Fiona Cumming

**Fiona Cumming** (9 October 1937 – 1 January 2015) was a Scottish television director, noted for her work on the BBC television series, *Doctor Who*, during the show's Fifth Doctor era.

Her credits included the 1982 episode, *Castrovalva*, the Season 19 premiere which marked the debut of Peter Davison as the show's fifth Doctor. Her other work with the show included *Snakedance* in January 1983 and *Enlightenment* in March 1983 for season 20. Cumming shot much of the 1984 serial, *Planet of Fire*, on location in Lanzarote, Canary Islands.

## Biography

#### Prior to Doctor Who

Cumming was raised in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland. She began her career as an actress at the Royal Scottish Academy.She appeared in both film and television. Her early roles included an episode of the BBC television series, *Dr. Finlay's Casebook*, in 1963. She also worked as an announcer on Border Television (present-day ITV Border).

She transitioned from acting to television production in 1964. She had initially applied to the BBC and taught school in Scotland before breaking into production. She recalled her entry into the industry in a 2014 interview, telling Scotland Now, "I had applied to the BBC in 1964 when they were getting ready for BBC2, and I had been accepted - but they lost my file and because I had a teaching degree, I came back up to Glasgow and started teaching at Bellahouston Academy. I can remember in 1963 when the kids came in, talking about this brilliant TV show they had seen the Saturday night before, and I said, 'What do you mean, it's set in a police box?'...Then in 1964 I went to the BBC as a relief assistant floor manager, where you were slotted into various programmes. I was doing the twice-weekly soaps Compact and Swizzlewick, and the first time I was moved on to something different it was *Doctor Who*."

### Work on Doctor Who

In 1965, she was hired as an assistant floor manager on the set of *The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve*. "I was put onto The Massacre in 1965 - so it's now 48 years since I first worked on *Doctor Who*. Peter Purves was William Hartnell's assistant at that time and the director was Paddy Russell, who had such a great reputation," she recalled in 2014. Cumming later worked as a production assistant for several episodes of *Doctor Who* during the 1960s and 1970s, including *The Highlanders*, *The Seeds of Death*, and *The Mutants*.

Cumming returned to the series as a director; directing the stories, *Castrovalva*, *Snakedance*, *Enlightenment*, *Planet of Fire* and *The Ultimate Evil*.

#### After Doctor Who

In 1974, Cumming was hired as a staff television director for the BBC. She directed episodes for some of the BBC leading dramatic series during the 1970s, including *Angels*, *Play for Today*, *Z-Cars*, and *The Omega Factor*, a short-lived series which aired in 1979. In 1980, Cumming directed two episodes of *Blake's 7* during the show's third season, *Sarcophagus* and *Rumours of Death*.She also contributed in that year to directing the three-film children's TV series *God's Wonderful Railway.*

Cunning maintained a working relationship with the show 's producer, John Nathan-Turner, and collaborated with him at Teynham Productions.

## Personal Life

Fiona Cumming, who resided in Dumfries and Galloway, died on 1 January 2015, at the age of 77.

## Selected Credits

#### As Assistant floor manager

* The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve (with Richard Valentine)

#### As Production assistant

* The Highlanders
* The Seeds of Death
* The Mutants (uncredited, with Chris D'Oyly-John)

#### As Director

* Castrovalva
* Snakedance
* Enlightenment
* Planet of Fire
* The Ultimate Evil