Richard Martin

Richard Martin (born 3 January 1935) is a retired British television director and former actor. After starting his career as an actor, he worked regularly as a director throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, which included directing several early serials of Doctor Who starring William Hartnell, and series such as Compact, Crown Court and All Creatures Great and Small. He is married to actress Suzanne Neve. Doctor Who After having acted in the 1958 television series Ivanhoe and the 1960 series Maigret, Martin was asked to join the production team working on yet to be broadcast series Doctor Who by caretaker producer Rex Tucker. He worked on Doctor Who during its first two seasons, from 1963 to 1965. Martin directed part of the second story of the inaugural season of Doctor Who, The Daleks, in which the titular villains were first introduced. During the making of The Daleks, Martin persuaded producer Verity Lambert to approach the story in a less conservative manner. Martin also directed two additional stories featuring the Daleks for the second season of Doctor Who, The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Chase. Martin directed two other Doctor Who stories. He directed the first episode of The Edge of Destruction, which immediately followed The Daleks in season 1, and the entire season 2 story The Web Planet. For the latter story, Martin wanted to film through a special camera lens to make the planet appear more "alien," but due to budget constraints he had to resort to covering the lens with vaseline to achieve the effect, which many viewers found distracting. In 2013, the BBC praised Martin's direction of The Edge of Destruction for how it "wrings every available ounce of suspense, horror and mystery" from a script that features only the show's four regular characters. They also praised his direction of certain scenes from The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Authors Tat Wood and Lawrence Miles credit Martin for "the most impressive effect" in The Daleks, that of "the wall blistering under the Daleks' weapons." Authors Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping regard The Daleks as being "brilliantly directed."