Doctor Who Actor Richard Franklin Dead at 87

Richard Franklin, an actor and writer known for his work on Doctor Who and Emmerdale, has passed away at the age of 87. The news was broken via a social media post from Franklin’s longtime friend Líam Rudden, who revealed the news on the morning of Monday, December 25th. Franklin was best known for portraying UNIT Captain Mike Yates, who debuted during the tenure of the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, in 1971.

“It is with great sadness, that the family of Richard Franklin have asked me to share news of his passing, early this morning,” Rudden’s post reads. “Richard passed away peacefully in his sleep. Details of funeral arrangements will be shared here when announced. Sleep well Richard.”

View on X

Franklin was born on January 15, 1936 in Marylebone, London. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performing in repertory theatre for years, he made his onscreen debut in 1966’s Dixon of Dock Green. He then rose to prominence as Joe Townsend in Crossroads, a role he played for 36 episodes. After stints on The Doctors and From a Bird’s Eye View, Franklin was cast as Yates on Doctor Who. He went on to play the role for 42 episodes, as well as audio plays, and even a tie-in novel he wrote titled The Killing Stone.

“One evening, my agent at the time happened to be sitting next to Barry letts at a first night show in the West End,” Franklin explained in a 1985 interview. “The topic of casting came up and Barry said ‘We’re looking for a young man to play a love interest – something to slightly up-age the boy-girl relationships in the series. I can’t find anyone, though. We’d like someone like Richard Franklin, but I don’t suppose he’d do it’. Straightaway I got a phone call from the theatre and at 9.30 next morning I went up to the BBC. I had three interviews and then I was in.”

“The idea was to attract the teenage market (with a relationship between Mike Yates and Jo Grant), but it didn’t really end up as it was supposed to. There was a sort of high-level policy decision that it would conflict too much with the relationship between the Doctor and Jo. While I think there’s something in that, I was rather disappointed. It did linger on in a sort of implied way. When Katy was leaving and we were recording ‘The Green Death’, there was a party sequence where Jo was to announce her engagement to Professor Mushroom or whatever his name was. I noticed in my script for that scene that I didn’t have any lines – all I had was a close-up with a stage direction that simply said ‘Mike Yates looks crestfallen’. That was the sorry end of my three-year love interest – a nice touch, all the same.”

Franklin’s later work included appearances on The Fiction Makers, Chemical Wedding, Emmerdale, The Gambling Man, and Heartbeat. His final onscreen role was as an engineer in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Our thoughts are with Rudden’s family, friends, and fans at this time.