Sylvia James

Sylvia James
Work in the DWU
Main jobs:	Make-up designer, Make-up assistant
Stories:	see credits section
Main time period active:	1966-1969, 1972, 1975
Career highlights
Notable non-DWU work:	Steptoe and Son, Up Pompeii!, Porridge, The Morecambe and Wise Show, Poldark
IMDb profile

Sylvia James was an often-used make-up supervisor during the 1963 version of Doctor Who. After a period as a junior artist during the Hartnell era, she had three major periods of continuous work as the lead artist, or roughly what is classed a make-up designer by the BBC Wales team. By far her longest stint was during the Troughton era, where she served continuously from The Abominable Snowmen to The War Games, spanning all but one serial of seasons 5 and 6. She returned for a brief stretch in the Pertwee era, heading the make-up department for The Curse of Peladon and The Sea Devils. She then did the majority of work for the season 12 production block, doing every episode from The Ark in Space to Terror of the Zygons — except for Revenge of the Cybermen. Consequently, her most enduring contribution to Doctor Who history was likely the prosthetic she applied to Michael Wisher's Davros. (BBC DVD: The Dominators)

Her views were solicited for the DVD commentaries to The Dominators and The Krotons, as well as featuring on several Doctor Who documentaries released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Make-up

• The Savages as Make-up assistant
• The Abominable Snowmen
• The Ice Warriors
• The Enemy of the World
• The Web of Fear
• Fury from the Deep
• The Wheel in Space
• The Dominators
• The Mind Robber
• The Invasion
• The Krotons
• The Seeds of Death
• The Space Pirates with Sallie Evans
• The War Games
• The Curse of Peladon
• The Sea Devils
• The Ark in Space
• The Sontaran Experiment
• Genesis of the Daleks
• Terror of the Zygons

Documentary appearances

• Sssowing the Ssseedsss: Musings on being an Ice Warrior
• Recharge and Equalise
• The Peladon Saga
• Going Underground: The Making of The Web of Fear
• Troughton in Tibet

External links

• Sylvia James at the Internet Movie Database