Douglas Camfield Douglas Camfield was an accomplished director of television from the 1960s to the 1980s . In addition to " Doctor Who " , his credits include " Z - Cars " , , , " The Sweeney " , , and the BBC dramatisation of . He was a production assistant on several early " Doctor Who " serials , including " An Unearthly Child " 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 : It is reported that he declined the offer to become producer of " Doctor Who " in 1969 , after the departure of Derrick Sherwin . The job instead went to Barry Letts . As a director , he was known for his meticulous planning and military style . ( DOC : " Podshock " ) An in - joke reference to Camfield was featured in " The Web of Fear " episode three where the wrapper of a chocolate bar that Driver Evans takes from a platform vending machine is seen to read “ Camfield ' s Fairy Milk Chocolate ” . ( Although the episode itself is still missing from the BBC archives , the in - joke is fortunately immortalised in John Cura ' s tele - snaps . ) Camfield later made a " Hitchcock " appearance in " The Invasion " episode one , in which he played the car driver who gives the Doctor , Jamie and Zoe a lift into London . Unfortunately , this episode is currently missing from the BBC archives and no tele - snaps exist , so there is no visual record as to what the scene would have looked like on - screen . He appeared , alongside various other stagehands , as one of the " earlier " regenerations of the Doctor in the mindbending contest sequence in " The Brain of Morbius " in 1976 . Based on this , Lance Parkin would later base his description of Patience ' s husband on Camfield ' s appearance . Camfield later sought to get producer Philip Hinchcliffe to commission his script for the programme . This involved aliens and the French Foreign Legion and would have killed off the character of Sarah Jane Smith . ( DOC : " Changing Time " ) However , this story was not produced and Sarah left the programme quite alive in " The Hand of Fear " . Douglas Camfield had served as an officer in the British Army . He was married to the actress Sheila Dunn , whom he cast in " Inferno " as Dr Petra Williams . According to Ian Fairbairn in the DVD documentary " Podshock " , some time after directing " The Seeds of Doom " , Dunn demanded that Camfield stop directing " Doctor Who " , as she felt it placed him under too much strain . The couple were near at the time of the conversation , and so Camfield went into the cathedral and swore on the high altar that he would not do another " Doctor Who " story — an oath which he kept . Camfield suffered from a heart ailment , and died of heart failure in his sleep on 1984 at age 52 . He was one of only three people ( along with Christopher Barry and Lennie Mayne ) to direct " Doctor Who " serials featuring William Hartnell , Patrick Troughton , Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker . In 1990 , " Douglas Camfield - A Tribute " a special magazine , compiled and edited by " Doctor Who Magazine " writer Philip Newman , was published as a special edition of the " Doctor Who " fan magazine " The Frame " , produced by David J Howe , Stephen James Walker & Mark Stammers . It featured wide - ranging tributes from many of Douglas ' friends , colleagues and fellow artists alongside an interview with his widow Sheila .