Doctor Who Vs. Poirot, Series 7

Series regulars since 1989, David Suchet (who portrayed Hercule Poirot), Hugh Fraser (as Captain Arthur Hastings), Philip Jackson (as Scotland Yard's Inspector James Japp), and Pauline Moran (Miss Felicity Lemon) all returned for two more feature-length serials based on Agatha Christie's earliest novels.
After a gap of four years, the dramas were first transmitted on ITV in the winter of 2000, and featured these seven Doctor Who cast connections:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (TX: January 2 - Published 1926)

• Malcolm Terris (Ackroyd) was Etnin in The Dominators, and the Co-Pilot in The Horns of Nimon
• Richard Hammatt was a stuntman on The Runaway Bride too
• Jamie Harcourt was also a camera operator on The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit

Lord Edgware Dies (TX: February 19 - Published 1933)

• Fenella Woolgar (Ellis) played the famous writer and Poirot's creator in The Unicorn and the Wasp
• Janet Hargreaves (Lady Corner) and Christopher Guard (Alton) both appeared in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, as Mum and Bellboy respectively
• the latter's real-life brother, Dominic Guard also starred here (as Martin) - he was Olvir (pictured) in Terminus

Doctor Who On This Day #205

1966 - The Gunfighters, Episode 4: The OK Corral first broadcast

2005 - The Empty Child first screened, and Doctor Who Confidential: Special Effects also screened on BBC3
2006 - The Age of Steel repeated on BBC3
2009 - Human Nature repeated on BBC3
2010 - Amy's Choice repeated on BBC3

2011 - The Rebel Flesh first screened; Doctor Who Confidential: Double Trouble screened on BBC3; The Doctor's Wife repeated on BBC3; and The Whispering Forest, Episode 1 repeated on Radio 4 Extra
2012 - A Thousand Tiny Wings, Episode 1 first broadcast on Radio 4 Extra

2013 - The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances both repeated on BBC America; Planet of the Ood repeated on Watch; and Last of the Time Lords repeated on BBC Entertainment Asia Pacific

Doctor Who On This Day #204

1926 - Writer John Lucarotti born in Aldershot
1966 - Director Mervyn Pinfield died, aged 54

1967 - The Evil of the Daleks, Episode 1 first broadcast

1972 - The Time Monster, Episode 1 first screened
1977 - Director Lennie Mayne died at sea, aged 49

1996 - Actor John Devon Roland Pertwee died in Timber Lake,  Connecticut, aged 76

2006 - The Age of Steel first screened, and Doctor Who 
Confidential: From Zero to Hero also screened on BBC3

2007 - 42 repeated on BBC3
2009 - 42 repeated on BBC3

2011 - The Doctor's Wife repeated on BBC3 and HD; The Whispering Forest, Episode 1 first broadcast; and Cobwebs, Episode 4 repeated, both on Radio 4 Extra
2013 - The Long Game and Father's Day both repeated on BBC America; The Fires of Pompeii repeated on Watch; Frontios and Resurrection of the Daleks both repeated on UKTV (NZ); and Doctor Who's Greatest Moments: The Aliens repeated on ABC

Doctor Who Vs. Poirot, Series 12

Actor David Suchet again portrayed Agatha Christie's Belgian sleuth in four new feature-length period crime dramas for ITV1.
The third serial, Murder on the Orient Express, was the writer's most successful book to date, and remains Poirot's most renowned case. The novel was serialised in America as Murder in the Calais Coach (1933), then issued as Murder on the Train.
Christie based this story on the recent kidnap and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby son, dubbed 'the Crime of the Century' in 1932, and the novelist herself was stranded on the famous train for 24-hours in 1931.

The twelfth and penultimate season of Poirot featured thirty-three Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

Three Act Tragedy (TX:January 3 2010 - Published 1934)

• Art Malik (Strange) voiced Abbot Absolute for The Skull of Sobek (Big Finish, 2008)
• Kate Ashfield (Wills) voiced Lieutenant Beth Stokes for Enemy of the Daleks (BF, 2009)
• Jane Asher (Mary) voiced Susan Foreman for Whatever Happened to... Susan? (Radio 4, 1994), and was Andrea Yates in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (2007)
• Michael Hobbs (Coroner) voiced Mr Fazackerly for Other Lives (BF, 2005) and Francis Currie in the UNIT spin-off audio series
• Mick Pantaleo was also the first assistant director on A Christmas Carol, The Doctor's Wife and Night Terrors

Hallowe'en Party (TX: October 27 2010 - Pub. 1969)

• for Zoe Wanamaker (as recurring character Ariadne) and Ian Hallard (Drake) see my blog for Series 11 of Poirot
• Timothy West (Cottrell) voiced Turvey for Cuddlesome (BF/DWM, 2008), and Dr Magnus Soames in House of Blue Fire (2011)
• Fenella Woolgar (Whittaker) played Agatha Christie in The Unicorn and the Wasp, and voiced Commander Helen Femor for The Company of Friends: Fritz's Story (BF, 2009) and Morella Wendigo for Nevermore (2010)
• Julian Rhind-Tutt (Garfield) voiced Lexhan for The Paradise of Death (Radio 5, 1993)
• Paul Thornley (Raglan) voiced Marko for Seven Keys to Doomsday (BF, 2008), Michael Rond also for Fritz's Story, and Gomori for Paper Cuts (2009)
• Dean Forster was also a stuntman on seven NuWho episodes, from The Christmas Invasion to A Good Man Goes to War, and The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Man Who Never Was, and Torchwood

Murder On The Orient Express
(TX: Christmas Day 2010 - Pub. 1934)

• Toby Jones (Ratchett) was the Dream Lord in Amy's Choice, and voiced renegade Time Lord Kotris for Dark Eyes (BF, 2012)
• David Morrissey (Arbuthnot) was Jackson Lake in The Next Doctor
• Hugh Bonneville (Masterman) was Captain Henry Avery in The Curse of the Black Spot (and briefly in A Good Man Goes to War and The Wedding of River Song)
• Samuel West (Constantine) was Cyrian in Dimensions in Time (1993), and voiced Revenant for The Vengeance of Morbius (BF, 2008), and Albert Tiermann for Demon Quest: A Shard of Ice (AudioGo, 2010)
• Crispin Layfield was also the stunt co-ordinator on NuWho, from Smith and Jones to the present

The Clocks (TX: Boxing Day 2011 - Pub. 1963)

• director Charles Palmer also helmed four adventures for Series 3 of NuWho
• Geoffrey Palmer (Hamling) and Andrew Havill (Hjerson) both appeared in Voyage of the Damned, as Captain Hardaker and the Chief Steward respectively - the former also played Edward Masters in The Silurians, then the Administrator in (part one of) The Mutants, and the latter voiced both Aleister Portillon and Squire Claude for The Witch From the Well (BF, 2011)
• Victoria Wicks (Swinburne) was the High Priestess in The Fires of Pompeii
• Sinead Keenan (Nora) was Addams in The End of Time, and voiced Margery Phipps for the forthcoming Big Finish release, The Companion Chronicles: Council of War
• Lesley Sharp (Martindale) was Sky Silvestry in Midnight
• Anna Massey (Pebmarsh) voiced Miss Pollard for The Girl Who Never Was (BF, 2007)
• Phil Daniels (Hardcastle) voiced Geoffrey Plum for The Gunpowder Plot
• Abigail Thaw (Rachel) voiced Dr Phillipa Stone for The Lady of Mercia, and Zaadur for the future 'lost' story release, Lords of the Red Planet
• Ben Righton (Jenkins) was Dr Oliver Morgenstern in Smith and Jones and Turn Left
• Jason Watkins (Bland) was Webley (pictured) in Nightmare in Silver
• Andrew Forbes (Purdy) was Omril in Full Circle, and voiced Dr O'Neil for Night Thoughts (BF, 2006)
• Frances Barber (Merlina) was Madame Kovarian throughout the Series six story arc
• Greg Bennett (Detective) went uncredited as both a UNIT Soldier and Sycorax Warrior in The Christmas Invasion, and a Guest in The Lazarus Experiment
• film editor Matthew Tabern also edited both the 2007 seasons of NuWho and The Sarah Jane Adventures
• Sean Clayton was assistant director on Dalek, and Father's Day too
• Tom Lucy was also the stunt co-ordinator on sixteen episodes of NuWho episodes, from Smith and Jones to The Next Doctor

Doctor Who On This Day #203

1973 - The Green Death, Episode 1 first broadcast
2006 - Producer Peter Bryant died in London, aged 82; and Rise of the Cybermen repeated on BBC3

2007 - 42 first screened, and Doctor Who Confidential: Space Craft also screened on BBC3

2009 - The Lazarus Experiment repeated on BBC3

2011 - Cobwebs, Episodes 3 repeated and 4 first broadcast, both on Radio 4 Extra

2012 - The Time of Angels repeated on BBC3
2013 - The Name of the Doctor first screened in Australia, South Africa and Poland, and repeated on BBC America; Frontios and Resurrection of the Daleks both repeated on UKTV; The Rebel Flesh repeated on BBC Entertainment Europe; and The Doctor's Wife repeated on BBC Nordic

Doctor Who Vs. The Eagle Has Landed

Based on the book by Jack Higgins, this classic war film was released in 1976, and starred Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, and Larry Hagman (a sequel, The Eagle Has Flown was published in 1991).

Co-star Jean Marsh (here as Miss Grey) first appeared in 'classic' Doctor Who as Princess Joanna in The Crusade in 1965, then as short-lived companion Sara Kingdom (pictured) in nine episodes of The Daleks' Master Plan later that year, and finally as Morgaine in Battlefield (1989).
The role of space agent Kingdom was reprised for The Companion Chronicles releases from Big Finish - Home Truths (2008), The Drowned World (2009), The Guardian of the Solar System (2010), The Five Companions (2011), and The Anachronauts (2012), then for the 'lost' story The Daleks: The Destroyers (2010). Marsh also voiced Maria for The Wishing Beast (2007).

Shown today on BBC2, The Eagle Has Landed also featured these fourteen other Doctor Who guest stars:

• Sir John Standing (Verecker) voiced Fenric for Gods and Monsters (Big Finish, 2012)
• Jenny Agutter (Molly) voiced Sekhmet for The Bride of Peladon (BF, 2008)
• Denis Lill (Extra) played Dr Fendelman in The Image of Fendahl, and Sir George Hutchinson in The Awakening
• Tim Barlow (Wilde) was Tyssan in Destiny of the Daleks
• Maurice Roeves (Corcoran) was Stotz in The Caves of Androzani
• Harry Fielder (Outrider) a veteran of fifteen 'classic' era appearances, was a Guard (in serials PP, ZZZ, 4L, 4P, 5A, 5F, 5Z), a Crewman (SS, 4T), a Vogan (4D), an Assassin (4Q), a Tigellan (5Q), and a Krarg in Shada 
• Roy Marsden (Toberg) was Mr Stoker in Smith and Jones
• Peter Miles (Hitler) was Dr Charles Lawrence in The Silurians, Professor Whitaker for Invasion of the Dinosaurs, then - most famously - was Davros' henchman, Nyder in Genesis of the Daleks, a role he reprised for both The Trial of Davros (2005), and I, Davros: Guilt (BF, 2006) - he also voiced Tragan for The Paradise of Death (BBC Radio 5, 1993), and Curator Gantman for Whispers of Terror (BF, 1999)
• the six stunt performers - Valentino Musetti (was a Saracen Warrior in the 1965 episode, The Lion, and had another eight uncredited roles for the 'classic' series)
• Bill Weston (a Militiaman in The Smugglers)
• Mark McBride (a Van Driver in Mawdryn Undead)
• Steve Emerson (a UNIT Soldier in The Claws of Axos)
• Richard Hammatt (a stuntman in The Runaway Bride)
• and Nick Hobbs (had eight uncredited roles in the 'classic' era, was Aggedor in both Peladon serials, and was Mr Nainby in Amy's Choice)

Doctor Who On This Day #202

1968 - The Wheel in Space, Episode 4 broadcast

1974 - Planet of the Spiders, Episode 3 first screened

2007 - Smith and Jones repeated on BBC3

2009 - Evolution of the Daleks repeated on BBC3

2011 - Cobwebs, Episodes 2 repeated and 3 first broadcast, both on Radio 4 Extra
2012 - The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks both repeated on BBC3

2013 - The Name of the Doctor first screened in the UK and North America; The Bells of St. John, The Rings of Akhaten, Cold War, Hide, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, The Crimson Horror, and Nightmare in Silver all repeated on BBC America; The Doctor's Wife and The Rebel Flesh both repeated on BBC Entertainment Europe; and The Stolen Earth and Journey's End both repeated on France 4