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Murray
Melvin aka Bilis Manger
Bilis Manger first
appeared on our screens during episode 12 ‘Captain Jack Harkness’, Series
One. Bilis is the caretaker of the old
dance hall in Sage Street due to be demolished, reports of strange noises
coming from inside, bring Captain Jack Harkness and Toshiko Sato to investigate
and soon they find themselves in a temporal time shift which sees them in 1941
at the height of the Blitz, and the upstairs of the dance hall is alive with
singing and dancing, and young airmen ready to go off to war. It’s also when we see Bilis Manger, just as
he’s seeing Jack and Toshiko out of the door for the first time, realising that
they’ve been taken back to the past.
When Gwen investigates
the dance hall after Jack and Toshiko go missing she enters Bilis’ office,
where all manner of occult items are sitting on desks and behind the chair and
on the wall. Also as Ianto discovers,
the name of the caretaker is the same name as the man mentioned in the
newspaper at that time (1941) and as Gwen describes the large photograph of
Bilis wearing a cravat it doesn’t take Ianto long to realise that this could be
an elaborate trap and instructs Gwen to get out.
We see Bilis again in
episode 13 ‘End of Days’ when after Jack and Toshiko are returned to the
present day, Bilis begins to make his appearance to Gwen, someone he feels he
can manipulate in order to open the rift.
First he sees her in the police cells and after episode 12, Gwen knows
who the old ‘timer’ is. Snapped out of
her sudden moment by Jack, she again sees Bilis at the shop when Jack and she
decide to bring him in for questioning, but as he disappears again, he
re-appears after Jack leaves the shop.
Gwen unable to leave, is given an insight into the future, her future
with Rhys, and after being able to leave, runs home to find Rhys very much
alive, but needs to get him to safety and takes him to the one place she knows
is safe, The Hub.
Bilis unperturbed, and
using his time travelling expertise locates Gwen’s partner Rhys in the cells
after he trips the security alarms and unlocks the cell doors. He kills Rhys!
It’s at this point and
during the entire final episode that each member of the team are forced to
realise that in order to bring back the ones that they love, they have to open
the Rift. Jack is the only one who knows
that this is a trap set down by Bilis, but as more and more sick people fall
through the Rift bringing every disease known to man, the world starts seeing
it as the end of days.
After Jack is shot and
killed by Owen who is ‘tired of being doubted’, and all that has happened, the
death of Rhys, the creatures in the cells, the death and judgement day are
finally erased, a very large threat looks set to erase the human race for
ever.
“All hail Abadon.”
Bilis Manger knew that
if by manipulating the Torchwood team he would be able to bring out the ‘Great
Devourer’ Abadon, imprisoned beneath the Rift.
How Bilis Manger unleashed Abadon is found in the book Twilight
Streets. But what happened to Bilis
after the Great Devourer was defeated after killing Jack Harkness, we may never
know. Perhaps he is still out there...somewhere.
Murray Melvin who plays
Bilis was born in the same year that the Ritz Dance Hall was built.
He is an actor who has
had a very busy career in theatre, in films and on television and has also
penned two books titled “The Art of Theatre Workshop (2006) and The Theatre
Royal, A History of the Building (2009).
Murray was born on 10th
August 1932 in Hampstead, London. During
an extended lunch break from his job in the Ministry, he applied to Joan
Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and
between 1957 – 1962 was actively involved in many performances and
productions.
Over the years he has
worked for many directors but its Joan Littlewood for whom Murray mentions
during his interview, and the one person he has campaigned for in order to have
a statue erected outside the Theatre Royal in Stratford East, a statue that is
requiring a considerable amount of fundraising.
From theatre work where
Murray played Geoffrey in A Taste of Honey, that opened in February 1959 at the
Wyndham’s Theatre, he went on to play the film version directed by Tony
Richardson, a role for which he won the Prix de Cannes as best actor at the
Festival in 1962. He was also nominated
for a BAFTA for ‘Most Promising Newcomer’ award.
Murray went on to work
with Ken Russell and appeared in Diary of a Nobody, his first film with the
director. From there he went on to play
Father Mignon in Ken Russell’s the Devils (1971) where he plays the catalyst in
the horror film, which also starred Oliver Reed.
In television Murray
appeared in the first episode of the cult series The Avengers in 1960. In 1998 he appeared in the Christmas Special
episode of Jonathan Creek called “The Black Canary.” In 2007 he became popular and well known in
Torchwood circles as the creepy caretaker Bilis Manger, a name that strikes
fear in many, because his character was never killed off, and so he might, just
might appear anywhere in the Torchwood universe.
In 2011 Murray played
the Professor in a 15 minute short comedy/drama called The Grey Mile. It was about a couple of ex master criminals
who were confined to a care home. It
co-starred the late Paul Shane as Terry ‘the Taxman’ Tempest and Maggie Tulip
as Miss Match. The entire film was shot
on location at Wolterton Hall in Norfolk.
Much of the information
on Murray can be found on Wikipedia, and trust me, there is an extensive list
of credits to this talented Englishman.
One day I may have the chance of meeting him, and indeed to see the
statue outside of the Theatre Royal in Stratford East.
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