Date With History: 1997

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.She died, aged 36, at 4 am on Sunday August 31st, as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. Her partner, Dodi Fayed, and the driver, Henri Paul, also perished. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the only survivor.

Doctor Who Vs. The Saint (2017)

The long-running series of crime novels from Leslie
Charteris (1907-1993) were published between 1928
 and 1963. They all featured Simon Templar, the heroic career criminal known as the Saint who has also been portrayed in films, radio and TV since 1938.
The best known depiction of Templar was played by
Roger Moore for ITC's The Saint (1962-69). The series
was revived in 1978 (as The Return of the Saint, with
Ian Ogilvy in the title role), 1987 (for an American TV pilot), and 1989 (by LWT).
The recently proposed television reboot led to this one-
off TV movie with Adam Rayner as the latest incarnation
of Templar. Originally produced in 2013, The Saint was
only released last month, and is now available on Netflix
- it starred Ogilvy, a cameo from Moore, and four Doctor 
Who cast connections:

• Christopher Villiers (Arthur Templar) was Hugh Fitzwilliam in The King's Demons, Professor Moorhouse in Mummy on the Orient Express, and voiced Cacothis for Big Finish's Absolution (2007)
• Richard Ashton (Vadim) was Friday in Empress of Mars
• Tomi May (Dimitri) was Dowell in Thin Ice
• Caroline Royce (Model) was a Weeping Angel in The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone

Doctor Who Vs. North Sea Hijack

This British thriller from Cinema Seven Productions
was known as Ffolkes outside the UK, then was
renamed Assault Force for American TV. The film
was a vehicle for Roger Moore and Anthony Perkins
- both wanted to escape typecasting roles. James
Bond actor Moore followed Moonraker with this
project, whilst Perkins was best known for Psycho.

Released by Universal in 1980, the feature was a
box office flop - it was shown on the Spike channel
today - it featured James Mason, and seventeen
Doctor Who cast connections:

• Jeremy Clyde (Tipping) voiced George Sinclair for Big Finish's Doom Coalition (2016)
• George Baker (Fletcher) was Decider Login in Full Circle
• John Lee (Phillips) was Alydon (pictured) in The Daleks
• Tim Bentinck (Harris) voiced Giles Moreau and Jenkins for Destination Nerva, Roger Buchman for Wirrn Isle (both 2012), Nathaniel Whitlock for Moonflesh (2013), both Ned Bones and Lord Burghley for The Devil's Armada (2014), Colonel Radlett for The English Way of Death, Chowdras and Governor for Planet of the Rani (both 2015), General Kallix for The War Doctor 2: Infernal Devices (2016), Wakefield and Stonegood for The Contingency Club, Professor Edward Travers and the Great Intelligence for The New Counter Measures 2 (both 2017), and Lord Crozion for Kingdom of Lies (2018)
• Thane Bettany (Heyerdal) was Tarak in State of Decay
• Jonathan Newth (Kirk) was Orfe in Underworld
• Martin Matthews (Man) was Kurster in The Androids of Tara
• Eiji Kusuhara (Eiji) was a Chinaman in Four to Doomsday, and voiced Professor Toshio Shimura for Enemy of the Daleks (BF, 2010)
• Eric Mason (Stallemo) was Smedley in The Sea Devils, and Green in The Mind of Evil
• Barry Andrews (Driver) was Stott in Nightmare of Eden
• David Ashford (Cab Driver) was Dad in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
• Dinny Powell, Greg Powell (Assault Team Member) and stuntmen Martin Grace, Rick Lester, Valentino Musetti and Mark McBride all worked on the classic run