"Eldrad Must Live!"
Just because you wear a mask or full facial coverings on screen, it doesn’t make you less of a visual performer; in fact, the power of a performance comes in the subtlety or the inflections of your verbal delivery.
Stephen Thorne as the ‘Original’ Omega awoke me from my slumber the first time I watched ‘The Three Doctors’ during the ‘Five Faces’ season. I was quite happily supping up the fun and frivolity of the Troughton/Pertwee interplay, when BOOM! Stephen strides onto the screen in full Shakespearean majesty.
But it’s that defining wail, that over whelming cry of Omega’s internal pain he lets out when the realism of his own mortality (or rather lack of) cascades through the air. It sent a resonating chill down my spine and still does to this day whenever I revisit it. Now, that’s the mark of a true classical actor; mastery of a character’s verbal delivery is the key building block of a believable villain. In Omega’s case always very distinctive, gravelly and tainted with traits of vulnerability.
The Shakespearean line of Stephen Thorne’s work comes from his classic RADA training. After that time-honoured training in weekly Rep where he perfected his house style of that polished layered vocal delivery. He was spotted and coached for an opportunity to tread those hallowed boards of the Old Vic. His flexibility and sheer presence, remember Stephen was a man of great stature and an actor who could command the light of attention on any stage, painted his pathway to travel the world with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
His voice work, through the world-renowned BBC Radio 4 plays and dramas became a staple for a considerable period of his life. Again, it was that voice, that authoritarian cut of his projection that gained so much respect from his fellow actors. Appearing in comedies, dramas and soaps his manipulation of his oratory projection was a true game changer and a magnetic draw.
Those tones of his would appear on the wireless on umpteen occasions, even gracing the lands of Tolkien in the radio adaption of the epic adventure ‘The Lord of the Rings’
And that brings us on to where most of us first experienced this towering shadow, the world of Sci-Fi and the universe of 'Doctor Who'.
I first saw Stephen in ‘The Hand of Fear', playing the male version of Eldrad. Again encased in a silicon shell he would cut through the restrictions in the costume, his bombastic and, I think, measured performance clearly hit the spot. I say that because Eldrad is an alien who has been forced into exile for untold years, building up a cauldron of hatred and revenge in this time.
He’s not going to be nicey-nicey, he’s going to be ‘p*ssed off, really p*ssed off’ and this will start to seep through the cracks, in the character’s inability to control that burning hatred. Stephen nails his colours to the mast early on and we find a almost childlike revenge weeping through those evil pores and manifesting through his vocal tirades. In an inexperienced lesser performer we could have been left with a single layered performance, but with Stephen you got that layered onion shedding its skins.
I was later to experience him retrospectively as an alien Daemon and as the Time Lord Omega.
Like all actors he appeared on other television shows: 'Z Cars', 'Last of the Summer Wine' and other numerous brief appearances in various almost walk-on roles in the world of television as such was the lot of an actor in those days. Stephen returned to the world of 'Doctor Who' audio play from Big Finish on several occasions.
But for 'Doctor Who' fans he is a distinctive voice of some of the most classic villains.
Thank you, Stephen, for making me shudder and in equal measures feel sorry for the character you were portraying. To have that ability to make your audience love and despise an evil character in the same breath is an amazing achievement.
Thank you for those rich tones and the legacy of a true villainous performance
Stephen Thorne was born in London 2nd March 1935 and returned to the stars during the last days of May 2019.
As the ‘On Air’ light fades we thank you Stephen and hope you rest in peace.
(Written by Warren Cummings)
('RTA' cover by Martin Holmes)
