Born: 3rd December 1928
Died: 5th April 1991 (aged 62 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1967, 1978

Gerald Blake was born and raised in Hackney, London but found himself evacuated to Wales during the Second World War. Although he was an avid movie fan growing up, he began his professional career as an actor and director in repertory theatre. From there, he was recruited to the BBC in 1962, initially as a producer-director on Dr Finlay's Casebook and then Curtain Of Fear. Other Sixties television included Rupert Of Hentzau, The Newcomers and more than forty episodes of Compact. He nearly worked on Doctor Who in 1964, when he was assigned to “The New Armada”, but it was ultimately never made. Finally, in 1967, Blake directed The Abominable Snowmen for Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor.

Over the next decade, Blake directed everything from Z Cars to The Doctors to Survivors to The Onedin Line. In 1977, he was brought back onto Doctor Who for David Weir's “Killer Of The Dark”, the intended finale of Tom Baker's fourth season as the Fourth Doctor. However, Blake quickly realised that Weir's scripts were impossible to make on a Doctor Who budget, resulting in their hasty replacement with The Invasion Of Time. This was Blake's last experience with Doctor Who although he did direct its BBC science-fiction stablemate, Blake's 7, in 1980.

Blake left the BBC to become a freelance director in the early Eighties. In this capacity, he earned credits on shows like The Gentle Touch, Super Gran and Coronation Street. His final television work came on EastEnders in 1989. Blake also directed corporate videos and taught at the Actors' Centre and Bristol University. He died on April 5th, 1991 following a series of heart attacks.