ASM: VAL MCRIMMON

Of all the roles within a production of television, the assistant floor manager is one of the most important, albeit ‘minor’ ones. The assistant floor manager was always responsible for setting up the stage, and ensuring actors knew their lines. Many people worked extensively as an assistant floor manager on Doctor Who, some of which went onto become directors. However, Val McCrimmon is someone who worked on Doctor Who on and off for a resounding 24 years within the same capacities. And what’s more, eagle-eyed viewers can see McCrimmon in two minor uncredited roles.

                She first worked on Doctor Who with The Sensorites and Planet of Giants; however, due to internal politics, the norm, and hierarchy of television back in the day, only senior crewmembers received a credit, and McCrimmon went uncredited on both accounts. It would be some 15 years later until she returned to the show, and she remained there on a regular basis. Her first credited time as an assistant floor manager came with the studio-bound, drug smuggling thriller Nightmare of Eden. She would then have worked on Shada had strike action not cancelled several studio recording sessions. Returning for Tom Baker’s final season, she worked on 4 out of 7 serials produced for the season: The Leisure Hive which opened the season, the other studio-bound narratives Meglos and Warriors’ Gate, and final Tom Baker’s final serials Logopolis. Working on the Fifth Doctor era saw McCrimmon handled responsibilities for the overtly-ambitious four-part narrative Four to Doomsday. Although scheduled to be Peter Davison’ second serial, the narrative was produced first. A creative approach to allow Davison to settle into his role, before his first proper adventure entered production. She then worked on Kinda (yet again a studio only affair), and then the costume-period drama Black Orchid which dabbled with the whodunnit mystery approach. The adventure would go down as a popular one with the regular cast. Working on Enlightenment which never set sail into location shooting saw the Black Guardian trilogy come to a close, thus ending an open-ended cliffhanger that appeared some five years previously. McCrimmon didn’t work on the Sixth Doctor era, but she return for a couple more outing during the Seventh Doctor era. She worked on Paradise Towers, an underappreciated sociological written experiment, the first Seventh Doctor serial to be written by a young, yet-to-be-established individual, and one which starred some big names on British TV and stage. McCrimmon’s final outing for the show was with the 25^th anniversary special Remembrance of the Daleks that saw the final time the Daleks appeared in the classic series.

                Aside from her duties behind-the-cameras, McCrimmon appeared as uncredited crewmember during Earthshock, who was brutally shot down by a Cybermen whilst defending the freighter she was on, and then as a passenger during the following serial Time-Flight. She is unique as very few production personnel ever appeared on the show as extras and walk-on parts. She has shared her memories working on Doctor Who for the behind-the-scenes documentary The Nightmare of TV Centre (Nightmare of Eden), and A New Beginning (The Leisure Hive).

    McCrimmon also worked as an assistant floor manager on Juliet Bravo (1984), Howards’ Way (1985) and Bergerac (1990-91), and ever worked in the elevated position as a location  manager for EastEnders (1990-91), Between the Lines (1992), Casualty (1993) and Last of the Summer Wine (1995). She also took on other uncredited and small ‘credited’ part for some tv shows from 1970 to 1979.