Doctor Who Vs. Dorothy L Sayers Mystery: Strong Poison

The most recent television

adaptations of Dorothy Leigh

Sayers' crime novels originally

aired on BBC2 in 1987 - Edward

Petherbridge and Harriet Vane

were cast as Lord Peter Wimsey

and Harriet Vane.

The ten-part run followed live TV versions of the writer's 1936 stage

play, Busman's Honeymoon (in

1947 and 1957), then five BBC

productions shown between 1972

and 1975. The Corporation was unable to secure the rights for a

third version of Busman's

Honeymoon for this series. The first case, Strong Poison was based on

Sayers' (1893-1957) fifth Wimsey novel, published in 1930. The three-

part mystery (last repeated on Drama in 2016) featured Geoffrey

Beevers, and twenty-five Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• David [John] Quilter (DCI Parker) was Greeves in The Unicorn and the Wasp
• [Reginald Herbert] Preston Lockwood (Judge) was Dojjen in Snakedance
• Ronald [Frederick] Leigh-Hunt (Biggs) was Commanders Julian Radnor in The Seeds of Death, and Stevenson in Revenge of the Cybermen
• Timothy [Dingwall] Bateson (Pond) was Binro in The Ribos Operation
• Patrick Carter (Usher) was the Bosun in (episode 3 of) The Chase
• Stewart [John Llewellyn] Bevan (Sergeant) was Professor Clifford Jones in The Green Death, Global Conspiracy? and Return of the Autons, then provided the voice BOSS for Big Finish's The Green Life (2019)
• Judy [Valerie] Cornwell (Miss Booth) was Maddy in Paradise Towers
• Michael [Anthony] Robbins (Rumm) was Richard Mace in The Visitation
• Jo Rowbottom (Mrs. Bullfinch) was Mollie Dawson in The Evil of the Daleks
• Bernard Martin (Reporter) was Control Room Assistant in The Ambassadors of Death (2)
• Barbara Gosnold was the production designer on The Invasion of Time too
• Richard Croft was also the costume designer on Delta and the Bannermen, Dragonfire, The Happiness Patrol and Silver Nemesis
• Clare Graham was the production manager on The Mysterious Planet too
• Richard Manton was also film recordist on The Daemons and The Mutants
• production manager Nicholas Laughland was assistant floor manager (AFM) on Earthshock
• Alan Machin was also the sound supervisor on The Android Invasion, Four to Doomsday, Kinda, The Visitation, Black Orchid and Earthshock
• OB camera supervisor Mike Winser was a camera operator on The Stones of Blood (1), and the Daleks: The Early Years VHS
• Doug Whittaker also worked on OB sound for Time and the Rani, Paradise Towers (4), Delta and the Bannermen, Remembrance of the Daleks and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
• Colin Mapson was also VFX designer on The Green Death, The Hand of Fear, Image of the Fendahl, The Invasion of Time, The Pirate Planet, Nightmare of Eden and Time and the Rani
• Paul Wheeler was a film cameraman on The Awakening too
• John Mason also worked on OB lighting for Robot, The Talons of Weng-Chiang and The Ultimate Foe
• Clive Thomas also worked on studio lighting for The Three Doctors and Carnival of Monsters
• Shirley Coward was also vision mixer on The Tenth Planet (1), Terror of the Autons (1), Frontier in Space (5), Underworld (1), The Five Doctors, Terror of the Vervoids, The Ultimate Foe, Paradise Towers, Delta and the Bannermen, Dragonfire, Remembrance of the Daleks and The Happiness Patrol
• Monica Rodger was a production assistant on Nightmare of Eden too
• Bob Warman was technical co-ordinator on The Smugglers too