Mike Yates

Mike Yates was a British Army captain who served as a direct subordinate to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the United Kingdom branch of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. His career with UNIT ended after the discovery of his involvement with Operation Golden Age.

Captain Mike Yates (1974)

Later life

Mike Yates (1975)

An illusory Mike Yates

By 1976, Yates had gone to the south coast of England to try and change the world by entering politics. As of 1984, he was living in Brighton. ("Liberty Hall")

By 2013, a photograph of a uniformed Mike Yates standing alongside Sara Kingdom was held by the Black Archive. (DW: "The Day of the Doctor")

Family and interests

Yates was familiar with gold hallmarks because of his sister's line of work. (Demon Quest: "Starfall") He was a follower of rugby. (DW: "The Dæmons")

Appendices

Appearances

• Doctor Who:
  • "Terror of the Autons"
  • "The Mind of Evil"
  • "The Claws of Axos"
  • "The Dæmons"
  • "Day of the Daleks"
  • "The Time Monster"
  • "The Green Death"
  • "Invasion of the Dinosaurs"
  • "Planet of the Spiders"
  • "Mawdryn Undead" (archive footage only) (2009 remastering)
  • "The Five Doctors" (illusion)
  • "The Day of the Doctor" (photograph)
• "Liberty Hall" (archive footage only)
• Hornets' Nest:
  • "The Stuff of Nightmares"
  • "The Dead Shoes"
  • "The Circus of Doom"
  • "A Sting in the Tale"
  • "Hive of Horror"
• Monster Files: "Vampires" (photograph)
• Demon Quest:
  • "The Relics of Time" (recorded message)
  • "The Demon of Paris"
  • "A Shard of Ice"
  • "Starfall"
  • "Sepulchre"
• Serpent Crest:
  • "Tsar Wars" (archival voice recording only)
  • "The Hexford Invasion"
  • "Survivors in Space"
• Destiny of the Doctor: "Vengeance of the Stones"

References

• Doctor Who: "The Curse of Peladon"
• "Global Conspiracy!"
• Serpent Crest: "Aladdin Time"
• "Jo Grant Returns"

Background

An excerpt from the BBC memo that outlined the characters to be introduced in Season 8

• Mike Yates was played by Richard Franklin.
• During the planning stages for Season 8 in the early months of 1970, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks issued a memo to the writers commissioned for the upcoming season. This memo laid out three new recurring characters to be featured in Season 8. Amongst them was Mike Yates, a new military member of UNIT. The following was written about him:

CAPTAIN MIKE YATES
The Brigadier's no. 2. A tough cheerful young soldier, very competent but a shade too easy-going and casual for the Brigadier's liking. Makes fun of Jo, in an affectionate way.

• Inspired by the previous companion pairing of Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield, Letts wished to introduce a young male character and a young female character to change the dynamic of UNIT, which he considered to be sterile.
• Franklin recalled in a 1985 interview that one of the reasons for the introduction of Mike Yates and Jo Grant was to attract the teenage demographic by having a romantic relationship between the two characters. He also remembers the role being initially described by Letts to Franklin's agent as that of a love interest. Franklin claimed that the production team was concerned that a relationship between Jo and Mike would create a conflict with the relationship between Jo and the Doctor. Despite this, occasional references to something more than a working relationship remained for the rest of Katy Manning's time on the show.
• Between "Terror of the Autons" and "Invasion of the Dinosaurs", Yates regularly uses a Walther PPK as a sidearm. In "The Claws of Axos", he is armed with a Browning Hi-Power.
• Between "Terror of the Autons" and "Invasion of the Dinosaurs", Yates's service dress uniform bears a 2nd class (or board) crimson aiguilette on his right shoulder, typically worn by military members of the Defence Board and the Army Board and the personal staff of governors. His illusory appearance in "The Five Doctors" wears the same decoration.