Verity Lambert, Doctor Who’s first producer, dies

24 November 2007

The first producer of Doctor Who, Verity Lambert, died on Thursday aged 71.

Lambert was the producer for the first two series of Doctor Who, which began airing in 1963 – her death was just one day before the 44th anniversary of the transmission of the first episode of the series, ‘An Unearthly Child’.

Lambert also played a role in the Daleks coming to screen – allowing what were seen as ‘bug-eyed monsters’ into Doctor Who against the judgment of the BBC’s head of serials, Donald Wilson. (After the runaway success of the Daleks, Wilson conceded that Lambert knew the series better than he and she was given a free rein.)

As well as Doctor Who, Lambert produced many television success stories, such as Rock Follies, Adam Adament Lives!, The Naked Civil Servant, Minder, GBH and Jonathon Creek.

In 2002, Lambert received an OBE for her services to British film and television. Lambert also received a special namecheck as the Doctor’s mother in the 2007 Doctor Who episode ‘Human Nature’ – where the Doctor, now having lost his memory and living on Earth as schoolteacher John Smith, refers to his parents as ‘Sydney and Verity’ – a tribute to both Lambert and the series’ co-creator Sydney Newman.

All of us who love Doctor Who, and the Daleks, owe a great deal to the vision of Verity Lambert, who was indeed Doctor Who’s mother (and possibly the Daleks’ midwife).