Friday 3 March 2017

Doctor Who Vs. Prime Suspect, Series 7

Actors Helen Mirren (as DCS Jane Tennison), 
Robert Pugh (DS Simms), and Tom Bell 
(retired DS Bill Otley) all returned for the 
seventh and final season of Granada's 
acclaimed, multi-award winning police 
procedural drama.
Originally shown in October 2006, the serial 
earned three further Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Miniseries and Lead Actress for 
Mirren) and another BAFTA.
Lynda La Plante's novel Tennison was adapted by Noho Film, and the six-part prequel series, 
Prime Suspect: 1973, launched on ITV last night.
The two-part case (subtitled The Final Act)
began another repeat run on ITV3 last night, and featured Brendan Coyle (as DCS Mitchell), Robbie Gee (DI Traynor), Russell Mabey (DS 
Cox), Stephen Tompkinson (Sean Philips), and ten Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

  • Big Finish actor Laura Doddington (DC Wood) voiced Zara for The Judgement of IsskarThe Prisoner's DilemmaThe Chaos Pool (all 2009), The Archive (2015) and Wicked Sisters (2020), Vale Endrogan for Gallifrey: Intervention Earth (2015), Idratz for The Very Dark Thing, Delilah for The Torchwood Archive (both 2016), and Lady Sutlumu for The War Master 6 (2021)
  • Carolyn Pickles (Pauline) voiced Lady Meera Darone for Army of Death (2011), and Cardinal Ollistra for Doom Coalition 4 (2017)
  • Seroca Davis (Delores) was Shona in Closing Time
  • Nonso Anozie (Robert) was Hydroflax (pictured) in The Husbands of River Song
  • Tim Preece (Speaker) was Codal in Planet of the Daleks, and voiced the President for Unbound: He Jests at Scars (2003)
  • Helen Griffin (Speakers) was Mrs. Moore in Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel, then voiced both Director Cardell and Ship's Computer for Cobwebs (2010)
  • Ricky Nixon (Bishop) voiced Turma for The War Master 3 (2019)
  • make-up designer Deanne Turner was an artist on Planet of the Daleks
  • Alex Kaye-Besley was an assistant director on The Shakespeare Code too
  • SFX technician Charlie Bluett worked on forty-one stories (from Rose to Before the Flood), The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and Class

Wednesday 1 March 2017

Doctor Who Vs. Prime Suspect, Series 6

Granada's acclaimed, multi-award winning
police procedural drama was revived in 
November 2003, after a seven-year hiatus.
Helen Mirren's role as Detective Superintendent
 Jane Tennison and the serial earned four further BAFTA and three Emmy awards nominations.
Mirren co-starred here with Ben Miles (as DCI 
Finch), Mark Strong (DCS Hall), Sam Hazeldine
 (DC Butcher), and Tanya Moodie (DC Grieves).
The penultimate, two-part case (subtitled The 
Last Witness and again set in London) began 
another repeat run on ITV3 last night and 
featured twenty-two Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

  • Liam Cunningham (West) played Captain Zhukov in Cold War
  • Rupert Frazer (Giblin) voiced Dr. Say Findecker for Big Finish's The Butcher of Brisbane (2012)
  • Barnaby Kay (DC Phillips) was Heidi in The Girl Who Died, and voiced Martin Donaldson for Dark Eyes 4 (2015), and Commander Thrakken for The War Doctor 2 (2016)
  • Finlay Robertson (Vagrant) was Larry Nightingale (pictured) in Blink and The Lonely Assassins
  • Robert Pugh (DS Simms) was Tony Mack in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood
  • Frank Finlay (Tennison here & The Final Act) voiced Old Jacob for Bedtime Story (2007)
  • Davyd Harries (Lawyer) was Shapp in The Armageddon Factor
  • Julia Joyce (Lukic's daughter) had doubled for Billie Piper in Father's Day as young Rose, and was Holly Frobisher in Torchwood: Children of Earth
  • Stephen Cranford (Officer) was a Dalek operator in The Curse of Fatal Death, and the Covellitor in Devious (included on The War Games DVD)
  • St. John O'Rorke was the film editor on The Time of the Doctor too
  • first assistant director Stephen Woolfenden was the director of Nightmare in Silver
  • Will Pope was also the stand-by carpenter on sixty-one episodes (from Love & Monsters to The Name of the Doctor), The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
  • Nick Roberts was also the ADR recordist on The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone, The Vampires of Venice, Cold Blood and The Lodger
  • stunt co-ordinator Paul Heasman was an uncredited Nazi in Silver Nemesis, and the stunt arranger on Survival
  • Lee Sheward was also the stunt co-ordinator on eleven instalments (from The End of the World to The End of Time), and Torchwood: Miracle Day
  • stunt co-ordinator Gareth Milne was George Cranleigh in Black Orchid, a Mortuary Attendant in Vengeance on Varos, and doubled for Peter Davison on Warriors of the Deep