Michael Hayes

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Michael Hayes is an English television director and former actor. Among science fiction enthusiasts he is best known for directing three stories over 1978-1979 in the Doctor Who series, produced by the BBC. He also directed episodes of A for Andromeda in the 1960s.

Doctor Who

Hayes's first work for Doctor Who was in the programme's sixteenth season, directing The Androids of Tara. He had been reluctant to take on the job, initially considering it "kid's stuff",[1] but was won over by the experience of working with the team and filming in the sumptuous surroundings of Leeds Castle, Kent during the summer of 1978. At that time, Hayes memorably directed night scenes involving the storming of the castle with only four actors at his disposal; in addition, he requested that they invade quietly so as not to disturb sleeping guests.[2]

Hayes continued to work on Doctor Who immediately afterwards, directing that year's season finale, The Armageddon Factor. This was a long shoot that was entirely studio-bound, proving difficult for Hayes and his team as a result.[3] A better experience came the following year, shooting City of Death in Paris. By that time, Douglas Adams was also working on the show as script editor; Hayes supplied large amounts of coffee for Adams and producer Graham Williams when the original writer, David Fisher, was unavailable to carry out extensive rewrites, meaning that the pair had to perform this task the weekend before shooting began.[4]

Footnotes

  1. As Hayes recalled in 2007 on the DVD commentary for his later story, The Armageddon Factor.
  2. According to cast member Paul Lavers; see The Humans of Tara, a documentary on the making of this story, released on its DVD in 2007.
  3. See the DVD for The Armageddon Factor, released in 2007.
  4. See the Paris in the Springtime documentary on the City of Death DVD release.