Douglas Camfield (8 May 1931-27 January 1984) was an accomplished director of television from the 1960s to the 1980s. In addition to Doctor Who, his credits include Z Cars, Paul Temple, Van der Valk, The Sweeney, Shoestring, The Professionals and the BBC dramatisation of Beau Geste.
He was a production assistant on several of Doctor Who's earliest serials, including 100,000 BC and Marco Polo. His earliest directorial effort for the programme was on 9 October 1963, when he directed some 16mm film inserts for "The Cave of Skulls", "The Forest of Fear" and "The Firemaker." (REF: The First Doctor Handbook). His first directorial credit was on the episode "Crisis." He directed several other serials, including:
- The Crusade
- The Time Meddler — whose location filming actually included Ian and Barbara's return to London in the final episode of The Chase. Therefore he was either, as William Russell claims, the actual still photographer for the montage at the end of "The Planet of Decision" (DCOM: "The Planet of Decision") or the director of a now-unknown BBC still photographer, according to David J Howe and friends. (REF: The First Doctor Handbook) The two sources agree he was present throughout the still session, even if they disagree about who actually opened the shutter.
- The Daleks' Master Plan
- The Web of Fear
- The Invasion
- Inferno — for which he directed all the location film work, but became ill due to a heart condition during the videoing of the studio scenes. The remainder were directed by producer Barry Letts, though Camfield retained sole credit. (DCOM: Inferno)
- Terror of the Zygons
- The Seeds of Doom
It is reported that he declined the offer to become producer of Doctor Who in 1969, after the departure of Derrick Sherwin.[source needed] The job instead went to Barry Letts. He also sought to get Philip Hinchcliffe to commission his script for the programme, which involved aliens and the French Foreign Legion and would have killed off the character of Sarah Jane Smith. However, this story was not produced, and Sarah left the programme quite alive in The Hand of Fear.
Douglas Camfield served as an officer in the British Army during his younger years.
He was married to the actress Sheila Dunn, whom he cast in Inferno as Dr. Petra Williams. In later life he suffered from a heart ailment, and died of heart failure in his sleep on 27 January 1984, aged 52.