I just came across the news this morning.
RIP – Verity Lambert, First Producer of Doctor Who
I only found out a few days ago that the world lost the remarkable and talented Verity Lambert on November 22, 2007 (just a day shy of the 44th anniversary of Doctor Who). She had a long career of successes in the early days of UK television, moving on to create her own production company "Cinema Verity" (nominee: Best Production Company Name Ever), and making her mark on the world of British cinema.
As an American, I mostly knew her name because of her role as the first series producer of Doctor Who in the 1960’s. Before it was a sci-fi classic, a British institution, and a revived mega-hit, Doctor Who was the series that no one at the BBC wanted anything to do with. Lambert tackled the assignment with gusto, quickly put the series on the map, and endured scathing words from her overwhelmingly male colleagues as to how she got her job.
Lambert was equal to the task, and her long string of career triumphs are proof. Over her career the press went from commenting on her striking looks, to citing her television work as regularly pulling in record numbers of viewers. Her name even appeared in a Monty Python sketch, a Peter Cook and Dudley Moore sketch, and as an on-screen in the new series of Who.
We’ve all heard the saying that "success has many fathers", but let’s not forget how important the mothers are as well.
(Via Retro Thing.)
2 thoughts on “RIP – Verity Lambert, First Producer of Doctor Who”
Indeed, and this years Who Christmas special was dedicated very appropirately in her memory.