December, 1974. A new Doctor. A new era. But the same old Brigadier with Tom Baker's debut as the Doctor in Robot giving little hint of the huge changes that lay ahead... Nicholas Courtney was back as the Brig and for the moment it was business as usual with the Doctor/Lethbridge-Stewart relationship seeming as strong as ever.
Indeed, Nicholas would later recall how quickly he and Tom Baker struck up a firm and what proved to be an enduring friendship. The two clearly worked well together and the scenes featuring both the Brigadier and the Doctor are amongst Robot's stand out moments. Although UNIT didn't feature in the rest of the Fourth Doctor's first season, Nicholas was back for Terror of the Zygons, a 4-part story that finished on 20 September, 1975. But following this, the Brigadier would be off our screens until 1983.
In his autobiography, Nicholas recalled that whilst filming Terror of the Zygons he suspected it would be the Brigadier's final appearance. Doctor Who was returning to its roots which meant fewer stories set on late twentieth century Earth and less opportunity for the Doctor to help out UNIT and the Brigadier. Nicholas took advantage of Lethbridge-Stewart's absence to return to the theatre. Throughout the 70s he appeared in an impressive array of stage shows - with the legendary Celia Johnson in a West End production of The Dame of Sark, Kate O'Mara in the thriller Double Edge and opposite Bernard Bresslaw in the farce, There Goes the Bride. He played the lead in Michael Frayn's Donkey's Years and the narrator for a touring production of The Rocky Horror Show. He appeared in TV productions including a comedy by Galton and Simpson and somehow found time to feature in a number of radio dramas. The Brigadier may have hung up his peaked cap, but Nicholas Courtney remained a busy man!
Seven years after Terror of the Zygons, Nicholas took a call from Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner. Would he be interested in resurrecting the Brigadier? Nicholas was back as Lethbridge-Stewart in Mawdryn Undead, this time playing opposite Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor. His return was universally applauded and showed that the public's affection for Nicholas Courtney's Brigadier had never dimmed. In 1983 the show marked its twentieth anniversary with the celebratory special, The Five Doctors. The Brigadier's absence would have been unthinkable and sure enough, Nicholas was involved, playing the majority of his scenes opposite Patrick Troughton, the Second Doctor.
Five years later Nicholas found himself in Brighton with John Nathan-Turner discussing the death of the Brigadier. The producer wanted to give the character a grand send-off in an Arthurian adventure that would eventually open the show's twenty-sixth season and although Nicholas agreed, it turned out that recording dates clashed with another project that was desperate for his involvement. Nicholas later recalled that his love of Doctor Who was one factor that swayed him, and so it was that he turned down the other job and returned to Doctor Who one last time.
The story became Battlefield and co-starred Jean Marsh who had featured in Nicholas' very first Doctor Who outing over twenty years earlier. Fortunately, the end of the adventure was re-written. Nathan-Turner realised that so much was happening at the story's climax that the Brigadier's death would not receive the focus it deserved. And so the old soldier lived to fight another day! On 27 September, 1988, Nicholas Courtney made his final appearance in Doctor Who. We left Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in contented retirement, living in a huge house with his wife, Doris. In his final scene he is with the Doctor (by now played Sylvester McCoy) and having saved the world once again, the two old friends are content to simply spend a little time together.
It certainly felt like the natural end for the Brigadier, but for Nicholas Courtney and the character he made famous, there would be much more drama ahead!
Source BBC Dr who
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