Mary Tamm

Acting

Mary Tamm

Born — Died

1950-03-22 — 2012-07-26

Place of birth

Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

Mary Tamm (22 March 1950 – 26 July 2012) was a British actress who appeared in many British TV drama series and serials. She is best known for her role as Romana I in the BBC's science fiction television series Doctor Who, appearing opposite Tom Baker in the 1978–1979 story arc The Key to Time. Tamm was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, to an Estonian father and a half-Russian mother, who was an opera singer. Her parents had fled Estonia after four of her father's brothers had died in Stalin's gulag labour camps. Tamm spoke only Estonian at home and attended Estonian-language school on Saturdays. She did not begin learning English until she was enrolled in primary school. At age 1…

Known for

Film credits

2000s · 12 titles

Doghouse poster
5.8

A group of men, heading to a remote village to help one of their friends get over his divorce, soon discover that all the women have been infected with a virus that makes them man-hating cannibals.

Doghouse

2009

Sorted poster
5.5

A young lawyer gets more than he bargains for while investigating his brother's mysterious death.

Sorted

2000

Amazons and Gladiators poster
3.2

During the Roman Empire, General Crassius ruled a small province with an Iron fist. Serena, a young girl in a village, watches Crassius kill her parents. Crassius and Serena's destiny would lead them to the Gladiator ring; the Amazons Warrior vs the Roman General.

Amazons and Gladiators

2001

The Ties That Bind Us poster
NR

A look at the subtle (and not so subtle!) links to the show's past and future contained within the story of The Five Doctors.

The Ties That Bind Us

2008

The Story of Doctor Who poster
8.0

Documentary to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of this popular cult sci-fi television series.

The Story of Doctor Who

2003

A Matter of Time poster
NR

A retrospective documentary looking at Graham Williams' three-year tenure as Doctor Who producer.

A Matter of Time

2007

Parrot Fashion poster
NR

A 30-minute documentary looking at the writing and production of The Pirate Planet.

Parrot Fashion

2007

Getting Blood from the Stones poster
NR

Cast and crew look back at the making of The Stones of Blood.

Getting Blood from the Stones

2007

The Humans of Tara poster
NR

The cast and crew look back at the making of The Androids of Tara.

The Humans of Tara

2007

Defining Shadows poster
NR

The cast and crew look back at the making of The Armageddon Factor.

Defining Shadows

2007

A Class Apart poster
NR

An outspoken single mum is determined her son will go to the school of her choice, and he ends up at a private school. Only then does she discover the headmaster offered a place merely to win a bet.

A Class Apart

2007

The Ribos File poster
NR

The cast and crew of The Ribos Operation look back at the making of the story.

The Ribos File

2007

1980s · 4 titles

Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks poster
7.9

Captured in a time corridor, the Doctor and his companions are forced to land on 20th century Earth, diverted by the Doctor's oldest enemy - the Daleks. It is here the true purpose of the time corridor becomes apparent: after ninety years of imprisonment, Davros, the ruthless creator of the Daleks, is to be liberated to assist in the resurrection of his army. Not even the Daleks foresee the poisonous threat of their creator. Indeed, who would suspect Davros of wanting to destroy his own Daleks - and why? Only the Doctor knows the truth. Will he descend to Davros' level of evil to stop him?

Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks

1984

Three Kinds of Heat poster
5.4

Three friends persecute a gang of criminals from Harlem to the parties of the High Society of London.

Three Kinds of Heat

1987

Doctor Who: Logopolis poster
7.4

After an encounter with the Master, an airline stewardess named Tegan Jovanka becomes an unwitting stowaway aboard the TARDIS as it travels to the planet Logopolis. There, the Doctor discovers that the Master's interference with the Logopolitans' advanced mathematics has unleashed a wave of entropy which threatens to consume the entire universe.

Doctor Who: Logopolis

1981

Who's Who poster
10.0

Produced for American Public Television, this documentary on the long-running Doctor Who television series features interviews with actors and actresses who played the traveling companions of the Time Lord hero and with three actors, Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, and Colin Baker, who portrayed the title character, as well as footage of a U.S. fan convention where Tom Baker, appeared and answered questions. The fan backlash against the 1985-6 hiatus for the series and the finding of some previously lost Jon Pertwee era episodes are addressed, and this documentary closes with some on-the-street interviews with British viewers, who tell who their favorite Doctor is.

Who's Who

1986

1970s · 11 titles

The Odessa File poster
6.6

Following the suicide of an elderly Jewish man, investigative journalist Peter Miller sets out to hunt down an SS Captain and former concentration camp commander. In doing so he discovers that, despite allegations of war crimes, the former commander has become a man of importance in industry in post-war Germany, protected from prosecution by a powerful organisation of former SS members called Odessa.

The Odessa File

1974

Tales That Witness Madness poster
5.5

Enigmatic asylum owner Dr Tremayne houses four very special cases. Visited by his colleague Nicholas, Tremayne explains his amazing and controversial theories as to why each patient went mad, be they a ritualistic 'luau', a time-travelling bicycle, a toy tiger, and a tree stump.

Tales That Witness Madness

1973

Doctor Who: The Ribos Operation poster
6.8

The Doctor is summoned by the mysterious and powerful White Guardian, and sent on a quest to find the six segments of the Key to Time, which, once assembled, will restore balance to the Universe. Joining the Doctor and K9 is the smart and sassy Romana, a Time Lord fresh from the Academy. Landing on the wintry planet of Ribos to locate the first segment, the TARDIS crew quickly find themselves embroiled in a little local trouble with a pair of conmen and an unstable warlord...

Doctor Who: The Ribos Operation

1978

Doctor Who: The Armageddon Factor poster
5.5

The final segment of the Key to Time is at the heart of a devastating war between neighbouring planets Atrios and Zeos. The Fourth Doctor discovers that a sinister entity is manipulating events and the cost of obtaining the final segment may be more personal than he imagined.

Doctor Who: The Armageddon Factor

1979

Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet poster
7.0

The Doctor and Romana learn the second segment of the Key to Time is on the planet Calufrax. Yet they arrive on a planet called Zanak, which has been hollowed out and fitted with hyperspace engines, allowing its insane, half-robot Captain to materialise it around smaller planets and plunder their resources.

Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet

1978

Doctor Who: The Stones of Blood poster
7.8

Searching for the third segment to the Key to Time brings the Doctor and Romana to present-day Earth, where the travellers have to contend with stone circles, Druidic rituals and a not-so-mythical goddess known as the Cailleach.

Doctor Who: The Stones of Blood

1978

Doctor Who: The Power of Kroll poster
4.7

The Doctor and Romana arrive on the marsh moon of Delta Magna in search of the next segment of the Key to Time. They are caught in the conflict between the native Swampies and the crew of a chemical refinery. The presence of a gun runner complicates matters; to make things worse, the Swampies intend to awaken Kroll, the giant god that lives beneath the swamps.

Doctor Who: The Power of Kroll

1979

The Likely Lads poster
6.3

With the destruction of their previous neighbourhood has inevitably come the destruction of the lads’ favoured watering hole The Fat Ox. Again, it’s Bob rather than Terry who is visibly distressed by this. Upset and much the worse for free alcohol, Bob then storms into the library to seek sympathy from Thelma - who is, predictably, unimpressed. So when Thelma finds out that Terry has been getting semi-serious with glamorous Finnish shop assistant Chris, she takes it upon herself to try and pair them off for good via planning first a dinner party and then that mainstay of 70s comedy, a camping expedition. Of course, things don’t go quite according to plan and before you can say ‘I can see the way this is going’ we are set up for japes, larks and embarrassing incidents aplenty, which culminate in the lads getting rather fed up with their partners’ attempts to inflict the rugged outdoor lifestyle upon them and trying to hitch up and drive off with the girls still asleep in the caravan.

The Likely Lads

1976

Merry Christmas Doctor Who poster
10.0

The Doctor, Romana and K9 drink in the TARDIS in celebration of Christmas.

Merry Christmas Doctor Who

1978

Doctor Who: The Androids of Tara poster
7.2

Finding the fourth segment of the Key to Time was simple enough, but holding onto it may be another matter. The Doctor and Romana find themselves embroiled in the political games of the planet Tara, where doubles, android or otherwise, complicate the coronation of Prince Reynart.

Doctor Who: The Androids of Tara

1978

Hassan Terro's Escape poster
8.3

In 1957, the Battle of Algiers intensifies. Hassan, a peaceful resident of the Casbah, is mistakenly identified as a dangerous "terrorist leader," earning him the nickname "Hassan Terro." He is arrested, but the French occupation army secretly organizes his escape in the hope of tracking down the leaders of the resistance. In turn, the Algerian liberation army exploits Hassan's naivety to thwart the French military command and disperse its forces.

Hassan Terro's Escape

1974

Series credits

Doctor Who poster
7.9

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Doctor Who

1963

Doctor Who poster
7.9

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Doctor Who

1963

Agatha Christie's Poirot poster
8.2

From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a collection of first class deceptions.

Agatha Christie's Poirot

1989

Casualty poster
6.2

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Casualty

1986

Brookside poster
6.4

The ground-breaking soap set in a housing estate on the outskirts of Liverpool.

Brookside

1982

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

Doctors poster
4.8

Set in the fictional Midlands town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the city of Birmingham, this soap opera follows the staff and families of a doctor's surgery.

Doctors

2000

Bergerac poster
7.0

Jim Bergerac is a detective sergeant in The Foreigners Office who likes to do things his own way. While dealing with his own personal demons Bergerac has a knack of finding trouble, and sometimes causing it.

Bergerac

1981

Public Eye poster
8.2

Public Eye is a British television drama broadcast from 1965 to 1975 on ITV1. Produced by ABC Television for three series, and Thames Television for a further four, the programme follows the investigations and cases handled by the unglamourous enquiry agent Frank Marker.

Public Eye

1965

Wire in the Blood poster
7.9

Clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill's uncanny ability to see into the minds of murderers means he finds it difficult to distance himself from disturbing cases.

Wire in the Blood

2002

Return of the Saint poster
7.0

Follow the swashbuckling exploits of Simon Templar, a modern-day Robin Hood of sorts.

Return of the Saint

1978

Only When I Laugh poster
6.7

Only When I Laugh is an ITV1 sitcom broadcast from 29 October 1979 to 16 December 1982 for four series with seven episodes each, and a Christmas special in 1981. The title is the answer to the question, "Does it hurt?" A naïve middle-class man is admitted to an NHS hospital ward, shared with a working-class layabout and an upper-class hypochondriac. The trio never fail to cause a nuisance for the poor, unsuspecting staff.

Only When I Laugh

1979

Rose and Maloney poster
6.4

Investigators Rose Linden and Marion Maloney, of the Criminal Justice Review Agency, take on claims of miscarriages of justice, assessing whether there are grounds to reopen old cases.

Rose and Maloney

2002

Warship poster
6.7

Written and filmed to reflect the reality of life in the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines in the 1970s, most stories focus on the Captain and his fellow officers, with subplots dealing with life on the lower decks. Episodes typically featured a variety of events at sea (the Cold War, smuggling, the evacuation of civilians from crisis-hit places, etc.), as well as the personal lives of officers and ratings and the impact their personal lives had on their professional lives and duties.

Warship

1973

Jane Eyre poster
7.1

After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

Jane Eyre

1983

Twisted Tales poster
7.7

Twisted Tales is a dark and stylish comedy drama series. With intense scripts written by a mix of established writers and upcoming talent, each story is a self-contained episode with a mysterious twist. The tales set out to spook the brain and tickle the funny bone, so be prepared to expect the unexpected. The series is very closely related to Spine Chillers, an earlier BBC Three series. In effect, Twisted Tales is a rebranded second series of the earlier successful production.

Twisted Tales

2005

CI5: The New Professionals poster
6.8

In this 1998 re-imagining of the original The Professionals TV show, CI5 now has an international remit, being jointly funded by the governments of the UK, U.S.A., Japan, Germany and France, and called upon to deal with terrorism and espionage on an international scale. An all-new cast features the original dynamic of two gung ho field agents (these a former U.S. Navy Seal and a British secret service man) and a cantankerous boss, but adds the dynamic of a female agent, a computer and martial arts expert who came to CI5 by way of the Canadian Secret Service. Expectations were high, but the new show failed to capture the imagination of viewers and only one season was made.

CI5: The New Professionals

1999

Spine Chillers poster
7.5

Anthology series of black comedies, which sets out to deliver excellent stories with a darkly comic twist.

Spine Chillers

2003

Worlds Beyond poster
5.8

Worlds Beyond is a British television anthology broadcast on ITV from 1986 to 1988, based on real-life supernatural experiences described in archival documents from the Society for Psychical Research. A book was also released to accompany the series.

Worlds Beyond

1986

Perfect Scoundrels poster
6.0

Perfect Scoundrels first broadcast in 1990 on British television. A comedy-drama following two con-men doing their best to separate various people from their money

Perfect Scoundrels

1990

Crime Traveller poster
7.3

Detective Jeff Slade teams up with scientist Holly Turner, whose late father has created a time machine that can travel back several hours. Together they solve mysteries using the device. In the beginning of episodes (before they travel back in time), things happen because they DID travel back in time, and they are constantly working to avoid paradoxes. This approach to time-travel is unusual in sci-fi movies, and keeps the plot twisted.

Crime Traveller

1997

No artwork available
NR

A land-owning father and son clash over the future of their large estate in Wales.

The Inheritors

1974

No artwork available
6.5

The Hello Goodbye Man is a short-lived 1984 British sitcom, starring Ian Lavender as Denis Ailing, a nervous salesman struggling with his job and romantic life, particularly with his colleague Jennifer. The series follows his disastrous attempts to succeed, including using pep pills and adopting unethical sales tactics, leading to awkward social and professional situations.

The Hello Goodbye Man

1984

The Donati Conspiracy poster
8.0

Contemporary thriller series set in a parallel Britain where the country is ruled by a fascist dictatorship.

The Donati Conspiracy

1973

The Girls of Slender Means poster
3.7

The Girls of Slender Means is a 1975 BBC television mini-series based on Muriel Spark's novel. The drama, aired in three parts, follows a group of young women living in a London boarding house in 1945, and is framed by a death that occurs in 1960.

The Girls of Slender Means

1975

Diamond Geezer poster
8.5

Diamond Geezer is a British television comedy drama written by Caleb Ranson which stars David Jason as a jewel thief and professional con man.

Diamond Geezer

2005

Doctor Who's Who's Who poster
NR

Television documentary filmed at a Doctor Who convention, including interviews with directors, writers and actors.

Doctor Who's Who's Who

1985

The Assassination Run poster
NR

While attending Oxford University, Mark Fraser is recruited as an agent by Department Six of British Intelligence. In time he becomes one of their top "eliminators." After several years, he resigns in disgust, marries his girlfriend, Jill Marshall, and retires to the Scottish Highlands. While shopping one afternoon, Jill is kidnapped by five German terrorists and brought to Spain. When Mark receives a telephone call from the terrorists, instructing him to assassinate a right-wing German publisher, he is forced to employ his old skills as a hit man to ensure Jill's safety. .

The Assassination Run

1980

No artwork available
10.0

Mark Fraser (Malcolm Stoddard), an ex-intelligence agent, was falsely accused of murdering a well-known scientist. Three agents, hired by an unknown organization, go after Mark to prevent him from revealing the organization's most hideous secrets. Mark struggles to fight his way out against these skilled intelligence agents to save his life and clear his name.

The Treachery Game

1981