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Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart

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« on: October 17, 2011, 11:42:34 am »


General (formerly, and most well known as, Brigadier) Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (commonly nicknamed The Brigadier or The Brig) was one of the founders of UNIT and commander of its UK operations. From his second incarnation onwards, and notwithstanding some early tension between the two during the start of his third incarnation, the Doctor long considered the Brigadier one of his most trusted human allies and closest friends.

The then-Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart was the second commander of the British Army forces during the Great Intelligence's assault on London, replacing the deceased Colonel Pemberton. He was the sole survivor of a Robot Yeti assault at Holborn before heading down to the London Underground to take command. Here, for the first time, Lethbridge-Stewart met the strange little man known as the Second Doctor. Lehtbridge-Stewart showed a quick, decisive manner, and a ready acceptance of events, even believing the story about the TARDIS from the start.

Little was shown of Lethbridge-Stewart's life outside UNIT in the television series, though Planet of the Spiders referred to a relationship with a woman called Doris, whom he later married. Most of the Third Doctor stories were set on Earth and feature UNIT and the Brigadier heavily. While not as ubiquitous in the following years, he appeared alongside every subsequent Doctor in the original television series run with the exception of the Sixth Doctor (though he did meet him in Dimensions In Time).

Lethbridge-Stewart's last appearance in a Doctor Who television episode was in 1989, in the Seventh Doctor serial Battlefield. Called out of retirement to deal with an other-dimensional invasion of armoured knights led by Morgaine, he found himself once again at the Doctor's side. Lethbridge-Stewart served as his world's champion as he faced down and killed the demonic Destroyer of Worlds armed only with his service revolver and a load of silver-tipped bullets.

Although Lethbridge-Stewart never appeared in the revived series, the character is still alive during the Tenth Doctor's tenure. In the spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures story "Revenge of the Slitheen", Sarah Jane Smith says to "give [her] love to the Brig". In the Tenth Doctor episode "The Poison Sky", the Doctor mentions that he could use "the Brigadier". He is then told that "Sir Alistair" is "stranded in Peru", indicating that the Brigadier has been knighted. In 2008, Courtney again reprised the role in a The Sarah Jane Adventures story, "Enemy of the Bane", and confirmed his knighthood repeatedly: Major Kilburne and Sarah Jane each address him as "Sir Alistair" and he later introduces himself fully as "Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart" to Mrs. Wormwood.

In his old age, the Brigadier has developed a dislike for the new way UNIT works and often refers to events that happened in "his day". He walks with a walking stick now, but is seen driving a Bentley to UNIT's "Black Archive".
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« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2011, 01:12:59 pm »

For me, this is one of the finest Nicholas Courtney performances on the show. He really gets a chance to stretch his legs and show his range here and is totally brilliant throughout. Not just one of his best performances, but one of my favourites.
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« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2011, 04:07:56 pm »

For me, this is one of the finest Nicholas Courtney performances on the show. He really gets a chance to stretch his legs and show his range here and is totally brilliant throughout. Not just one of his best performances, but one of my favourites.

I would certainly agree with this. I haven't seen all of his appearances yet, but for me this has been my favourite so far and I think would be pretty hard to top. He was totally rocking the eye patch too. Very handsome man!
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« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2011, 06:13:59 pm »

He always gave a fine performances, but this was certainly one of the highlights, with both characters nailed to a T, and all the subtle things that hint they could have been the same person.
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« Reply #4 on: October 25, 2011, 03:43:11 pm »

I haven't seen all of his appearances yet, but for me this has been my favourite so far and I think would be pretty hard to top. He was totally rocking the eye patch too. Very handsome man!

This. Word for word!
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« Reply #5 on: October 27, 2011, 02:31:31 pm »

I think it is performances like this which makes it all the more easy to understand why they kept on bringing the character and the actor back. NC was a very talented actor and it's never more obvious than in this story
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« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2011, 11:47:29 am »

I like the Brig a lot but I can't help thinking that perhaps peoples fondness for him is more due to the fact he appeared over a long period of time rather than his acting or character. Although I wouldn't say Nicholas Courtney ever put in a bad performance, this for me is (I think, off the top of my head) his only real standout performance throughout his stories.
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« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2011, 03:43:29 pm »

I agree that the length of his tenure probably plays a big part, but I think the majority comes down to how well he played it. In the early days many of the roles on the show came off as standard 'stock' characters but NC managed to make the role his own and brought life to the Brig. He always did an excellent job and made it so much easier to like the character.
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« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2011, 01:31:40 am »

I agree.  He trod a very thin line between being the Doctor's stooge and having genuine intelligence and initiative, and I think he pulled it off brilliantly.
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« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2011, 09:57:53 pm »

I'm with KEP and Nyki. Lots of actors from the show have spoken about how little development their characters received back in the day. Reading the lines on a page is one thing but that doesn't make a great or even good character. I think it would be fair to say (of many other actors too) that the popularity of the character was probably about 30% dialogue and 70% NC's input and take on the role.
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