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Edmund Trevithick (12th May 1898-25th December 1968) was an English actor who portrayed the title character in the Nightshade serials for the BBC in the 1950s. His elder brother was named Maurice and had died by 1968; his wife, Margaret, died in 1958. Trevithick's daughter, Paula, and her husband lived in the village of Crook Marsham, and Trevithick had planned to move in with them after his retirement; however, after he had sold his house, Paula and her husband died in a car accident in 1967. Their daughter had joined a hippie commune, and Trevithick thus ended up at Dalesview Retirement Home in Crook Marsham.
In late 1968, the Nightshade serials were rebroadcast on BBC 2, and Trevithick looked forward to becoming popular and famous again, if briefly. However, Crook Marsham was then attacked by the Sentience, a formless alien hunger that devoured the villagers' life forces after appearing to them in forms taken from their memories. Trevithick became involved in the fight against the Sentience, which manifested to him in the form of insect-like aliens from one of the Nightshade serials. Trevithick fought off the Sentience on a number of occasions, but when the Doctor's attempt to confront the Sentience at its lair failed and it took the form of the insect aliens to prevent their escape, Trevithick sacrificed himself to hold off the attacking "aliens" while the Doctor and Vijay Degun fled to safety. (NA: Nightshade)