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Michael Wisher (19 May 1935 – 21 July 1995) was an English actor. He made many appearances in Doctor Who, becoming best known for his performance in Genesis of the Daleks (1975) as the first actor to play Davros, the wheelchair-using scientific mastermind and creator of the Daleks.[1][2]

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Michael Wisher
Wisher as Rex Farrel in the Doctor Who serial Terror of the Autons (1971)
Born	Anthony Michael Wisher (1935-05-19)19 May 1935 London, England
Died	21 July 1995(1995-07-21) (aged 60) Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1963–1995

Career

A regular actor in television drama from the 1960s onwards, he appeared in programmes such as Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, Moonbase 3 and Colditz.[3] His theatre work was also extensive (and included a lengthy tour of New Zealand).[4]

Doctor Who roles

Wisher is remembered for many different roles in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. His contributions began with uncredited voice work in the Second Doctor serial The Seeds of Death (1969). The director of that story, Michael Ferguson, later asked Wisher to play reporter John Wakefield in the Third Doctor serial The Ambassadors of Death (1970). In the following season he appeared as Rex Farrel in Terror of the Autons (1971). During the later years of the Third Doctor era, Wisher acted as the villainous Commissioner Kalik in Carnival of Monsters (1973) and provided Dalek voices in Frontier in Space (1973), Planet of the Daleks (1973) and Death to the Daleks (1974).[5]

Wisher continued to be associated with the series through the early Fourth Doctor years. In Genesis of the Daleks (1975), he was cast as Davros, the creator of the Daleks, who spoke with an electronically-aided voice, and also did one line of Dalek dialogue in the same story for Davros' test Dalek, saying "Aliens, I must exterminate". He voiced unseen characters in both Revenge of the Cybermen (1975) and Planet of Evil (1975), and acted on-screen in both serials (as Magrik in Revenge of the Cybermen, and Morelli in Planet of Evil).[5]

Although Davros would be revived in further serials, Wisher's commitments to long-running theatre work, as well as the cancellation of the planned Season 20 finale Warhead (1983), prevented him from repeating his role on television when asked to appear. However, he did reprise the role in 1993 for The Trial of Davros, an amateur theatrical production staged for charity which he also co-wrote.[6]

Doctor Who spin-offs

In the period from 1984 to 1987 he created several characters in the Audio Visuals series, works that started the audio production careers of some of the figures currently associated with the licensed Big Finish Productions.

In 1987 the first video based spinoff, Wartime, was released by Reeltime Pictures, starring John Levene in his television role as Sergeant Benton. Wisher played the ghost of Benton's father.[7]

He followed this by playing a villain with several faces in Summoned by Shadows, produced by BBV in 1991 and as a Minister in The Airzone Solution in 1993.[8] That production included performances by four of the actors who had played the lead character in Doctor Who. Finally, he played a spaceship engineer in Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans in 1994.[9]

One of his final acting roles was as an evil looking theatre commissionaire in Dalekmania, a documentary about the production of the Dalek movies of the 1960s.[10]

Death

Wisher died of a heart attack in 1995.[11]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969–1975	Doctor Who	Davros/Various Roles	10 episodes
1972	Colditz	Consulate Official	Episode: Lord, Didn't It Rain
1973	Blue Peter	Dalek (voice)	1 episode
1975	Dixon of Dock Green	PC Joe Birkett	Episode: On a Moody Complaint
1976	The Prince and the Pauper	Farmer	Miniseries
1986	Alice in Wonderland	Cheshire Cat	Miniseries
1987	Vanity Fair	Majordomo	Miniseries
	Wartime	Father	Short
1988	Tales of the Unexpected	Dexter	Episode: The Dead Don't Steal
1989	The Bill	Car Repair Man	Episode: Chinese Whispers
1991	EastEnders	Mr. Downing	1 episode
1993	The Airzone Solution	Richard Allenby	Video
1994	Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans	Robar	Short
1995	Dalekmania	Commissionaire	Short

References

External links

• Michael Wisher at IMDb

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