Doctor Who Vs. The Irregulars

This dark period drama is Netflix's second recent

spin-off from the Conan

Doyle canon, following

Enola Holmes. The

eponymous gang is

based on the Baker

Street Irregulars -

 "half a dozen street

 Arabs" led by Wiggins,

who only appeared in

three Sherlock Holmes

stories.

The five teenagers

here are recruited by

Dr. Watson (portrayed

by Royce Pierreson) to investigate supernatural crimes, whilst Holmes (Henry Lloyd Hughes) remains a peripheral presence. The characters inspired two

BBC dramas - The Baker Street Boys (in 1983), and Sherlock Holmes and

the Baker Street Irregulars (2007).

Created by Tom Bidwell and developed by Drama Republic, the eight-

part series premiered on March 26 - they featured a total of sixteen

Doctor Who cast connections:

• Thaddea Graham (Bea) was Bel in Flux
• Clarke Peters [born Peter Clarke] (Linen Man) voiced Night Eagle for Dreamland
• Alex [Kirk] Ferns (Collins) voiced Parks for Big Finish's Clean Sweep (2016)
• Jonjo O'Neill (Mycroft) was McGillop in The Day of the Doctor
• Shelley Conn (Dion) voiced Asha Qureshi for Situation Vacant (2010), and Tina Drake for The Gates of Hell (2021)
• Anna [Charlotte] Maxwell Martin (Edith) was Suki Macrae Cantrell in The Long Game, then voiced Maddie Bower for The Diary of River Song 2 (2016)
• Denise Black [Nixon] (Mrs. Hudson here; Carrie in Shoscombe Old Place) voiced Eva Jericho for Damaged Goods, Control for Rise and Shine (both 2015), and Mrs. Mountford for The Haunting of Malkin Place (2017)
• Sacharissa Claxton (Dr. Renfield) was Passenger and Agent in Spyfall (1)
• Daniel Fearn (Barman here; Newsvendor in The Abominable Bride; Man in Holmes & Watson) was Man in The Woman Who Lived
• Kieran Hodgson (Breakwater) voiced Findel for Last of the Cybermen, Arin and Dennis for The Red House, Alam and Hilsee for The Isos Network, Bennus for The Innocent (all 2015), Klick Chervain for The Skin of the Sleek and The Thief Who Stole Time (both 2017), and Devon Pryce for Tales from New Earth (2018)
• Emma Cunniffe (Laura) was Claire in Night Terrors, and voiced Caleera for Doom Coalition (2016)
• Simon Ludders (Landlord) was a Patient in New Earth, and Over- seer in Thin Ice, and voiced Luke Palmer for Torchwood: Outbreak, Magister Feris for The Angel of History, Elliot King for The War Master 2 (both 2018), and Monty and Ogron for The Uncertainty Shore (2020)
• Adam Shaw (Cambridge) was Morris in Rise of the Cybermen
• Anthony Taylor (Peter) was Andrew in Can You Hear Me?
• George Potts (Compere) voiced Ruben and Guard for The Grand Betelgeuse Hotel (2015)
• Richard Price (Man here; Stagehand in Houdini and Doyle; Guard in Holmes & Watson) was Guest in The Runaway Bride and The Lazarus Experiment, Passerby in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Mark of the Berserker and Partners in Crime, Takran Soldier in The Doctor's Daughter, Cyberman in World Enough and Time, The Doctor Falls, Ascension of the Cybermen and The Timeless Children, Postman and Team-mate in Kerblam!, Sniperbot in The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, Judoon in Fugitive of the Judoon, Dalek operator in Revolution of the Daleks, and Shadow Kin in Class

Doctor Who Vs. Houdini and Doyle

Stephen Mangan and Michael Weston

led the cast of this period drama, as

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

and Harry Houdini (1874-1926).

The series of supernatural mysteries

debuted on ITV in March 2016 (ahead 

of its run on ITV Encore), and was

loosely based on the lives of friends,

Scottish writer Doyle and American

illusionist Houdini (born Erik Weiss in

Hungary). 

Their (fictionalised) partnership had been explored before in The Great

Houdini (1976), FairyTale (1997),

Houdini (1998 and 2014), and the

plays, Impossible (2015) and Ether

(2019). Doyle later turned crime

fighter for the BBC's Murder Rooms (2000), The Strange Case of

Sherlock Holmes (2005), and Arthur & George (play, 2010/ITV,

2015).

The famous duo were aided in their investigations here by DCI

Merring (played by Tim McInnerny) and Scotland Yard's first

female officer, Constable Adelaide Stratton (Rebecca Liddiard).

The ten-part season (a co-production with Fox) was last repeated

in late 2017 on the now defunct ITV Encore, and featured a total

of thirty-nine Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• McInnerney (also Clay in The Red Headed League; Ferret in Fairy Tale; Selden in The Strange Case; Sir Eustace in The Abominable Bride) was Klineman Halpern in Planet of the Ood, then voiced Admiral Dolne for Big Finish's The Well-Mannered War (2015)
• Laura Frazer (Lydia here; Clara in Reichenbach Falls) was Kane in Orphan 55
• Diana [Marilyn] Quick (Mrs. Weiss) voiced Prime for Scream of the Shalka
• Phil Nice (Gilby) was Henry in Kill the Moon
• Michael Dickins (Robber) was a Villager in The Time of the Doctor
• Mary Healey (Mrs. Blake) was a Killjoy in The Happiness Patrol
• James [Edward] Fleet (Dr. Pilsen) voiced O'Reilley for Max Warp (2008), Geoff Cooper for The Entropy Composition, and Martin Ashcroft and Sir Jack Merrivale for Special Features (2010)
• Chook [Joplin] Sibtain (Dr. Chandra) was Mark Grantham in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Warriors of Kudlak, Dr. Tarak Ital in The Waters of Mars, then voiced David Brock for The Feast of Axos (2011), Athrid for The Acheron Pulse (2012), Sanjaya Starr for The Case of the Gluttonous Guru (2013), and the Koggnossenti and Brian for Technophobia (2016)
• Nicholas Burns (Batch) was Lord Sutcliffe in Thin Ice
• Blake Harrison (Biggs) voiced Lieutenant Daniel Hopkins for The Helliax Rift, Hour of the Cybermen and Warlock's Cross (all 2018)
• Owen [Nigel Courtney] Teale (Havensling) made his TV debut as Maldak in Vengeance on Varos, and voiced Hayton for The Mind's Eye (2007)
• Janine Duvitski [born Christine Drzewicki] (Martha) voiced Alpha Wheeler for The Jabari Countdown (2018)
• Lex [Alexander Carey] Shrapnel (Pearce) voiced Robin Marshall for Shadow of the Past, and Toby for The Spirit Trap (both 2010)
• Joe Sims (Nathaniel) voiced Chief Orderly/Wilde/Jumper for The Rise of the New Humans (2018), Sergeant Grout/Arthur for Spring Heeled Jack (2019), Abe Porter/Chauncey/Pat for Precious Anninilation (2020), Mark Seven for Queen of the Mechonoids, and Jim Berenger for The Primeval Design (both 2021)
• Jeremy Swift (Whitaker) voiced Fraser for The Seas of Titan (2022)
• Ruth Lass (Clara) voiced Elodie Kendall for Future Phantoms (2024)
• Nathan Stewart Jarrett (Downey) was Leo Rugazzi in Revolution of the Daleks 
• Richard Price (Stage hand here; Guard in Holmes & Watson; Man in The Irregulars) was a Guest in The Runaway Bride and The Lazarus Experiment, Passerby in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Mark of the Berserker and Partners in Crime, Takran Soldier in The Doctor's Daughter, Cyberman in World Enough and Time, The Doctor Falls, Ascension of the Cybermen and The Timeless Children, Postman and Team-mate in Kerblam!, Sniperbot in The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, Judoon in Fugitive of the Judoon, Dalek operator in Revolution of the Daleks, and Shadow Kin in Class
• Daniel O'Hara was also director of Under the Lake and Before the Flood 
• Edward Bazalgette was also director on The Doctor's Meditation, The Girl Who Died, The Woman Who Lived, The Return of Doctor Mysterio and Class
• production manager Helen Blyth was assistant production co-ordinator on fourteen instalments (from A Christmas Carol to The Wedding of River Song)
• production designer Arwel Jones was the stand-by art director on twelve episodes (from The End of the World to Cold Blood) and Torchwood, a set director on The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks, then art director on twenty-nine other stories (from The Runaway Bride to Journey's End) and Attack of the Graske
• Adrian Rigby was also prosthetics make-up artist on Face the Raven, and was hair technician on The God Complex
• prosthetics technician David Malinowski was a SFX make-up artist on The Time of Angels
• Thomas Alibone was the second assistant director on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• George Atkins (ADR mixer) and Sam Biggs (ADR recordist) both worked on The Time of the Doctor and Flatline in those posts
• Jade Poole was also SFX assistant co-ordinator on thirteen editions (from In the Forest of the Night and Hell Bent)
• Gerry Glynn, Russ Perkin and Dave Kneath were all SFX technicians on seasons 8 and 9 too
• Danny Hargreaves was also SFX (technician then) supervisor on fifty-five episodes (from The Girl in the Fireplace to Last Christmas) 
• stunt performers Dean Forster, Dani Biernat, Belinda McGinley, Gordon Seed and William Willoughby all held that posts on the revived run
• Daniel Bishop was steadicam operator on The Husbands of River Song too

Doctor Who Vs. Zeppelin

Shown on BBC2 today, this

British war film was based on

Germany's fledgling bombing

campaign, launched against

Britain from early 1915. Here,

the Admiralty dispatch an

officer of German descent

(played by Michael York) to

infiltrate a Zeppelin raid on

his native Scotland.

Released by Warner Bros. in

late 1971, the production

featured Elke Sommer, Frazer Hines, Richard Hurndall, John

Levene, and another thirteen mjh Doctor Who cast connections:

• Marius Goring (Altschul) was Theodore Maxtible in The Evil of the Daleks
• Anton Diffring [born Alfred Pollack] (Hirsch) was De Flores in Silver Nemesis
• Andrew Keir [Buggy] (Von Gorian) was Wyler in Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD
• William [James] Marlowe (Anderson) was Harry Mailer in The Mind of Evil, and Lester in Revenge of the Cybermen
• Michael [Anthony] Robbins (Sergeant) was Richard Mace in The Visitation
• [Francis] Clive Morton (Delford) was Trenchard  in The Sea Devils
• Alan Rothwell (Brandner) voiced Janto for Big Finish's The Twilight Kingdom (2004)
• John Gill (Meier) was Mr. Oak in Fury from the Deep
• Ben Howard (Fergusson) was Hinks in The Green Death
• John Baskcomb (Henderson) was Luigi Rossini in Terror of the Autons
• Robert [Chattey] Cawdron (Officer) was Taltalian in The Ambassadors of Death
• Peter Fraser (Marine) was David Campbell in The Dalek Invasion of Earth
• Cliff Culley (matte photographer) was VFX designer on Planet of the Daleks, Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Robot

Doctor Who Vs. Strike, Series 1

Bronte Films' five-part drama was

based on the crime novels of JK

Rowling, written under the pseud-

onym of Robert Galbraith.

Plans to adapt the Cormoran Strike

books were announced in late 2014, and Harry Potter author Rowling

acted as an executive producer.

Londoner Tom Burke and Manchester

born Holliday Grainger were cast as

Strike and Robin Ellacott in 2016.

Adaptations of Career of Evil and Lethal White followed in 2018 and

2020.

The first serial premiered at BFI

Southbank in August 2017, and a

repeat run of the next mystery concluded on Alibi last night - they featured

a total of twenty-nine Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

The Cuckoo's Calling 
(Published 2013/BBC1 TX: August 27/28 & September 3 2017/BBC4 TX:

February 13 to 15 2018/Alibi TX: December 9 to 11 2019, July 13 to 15, 

December 22, 24/25 2020, February 17 to March 3, July 14 to 28 2021/

Drama TX: November 9 to 23 2020, January 25 to February 8, July 8 to 22

2023, January 27 to February 10 2024/U&Drama TX: August 20 to 22,

October 2 to 16 2024)

• Leo Bill (Bristow) was the Pilot in A Christmas Carol
• Alisha Bailey (Jenny) was Isabella in The Vampires of Venice
• David Avery (Kolovas-Jones) was Fabian in The Name of the Doctor
• Steve Healey (Passerby) was director and co-writer of (fan short) Tale of a Time Lord
• Big Finish actor John Albasiny (Enright) voiced Guy Dean for BBV's Homeland (1999), Lev Tlostoy and Preston for The Angel of Scutari (2009), Maxim Felnikov for Thin Ice and Crime of the Century (2011), Chris Fleming for Phantoms of the Deep (2013), Jesper for Equilibrium (2015), and Makerenkov for Last of the Romanovs (2021)
• Genevieve [Wilhemina] Gaunt (Tricia) voiced Corporal Linda Maxwell for The Helliax Rift and Warlock's Cross, and Anna and Commander for Red Planets (all 2018)
• Ben Crompton (Shanker) was Ross in Into the Dalek
• Sian [Jane Elizabeth Ailwen] Phillips (Lady Bristow) voiced COLT-5000 for Jenny, Pilgrim for Ravenous 2 (both 2018), the Inquisitor for Gallifrey (2020), and the Director for The World Traders (2021)
• Suzanne Cave (costume designer), Nigel Squibbs (mixer) and Dan Rees (grip) all worked on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• James Gregory was also ADR mixer on The Haunting of Villa Diodati and Ascension of the Cybermen
• Richard Rowntree also provided additional greens for forty-one stories (from The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe to The Husbands of River Song)
• stuntman Gordon Seed was stunt co-ordinator on thirty-six episodes (from The Idiot's Lantern to Kill the Moon)
• stunt performers Claire Lawrence, Matt Hermiston and Levan Doran all worked on the revived run
• John Mooney was also sound assistant on Remembrance of the Daleks, (part 3 of) Silver Nemesis, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Battlefield and Ghost Light

The Silkworm 
(Published 2014/BBC1 TX: September 10 & 17/BBC4 TX: February 16

2018/Alibi TX: December 12/13 2019, July 16/17, December 26/27 2020,

March 10 & 17, August 4 & 11 2021/Drama TX: November 30 & December

7 2020, February 15 & 22, July 29 2023, February 17 & 24 2024/U&Drama

TX: August 23 & 24, October 22 & 23 2024)

• Tim McInnerny (Chard) was Klineman Halpen in Planet of the Ood, and voiced Admiral Dolne for The Well-Mannered War (2015)
• Dominic Mafham (Waldergrave) voiced Moran for The Jigsaw War (2012), and Chidak for The Dalek Contract and The Final Phase (both 2013)
• Catherine Bailey (Jess) was Miss Wyckham in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Lost in Time, then voiced Maddox for The Shadow of London, and Tan for Iron Bright (both 2018)
• Jack Monaghan (Analyst) voiced Dunne and Selfdrive for The High Price of Parking (2017)
• Rachel [Linda] Bell (Edna) was Priscilla P in The Happiness Patrol
• Lloyd Bass (stunt driver here & Lethal White) was stuntman on The Time of the Doctor and Twice Upon a Time
• Dani Biernat was also stunt co-ordinator on seventeen stories (from The Christmas Invasion to Kerblam!)
• Stephanie Carey was also a stunt performer on eight stories (from Voyage of the Damned to The Haunting of Villa Diodati)
• Abbi Collins was also stunt co-ordinator on eleven stories (from Rise of the Cybermen to The Waters of Mars) and The Sarah Jane Adventures
• Sam Williams was film editor on The Rings of Akhaten too
• Daniel Bishop was steadicam operator on The Husbands of River Song too

Career of Evil (BBC1 TX: February 25 & March 4 2018/Alibi TX: August

18 & 25 2021/Drama TX: March 1 & 8, August 5 2023, March 2 & 9 2024/

U&Drama TX: August 27 & 28, October 23 & 24 2024)

Defending 'Love & Monsters'

Ten years ago, James Wynne presented his ten

worst twenty-first century episodes on the Doctor

Who TV website. To my dismay, Love & Monsters

topped the list, with Wynne commenting that the

"Blue Peter contest winner was poor in every way

and felt more like a soap with an alien thrown in

just for comedy purposes. Not Doctor Who."

At the time I responded by admitting that the

adventure was marmite fare, fans either love it
or hate it.

In January 2012, Jonathan Morris' review of

Love & Monsters for issue 443 of DWM countered

comments made by Peter Kay in the Daily Mail

the previous November.

Britain's most successful stand-up comedian made
a guest appearance in the story after praising the programme's reboot in a letter to Russell T

Davies, but said that his episode was "regarded by fans as the worst

ever." Then in June 2016, the Radio Times published Huw Fullerton's

blog, The 13 Most Divisive Doctor Who Episodes, and Love & Monsters

again led the survey.

Originally shown fifteen years ago, this much maligned story is still

one of my favourites, and is actually far superior to the one that

followed it, Fear Her. Written by show-runner Davies and directed by

Dan Zeff (his only outing on the show), it featured a stellar cast in

Kay, Marc Warren, Shirley Henderson, Simon Greenall, Moya Brady,

Kathryn Drysdale, and Camille Coduri. And the music is perfect!

• the working title of Love & Monsters (the only story with an ampersand in the title) was I Love the Doctor, and it's French broadcast was retitled LINDA 
• the episode is notable as the programme's first 'doctor-lite' script, and was produced in the same block as The Satan Pit two-parter
• Elton Pope (Warren) witnesses alien incursions from earlier stories: an Auton attack, and the Slitheen and Sycorax ships over London
• Elton is a fan of Jeff Lynne and his Electric Light Orchestra, and three ELO songs are heard here
• the fan group LINDA (London Investigation 'N' Detective Agency) is later mentioned in Time Crash, but the acronym was first used on BBC1's Why Don't You? (1973-1995)
• Victor Kennedy (Kay) is in fact an 'Abzorbaloff' creature from the Slitheen twin planet of Clom
• uniquely, the episode referenced all four of Davies' series arcs - Bad Wolf [virus], Torchwood [files], [Mr] Saxon, and the lost planets
• the Hoix monster is also seen in Torchwood: Exit Wounds, and The Pandorica Opens
• Bella Emberg (Mrs. Croot) first made (uncredited) appearances in The  Silurians and The Time Warrior
• Elton paraphrases Stephen King: "salvation and damnation are the same thing" (from The Green Mile)
• this is the only Doctor Who adventure ever to allude to oral sex
• the DWM Mighty 200 Poll (September 2009) placed Love & Monsters at 153rd, whilst Fear Her proved to be the most unloved Tennant story and ranked just 192nd
• To date, the serial has been repeated fifteen times on BBC3, and regularly on W (including today)

Doctor Who Vs. Coronation Street at 60, Part 14: 2007-2009

2007 began with the soap's most watched

story-line of the year, the murder of Charlie

Stubbs by Tracy Barlow. The next planned

major plot (baby Freddie Peacock's

abduction) however, was scrapped with 

the real-life disappearance of Madeleine

McCann in May.

The ITV Catch-up service (now called the

Hub) was launched in June, whilst ratings

averaged 10 million for the year.

Watched by 13 million viewers, the Street's
much-loved battleaxe Vera Duckworth was
killed off in January 2008 (with the departure
of Liz Dawn after 33 years in the role), whilst

 a shake-up of  ITV's schedules meant the

Sunday edition of the show was permanently 

moved to Friday (now a double-bill). The 

New Year also saw the arrival of Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan

stayed until 2014).

The first task for new producer Kim Crowther (who replaced Steve

Frost in July) was to axe the Mortons, who were replaced by the

Windass family. Storylines for 2009 included Kevin Webster and

Molly's affair, the wedding of Steve McDonald and Becky, Tony 

Gordon's arrest for murder, and the death of Blanche Hunt.

These three years on the cobbles featured another twenty-

nine Doctor Who cast connections:

• Geraldine Alexander (DS Surrey) was Areta in Vengeance in Varos
• Sion Tudor Owen (Lane here; Art Expert, 2015) was Tandrell in The Mysterious Planet
• Keith Barron (Trench) was Captain Straker in Enlightenment, and voiced Isaac Barclay for Plague of the Daleks (2009), and Lord Tulip for The Bad Penny (2018)
• Gray [Gerard] O'Brien (Tony Gordon, 2007-2010) was Rickston Slade in Voyage of the Damned
• Selva Rasalingam (Doctor here; Consultant, 2011) was Ranjit in The Power of Three
• Carl McCrystal (Constable here, 2009, 2013) was McGrath in The Curse of the Black Spot
• Chrissie Cotterill (Shopkeeper here; Pat, 2012) and Howard Lee (Howard) both appeared in The Pandorica Opens as Madame Vernet and Dr. Gachet - Cotterill had starred in Vincent and the Doctor with Sarah Counsell (Halley here; Kathleen, 2010) as Waitress
• Lorna Brown (Consultant) voiced Veega for Unity (2020)
• Jonny Dixon (Darryl Morton) was Karl in The Woman Who Fell to Earth
• Erica Eirian (Midwife) was a Neighbour in Fear Her
• Madhav Sharma (Prem) was Patel in (episode 3 of) Frontier in Space
• Zienia Merton (Doctor) was Ping Cho in Marco Polo, and the Registrar in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
• John Banks (Undertaker) is a prolific Big Finish actor
• Paul Courtenay Hyu (Doctor here, 2009 & 2012) was Haruka Deep Ando in Sleep No More, then voiced Po and Feedback for Neon Reign (2018), and Wei for The People Made of Smoke (2020)
• Ayesha Dharker (Tara Mandal, 2008/09)) was Solana Mercurio in Planet of the Ood
• Edward de Souza (Grimshaw) was Marc Cory in Mission to the Unknown, and voiced Lord Mortimer Davey for The Roof of the World (2004), and Sir Henry Irving for The Woman in White (2016)
• Craig Kelly (Luke Strong, 2009) voiced Joe for Scream of the Shalka
• Sharon Duce (Paula Carp) was Control in Ghost Light
• Andrew Sachs (Clegg) voiced Skagra for Shada, Adric for The Boy That Time Forgot (2008), Crassostrea for Orbis (2009), and the Scarf for AudioGo's Serpent Crest: Aladdin Time (2011)
• John Owens (Gilbert) was Thorpe in The Daemons
• Marshall Lancaster (Slug) was Buzzer in The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People
• Sabina Franklyn (Eve) voiced Dr. Eleanor Harcourt for Bang-Bang-A-Boom! (2002), Wanda Rothman for Situation Vacant (2010), and President Beel, Aetius and Herculania for Judoon in Chains (2016)
• Jennifer [Hayes] Hennessy (Bernie) was Valerie Brannigan in Gridlock, and Moira in The Pilot and Extremis 
• Rula Lenska [born Roza Maria Leopoldyna Lubienska] (Claudia Colby) was Styles in Resurrection of the Daleks
• Nigel [Allan] Havers (Lewis Archer, 2009-13, 2018) was Peter Dalton in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, and voiced Dr. Nick Zimmerman for No More Lies (2007)
• Paul David Gough (JD) voiced Will Alloran for Nocturne (2007), and Mers, Rigger and Calloway for The Macros (2010)
• Ravin J Ganatra (Doctor here; Paediatrician, 2010; Consultant, 2013/15) was Hakim Khan in Arachnids in the UK, Demons of the Punjab and Spyfall
• for Jennifer Hennessy (Bernie) and Darryl Clark (Clerk) see Part 11