Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry (born 24 August 1957[1]) voiced the Minister of Chance in the Doctor Who webcast Death Comes to Time. He later played C, the head of MI6, in the Doctor Who television story Spyfall.
Apart from his acting credits, Fry also wrote the initial script for episode 11 of Doctor Who's second series.[2] Believing the episode would be too expensive, however, Russell T Davies moved it to the third series so that it could be rewritten. The series 2 slot was filled by Fear Her and ultimately Fry's script was never made as Fry could not find the time to make the necessary alterations. (DWMSE 14)
Career
Outside of the Doctor Who universe, Fry's early acting credits included A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Blackadder (written by Richard Curtis, produced by John Lloyd and starring Rowan Atkinson and Tim McInnerny), and Jeeves and Wooster. He has also been the presenter of the BBC panel show QI from 2003 to 2016.
Fry has also appeared in a number of feature films, including V for Vendetta, Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. He was also the narrator of the UK Harry Potter audiobooks, as well as several video games based on the series.
Personal life
He was a great friend to Douglas Adams for many years, as well as Lalla Ward and Fry even introduced her to her future husband Richard Dawkins at one of Adams' parties.[source needed]
In June 2010, Fry stirred controversy in Who fandom in a speech in which he described programmes such as Doctor Who as "wonderfully written" but "not for adults." Steven Moffat responded by saying the show was "was designed specifically to be a family programme, that's what it's for." [3]
Fry was openly gay[4], notably coming in as the second most influential gay person (behind only Russell T Davies) of Britain in The Independent's Pink List.[5]
In the DWU
Stephen Fry is mentioned in the novel The Tomorrow Windows as one of the many celebrities attending the opening of the Tomorrow Windows at Tate Modern.
In a throwaway gag in the Christmas special The Husbands of River Song, the Twelfth Doctor incredulously cites Fry as one of the past husbands of River Song. This effectively includes Fry, albeit in passing, as one of the "historical" figures — like William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Cleopatra, Elizabeth I and Vincent Van Gogh — known to exist within the Doctor Who universe. This also makes him the only historical figure in the Doctor Who universe (with the exception of John Lucarotti in The Meeting) who, in the real world, has written for the show, though his script ultimately went unused.
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Famous Birthdays
- ↑ DWM 360, p6
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10326761.stm
- ↑ Stephen Fry: Out There (BBC Two, 2013)
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20070508102003/http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2516664.ece
