio, starring Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton.

He also adapted ‘The Hollows of Time’, a story originally meant for Season 23 of the classic TV series into a Big Finish audio. Chris Bidmead’s contribution to ‘Doctor Who’ in the early 1980s has been significant, especially in setting up Peter Davison’s era of the series.

Back in 2021, I enjoyed checking out his ‘Myth Makers’ interview where he shared his memories of working on the TV show. The stories he delivered were quite mind-boggling but fascinating to check out, especially concerning his interest in computers and science.

I’ll always cherish very fond memories of checking out Chris Bidmead’s stories, including ‘Logopolis’ and ‘Castrovalva’. It’s sad I never got to meet him and share my experiences of checking out his ‘Doctor Who’ stories, but I’ll never forget how compelling they can be.

Nabil Shaban played Sil, the villainous slug-like being from Thoros-Beta that caused trouble for the Sixth Doctor and Peri in the TV stories ‘Vengeance on Varos’ and the ‘Mindwarp’ segment of ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’. I’ve enjoyed him as Sil in the TV series.

As well as the TV series, Nabil Shaban reprised his role as Sil in the Big Finish audios, including ‘Mission to Magnus’, which was a story originally meant for the aborted Season 23 on TV. He also played Sil in the Big Finish audio story ‘Antidote to Oblivion’ with Sixy and Flip.

Nabil Shaban also reprised the role of Sil in the Reeltime Pictures production ‘Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor’. Nabil Shaban was rather unique as an actor, especially as he was disabled and co-founded the theatre group Graeae to promote disabled performers.

He has also featured in several National Theatre productions. Even though I’ve not seen him in anything else other than his ‘Doctor Who’ appearances as Sil, there’s no doubt in my mind that Nabil Shaban was incredibly talented, as it truly shows in his performances.

I’ll also cherish very fond memories of Nabil Shaban as an actor, especially in ‘Doctor Who’. His performances as Sil are very memorable and it was nice to revisit that when checking out the ‘Vengeance on Varos’ Target novelization and its audiobooks this year. 🙂

Prunella Scales was well-known for playing Sybil Fawlty in ‘Fawlty Towers’. She was also the wife of Timothy West and the mother of Samuel West, who plays Siegfried Farnon in the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series. I’m sad Prunella Scales has left us. 😦

Again, I’ll recall Prunella with great fondness in checking out ‘Fawlty Towers’ where she played Basil’s wife who bossed him around. 😀 A lot of her scenes in ‘Fawlty Towers’ are very amusing, and it was nice to check out the TV series recently and enjoy her as Sybil in it. 🙂

As well as ‘Fawlty Towers’, I’ve also seen Prunella Scales in the sitcom series ‘Marriage Lines’ with Richard Briers, which was made in the 1960s before she became well-known in ‘Fawlty Towers’. She was also in an episode of ITV’s ‘Marple’ series – ‘A Pocket Full of Rye’.

I know Prunella Scales wasn’t very well at the time when she passed away, as she suffered with vascular dementia, which is a shame. Thankfully, she’s free of that now and I know that she’s in a better place where she won’t suffer anymore, which is very reassuring.

When I revisit ‘Fawlty Towers’ in future, whether it’s via the TV series or on audio, I’ll be enjoying the episodes with great fondness, especially with Prunella Scales playing Sybil. It’s sad she and Andrew Sachs are now no longer with us, but they’ve left a loving legacy.

I’m glad I’ve been able to pay tribute to Christopher H. Bidmead, Nabil Shaban and Prunella Scales this way. It’s sad I never got to meet any of them, but I’m eagerly looking forward to revisiting their contributions to the shows they’ve participated in for the future.

Thanks for reading.

Bye for now.

Tim 🙂