Doctor Who Vs. Strike: The Cuckoo's Calling

This thriller launched the Bronte
Films drama series based on the
crime novels by Harry Potter
author JK Rowling - written under

the pseudonym of Robert

Galbraith. Plans to adapt the

Strike books (published from
 2013) were announced in late
2014, and Rowling acted as an
executive producer. Londoner
Tom Burke and Manchester-
born Holliday Grainger were
cast as Cormoran Strike and
Robin Ellacott.

The Cuckoo's Calling premiered

at BFI Southbank in August 2017, then was shown on BBC1, followed by

The Silkworm. An adaptation of Career of Evil aired in early 2018, whilst

Lethal White was shown in summer 2020, and Troubled Blood debuted in December 2022.

The Ink Black Heart (published in August 2022) is to filmed this year, and Strike's seventh case, The Running Grave was released last September.

A repeat run of the three-part mystery concluded on Drama last night

- it also featured Kerr Logan, Natasha O'Keeffe, Killian Scott, Martin

Shaw, Tara Fitzgerald, Elarica Johnson, and a total of eighteen Doctor

Who cast and crew connections:

• Leo Bill (Bristow) was the Pilot in A Christmas Carol
• Alisha Bailey (Jenny) was Isabella in The Vampires of Venice
• David Avery (Nico) was Fabian in The Name of the Doctor
• Ben Crompton (Shanker here, Career of Evil, Troubled Blood) was Ross in Into the Dalek
• Big Finish actor John Albasiny (Enright) was Guy Dean in BBV Prod- uctions' Homeland, then voiced Lev Tolstoy/Preston for The Angel of Scutari (2009), Maxim Felnikov for Thin Ice and Crime of the Century (both 2011), Chris Fleming for Phantoms of the Deep (2013), Jesper for Equilibrium (2015), and Makerenkov for Last of the Romanovs (2020)
• Genevieve [Wilhemina] Gaunt (Tricia) voiced Corporal Linda Maxwell for The Helliax Rift and Warlock's Cross, Commander/Anna for Red Planets (all 2018), Lady Sicura for The House of Masks (2022), Virginia Hancock/Professor Jennifer Dalton for The Incherton Incident (2023), and Hendra for Fugitive of the Daleks (2024)
• Sian [Jane Elizabeth Ailwên] Phillips (Lady Yvette) voiced COLT-5000 for Jenny 1, Pilgrim for Better Watch Out and Fairytale of Salzburg, COLT 5000 for Jenny 1 (all 2018), the Inquisitor for Gallifrey (2020), the Director for The World Traders, Lady Eugenia de Souza for Outback (both 2021), and Mendrix for The Walls of Absence (2023) - she then appeared in 73 Yards as Enid Meadows
• Steve Healey (Passerby) was director and co-writer of fan short Tale of a Time Lord
• 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)
• Gordon Seed (stuntman) 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
• Scott MacIntyre (SFX supervisor) was armourer on Twice Upon a Time
• 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