Neville Main

Neville Main was the artist for the early TV Comic Doctor Who stories in 1964-66. His contributions to First Doctor stories are discussed in the first Stripped for Action documentary.

Born in Leicester, by 1944 he was illustrating children's books for Brockhampton Press, including a series of 62-page comic strip booklets featuring a character called Jimmy from 1948 to 1958. He was a regular on TV Comic from its launch in 1951, drawing Muffin the Mule (1951-61), Jimmy and his Engines (originally in Mickey Mouse Weekly from 1952-55, TV Comic 1955-), Snoozy the Sea-Lion (1956-), Four Feather Falls (1960-62), Fireball XL5 (1962-64), Tivvy, Basil Brush and Popeye. In 1966 his character Jimmy began appearing in Pippin. He also drew Larry the Lamb (1960-) for TV Land and TV Playland, and Rubovia (1976-79) for Pippin in Playland. As his range of work shows, he could vary his style from cartoony to dramatic.

His second wife, Betty Larom, whom he married in 1964, was also a comic artist. He died in Oxford in 1994.