Along with Christopher Barry and Douglas Camfield, he was one of the only three people to direct Doctor Who serials featuring William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. Mayne was remembered as a very expressive man who made his feelings plain; for example, when first seeing the costume for Alpha Centauri for The Curse of Peladon, he apparently swore, "What the hell is that? A giant green d***?". A cloak was added to try and hide the creature's phallic appearance, but it was known as "the d*** in the cloak" by the production team. He also ordered voice artiste Ysanne Churchman to voice the creature like a gay civil servant.