Sid Sutton
British graphic designer (1939–2023)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sidney Malcolm Sutton (23 August 1939[1] – 27 June 2023) was a British graphic designer most famous for designing the Doctor Who title sequences from 1980 until 1986.[2] He joined the BBC in 1961, as assistant to Tom Taylor.[3] In 1968 he was appointed Senior Designer for Presentation Graphics.[3]
In 1969 he designed the "rotating globe" ident for BBC television, which was used until 1984 at least.[3]
Sutton was seen on camera as a magician in the title sequence he made for the programme "For My Next Trick" in 1975.[3]
The title sequences for Doctor Who were the starfield versions and were used from The Leisure Hive until the end of The Trial of a Time Lord. For 1987's Time and the Rani, Oliver Elmes designed the titles.[2] Sutton also provided the cover designs for the earliest BBC VHS Video Doctor Who releases, including The Seeds of Death and Day of the Daleks.[citation needed] Sutton discusses his work in a short documentary, "Synthesizing Starfields", provided as an extra feature on the DVD release of the series The Leisure Hive.[4]
Sutton also created logos for Sveriges Television, which appeared in October 1980.[5]
Immediately prior to his work on Doctor Who, he had been nominated for a BAFTA for his graphics on the Robert Banks Stewart-created Shoestring that was a precursor to Bergerac, another show for which he provided the titles.[citation needed]
An archive of his work for the BBC is held at Ravensbourne University London.[3]
