Doctor Who's Jon Pertwee in a long-lost photoshoot from 1970
Never-before-published photographs from the Radio Times Archive of the star at his London home.
It’s the fourth in our monthly run of Doctor Who-related rarities from the Radio Times archive celebrating the 60th anniversary, and this time we proudly present a long-lost colour photoshoot with Jon Pertwee.
During his first year as the third incarnation of the Doctor, Pertwee posed several times for Radio Times photographers. But in the spring of 1970, RT ran a special feature looking behind the scenes of the programme. (You can find it in our Doctor Who Story Guide entry for Inferno.)
We commissioned the acclaimed photographer David Magnus to capture the star and his family in the back garden of their home in Barnes, south London. RT printed one black-and-white image in 1970 but, sadly, that set of negatives has not been located. However, we recently recovered a whole reel of Pertwee by himself in colour. One was printed in June 1970 as a whole-page RT poster.
"This is an exciting, gutsy part, and it is one of the most sought-after leading man’s roles in television," Pertwee told RT back then, and he came out with his amusing, often-repeated line: "There’s nothing more frightening and alarming than finding a Yeti or some such creature sitting on the loo in Tooting Bec."
In the colour photoshoot in his Barnes back garden, Pertwee is depicted smoking a cigarette in many of the shots – a practice that, even 53 years ago, was rarely permitted to be shown within the pages of Radio Times.
We contacted David Magnus about his RT commission all those years ago. "Yes, I do remember this session," he says in 2023. "Although this is such a long time ago, I do recall that Jon was a very charming person and seemed a great family man."
David Magnus photographed many of the great pop stars of the 1960s and 70s in their prime – most notably the Beatles and the Beach Boys. You can read more about David Magnus on his website.
If you’d like more rare Jon Pertwee from the RT archive, check out this article celebrating his centenary.
With thanks to Radio Times head of heritage Ralph Montagu and archivist David Carlisle.
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