Peter Hawkins

Peter Hawkins (3 April 1924-8 July 2006 ) provided the voices for the Daleks and Cybermen in many Doctor Who stories in the 1960s.

Life and career
Peter John Hawkins was born in Brixton, London and served in the Royal Navy during World War II. He was aboard the HMS Limbourne when it was sunk together with the by the German 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla on 23 October 1943.

Hawkins' long association with British children's television began in 1952 when he voiced both Bill and Ben, the. He also provided all the voices for the animated series and, the latter of which was a regular feature of the long-running children's magazine series Blue Peter in the 1960s and early 1970s.

He was also the original voice of on  during the first year of its run (1972). Ironically, Hawkins' replacement on Rainbow, Roy Skelton, later voiced the Daleks (Hawkins and Skelton also voiced the Cybermen in their first appearance).

A little-known fact is that Hawkins recorded a voice track for Gromit of fame, but this was never used because animating Gromit's mouth would have taken too long. The voice was apparently high-pitched, pretty much repeating everything Wallace said in the pair's first short film, though no-one apart from the duo's creator has ever heard it.

Hawkins was the original voice for the character of in the  of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, first broadcast in March 1978.

Hawkins was the owner of a fine art collection, including works by, , , , and. He also owned a collection of Japanese sword guards and was very keen on Japanese delicacy.

Ill-health and death
Hawkins retired from acting in 1992 due to illness, which also prevented him from contributing to any DVD release of Doctor Who outside of archive footage. He died in London, aged 82, on 8 July 2006, coincidentally the same day that the 2006 season finale of Doctor Who, Doomsday, featuring Daleks and Cybermen, was transmitted.

Legacy
Nicholas Briggs, the current voice of the Daleks and the Cybermen, paid tribute to him in issue 373 of Doctor Who Magazine, praising him as the best Dalek voice artist, saying "...all of us who've provided Dalek voices over the last 40 years owe him a massive debt. None of us have been as good as Peter, but he supplied our inspiration. He was truly the Emperor of the Daleks."

Personal life
He is the father of Silas Hawkins.

Dalek voices

 * The Daleks
 * The Dalek Invasion of Earth
 * The Space Museum
 * The Chase
 * Mission to the Unknown
 * The Daleks' Master Plan
 * The Power of the Daleks
 * The Evil of the Daleks

Cyberman voices

 * The Tenth Planet
 * The Moonbase
 * The Tomb of the Cybermen
 * The Wheel in Space

Uncredited

 * Marc Cory's voice - The Daleks' Master Plan (DWM 272)
 * Earth Control voice - The Wheel in Space (DWM 254)