Nicholas Courtney, who played the irascible Brigadier General Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in Doctor Who on and off from 1968 to 1989, has died at the age of 81.
As head of the global alien defense agency UNIT, the Brigadier is one of the more memorable secondary characters from the long-running British science fiction series.
Courtney, who was practically a regular cast member from 1970 to 1974, never appeared in the modern incarnation of Doctor Who that began in 2005 — but he did feature in an episode of the spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2008.
