Waiting No More

Graham Crowden, best known as Tom Ballard the vaguely daft retiree who served as a foil to crotchety Diana Trent on the BBC sitcom Waiting for God, has died at the age of 87. Crowden was offered the role of the Doctor on the BBC series Dr. Who after Jon Pertwee retired, but the stage vet declined to commit to a single role for an extended period, and producers went with the much younger and more comical Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor. He showed up as an antagonist to Baker’s Doctor in one series and had a cameo as a British naval officer in The Spy Who Loved Me.