Philip Madoc & Suzanne Neve

The late Philip Madoc and the lovely Suzanne Neve were the special guests of UFO, Episode 8, A Question Of Priorities. The Welsh actor and English actress both had respectable careers in film and television over the years particularly Madoc.

All aboard people! It's the FAB FRIDAY love train! Welcome to the locomotive that is all things fabulous in the world of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson!

Philip Madoc [1934-2012] passed away just a few months ago sadly in March 2012. Madoc had a tremendous run of film and television programs especially with the BBC and in the UK in general.

Fans of the genre would be pleased to know that Madoc featured in a number of science fiction roles. Those roles included a part in the Doctor Who film Daleks-Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. [1966] opposite the late, great Peter Cushing [Star Wars IV: A New Hope]. Madoc later appeared in the long-running Doctor Who series. He figured opposite the Second Doctor, Peter Troughton, in The Krotons [1968-1969] and The War Games [1969]. One of my strongest, personal memories is of the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, episode The Brain Of Morbius [1976] whereby Madoc played the role of Doctor Solon. This was a terrific, classic installment in the Fourth Doctor series and a magnificent riff on the whole Dr. Frankenstein story. Madoc was later interviewed for a DVD documentary extra for The Power Of Kroll release dubbed Philip Madoc - A Villain For All Seasons. It was an obvious retrospective for his work on Doctor Who which concluded with his guest spot in The Power Of Kroll [1978].

The same year Madoc featured in The Brain Of Morbius, he also had a prominent role in the British TV series Survivors for Series 2, Episode 9, The Chosen.

Earlier though, Madoc guested in the now classic UFO, Episode 8, A Question Of Priorities and also guested on UFO, Episode 20, Destruction for a different part as Captain Steven. A few years later, he also played a bit part in the pilot episode for Space:1999, Breakaway, as Commander Gorski whom Martin Landau's Commander John Koenig would replace to begin Year One of the classic Anderson series.

Finally, before Space:1999 and UFO, Madoc had a support role in Gerry Anderson's Doppelganger [1969] or as it was known in the USA, Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun. Of course, as FAB FRIDAY fans know, other Anderson UFO notables Ed Bishop, George Sewell and Vladek Sheybal all appeared in that film.

Meanwhile, Madoc's A Question Of Priorities counterpart has proved a little more elusive. Suzanne Neve [1939-present] did enjoy success on the BBC and enjoyed the sterling recurring spot as Commander Ed Straker's ex-wife on UFO, Mary Rutland. Mary was remarried to Madoc's Steven Rutland.

While Madoc has since sadly passed and Neve appears to enjoy life outside of the spotlight, once upon a time these two delightful actors were indeed FAB. Yes, Madoc and Neve could proudly declare as George Harrison once wrote, "long time ago when we was FAB!"