Doctor Who Vs. The Quatermass Experiment, Part 2: 2005

The contemporary remake of

Nigel Kneale's seminal series

of 1953 was transmitted live

(like the original) for BBC

Four's TV on Trial season in
April 2005.
Jason Flemyng (son of Amicus

film director, Gordon Flemyng)

became the seventh actor to

portray Professor Bernard

Quatermass, head of BERG -

the British Experimental

Rocket Group. It was during rehearsals that David Tennant (cast as

Dr. Briscoe) was offered the role of the Tenth Doctor, but his casting

was only announced two weeks after transmission. 

In the live broadcast, Flemyng even changed Quatermass' first line to
Briscoe to "Good to have you back Doctor" from the scripted "Gordon,"

Adapted by Richard Fell, the thriller was faithful to the source until the
climax, with the alien threat now confronted at the Tate Modern.

The serial (last repeated in 2008) featured Mark Gatiss, Andrew

Scott, and fourteen other Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Fell was also the executive producer of Death Comes to Time and Real Time
• Flemyng voiced the Captain for Big Finish's The Long Despair (2023)
• Adrian Dunbar (DI Lomax) voiced McCarthy for Brave New Town (2008)
• Torchwood regular Indira [Anne] Varma (Judith) was cast as the Duchess for Series 14
• Andrew Tiernan (Caroon) was Jim Purcell in Night Terrors
• Adrian Bower (Fullalove) voiced Steffen/the Authority for Survival of the Fittest (2010)
• Isla Blair (Blaker) was Lady Isabella Fitzwilliam in The King's Demons, then voiced Paula Taylor for Exotron (2007), Marge for Kidnapped! (2019), Charn for Palindrome (2020), and Older Mary Mortimer for Friend of the Family (2023)
• Kerry Godliman (Mrs. Matthews) voiced Karen Coltrane for The Eight Truths and Worldwide Web (2009)
• Paul Broughton (Editor) was Neville Lewis in War of the Sontarans
• Greg Bennett (Journalist) was a Guard in Dalek, Sycorax Warrior/ UNIT Soldier in The Christmas Invasion, and Guest in The Lazarus Experiment
• Debbi Slater was also production manager on Blink, Planet of the Ood, The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky, The Unicorn and the Wasp, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, then was associate producer on Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• Bill Whiston was sound supervisor on The Mysterious Planet too
• camera supervisor Robin Sutherland was an operator on Remembrance of the Daleks
• Julie Mann was vision mixer on The Greatest Show in the Galaxy too

Doctor Who Vs. The Quatermass Experiment, Part 1: 1953

"An experiment is an operation designed to uncover some 
unknown truth" - BBC Announcer, Saturday July 18 1953

Tate (left) died just a month before
he was to embark on filming
Quatermass II

The seminal television 

adventures of Professor
 Bernard Quatermass began

in the summer of 1953,

with the broadcast of The

Quatermass Experiment.

Seventy years on, this
 science-fiction classic is 
seen as the precursor to 
much of the BBC's adult 
drama output as well as 
greatly influencing a 
fledgling TV genre that 
would introduce Doctor 
Who a decade later.

Set in the near future, the

serial tells the story of the first manned flight into space. Supervised

by Quatermass, the British Experimental Rocket Group (BERG)

attempt to return it's three-man crew safely to Earth, but their ship

crash lands in Wimbledon. Two astronauts are missing, and the sole

survivor, Victor Caroon behaves erratically - he has been infected by

an alien parasite. The Professor must prevent the entity from

destroying life on Earth, resulting in a climatic showdown at

Westminster Abbey (scene of the Queen's recent Coronation).

The Quatermass Experiment was penned by staff writer, Nigel Kneale
(1922-2006), and directed by Austrian Rudolph Cartier (1904-1994)

-  they next collaborated on George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four

the following year. Kneale's hero, portrayed here by Reginald Tate

(after original choice Andre Morell declined the lead), was named in

honour of astronomer Bernard Lovell (1913-2012) and his surname

came from a London phone directory.

The thriller was transmitted live from Alexandra Palace over six
consecutive Saturday nights, in July and August 1953, and only the

first two episodes now exist in the archives. Two sequels, Quatermass

II and Quatermass and the Pit, followed in 1955 and 1958, whilst all

three stories were later adapted for the cinema by Hammer. Kneale
finally wrote the conclusion to his saga for Thames TV in 1979. BBC

Four re-staged the drama (again live) in 2005, and Hermatic Arts

will stage a live reading of the original scripts back at the Palace in

September, with a cast led by Mark Gatiss.

The Quatermass Experiment (described by the BFI as "one of the
most influential series" ever) featured twelve future Doctor Who
cast and crew connections:

• Duncan [William Ferguson] Lamont (Caroon) was Dan Galloway in Death to the Daleks
• Paul Whitsun Jones (Fullalove) was Squire Edwards in The Smugglers, and the Marshal in The Mutants
• Moray [Robin Philip Adrian] Watson (Marsh) was Sir Robert Muir in Black Orchid
• Peter Bathurst (Greene) was Hensell in The Power of the Daleks, and Chinn in The Claws of Axos
• Neil [Kingsley] Wilson (Constable) was Seeley in Spearhead from Space
• Keith [Malcolm Rule] Pyott (Minister) was Autloc in The Aztecs
• Alan [Stewart] Casley (Crowd) was Miro in Planet of the Daleks
• Paddy Russell (Passenger/On-looker) was stage manager here before becoming a director in 1962, and was later assigned to The Massacre, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Pyramids of Mars and Horror of Fang Rock
• Malcolm Watson (the only actor to appear in all three of the Corp- oration's Quatermass serials) and Aubrey [Charles] Danvers Walker (both Photographers here) were Council Members in The Dominators 
• Jack Kine (1921-2005) and Bernard Wilkie (1920-2002) co-founded the BBC Visual Effects Department in 1954 - together they provided special effects on The Mind Robber, Kine was seen as the Big Brother type leader (albeit on posters) of the parallel Earth in Inferno, whilst Wilkie worked on An Unearthly Child, The Ice Warriors, Colony in Space, The Curse of Peladon, Frontier in Space and Planet of the Spiders
• Michael Leeston Smith (lighting engineer here, production assistant on Quatermass II) also became a director and was assigned to The Myth Makers

Doctor Who Vs. Silent Witness, Series 12

The twelfth season of BBC1's

long-running crime drama was

first broadcast in the autumn of

2008. William Gaminara, Tom Ward and Emilia Fox (as Home

Office pathologists, doctors Leo

Dalton, Harry Cunningham and

Nikki Alexander) were joined by

Jaye Griffiths as Janet Mander.

A repeat run of the twelve-part

season concluded on Drama last

night - it featured a total of forty

Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

Safe (UK TX: October 1 & 2)

• Karl Collins [born Myers] (Assante) was Shaun Temple in The End of Time and The Star Beast
• Daniel Kaluuya (Harris) was Barclay in Planet of the Dead
• Jamie Sives (McBride) was Captain Reynolds in Tooth and Claw
• Natasha [born Roselyn Agatha] Williams (Mrs. Harris) was Pharmacist in Gridlock
• Amanda Foster was stunt performer on The Doctor's Daughter too

Death's Door (UK TX: October 8 & 9)

• Griffiths was Jac in The Magician's Apprentice and The Zygon Invasion, then reprised for Big Finish's The Turn of the Tides (2022), and voiced Daylin for The Neverwhen (2016), Til Rork for The Sentient (2019), Sister Ursula for Abbey of Heretics (2020), Hieronyma Friend for Meanwhile, Elsewhere, Narrator of Cuckoo and The Martian Dilemma, and Lady Audacity Montague for Audacity, In the Bleak Midwinter (all 2023) and Deadly Strangers (2024)
• Julia Sandiford (Assistant) voiced Ilya for The Edge of Redemption (2020), and Fabrico for The Lost Resort (2021)
• Roger Dobson was the dialogue editor on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• Stuart Clarke and Derek Lea were also stuntmen on Dalek, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways - Lea then worked on The Age of Steel and Partners in Crime
• Gary Hoptrough was a stuntman on The Runaway Bride and Let's Kill Hitler too

Terror (UK TX: October 15 & 16)

• Shaun Dooley (DI Tranfield) was Epzo in The Ghost Monument
• Karen Bryson (DO Okoroafor here; Dr. Braithwaite in Series 24: Reputations) voiced Commander Esk for Aftershocks (2022)
• Geraldine Alexander (Commander) made her TV debut as Areta in Vengeance on Varos
• Kevork Malikyan (Kundak) was Kemel Rudkin in The Wheel in Space
• for Dona Croll (Mrs. Achebe) see Series 7
• Michael Higgs (DI King) was the Men behind Desks in Delia: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes
• Barry Aird (Wright) was a Time Lord Soldier in The Last Day
• Levan Doran was a stuntman on Tooth and Claw too

Judgement (UK TX: October 22 & 23)

• Ron Cook (Marowski) was Mr. Magpie in The Idiot's Lantern
• René Zagger (Land) was Padra in Utopia
• Jo Woodcock (Margo) voiced Ziv for Starlight Robbery (2013), Susannah Nash for Static, Marie for The Iron Maid (both 2018), and Kayla Worthington for The Day Before They Came (2021)
• Matt Dineen (Driver) voiced Jenner for Thicker Than Water (2005)
• Jamie Edgell was also a stunt co-ordinator on Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways, after performing stunts on The End of the World
• Stewart James was a stuntman on Victory of the Daleks too
• Lee Sherward was also the stunt co-ordinator on eleven stories and Torchwood: Miracle Day

The Lost Child (UK TX: October 29 & 30)

• Michael Begley (Edwards) was Mulligan in The Curse of the Black Spot
• Peter Guinness (Powell) voiced Mr. Dread for Dreamland, Childeric for The Holy Terror (2000), Baron Teufel/Zoff for The Beast of Orlok (2009), and Rovus for The Star Men (2017)
• stunt co-ordinator Steve Griffin was a stuntman on The Idiot's Lantern
• Belinda McGinley was also a stunt performer on Amy's Choice and The Girl Who Waited
• Daniel Hill (Lewis) was Chris Parsons in Shada, and voiced Percy Noggins for AudioGo's The Stuff of Nightmares (2009)
• Fiona Wade (Anhil) voiced Sergeant Ambika Desai for The Running Men (2024)
• Andrew Westfield (Foreman) voiced Remnex/Vilus Krull for The Dark Flame, Pilot for Davros (both 2003), and Steven for Swan Song (2011)

Finding Rachel (UK TX: November 5 & 6)

• Robert Pugh (Harrington) was Tony Mack in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, and voiced Emmett Burrows for Five Twenty-Nine (2016)
• Patrick [Bashir] Baladi (Ellis here; Radford in Series 24: Bad Love) was cast in The War Between the Land and the Sea
• James Blackwell was also the first assistant director on Partners in Crime
• series special make-up effects artist Paul McGuinness was Drathro in The Mysterious Planet
• series production buyer Charlie Lynam also worked on Asylum of the Daleks to The Angels Take Manhattan, The Bells of Saint John and Hide
• for series sound FX editor Tony Gibson see Series 6
• for dubbing mixer Nigel Squibbs see Series 10

Doctor Who Vs. Van Der Valk, Series 3

ITV's classic crime drama starred Barry Foster as

the eponymous Dutch detective, was based on

characters created by Nicolas Freeling for his Van

Der Valk novels in 1962. Produced at Thames

Television's studios in London, with location scenes

 shot in the books' Amsterdam setting, the series

first aired in the autumn of 1977, four years after

the previous run. The show was revived in 1991,

and Marc Warren was cast in Company Pictures'

remake.

A repeat run of the third, twelve-part began on

Talking Pictures TV last night - it featured Patrick

Troughton, William Russell, Richard Hurndall,

and a total of thirty-four Doctor Who cast alumni:

• Nigel [Hector Munro] Stock (Samson) was Professor Hayter in Time Flight
• Donald Gee (Tahlen) was Major Ian Warne in The Space Pirates, and Eckersley in The Monster of Peladon
• Hubert [Thomas Morgan] Rees (Berger) was the Chief Engineer in Fury from the Deep, Captain Ransom in The War Games, and John Stevenson in The Seeds of Doom
• Mary [Veronica] Healey (Berte) was a Killjoy in The Happiness Patrol
• James [David] Grout (Kolmaar) voiced Ian Chesterton for Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?
• Harry Waters (Policeman) was Royce in Warriors' Gate
• [Frank] Morris Perry (Pastor) was Captain Dent in Colony in Space
• Edward [Noel] Burnham (Mertens) was Professors Watkins in The Invasion, and Kettlewell in Robot
• Alec Linstead (De Jong) was Sergeant Osgood in The Daemons, Arnold Jellicoe in Robot, and Arthur Stengos in Revelation of the Daleks
• Eric Francis (Gardener) was the First Elder in The Sensorites
• Michelle Newell (Dina) was one of twenty-six actresses who auditioned for the role of Leela in 1976, along with Pamela Salem (Sanger) who then provided a Xoanon voice for (part 3 of) The Face of Evil, was Toos in The Robots of Death (a role reprised for Big Finish's The Robots), and Professor Rachel Jensen in Remembrance of the Daleks (also reprised for Counter Measures) - she also voiced Loretta Waldorf for The Silent Scream (2017)
• John [Ronald Leon] Standing (Ehrlich) voiced Fenric for Gods and Monsters (2012), and Professor Threadstone for Vampire of the Mind (2016)
• Maurice Colbourne (Scholtz) was [Gustave] Lytton in Resurrection of the Daleks and Attack of the Cybermen
• Anna [Eva Lydia Catherine] Wing (Concierge) was Anatta in Kinda
• Kenton [born Kenneth Thomas] Moore (Officer) was a Roboman in The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1), and Noah in The Ark in Space
• Richard [born Dennis Wilfred] Davies (Lloyd) and Don [Francis] Henderson (Ullman) both starred in Delta and the Bannermen, as Burton and Gavrok
• Jeremy [born John] Young (Palmer) was Kal in 100,000 BC, and Gordon Lowery in Mission to the Unknown
• Peter Cartwright (Captain) was Arnold Underwood in The Power of Three
• Maurice O'Connell (Kurt) and Jeff Rawle (Diedrick) both starred in Frontios, as Cockerill and Plantagenet - Rawle was also Lionel Harding in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Mona Lisa's Revenge, then depicted Mervyn Pinfield in An Adventure in Space and Time, and voiced Toby Brokesmith for Chapel of Night (2017), Chad Caramel for The Tyrants of Logic (2018), and Captain Miles Rozann for Here Lies Drax (2022)
• John [Edward Arthur] Woodnutt (Dr. Roest) was George Hibbert in Spearhead from Space, the Draconian Emperor in Frontier in Space (5), the Duke of Forgill/Broton in Terror of the Zygons, and Seron in The Keeper of Traken
• Geoffrey [Dyson] Palmer (Head) was Edward Masters in The Silurians, the Administrator in The Mutants, and Captain Hardaker in Voyage of the Damned
• Laurence Harrington (Keyser) was Lunar Guard in Frontier in Space (3)
• Jon [Sleeman] Croft (Johannes) was Tom Girton in The Daemons
• David McKail (Evert) was Sergeant Kyle in The Talons of Weng Chiang
• Derek Smith (Jaap) was the Doorman in Human Nature
• [William] Pat Gorman (Policeman) appeared in eighty-three instalments of the classic series (from The Dalek Invasion of Earth to Attack of the Cybermen)
• for Clifford Rose and Michael Sheard see Series 1
• for Lisa Daniely, Jim Norton and Denis Lill see Series 2