The world of Doctor Who has suffered a great loss this week. Nicholas Courtney, known and loved by fans worldwide as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, passed away on Tuesday. He was 81.
Courtney first appeared in Doctor Who alongside the First Doctor, William Hartnell, playing Space Security Agent Bret Vyon in the epic 12-part "The Daleks' Master Plan" in 1965. In 1968, he was cast as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart in the Second Doctor serial "The Web of Fear". In the next season, the character returned in "The Invasion", now promoted to the rank of Brigadier and in command of UNIT, an organization set up to protect the world from alien threats.
Courtney continued to appear regularly as the Brigadier from 1970-74, aiding the Earth-bound Third Doctor. His last regular appearance was in the Fourth Doctor story "Terror of the Zygons". The character would not appear again until 1983 in the story "Mawdryn Undead" opposite Fifth Doctor Peter Davison, and made his final appearance in the television series in its final season, opposite Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy in "Battlefield".
Courtney would continue to reprise the role of the Brigadier in TV and video specials, audio dramas, and finally in the second season of the Doctor Who spin-off series The Sarah-Jane Adventures.
In 1997 he became Honorary President of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, and published two autobiographies.
An officer and a gentleman on screen, and a gentleman in real life who appreciated the series' fans, he will be sorely missed.
