Five Rounds Rapid

[arachnekallisti]

Nicholas Courtney has died at the age of 81, after a short illness.

He will be much missed - not only was he superb as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart, but he was the honorary president of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, a regular and charming participant at conventions, and by all reports a thoroughly good chap.

Comments

[prochytes.livejournal.com]

Amen. For myself, I tend to think of the scene where he faces down the Destroyer in "Battlefield" as the defining moment in Doctor Who. It's always been as much about the human who happens to be there and takes a stand as it is about the Lonely God.

RIP.

[arachnekallisti.livejournal.com]

The Destroyer: Ah... little man. What do you want of me?
rigadier: Get off my world!
The Destroyer: Pitiful. Can this world do no better than you as their champion?
Brigadier: Probably. I just do the best I can.

It was superb, wasn't it? And Nick Courtney's delivery really made it work.

[ignisophis.livejournal.com]

~sheds a tear~

Hadn't realised before just how long he'd been in Doctor Who - from his appearance as Brett Vyon in November 1965 to the "Liberty Hall" video short in September 2009, just shy of 44 years! One of the things that particularly affected me in his final appearances in the SJA was the way that, like Sarah Jane herself, he gave the Whoniverse a sense of continuity and humanity and underlined the thread of the show's theme that's about the passage of time - a thread that can be easily overlooked when watching a young-looking Doctor and his young companions.

RIP

[ignisophis.livejournal.com]

Meant to add a link to his IMDB entry (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0183944/)