Douglas Camfield

Douglas Gaston Sydney Camfield (8 May 1931 - 27 January 1984) was an accomplished director for television from the 1960s to the 1980s. His programme credits include Z-Cars, Paul Temple, Van der Valk, The Sweeney, Shoestring, The Professionals, Out of the Unknown, The Nightmare Man, the BBC dramatisation of Beau Geste and Ivanhoe the 1982 television movie.

Career

He is particularly well known for his work on Doctor Who and was production assistant on its earliest serials, The Pilot Episode, An Unearthly Child and Marco Polo. Camfield went on to direct many other stories in its first thirteen years:

• Planet of Giants-episode 3 only
• The Crusade
• The Time Meddler (notable for its imaginative use of effects to overcome studio confines);
• The Daleks' Master Plan (mammoth twelve episodes in length co-written by Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner);
• The Web of Fear (the story that introduced the popular character of Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, and saw the return of the Yeti);
• The Invasion (which became the most expensive Doctor Who serial up to that time, featuring an unprecedented amount of location filming as well as introducing the organisation UNIT to the series);
• Inferno (he became ill during the recording of episode 2 of this serial and the remaining studio scenes were directed by the series' producer, Barry Letts, but he was still credited for these scenes);
• Terror of the Zygons (the story that saw the departure of companion Harry Sullivan); and
• The Seeds of Doom

He sought to get Philip Hinchcliffe to commission his script for the programme, which involved aliens, the French Foreign Legion and would have killed off the character of Sarah Jane Smith. However, this story was not produced, and Sarah left the programme in The Hand of Fear.

Camfield was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps in 1951 during his National Service. Later the same year he transferred to the West Yorkshire Regiment (Territorial Army). He was promoted Lieutenant in 1952. He left in 1956.

In later life he suffered from a heart ailment, and died of a heart attack. He was married to the actress Sheila Dunn, whom he cast in the Doctor Who stories The Daleks' Master Plan, The Invasion and Inferno.

External links

• Douglas Camfield at the Internet Movie Database