The Haunted Generation

I am nine years old, and – in the bathroom mirror – I am examining my face and neck for angry red blotches. The reason? My fingers have brushed the concluding frames of the final instalment of Doomlord, a terrifying photo-story in the relaunched 1982 Eagle comic. For the last 13 issues, intrepid local journalist Howard Harvey has been attempting to alert the international community to the dangers of Doomlord himself, a shape-shifting alien (“Servant Of Nox, Master Of Life”) dispatched to pass cosmic judgement on a dangerously destructive human race. In the final episode, Harvey – now infected with Doomlord’s life essence – deliberately exposes himself to deadly bacteria in a secret Government research institute. Ending both Doomlord’s life and his own, he lies sprawled across the laboratory floor, his eyes gazing wide and his skin a mess of virulent lesions.

Although, deep down, I knew the idea was ludicrous, I was still vaguely concerned about the prospect of this fictional contagion somehow passing through the pages of my favourite new comic and similarly infecting me. Still, it might at least be worth a couple of weeks off school…

Forty years on, memories of Doomlord still produce chills in the middle-aged children of 1982. The original strip was written by the youthful Alan Grant, already a veteran of 2000AD. For further instalments of the series, Grant was joined by his long-term collaborator John Wagner, with the strip eventually assuming traditional illustrated form. But the original 13-part photo-story boasts a visceral kick still capable of eliciting shivers. The rictus grin of the vengeful alien himself frequently disturbed my childhood nightmares, and Howard Harvey’s bold attempts to thwart Doomlord always, somehow, seemed destined to end in tragedy.

In 2022 I was intrigued when film-maker Steve Broster mentioned to me that he had interviewed actor Mike Mungarvan for the Blu-ray box set release of Doctor Who Series 17. Because I knew that Mike – in a sidestep from a long career on British TV – had played the heroic Howard Harvey in this inaugural Doomlord strip. To my huge gratitude, Steve put us in touch, and I was delighted when Mike agreed to a chat about his memories of working for Eagle comic… and, indeed, on the likes of Doctor Who and Star Wars.

Here’s how the conversation went:

Bob: How did you get the job on Doomlord? Can you remember?

Mike: I can! I went to college to be an actor, but I was once on a job where somebody suggested I sent my pictures to IPC Magazines, who were based just along the Embankment. Quite near London Weekend Television, as I recall. So I did that, and was quickly asked to do a photo-strip love story for one of their teenage magazines. Photo-Love, I think. And then, when Eagle was relaunched, I got another call from them asking if was available on such-and-such a date… which I was. So that was the beginning of Doomlord.

Although I didn’t know then that I’d only be in a certain number of magazines – I thought the job would go on and on.

How long did the Doomlord shoot take?

It was a day here and a day there. I can’t remember the total length of time, but I think it took roughly a day for every issue. The photographer, Gary Compton, had worked out the locations beforehand, and would read the story to us as we were going along. So he’d tell me if I needed to say “Wow!” (Laughs) I saw it as a little acting job, really. It was lovely.

So you weren’t given the full Doomlord story in one go?

No, it was bit by bit. I never knew Howard Harvey was going to be killed off until we reached the end.

Oh gosh, I hope that wasn’t too much of a shock! Can you remember any of the locations? 

It was all around the Kingston area. And I always remember, I had a little part in an LWT Production called Enemy at the Door. I was playing a Nazi in that. But there was a shot that Gary didn’t have and he needed it urgently, so in my lunch hour I had to slip out of my Nazi uniform and meet him in the car park to have something thrown at me! Then get back into uniform.

They were lovely times. One of the guys who worked on Doomlord was an actor called Fred Stroud, who played the character Walter Ballantyne…

…he was an older actor, he’d been around in films since the 1940s, and he told me to take the photos along to a lady called Jill Searle. She was a casting director for photographic shoots, and that led to me getting some wonderful modelling jobs for her. She specialised in models that didn’t look like models, if you know what I mean. One of them was an RAC poster campaign, and one day I was in a traffic jam on the Embankment and looked up to see a giant poster of myself dressed as an RAC man! So Doomlord opened a lot of doors for me. It was a nice introduction to photographic modelling.

Is that a tough job for an actor? Normally you can convey a character’s feelings and personality with your voice and movements, but obviously that’s not possible with a still picture.

Well, with Doomlord, Gary would read out what Howard was meant to be saying, and I would actually say the lines while he was taking the shots. So it just happened, really – with Gary as the director. Often he wanted things slightly “bigger” than real life… actors spend their lives trying not to overact, but he liked big performances. And I had no problems with that!

And he was a very good photographer. Once I started modelling afterwards, I worked with lots of photographers – and Gary was a lot quicker than many of them. Which I guess was a result of the budget, but I liked the way he worked.

Did you ever meet the writer, Alan Grant?  

I’m not sure… was he a very young man, maybe about the same age as me?

Pretty much exactly the same age, I think.

I remember a younger chap coming down on shoots, but I’m not sure if I knew that was Alan Grant. People from IPC often came along to check everything was OK. They’d be hurrying Gary along and telling him what to do! And suggesting it might be a good day to take shots for different parts of the story, that kind of thing.

And I wore my own clothes – I used to go around in Howard Harvey’s mac all the time. I guess I was supposed to look like a cliched journalist. I even got recognised sometimes, it was nice.

Have you still got the mac hanging up in a wardrobe somewhere?

[Laughs] Hopefully not!

So was there a point when you had kids following you down the street? The relaunched Eagle sold in huge numbers.

It didn’t quite happen like that, but I would get adults saying “Aren’t you in a comic?” I’d say “Yeah, I suppose I am, really…”

And many years later, I was burgled. And, in my study, I had a montage of my modelling shots, including one from Doomlord. And the policeman who came to see me in the early hours of the morning was a young guy. He looked at them at said “Oh! Were you Howard Harvey?” And we ended up talking about Doomlord until 3am! Then, when I told him that I’d also been in Star Wars, he was amazed. He was a serious sci-fi fan, and was very interested to hear that. It calmed me down a bit, really – I got home to find I’d been burgled, and the policeman wanted to talk about Howard Harvey and stormtroopers!

I was going to ask you about being an Imperial Stormtrooper. Can you pick yourself out when you watch Star Wars?  

No, I can’t. To be honest… I’ve never actually seen a full Star Wars film. But I’m in the very first one. For many years, people thought I was the Stormtrooper who hits his head, but that wasn’t me. That was another guy, also called Mike!

I also remember once being in the phone box at Elstree studios, probably talking to my agent. And Harrison Ford came along to use the phone, and had to wait and roll his eyes while I chatted away. I didn’t know who he was at the time, but he was in his full outfit and he did look like a movie star…

And I remember seeing Alec Guinness there, which – for someone who had always been interested in films and drama – was amazing. I was there for about a week, maybe ten days. Wearing this incredibly heavy costume… although I was friends with most of the people who did that kind of that work at that time, so it was good fun.

And I guess you had no inkling of the global sensation that Star Wars would become?

No, nobody did. I was booked to be at a Collectormania event this month and I never thought that, 40 years later, people would be asking for my autograph for being a stormtrooper. That’s outrageous. Likewise with Doctor Who… everyone knew the stories would be repeated the next year and we’d get residuals, but no-one knew we’d still be getting paid 45 years later! It was a nice time to be working on those kinds of shows. If I knew I was booked on Doctor Who for a few days, I’d think “Oh, lovely job…” and look forward to it.  

Your connection with Doctor Who is amazing. I make it 17 stories from the original series.  

It was definitely quite a few. I worked with Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. And the BBC was a lovely place to work in those days. I’m sure it still is, but it’s more about location filming these days. Back then, we’d do a few days in the rehearsal studios in Acton, then a few days filming. They were always enjoyable jobs.

You were a Dalek, weren’t you? In Destiny of the Daleks, the first Doctor Who story I watched properly all the way though…

Lovely! When I was a child, the Doctor was William Hartnell. And I remember loving the Daleks – they were frightening, but very watchable. I remember how excited I was when they came back for their second story – without ever thinking that once day I would actually be one. So that was nice.

Although by that time, I wasn’t watching the show. Obviously I was an adult by then, and I thought it was a children’s programme. But it’s not, is it? It’s for everyone. I’ve watched some of my stories more recently, and really enjoyed them.

And what are your memories of working on Destiny?

I remember, on the rehearsal days, we’d be in half a Dalek, and we’d read our lines so that we knew when our lights would be flashing! Then, in the studio days, the voiceover man would come in and do it all. I think it was just one voice man for all the Daleks, wasn’t it? Certainly I remember Roy Skelton being there in the studio. But we had our scripts inside the Daleks, so we’d know when it was our Dalek talking, and we could make the appropriate movements…

Are they hard to operate?

They weren’t then, they were incredibly basic. They were on castors and you pushed them along with your feet. The only problem would be if there was a cable in the way… [Laughs] It was all great fun.

And how was Tom Baker to be around? He’s still an extraordinary figure of a man.

I remember him being very into his acting, and taking it all incredibly seriously. Which is good. Everyone took Doctor Who seriously – writers, directors and actors. We were always trying not to giggle!

I probably shouldn’t say this, but I always remember one story with Peter Davison and Nerys Hughes, and – in the rehearsal room – they burst out laughing at something in the script. And that was rather looked down on by the important people that were there! That was considered quite naughty, if you like… because if one person laughs, then other people start laughing, too.  

That’s a story called Kinda, and it’s one of my favourites. I remember you as one of the Kinda hostages! Simon Rouse is incredible in those episodes, too.  

Oh, I remember Simon Rouse, I worked with him on The Bill. I’m not sure I’ve ever watched Kinda, but I will! But yes, Doctor Who had some great parts for serious actors. My Davros was played by David Gooderson, who I met recently at a convention – and I remember thinking then how good, and how dramatic, he was. Television was always trying to bring actors back to smaller performances, but Doctor Who allowed them to go a little over-the-top. I like that.

The conventions are always great fun to do, and I’m often meeting old friends there. I see people I haven’t seen for years, talk about old times, and it’s lovely. When I met up with David, it was the first time I’d seen him in 42 years… we had a laugh about the way television was made back then. The wobbly sets! They all had wobbly sets, didn’t they? You had to take your shoes off if you were chasing someone… (Laughs)

The wobbliest sets I’ve ever seen were are in Fawlty Towers! It looked like an earthquake was going through that hotel sometimes.

Oh, really? I worked on that, and I still get residuals to this day! (Laughs) When people tell me The Germans is their favourite episode, I always say “Did you know I was in it?”  

Yes! You’re a hospital orderly, aren’t you? I saw you pop up in so many shows over the years, and always thought “Hey – that’s Howard Harvey!”

Oh, really? That’s lovely! [Laughs] I did go through a phase of playing policemen quite a lot…

But then did the modelling work start to take over a little from the acting work?  

Well, once I started working with Jill Searle, she got me jobs with some very high-profile photographers. I did once with Lord Snowdon, and one with Norman Parkinson…

Oh, talk me through these.  

The Lord Snowdon shoot was an advertisement for a mobile phone, and it was basically two yuppies looking at teach other. I’ve actually got that one in my portfolio… it was very nice to meet Lord Snowdon and be directed by him. He was lovely. Like any other photographer, you go in and shake hands, and they look at the clothes you’ve brought with you. I always had a selection of ties…

Norman Parkinson I worked with towards the end of his life, and sadly I’ve never been able to get hold of copies of those pictures. I was dressed as a comedy Keystone Cops policeman, landing on a piece of software for a magazine advert. So I had to jump in the air while he took the photos. And once again, it was nice to meet someone that important in the photography world. I’ve asked all sorts of people to find me a copy, but I’ve still never seen it! I’m sure it went to publication, but often these shoots were for works magazines, and you had to work hard to track them down.

But this all came about as a result of me being Howard Harvey, and it went on for the best part of a decade – so I’m very grateful to him.

He’s clearly a character close to your heart. If he hadn’t died at the end of the first Doomlord series, would you have been happy to continue playing him?

Oh, I think I would have done. It was great to do. And it was just a day now and then, so they were able to work around me to some degree. If I said I wasn’t available on a Wednesday, they’d say “Well, what about Thursday…” (Laughs)

But I got a spectacular death scene. And it’s nice to think I saved the world!

That scene really traumatised me at the time. As did Doomlord himself – I was genuinely scared of him. Were you aware at the time you were having this effect on the nation’s children?

I wasn’t, I always found it all quite comical! I remember my nephews enjoyed Doomlord… and I bought it too, and enjoyed seeing myself. So it was a bit of fun for me, and probably for the people that knew me. I’ve still got all my copies somewhere.

And what are you up to at the moment?

Still working! I’m rehearsing a play called Ladies In Lavender, playing the doctor. We’re doing that at the Kenton Theatre in Henley, in October. And I do the odd voiceover when they come along. When the modelling took off, I put acting on hold for a while – but I’ve rediscovered it in recent years.

What a life you’ve led Mike – it’s been fabulous chatting!

My pleasure… any time!

Thanks so much to Mike for his time and enthusiasm. As an addendum, I mentioned to Mike that actors in the original Doomlord photo-stories seemed hard to identity. This excellent website has some fascinating information about the strip and its cast…

https://downthetubes.net/secrets-of-eagle-the-mystery-of-doomlords-mask

And further e-mail chats with Mike revealed that actor Victor Reynolds played the cynical police sergeant seen in Episode 1, and that the ill-fated Matthew Hodges MP was played by actor Vass Anderson. Thanks to reader Simon Coward for help with that one, too. If anyone can help identifying further Doomlord performers… please get in touch!

In the meantime, tickets for Ladies In Lavender are available here:
https://kentontheatre.co.uk/event/ladies-in-lavender/

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