Tuesday 30 October 2018

Doctor Who Vs. Strangers

Produced by Two Brothers
Pictures, ITV's latest crime
drama concluded last night.
Originally titled White Dragon,
the series was mainly filmed in
its Hong Kong setting.
The thriller debuted on the ITV
Hub on September 6, then
began an eight-week run four
 days later - it featured John 
Simm (as Jonah), Anthony
Wong, Emilia Fox, Katie
Leung, and twelve Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

  • Dervla Kirwan (Megan) was Miss Hartigan in The Next Doctor
  • Kae Alexander (Becky) voiced Waywalker for Big Finish's The Memory Bank and Other Stories (2018)
  • Tim McInnerny (Bach) was Halpen in Planet of the Ood, and voiced Admiral Dolne for The Well-Mannered War (2015)
  • Raquel Cassidy (Racel) was Miranda Cleaves in The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People, and voiced Mesca for The Judgement of Isskar (2009), Inquisa for Paradoxicide, Destiny Gray for Recorded Time: Question Marks (both 2011), Dr. Alison Foster for Destination: Nerva (2012), and Guinevere Godiva for Jago & Litefoot 5 (2013)
  • Andrew Knott (Conrad) voiced James O'Meara for 1963: Fanfare for the Common Men (2013), and Sean Casey for Dark Eyes 2: The White Room (2014)
  • Tina Simmons (Mother) made her TV debut as an Inferno Customer in (episode 1 of) The War Machines
  • Liana Del Giudice was also film editor on The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Christmas InvasionNew EarthSchool Reunion and The Day of the Doctor
  • property master Garry Dawson worked on stand-by props for Cold WarThe Crimson Horror and The Sarah Jane Adventures pilot episode
  • Nick Murray was also art director on Thin Ice and Knock Knock
  • Sophie Powell was graphic designer on Last Christmas too
  • ADR mixer Robert Searl was recordist on Twice Upon a Time
  • Charlie Bluett was also prosthetics technician on forty-eight stories (from Rose to The Husbands of River Song), Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Class

Friday 12 October 2018

Doctor Who Vs. Press

Produced by Lookout Point for BBC1, this drama
 (conceived and scripted by prolific dramatist
Mike Bartlett) is set in two warring news-
rooms in the British newspaper industry.
Charlotte Riley played Holly Evans, deputy news
editor at The Herald, whilst Ben Chaplin was
Duncan Allen, editor of tabloid The Post. The
rival papers, neighbours in the same London
square, are ethically chalk and cheese, but
both chase the same scoop, a MI5 whistle-
blower.
The six-part series concluded last night, and
featured Al Weaver, and sixteen Doctor Who 
cast and crew connections:

  • Shane Zaza (Kane) was Prem in Demons of the Punjab
  • David Suchet (Emmerson) was the Landlord in Knock Knock
  • Dominic Rowan (West) voiced Corwyn for Big Finish's The Burning Prince (2012)
  • David Schofield (Cartwright) voiced Billy for Death in Blackpool (2009), and Nostradamus for The Doomsday Quatrain (2011), then appeared in The Girl Who Died as Odin
  • Tom Bell (Brooks) voiced Fakrid/Jinka for The Highest Science (2014), Arran/Shift for The Age of Endurance (2016), and Brian Sherborne for Intelligence for War (2023)
  • Elliot Levey (PM Harper) voiced Gobernar and Blank for Vampire of the Mind (2016), and Colonel Marsden for Red Planets (2018)
  • Pandora Clifford (Anna) voiced Zeeb and Zeet for Wicked Sisters (2020)
  • Thalissa Teixeira (Angie) voiced Dr. Lenni Fisk for Into the Stars (2022), and Jenel Kilum'bu/Saggy for Defender of the Earth (2023)
  • Dan Li (Lawyer) was Alexis in The Bells of Saint John
  • Bern Callaco (Journalist) was an Operator in The Return of Doctor Mysterio, and Soldier in Thin Ice
  • Lorna Brown (Carla) voiced Veega for Gallifrey: Time War 3 (2020)
  • Tina Simmons (Director) made her TV debut as an Inferno Customer in (episode 1 of) The War Machines
  • stunt co-ordinator Nick Gillard was the stunt arranger on Silver Nemesis (2)
  • Faith Penhale was co-executive producer on The Day of the Doctor too
  • Sean Clayton was also the second assistant director on Dalek and Father's Day
  • Toby Wood was a music engineer on An Adventure in Space and Time too

Tuesday 9 October 2018

Doctor Who Vs. The Avengers, Series 4

The cult British fantasy show returned to ITV 
in the autumn of 1965, with Patrick Macnee's
Steed now joined by fellow agent, Mrs. Emma
Peel, portrayed by Diana Rigg (who replaced
 the original choice, Elizabeth Shepherd).
The chemistry between the two leads resulted 
in the show's most popular and successful era
The Avengers now aired in over a hundred
countries and was syndicated in America.
Like her predecessor, Honor Blackman's Cathy 
Gale, Peel was unlike any female character 
seen on British TV at the time. The role earned 
Rigg sex-symbol status, and she became an
icon of Sixties feminism.
Born in Yorkshire in 1938, Rigg became a Dame
in 1994, and one of her most recent television appearances was as Mrs. Gillyflower in The 
Crimson Horror, alongside her daughter, 
Rachael Stirling.
Future Doctor Who script writers Malcolm HulkeJohn Lucarotti and Robert Banks Stewart all provided screenplays here.
The fourth, twenty-six part season (which began another repeat run on the 
Movies 4 Men channel today) featured Bernard Cribbins (as Arkwright in
The Girl From Auntie), and another ninety-three Doctor Who cast and crew
connections:

The Town of No Return (UK TX: September 28 1965)
  • Patrick Newell (Smallwood here; Collins in Something Nasty in the NurseryMother in Series 6) and Peter Brace (Soldier) both appeared in The Android Invasionas Colonel Faraday and Guard respectively, whilst Brace was also Guard in The Curse of Peladon
  • Terence Alexander (Warren) was Lord Ravensworth in The Mark of the Rani
  • Roger Lloyd-Pack (Man here; Professor in The Avengers, 1998) was John Lumic in Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel
  • Rocky Taylor (Fencing Double here; Martial Artist in The Cybernauts; Maker in The Danger Makers; Man in Hospital in The Fear Merchants; Mitchell in Escape in Time; Mercenary in Have Guns Will Haggle; Stunt Double in The New Avengers: The Eagle's NestCybernaut in The Last of the Cybernauts; Soldier in Dirtier by the Dozenwas Egyptian Warrior in The Daleks' Master Plan: Golden Death; Guard in (episode 4 of) The Curse of Peladon; and a stuntman on The Idiot's Lantern
The Gravediggers (UK TX: October 7)
  • Ronald Fraser (Winslip) was Joseph C in The Happiness Patrol
  • Wanda Ventham (Nurse) was Jean Rook in The Faceless Ones, Thea Ransome in Image of the Fendahl, and Faroon in Time and the Rani
  • Steven Berkoff (Sager) was the Shakri in The Power of Three
  • Bryan Mosley (Miller) was Prop Man in The Daleks' Master Plan (7) and Malpha (in episode 11)
  • Alan Chuntz (Pallbearer here, Henderson in The Hour That Never Was) appeared in fifteen classic era episodes (from The Seeds of Death to State of Decay)
  • Billy Cornelius (Pallbearer here; Martial Artist in the next story; Glynn in Dial a Deadly Number; Tribeman in Small Game For Big Hunters) was Man-at-Arms in The Crusade (4), and Morok Guard in The Space Museum
  • Aubrey Richards (Palmer) was Professor Parry in The Tomb of the Cybermen
  • Michael Stevens (Pallbearer here; Guard in Castle De'ath; Stunt double in A Surfeit of H2O, Dial a Deadly Number, Room Without a View, The House That Jack Built; Cleaner in Super Secret Cypher Snatch) was Soldier in The Myth Makers (1), Daffodil Man in Terror of the Autons (3), UNIT Motorcyclist/Prisoner in The Mind of Evil, and Guard in The Curse of Peladon (1)
The Cybernauts (UK TX: October 14)
  • Michael Gough (Armstrong) was the titular villain in The Celestial Toymaker (he was married to Anneke Wills at the time) and was Councillor Hedin in Arc of Infinity
  • for Frederick Jaeger (Benson) see Series 2: Death of a Great Dane
  • Bernard Horsfall (Jephcott) was Lemual Gulliver in The Mind Robber, Time Lord in The War Games, Taron in Planet of the Daleks, Chancellor Goth in The Deadly Assassin, and voiced Arnold Baynes for Big Finish's Davros (2003)
  • for Burt Kwouk (Tusamo) and Ronald Leigh-Hunt (Lambert) see Series 1: Kill the King and Dragonsfield
  • for John Hollis (Sensai) and Gordon Whiting (Hammond) see Series 2: Warlock and The Golden Eggs
  • John Franklyn-Robbins (Gilbert) was a Time Lord in Genesis of the Daleks (1)
  • Katherine Schofield (Oyuka) was Sabetha in The Keys of Marinus
  • Dinny Powell, Mike Reid, and Derek Ware (Martial Artists) all had minor roles in the classic run - Powell was a stuntman on Terror of the Autons (1), and Guard in The Curse of Peladon (4) and Genesis of the Daleks (2); Reid was a Thal in Dr. Who and the Daleks, Soldier in The Myth Makers (3) and The War Machines, and Guard in The Massacre (4); whilst Ware worked on twenty-four instalments as stuntman, fight arranger or extra (from An Unearthly Child to The Claws of Axos (1))
Death at Bargain Prices (UK TX: October 21)
  • for Andre Morell (Kane) and John Cater (Jarvis) see Series 3: Death of a Batman and The Nutshell
  • TP McKenna (Wentworth) was Captain Cook in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy 
  • George Selway (Massey) was George and Frank Meadows in The Faceless Ones
  • Peter Howell (Popple) was the Investigator in The Mutants (6)
Castle De'ath (UK TX: October 28)
  • James Copeland (Roberton here; Gymnast in the next episode) was Selris in The Krotons
The Master Minds (UK TX: November 4)
  • Bernard Archard (Leeming) was Bragen in The Power of the Daleks, and Marcus Scarman in Pyramids of Mars
  • Nigel Lambert (Hardcastle) was Hardin in The Leisure Hive
  • Martin Miller (Spencer) was Kublai Khan in Marco Polo
  • Paddy Ryan (Heavy here; Chef in The Hour That Never Was) was Kaled Scientist in Genesis of the Daleks (6)
The Murder Market (UK TX: November 12)
  • for John Woodvine (Stone) see Series 1: Square Root of Evil and Dead of Winter
  • Edward Underdown (Jonathan) was Zastor in Meglos
A Surfeit of H2O (UK TX: November 19)
  • Alan Gerrard (Villager here; Fintry in Quick-Quick Slow Death) was Bovem in The Dominators
  • Talfryn Thomas (Barker) was Mullins in Spearhead from Space (1), and Dave in The Green Death
  • Charles Rayford (Heckler here; Cook in The Hour That Never Was; Napoleon in Honey for the Prince; Bluebell for Who's Who?) was Kaled Scientist in Genesis of the Daleks
  • John Timberlake [born Murphy] (Heckler here; Witness in The Curious Case of the Countless Clues) was Prisoner in The Dalek Invasion of Earth (6), Shelterer in The Enemy of the World, and Kaled Scientist in Genesis of the Daleks
  • for Geoffrey Palmer see Series 1
The Hour That Never Was (UK TX: November 26)
  • Royston Farrell (Officer here; Audience member in Two's A Crowd; Marshall in The Girl From Auntie) was Guardian in The Ark, Elder in The Savages (1), Technician in The Seeds of Death and The Claws of Axos (4), and Guard in The Curse of Peladon (1)
  • Fred Haggerty (Driver) was a stuntman on The Time Meddler (2)
Dial A Deadly Number (UK TX: December 3)
  • Tina Packer (Suzanne) was Anne Travers in The Web of Fear
  • Ernest Blyth (Steward here; Guest in Wish You Were Here) was Villager in The Daemons
  • for John Carson (Fitch), Peter Bowles (Harvey) and John Bailey (Warner) see my blog for Series 3
  • for Michael Barrington (Todhunter) see Series 1: The Yellow Needle
Man-Eater of Surrey Green (UK TX: December 10)
  • Edwin Finn (Taylor) was the Landlord in The Massacre
Two's A Crowd (UK TX: December 17)
  • Julian Glover (Vogel) was King Richard in The Crusade, and Scaroth in City of Death
  • for Wolfe Morris (Pudeshkin) see Series 1: The Yellow Needle
Too Many Christmas Trees (UK TX: December 23)
  • for Robert James (Jenkins) and Edwin Richfield (Teasel) see Series 1: Hot Snow and Girl On The Trapeze
Silent Dust (UK TX: December 31)
  • William Franklyn (Omrod) voiced Pharaoh Amenhotep for The Roof of the World (2004)
Room Without a View (UK TX: January 7 1966)
  • for Paul Whitsun-Jones (Chessman) see Series 3: Man With Two Shadows
  • Peter Jeffrey (Varnals here; Prendergast in The Joker; Bristow in Game; Perov in The New Avengers: House of Cardswas the Pilot in The Macra Terror, and Count Grendel in The Androids of Tara
  • Philip Latham (Carter) was President Borusa in The Five Doctors
  • Vernon Dobtcheff (Pushkin) was an Alien Scientist in The War Games, and voiced Dadda Desaka for The Cradle of the Snake (2010), and Shamur for The Children of Seth (2011)
Small Game For Big Hunters (UK TX: January 14)
  • Bill Fraser (Rawlings) was Captain Grugger in Meglos, and Commander Bill Pollock in K9 and Company
  • Peter Thomas (Kendrick) was Captain Edal in The Savages
The Girl From Auntie (UK TX: January 21)
  • Sylvia Coleridge (Hetty) was Amelia Ducat in The Seeds of Doom
  • Maurice Browning (Russian) was Carlton in The Daleks' Master Plan
  • Jonathan Burn (Betty) was Silas P in The Happiness Patrol
The Thirteenth Hour (UK TX: January 28)
  • Victor Maddern (Jackson) was Chief Robson in Fury from the Deep 
  • Donald Hewlett (Waversham here; Torrance in The New Avengers: Faces) was Hardiman in The Claws of Axos
Quick-Quick Slow Death (UK TX: February 4)
  • John Woodnutt (Noble) was Hibbert in Spearhead from Space, the Draconian Emperor in Frontier in Space (5), Broton and the Duke of Forgill in Terror of the Zygons, and Seron in The Keeper of Traken
  • Graham Armitage (Huggins) was Barney in The Macra Terror (1)
  • Michael Peake (Fehr) was Tavius in The Romans
The Danger Makers (UK TX: February 11)
  • Moray Watson (Peters) was Sir Robert Muir in Black Orchid
A Touch of Brimstone (UK TX: February 18)
  • Peter Wyngarde (Cleverly Cartney) was Timanov in Planet of Fire
  • Colin Jeavons (Darcy) was Damon in The Underwater Menace, and George Tracey in K9 and Company
  • Robert Cawdron (Horace) was Taltalian in The Ambassadors of Death
  • Jeremy Young (Castigan) was Kal in 100,000 BC, and Gordon Lowery in Mission to the Unknown
  • Alf Joint (Big Man) was stunt arranger on Battlefield
  • for Steve Plytas (Boris) see Series 2: Immortal Clay
What The Butler Saw (UK TX: February 25)
  • David [Bernard] Swift (Barber here; Turner in The New Avengers: The Midas Touch) was cast as Count Federico in The Masque of Mandragora but was replaced by Jon Laurimore
    The House That Jack Built (UK TX: March 4)
    • Griffith Davies (Burton) was Kennedy in The Evil of the Daleks
    • for Keith Pyott (Pennington) see Series 2: The White Dwarf
    • Alan Lake (Officer) was Herrick in Underworld
    A Sense of History (UK TX: March 11)
    • Jacqueline Pearce (Marianne) was Chessene in The Two Doctors, then voiced Sherilyn Harper for The Fearmonger (2000), Admiral Mettna for Death Comes to Time, Queen Zafira for Hexagora (2011), and Cardinal Ollistra for The War Doctor (2015-17), Doom Coalition 4, Day of the Vashta Nerada and The Time War 1 (all 2017)
    • for Nigel Stock (Carlyon) and John Ringham (Acheson) see Series 3; Concerto and The Secrets Broker
    • Robin Phillips (Pettit) was Altos in The Keys of Marinus
    • Kenneth Benda (Broom) was The Minister in The Claws of Axos
    How To Succeed.. At Murder (UK TX: March 18)
    • Christopher Benjamin (Hooter) first appeared in the classic run as Sir Keith Gold in Inferno, then the revived series as Colonel Hugh Curbishley in The Unicorn and the Wasp, but is best known as Henry Gordon Jago from The Talons of Weng Chiang - he reprised the role for The Mahogany Murders (2009) then Big Finish's Jago and Litefoot series (2010-present), Voyage to Venus and Voyage to the New World (both 2012), The Justice of Jalxar (2013) and Jago & Litefoot & Strax (2015) - he also voiced Tardelli for Grand Theft Cosmos (2008)
    • for David Garth (Barton) and Jerome Willis (Rudge) see Series 2: The Big Thinker and Intercrime
    Honey For The Prince (UK TX: March 25)
    • Ron Moody (Ponsonby-Hopkirk) voiced the Duke of Wellington for Other Lives (2005)
    • George Pastell (Arkadi) was Eric Klieg in The Tomb of the Cybermen
    • Jon Laurimore (Westcott) replaced David Swift as Count Federico in The Masque of Mandragora
    • Reg Pritchard (Postman) was Ben Daheer in The Crusade, and Man in The Daleks' Master Plan (7)
    • Peter Diamond (Bernie) was a regular stunt double and fight arranger (from The Daleks (7) to The Daemons)

    Wednesday 3 October 2018

    Doctor Who Vs. Mayday

    Produced by Kudos for BBC One,
    this thriller was first broadcast over
    five consecutive nights in March
    2013.
    Scripted by Whitechapel writers Ben
    Court and Caroline Ip, the drama
    told the story of murdered schoolgirl
    Hattie Sutton, who disappeared on
    her way to join her village's
    May Day celebration as the May Queen. 
    The cast featured Peter Firth, Aiden
    Gillen, and thirteen Doctor Who 
    cast and crew connections:

    • Sophie Okonedo (Fiona) voiced Alison Cheney for Scream of the Shalka, then played Queen Liz 10 in The Beast Below and The Pandorica Opens
    • Lesley Manville (Gail) depicted Heather Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time
    • Adrian Rawlins (DS Mills) was Dr. Ryder in Planet of the Ood
    • David Fynn (Spicer) was Marcellus in The Pandorica Opens
    • Kerry Godliman (Amelia) voiced Karen for The Eight Truths and Worldwide Web (2009)
    • Caroline Berry (Jo) was a Dinner Lady in School Reunion
    • Frances Ashman (Teacher) was Christine in The Big Bang
    • Edmund Kente (Ken) was Mr. Scoones in The Next Doctor
    • Big Finish actor Tim Treloar (Searcher) voiced Lord Jack Corrigan for Destination: Nerva, Tyron for The Burning Prince, The Ancient One for Gods and Monsters, Van Cleef for Return of the Rocket Men, the Lord President for Dark Eyes (all 2012), the Third Doctor for The Light at the End (2013) and The Legacy of Time (2019), Telephus and Cisyphus for Mask of Tragedy (2014), Ergu for The Exxilons, and Narrator for The Third Doctor Adventures (from 2015), Damascus (2016) and Gardeners' World (2017)
    • costume designer Lucinda Wright and her assistant Joanne Hayes both worked in those posts on all thirteen episodes of Series 1
    • Karl Probert was also art director on The Doctor's WifeNight Terrors and The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
    • Andy Piers Morris was the safety free-diver on The Vampires of Venice too
    • David Barrett was also film editor on The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood