A Tribute to Barry Letts; Mentor, Friend, and Guiding Light
| 11 October 2009
Once every now and again a human being comes into your life and changes you forever. I am lucky in this regard for I have had three such people take me under their wings and guide me into something good. These men were all attached to the phenomenon called Doctor Who. In no particular order, it was Douglas Camfield, Jon Pertwee, and Barry Letts who made all of this happen.
With Jon already passed away, and Douglas too, it is easy to imagine the sadness that I in particular, and so many others across the land, feel to hear the sad news that Barry Letts has died. In the past, Barry gave me more than advice, he tutored me. He cast me in quite a few of his other productions, and as any other young actor joining the cast of a television show, you do over time see who are the good people, and who are not. Barry was one of the good people. He always trusted me, and I know that now, because it was he and Douglas Camfield that emotionally conspired to give me the part of Sgt. Benton in the Doctor Who series. I am not going to drift into sadness at present, because he gave me such happiness during my Doctor Who tenure.
Barry Letts with script editor Terrance Dicks and Jon Pertwee as the Doctor on set.
The Time Warrior - 1973
One often remembers the last time in the company of a person who has died. In this case, it was an unusual and fabulous meeting with Barry. It was approximately November 2007 when Jennifer and myself were enjoying one of our rare trips to England. We had a phone call from the studio manager, inviting us down to the studio where Barry, Terrance Dicks, and Katy Manning were recording a DVD commentary. What thrilled us about the invitation was the private time we knew we would have with Barry, Katy and Terrance. When lunchtime came we went to an Italian restaurant in Wardour Street in the West End, across from the studio. It turned out to be one of those spectacular lunches where everyone was happy and on-form. I was thrilled to be sitting down at the table with Barry, knowing that the conversation would turn to all the years in the past and our excited involvement in the Doctor Who franchise.
Barry was so alive, he had so much to say, it simply brought back all of my memories that you visitors to my website know I hold so precious. I have always shouted from the rooftops without embarrassment what Barry Letts, Douglas Camfield, and Jon Pertwee did for my life. They cross my mind on a weekly basis. The thought of never seeing and talking to Barry again does leave a little bit of a vaccuum in my heart. After all, that time all those years ago was the best part of my life. I felt loved and wanted, and totally involved in everything they tried to acheieve with their view of what the good Doctor should do in this universe.
To Muriel, Barry's widow, and their extended family, I send you my saddest condolences, along with the affection and highest regard in which Barry was held by all who knew him and worked with him.
In closing this farewell to a man I admired, looked up to, regarded highly, and loved, I wish to say that the footprint he left behind fitted all sizes of humanity. He loved God in the way that makes you feel clean and decent. He talked about humanity in a way that lifted my spirits. For those of you who watched his work closely, or listened to any of his interviews or DVD commentaries, you may observe that he was always saying that he was glad to be on the side of good.
BARRY LETTS and his Doctor Who Production Team - 1970
As Executive Producer of Doctor Who for so long, he, along with his colleague and close friend Terrance Dicks, never missed an opportunity to show the power of good over evil. Barry always saw the bright light of goodness thwart and overpower all that was wrong with the world. How many times I heard him refer to his desire for a just and equitable world. So it follows, doesn't it, that who better could have produced a show filled with so much humanity? Humans like Barry Letts will be missed for one simple reason; they are a rare species. Like most of you, I've lived a varied life, exciting, but filled also with moments of dread and fear, unemployment, loneliness, and all the other ingredients that we humans are saddled with, but rarely does one meet someone who has such an effect. So in saying my final goodbye, on behalf of myself, my wife Jennifer, and every single one of you kind hearts that visit our website and follow Doctor Who, let us wish that there will be one, or maybe two, people like Barry Letts in the future, whose good hearts and creative thoughts inspire us to be better human beings.
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