Doctor Who DOP Ernie Vincze dies – Russell T Davies pays tribute to "wonderful" man
Vincze worked on all four seasons of Davies's first tenure on the sci-fi series.
Tributes have been paid to Ernest 'Ernie' Vincze, a cinematographer who worked as director of photography on Doctor Who, following his death at the age of 81.
Vincze was born in Hungary, and across his career he worked on shows including Jeeves and Wooster, Robin Hood and Waterloo Road. His final credit was on an episode of Holby City in 2012.
He was director of photography on all 13 episodes of the first season of Doctor Who's 2005 reboot, as well as eight episodes of season 2, seven episodes of season 3, and six episodes of season 4.
He also worked on the specials The Christmas Invasion, The Next Doctor and The Waters of Mars, and on two episodes of spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Current Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies, who was also in charge of the show during Vincze's tenure, wrote a tribute to Vincze in a post on Instagram, saying: "Ernie Vincze (1942-2024). Wonderful Ernie! He was our DOP on Series 1 & 2 of Doctor Who, back in 2005, lighting the whole of S1 himself!
"And what a lovely man. Always smiling, always happy to see you. Freezing nights on The Empty Child, mad ambition on The Parting of the Ways… and there was Ernie, smiling!
"Hungarian-born, he had hell of a career, working on Escape from Sobibor, and with Madonna on Shanghai Surprise. And we must’ve looked like squawking chickens to him in those first weeks, but he smiled, and helped us, and we loved him. Night, Ernie, thanks darling. #bbcdoctorwho"
Doctor Who fans have also paid tribute to Vincze since his passing, with one writing on Twitter, which has been rebranded as X: "RIP Ernie Vincze, Director of Photography on Doctor Who.
"He worked on all 13 episodes of Series 1 and then a few blocks until 2009. He's the reason the show looked bigger and better than ever when it hurled back onto television screens."
Another fan wrote: "Saddened to hear about Ernie Vincze’s passing. DoPs are the big unsung heroes in both film and TV and his name will forever be attached to some of my favourite childhood TV episodes. Thanks for everything Ernie!"
