Doctor Who Vs. Agatha Christie's Marple: Series 6

Julia McKenzie returned as Jane Marple for the final

season of ITV's period crime drama. The first case

was based on the Queen of Crime's fifty-fifth novel

(published in 1964), and was the third TV version of

A Caribbean Mystery.

Part two was adapted from a short-story that first

appeared in 1960's The Adventure of the Christmas

Pudding - it combined the plot of The Thumb Mark of St. Peter (from an earlier anthology of 1932) with the

original narrative of Greenshaw's Folly.

The final mystery did not originally feature Marple -

the book (released in 1967, and one of the author's

favourites) was also dramatised for cinema (in 1972),

and Radio 4 (2008).

When it was announced that the BBC had acquired

the rights for the production of further Christie

adaptations in 2014, ITV Studios effectively axed

Marple. The network's Poirot series also concluded in

late 2013 after fourteen years. The Corporation has subsequently shown new versions of Partners in

Crime, And Then There Were None, Witness for the

Prosecution, The ABC Murders, Ordeal by Innocence,

The Pale Horse and latterly, Murder is Easy. 2017

saw Channel 5's Crooked House, and the second film version of Murder on the Orient Express, whilst the reworked Death on the

Nile and Why Didn't They Ask Evans? soon followed. The recent A Haunting

in Venice was based on Hallowe'en Party.

The second drama was repeated on ITV3 today - the whole run featured a

total of twenty-seven Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

A Caribbean Mystery (UK TX: June 16 2013)

• for director Charles Palmer see The Murder at the Vicarage
• Big Finish actor Warren [Martin] Brown (Jackson) was Jake Willis in Praxeus - he voiced Stephen Gibson for Industrial Evolution, Johnny Skipton for Dead Men's Tales (both 2011), Rufus Stone/To'Koth for Signs & Wonders (2014), then Lieutenant Sam Bishop for UNIT: Extinction (2015), UNIT: Shutdown, UNIT: Silenced (both 2016), UNIT: Assembled (2017), UNIT: Cyber Reality, Lady Christina 1 (both 2018), UNIT: Incursions (2019), Lady Christina 2 (2021), Way of the Burryman and The Forth Generation (both 2022)
• Charity [Rose] Wakefield (Molly) was Lucy Fletcher in The Return of Doctor Mysterio
• Pippa Bennett Warner (Victoria) was Saibra in Time Heist, Narrator of Helena and the Beast (2015), Bill and the Three Jackets and Twelve Angels Weeping, then voiced the Deterrent for The Furies, Ruzalla for Ravenous 1, Livia Caralis for Time War (all 2018), The War Master 4 (2019) and Time War 4, and Fliss Keeley for The Trojan Daleks (both 2021)
• Robert Webb (Kendall) provided the voice of Robot 2 for Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
• Alastair Mackenzie (Hillingdon here; Ferguson in Death on the Nile, 2004) voiced Julian St. Stephen for Counter Measures 1 (2012), and Adric Traken for Prisoners of Fate (2013) and The Entropy Plague (2015)
• Hermione [Jane] Norris (Evelyn here; Celestine in The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan; Hermia in The Pale Horse, 1997) was Captain Lundvik in Kill the Moon
• MyAnna [Margaretha] Buring [Rantapáá] (Lucky) was Scooti Manista in The Impossible Planet
• Matthew Tabern was also film editor on both 2007 seasons of the revived run and The Sarah Jane Adventures

Greenshaw's Folly (UK TX: June 23 2013)

• Julia Sawalha (Mrs. Cresswell) was Emma in The Curse of Fatal Death
• Joanna David [born Hacking] (Grace here; Claire in The Red Signal; Wilhelmina for Dumb Witness, 2006; Emma in 4.50 From Paddington, 1987) voiced Mrs. Audley for AudioGo's The Broken Crown (2011)
• Robert Glenister (Brophy) was Salateen in The Caves of Androzani, and Thomas Edison in Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror
• Oscar Pearce (Oxley) voiced the Captain for Counter Measures 4 (2015), Captain Ted Mears for The Auton Infinity (2022), and Cicerone 1 for Worlds Beyond (2024)
• Sean Clayton was also the second assistant director on Dalek and Father's Day
• Paul Kennington was also a stuntman on Rise of the Cybermen, The Age of Steel, Army of Ghosts, Doomsday and The Doctor's Daughter 
• Tom Lucy was also the stunt co-ordinator on sixteen stories (from Smith and Jones to The Next Doctor) and Torchwood

Endless Night (UK TX: December 29 2013)

• Janet Henfrey (Mrs. Lee) was Miss Hardaker in The Curse of Fenric, Mrs. Pitt in Mummy on the Orient Express, the Adjudicator in Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor, and voiced Mrs. Vangaurd for The Spirit Trap (2010), Dr. Petherbridge for An Eye for Murder, Mrs. Jefferies for The Concrete Cage (both 2014), Dorothy for The Screaming Ceiling (2019), Sister Magdalene for Abbey of Heretics (2020), Verkuvia for The Day of the Comet (2021), and Narrata for Morbius 1 (2024)
• Celyn Jones (DS Keene) voiced Geraint for The Lady of the Lake
• Aneurin Barnard (Hayman) voiced Antan/Taker for The Whispering Forest (2010), and was cast in the 2024 season
• Tamzin [Maria] Outhwaite (Mrs. Rogers) was the Captain in Nightmare in Silver, then voiced Morton for Secrets of Telos (2022)
• William Hope (Lippincott) voiced General Tillington for Renaissance of the Daleks (2007)
• Glynis Barber [born van der Riet] (Cora here; Julia in A Murder is Announced, 1979; Unknown in And Then There Were None, 1987; Lola in The Mirrror Crack'd from Side to Side, 1992) voiced Kathy Blake for The Sinestran Kill (2019), and Nicholaa de la Haye for The Outlaws (2022)
• [Anne Gwendoline] Wendy Craig (Marjorie here; Mrs. Gardener in Evil Under the Sun, 1998) voiced Shonnath for Fugitive in Time (2019), Queen Elizabeth I for The Hollow Crown, Martha Malvani for The Gulf (both 2021), Bette for Auld Lang Syne (2022), and Older Maddie Mortimer for The Diary of River Song 11 (2023)
• Erick Hayden (Jayne) was Sorensson in Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror
• for Stephen Churchett see The Murder at the Vicarage
• Alan Bond (Guest) was a UNIT Soldier in The Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords and Torchwood: Children of Earth
• Balazs Bolygo was also cinematographer on The Rebel Flesh, The Almost People and Closing Time