Sadly, another Doctor Who actor has left us: Robert Sidaway who featured in two Doctor Who adventures with both William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton; he’s most remembered for playing UNIT Captain Jimmy Turner in the Troughton epic, The Invasion.

Born in Wolverhampton on the 24th January 1942, he attended the Tettenhall College in Wolverhampton and later Trent College in Long Eaton. He began his acting career at The Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton when he was only 16. He would later go on to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, also known as LAMDA from 1960 to 1962 which allowed him to secure a number of theatre roles including in Number 10 at The Strand Theatre in 1967 and in Ibsen’s The Wild Duck which featured at the Criterion Theatre in 1970.

On television, it wasn’t only Doctor Who he featured in but also the soap opera Crossroads, where he played the role of Oxford University lecturer Stuart Marshall — his character famously stopped the character of Diane Parker from killing herself. He also guest starred in shows like The Avengers, Tales of Mystery, and Emergency Ward 10.

In Doctor Who, however, he first appeared in the 1966 story, The Savages as Avon. The story saw Peter Purves’ companion Steven Taylor bow out the show. But perhaps more famously, Sidaway featured alongside Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury, and Nicholas Courtney in the eight-part Cybermen epic, The Invasion as the UNIT Captain Jimmy Turner.

But his work in theatre and television would extend further than just acting as he would go on to become a writer and producer for projects including Crossroads which had previously acted in. Alongside acting and producing, he also worked in marketing and public relations for several theatres across London during the 1970s. Sidaway’s first production roles were in documentaries and news programmes; he then moved into television programming, including Channel 4’s The Optimist which ran from 1981 to 1985 and the American soap opera Search for Tomorrow which aired on NBC and would be the first of many projects he would work on with various LA production companies.

In his personal life, Sidaway was married twice but unfortunately both marriages ended in divorce. He first married Maggie Don and later Sandra Miller, but his love for theatre, film, and television clearly shone through his life as he would work with many of the theatres in London as well as American and other overseas production companies.

But for us, it’s Captain Jimmy Turner he’ll always be remembered for — hopefully, he settled down with Isobel Watkins after the Cybermen incident and lived a quiet life!

Robert Sidaway passed away on the 16th August 2024. Our thoughts go to his family and friends.