Doctor Who Vs. Strike: The Ink Black Heart

This thriller from Bronte Films

was based on the sixth crime

novel from JK Rowling, written

under the pen name Robert

Galbraith.

Plans to adapt the Cormoran

Strike books were announced

in late 2014, and Harry Potter

author Rowling acted as an

executive producer. Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger were cast

as Strike and Robin Ellacott in

2016.

The Ink Black Heart followed

adaptations of The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm, Career of Evil, Lethal White and Troubled

Blood. The Running Grave,

Strike's seventh case, was

published in 2023, and book eight, The Hallmarked Man is

due next year. This four-part thriller concluded on BBC1 last night - it

featured Ruth Sheen, Tupele Dorgu, Jack Greenlees, Natasha O'Keeffe,

and twenty Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Mirren Mack (Edie) voiced Marnie/the Serapheem for Big Finish's Girl, Deconstructed (2016)
• David Westhead (Ledwell) was Kemper in The Shakespeare Code
• Liza Sadovy (Mariam) was Phyllis Trap in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Mona Lisa's Revenge
• Emma Fielding (Katya) provided the voice of Kisar for Demons of the Punjab
• Stephen Hagan (DCI Murphy) voiced Nathan Later for A Life of Crime (2016)
• Ewan Bailey (De Jong) provided Alien voices for Voyage of the Damned, then voiced Count Licori for The Galileo Trap, Father Locke/ Orbs for The Satanic Mill, Various for Jago & Litefoot 10 (all 2015) and Kings of Infinite Space (2018), Davy McTavit for The Helm of Awe, Blazzard/Copeland for The Morton Legacy, Dimitri Papkin for The Ship of the Sleepwalkers, Duncan for Aliens Among Us 2 (all 2017), Sir Edward Scott Cameron/ Slitheen/Biggs for Death on the Mile (both 2018), Hugo Blake for The Sinestran Kill (2019), and Mallory/ Galavaunt/Baravoar for Past Lives (2023)
• Joseph Mydell (Elgar) voiced Garius Moro for Memories of a Tyrant (2019)
• Jonny Magnanti (Dad) voiced Lawrence Yeadon for Nightshade (2016)
• William [John] Willoughby [born Haynes] was also a stunt performer on nine episodes (from Rose to A Town Called Mercy)
• Danny Hargreaves was also SFX (technician then) supervisor on eighty episodes (from The Girl in the Fireplace to The Doctor Falls), Class and Invasion of the Bane
• Jateen Patel was also digital colourist on four stories (from Fugitive of the Judoon to The Haunting of Villa Diodati)
• for Harry Barnes see Troubled Blood
• for Nigel Squibbs see The Cuckoo's Calling