Doctor Who Vs. Agatha Christie's Poirot, Series 10

David Suchet returned as the

Queen of Crime's Belgian sleuth

for another four feature-length

serials, first shown in early 2006.

Ariadne Oliver (portrayed here by

Zoe Wanamaker) was a creation whom Christie said had "a strong

dash of myself".

 Oliver debuted in Cards on the

Table, where her own iteration of

 The Body in the Library is refer-

enced - that title was actually

used by Christie in 1942. Oliver

 featured in six further books, including The Pale Horse (pub-

lished in 1961), where she met

the Calthorps, friends of Miss

Marple from The Moving Finger,

whilst other works by Oliver were discussed by characters in The Clocks (1963). Like Christie and her contemporaries, the fictional writer was a member of the Detection

Club. A repeat run of the tenth season began on ITV3 tonight - it

featured William Russell (who celebrates his 99th birthday today),

and a total of thirty-four Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

The Mystery Of The Blue Train 
(UK TX: New Year's Day 2006/Published in 1928)

• Hettie Macdonald was also director of Blink, The Doctor's Meditation, The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar
• Lindsay [Vere] Duncan (Tamplin here; Marina in The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, 2010) was Captain Adelaide Brooke in The Waters of Mars
• [Simon Richard] James D'Arcy (Kettering here; Burton in The Moving Finger, 2006) voiced Michael for Big Finish's Paradise 5 (2010)
• for Nicholas Farrell (Knighton) see The ABC Murders
• [Carolyn] Jane [Onslow] How (Lady here; Veronica in Cat Among the Pigeons) was Rebec in Planet of the Daleks
• Roger Lloyd Pack (Caux) was John Lumic in Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel
• Josette [Patricia] Simon (Mirelle) voiced Sarana Teel for The Sontaran Ordeal (2016), and Taraneh for The Mind Runners (2018)
• first assistant director Stephen Woolfenden was director of Nightmare in Silver
• for Sean Clayton see Murder on the Links
• Nick Wilkinson (stunt co-ordinator here & Taken at the Flood) was a stuntman on The Next Doctor
• Dean Forster was also stuntman on seven episodes (from The Christmas Invasion to A Good Man Goes to War), The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• Adam Harvey was assistant editor on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• series script editor Beth Willis was co-executive producer on twenty-seven stories (from The Eleventh Hour to The Wedding of River Song), Doctor Who Confidential, then Space/Time and The Adventure Games
• Jamie McCoan was film editor on Blink too

Cards On The Table (UK TX: March 19/Published in 1936)

• Alex Jennings (Dr. Roberts here; Calgary for Ordeal by Innocence, 1983; DI Curry in They Do It With Mirrors, 2009; Richard for Magnolia Blossom) voiced Lord Hawthorn for The Hunting Season (2021)
• Lesley [Ann] Manville (Lorrimer) depicted Heather Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time
• Robert Pugh (Hughes here; Easterbrook in A Murder is Announced, 2005) was Tony Mack in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, and voiced Emmett Burrows for Five Twenty-Nine (2016)
• Alexander [born Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi] Siddig (Shaitana here) voiced Rosto for Sisters of the Flame and The Vengeance of Morbius (both 2008), the Captain for The Wreck of the Titan, Nemo for Legend of the Cybermen (both 2010), the Sultan for 1001 Nights (2012), and Marcus Gifford for I Went to a Marvellous Party (2016)
• Lucy [Katherine] Liemann (Miss Burgess here; Sonia in Third Girl) voiced Zennox for Last of the Cybermen
• David Westhead (Wheeler) was Kemper in The Shakespeare Code
• Honeysuckle [Susan] Weeks (Rhoda here; Romaine in Witness for the Prosecution, 2010; Agatha Christie in Frankie Drake Mysteries) voiced Heleyna for Agents of Chaos (2016)

After The Funeral (UK TX: March 26/Published in 1953)

• Robert [Guy] Bathurst (Entwhistle) voiced Cardinal Padrac for Doom Coalition, then was General Farquhar in Survivors of the Flux
• Annabel Scholey (Sorrel) was Claire Brown in The Halloween Apocalypse, Village of the Angels and The Vanquishers
• for Philip Anthony (Vicar) see The ABC Murders
• Anna Calder-Marshall (Maude) voiced Mathilda Pierce for Scream of the Shalka
• for John Carson (Abernethie) see The Incredible Theft

Taken At The Flood (UK TX: April 2/Published in 1948)

• Jenny [Ann] Agutter (Adela here; Agnes in 4.50 from Paddington; Narrator of The Agatha Christie Code) voiced Sekhmet for The Bride of Peladon (2008)
• Richard [John] Hope [Walker] (Spence here & Mrs. McGinty's Dead) was Malohkeh in The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood and The Wedding of River Song, and Bleytal in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, then voiced Moreland for The Bounty of Ceres, William Heaton for Changing of the Guard (both 2014) and Rise and Shine, Harry Harvey for Damaged Goods (both 2015), Philip Cook/Kal for Absent Friends (2016), Jastrok for UNIT: Assembled (2017), and General Reinhardt for Shellshock (2022)
• Celia [Diana Savile] Imrie (Kathy here; Maid in Death on the Nile, 1978; Mde. Joilet in 4.50 from Paddington; Narrator of Talking Pictures: The Films of Agatha Christie, 2020) was [Rosemary] Kizlet in The Bells of Saint John, and voiced Dr. Elizabeth Bradley for The Fifth Citadel (2013), Mde. Tissot for Gallery of Ghouls, and Lady Livia Caralis for Enemy Lines (both 2016)
• Tim [Peter] Pigott Smith (Woodward here; Stubbs in Dead Man's Folly, 1986) was Captain Harker in The Claws of Axos, and Marco in The Masque of Mandragora
• Elizabeth [Jean Williams] Spriggs (Leadbetter here; Mildred in Spider's Web, 1982; Miss Johnson for Murder in Mesopotamia, 1994) was Tabby in Paradise Towers
• for David Yelland (George) see Murder in the Mews
• for Pip Torrens (Cloade) see The Mystery of the Spanish Chest
• Elliot [Aidan] Cowan (Hunter here; Hudd in They Do It With Mirrors, 2009) voiced Gark for The Fifth Traveller (2016)
• Marcus Catlin was also first assistant director on The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood, The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang