The Biography

Sylvia James was an often-used make-up supervisor during the 1963 version of Doctor Who. After a period as a junior artist during the Hartnell era, she had three major periods of continuous work as the lead artist, or roughly what is classed as a make-up designer by the BBC Wales team. By far her longest stint was during the Troughton era, where she served continuously from The Abominable Snowmen to The War Games, spanning all but one serial of seasons 5 and 6. She returned for a brief stretch in the Pertwee era, heading the make-up department for The Curse of Peladon and The Sea Devils. She then did the majority of work for the season 12 production block, doing every episode from The Ark in Space to Terror of the Zygons — except for Revenge of the Cybermen.