Doctor Who Vs. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

"Why, when something happens,

it is always you three?"

ITV1's latest Harry Potter film season

continued tonight with the sixth entry in

the saga - released in the summer of

2009. Jim Broadbent, Helen McCrory and

Jessie Cave were introduced here as

Slughorn, Narcissa and Lavender.

Published in 2005, JK Rowling's sixth

novel was adapted by Warner Bros - it

featured David Bradley, and these

eighteen Doctor Who cast connections:

• Broadbent has portrayed the Doctor in Doctor Who and Crayola (a sketch for Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV) and The Curse of Fatal Death
• McCrory was Rosana Calvierri in The Vampires of Venice
• Amelda Brown (Mrs Cole) voiced Margaret for The Gunpowder Plot
• David Hankinson (Office Worker) was Max Rosenberg in BBV Prod- uctions' Ghosts of Winterborne, then Dalek operator on eight episodes (from Bad Wolf to Journey's End), and voiced Anton Lichtfuss for Loups-Garoux (2001)
• Michael Thomson (Muggle) was Meron/Field Officer in K9
• Rocky Taylor (Pedestrian here; stunts on The Deathly Hallows) was stuntman on The Idiot's Lantern
• Nina Armstrong, Helen Steinway Bailey and Chris Pollard were stunt performers on The Runaway Bride, Amy's Choice and Robot of Sherwood respectively
• Tony Van Silva (Pedestrian here; stunts on The Deathly Hallows & Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) was stuntman on Tooth and Claw
• for Warwick Davis and Abbi Collins see The Philosopher's Stone
• for Mark Williams see The Chamber of Secrets
• for Michael Gambon, Rusty Goffe and Andy Merchant see The Prisoner of Azkaban
• for Imelda Staunton and Sarah Franzl see The Order of the Phoenix

Doctor Who Vs. The Curse of the Were Rabbit

That great British inventor and

cheese enthusiast known only

as Wallace (of West Wallaby

Street in Wigan) and his anthro-pomorphic pet dog Gromit first

appeared in the BBC animated

short A Grand Day Out in 1989.

The plasticine duo were created

by Nick Park (born 1958) way

back in 1973, and brought to

life by Aardman Animations

(based in Bristol since 1972).

Three more 'claymation' TV

adventures followed, and in

2005, Wallace and Gromit made their full-length film debut in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, released by Dreamworks.

The Wrong Trousers (1993), A Close Shave (1995), and this film all won

Academy Awards, whilst A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008) received

Park's fifth BAFTA prize.

Upto Vengeance Most Fowl, Wallace had always been voiced by Peter

Sallis (1921-2017), and it was intended that Gromit should talk too -

Peter Hawkins (one of the original Dalek and Cybermen voice artists

 on classic Doctor Who from 1963) was to provide his voice, but this

proved  too difficult to realise.

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was co-written by Bob Baker, writing

partner of Dave Martin (1935-2007), and they were nicknamed the

Bristol Boys by the Doctor Who production teams. Together they

scripted nine TV serials (from The Claws of Axos to Nightmare of

Eden), and created K9.

Shown on BBC3 last night, the film eatured the voices of Ralph Fiennes,

Helena Bonham Carter, John Thomson, Geraldine McEwan, Liz Smith,

Mark Gatiss, and these ten Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Sallis played Elric Penley in The Ice Warriors, and was due to appear in Enlightenment as Striker
• Peter Kay (PC Mackintosh) was Victor Kennedy [the Abzorbaloff] in Love & Monsters
• Nicholas [John] Smith (Hedges) was Wells in The Dalek Invasion of Earth
• Edward [Harry] Kelsey (Growbag) was Slave Buyer in (episode 2 of) The Romans, Resno in The Power of the Daleks, and Edu in The Creature from the Pit
• [Terence] Dicken Ashworth (Mr. Mulch) was Sezon in Timelash
• Vincent Ebrahim (Caliche) voiced Shardul Khan for Big Finish's The Emerald Tiger (2012)
• Christopher Fairbank (additional voice) voiced Pierre Arronax for The Wreck of the Titan (2010), Doc Baroque for The Scapegoat (2009), and Marc Brunel for Iron Bright (2018), then appeared as Fenton in Flatline
• ADR recordist Robert Edwards was a mixer on Hide, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, The Crimson Horror, Nightmare in Silver, The Name of the Doctor and Space and Time
• Peter Gleaves was also ADR mixer on The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar
• assistant cameraman Adam Lincoln was clapper loader on Blink

Doctor Who Vs. Titanic

Next April sees the re-release of 1997's Titanic movie - now in 3D - and a new Titanic mini-series for ITV1, written by Downton Abbey creator, Julian Fellowes. 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the loss of the famed liner, and the star-studded TV drama is planned to air over four consecutive nights. Headed by Geraldine Somerville (Cracker), Celia Imrie, and Linus Roache, the cast includes these Doctor Who cast connections:

• James Wilby (Bruce Ismay) has been cast as Tenebris for next year's The Acheron Pulse (Big Finish)
• Toby Jones (Batley) played the Dream Lord in Amy's Choice 
• Lee Ross (Barnes) was the Boatswain in The Curse of the Black Spot
• Sophie Winkleman (Dorothy) voiced Kelly Westwood for The Eight Truths and Worldwide Web (BF, both 2009)
• for Christine Kavanagh (Mrs Thayer) see A Very British Coup here
• Sylvestra Le Touzel (Lady Duff Gordon) made her TV debut, aged 10, in The Mind Robber, as a Child
• Simon Paisley Day (Lord Duff Gordon) was a Steward in The End of the World
• Miles Richardson (Astor) provided the voice of Black Rod for The Gunpowder Plot, and see Murder Rooms (here) for his previous roles
• Ruth Bradley (Mary) voices the Eight Doctor's new companion, Molly O'Sullivan for next year's Dark Eyes quartet
• Pandora Colin (Countess of Rothes) voiced Fash for Prisoner of the Sun (BF, 2010)
• Timothy West (Lord Pirie) voiced Kai Tobias for Phobos (2007), Ronald Turvey for Cuddlesome (2008), and Dr Magnus Soames for House of Blue Fire (2011) - all from Big Finish

Another forthcoming, big-budget TV production is also due to air next April. The BBC's 12-part Titanic: Blood and Steel chronicles the construction of the luxury liner in Belfast, over 15 years, at the cost of 105 lives. This drama star these Doctor Who guest actors:

• Michael Cochrane (Captain Smith) played Charles Cranleigh in Black Orchid, Redvers Fenn-Cooper in Ghost Light, and voiced three Big Finish roles - Lt. Col. Brook for No Man's Land (2006), Murgat for Brotherhood of the Daleks (2008), and Colonel Spindleton for Trail of the White Worm (2012) - he is the older brother of Martin Cochrane (Chellak in The Caves of Androzani)
• for Derek Jacobi (Lord Pirie) see my second Randall & Hopkirk blog
• Gray O'Brien (Bruce Ismay) was Rickston Slade onboard Titanic in Voyage of the Damned

James Cameron's record-breaking, Oscar-laden cinema epic also featured the following Doctor Who guest actors: 

• David Warner (Lovejoy) voiced five roles for Big Finish - the 'Unbound' Doctor for Sympathy for the Devil (2003), and Masters of War (2008), Isaac Newton for Circular Time: Summer (2007), Co-ordinator Angell for Empathy Games (2007), Siris for The Children of Seth (2011), and Professor Boston Schooner for Deimos (2010), and Lord Azlok for Dreamland (BBC Red Button/BBC2)
• Ron Donachie (Master-at-Arms) was a Steward in Tooth and Claw
• real-life husband and wife, Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayres (here as married couple, the Duff Gordons) were both in Jubilee (BF, 2003) as Nigel and Miriam Rochester, and the 3 'classic' TV roles of Jarvis can be found here
• Paul Brightwell (Quartermaster Hitchens) was the Surgeon in World Enough and Time
• Terry Forrestal (Bell) was a Tractor driver in K9 and Company

The Doctor Who Experience: A Review

I was lucky enough to visit the UK's latest Doctor Who exhibition recently. Situated at Olympia Two in Kensington, I had quite a trek from Earl's Court station, but did get to see a real Police Box which is stationed just outside. A more direct route is offered from Hammersmith tube station.

Visitors first walk into the 'vortex' and enter a waiting area, which holds some Series 5 props: a Smiler, a Winder, Silurians, and an Ironclad Dalek. You are then ushered into the first viewing room (basically benches facing a wall-screen). In specially shot footage, the Doctor (Matt Smith) here delivers a lengthy "mad man in a box" commentary to what is effectively an extended trailer to his first season. As the music fades, a huge crack-in-time becomes vertical, flares white, and slowly opens to form a darkened doorway, through which you are guided. You now find yourself in the National Museum aboard Starship UK, and monitors flicker on to reveal the Doctor, again trapped inside the Pandorica! Using his sonic screwdriver, he summons the TARDIS, which actually seems to materialise in front of the visiting 'shoppers'. Passing through those famous double doors into the impressive console room, the Doctor now appears on the scanner, and instructs his new companions to pilot his ship. Leaving by the 'back door' takes you into a control room where three paradigm Daleks threaten you with extermination, until the Doctor intervenes and you move on again.

From a dark and dry-iced corridor, the Weeping Angels menace your passage to the next level of the interactive Experience. Now provided with 3D glasses, 'shoppers' stand in a mock Underhenge chamber (complete with stone Dalek), and watch a brilliantly effective short film that features more monsters, like the Cybermen. The Doctor is then freed from his prison and banishes his enemies back into the swirling vortex.

The second stage of the Experience is more akin to the traditional Doctor Who exhibitions, such as Blackpool, which I last visited shortly before it closed it's doors permanently in 2009. On exiting the 3D show, visitors are now permitted to use their cameras as you start to view props, costumes, monsters, sets, and even workshops, from the 'revived' then 'classic' eras.

All eleven of the Doctor's costumes are displayed near the current TARDIS prop, and a (rather poor) Matt Smith waxwork. The outfits are complete originals, except those of the First and Second Doctors, which no longer survive (McCoy's jacket and later, Captain Jack's coat, are quite tatty). The Tenth Doctor's regeneration scene is played on a loop on a large, reconstructed and very impressive 'old' TARDIS set (last seen in The Doctor's Wife). Another console room (introduced in The Five Doctors) is presented nearby, with recent companion and TimeLord costumes, K9, the Melkur, and the Tom Baker era TARDIS prop. Another extensive hall displays a collection of Cyber-heads, and Davros here presides over the 'evolution' of his creations, from a 1963 Dalek to a paradigm Eternal.

Also present are the Abzorbaloff, a Slitheen, an Ice Warrior, a Zygon, a trio of Sontarans, Cat nuns, the Empty Child, Robot K1, the Silents, the Hath, Judoon, the Face of Boe, a Ganger, a Sycorax, an Ood, and even Idris' costume with the 'junk' TARDIS. One of the best concepts here is a documentary that examines Delia Derbyshire's legacy, and other workshops include choreography in NuWho.

The Experience has just extended it's residence in London to next February, then it moves to Cardiff as planned. For visiting times and ticket prices see here.

Radio Times Doctor Who Poll

Weekly TV listings magazine Radio Times has today released the results of it's latest Doctor Who poll, and listed the Doctor's most popular travelling companions. Unsurprisingly, NuWho's first (and to date, the longest serving) companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) heads the survey. Runner-up, and old fan favourite, Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elizabeth Sladen since 1973) is the most loved Classic series assistant, closely followed by the ever popular K9 (voiced by John Leeson), both highly placed no doubt due to the success of CBBC's The Sarah Jane Adventures. Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), newest TARDIS crewmember Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), and (thanks to Torchwood), Captain Jack (John Barrowman) complete the Top 6 positions. The full listing can be found at http://http://www.radiotimes.com/blogs/1103-doctor-who-billie-piper-rose-tyler-voted-best-companion/, and even includes the Doctor's helpers from the Specials. Guess who's ranked last at number 48? Anyway, here's the top 10:

1) Rose Tyler

2) Sarah Jane Smith

3) Donna Noble

4) K9

5) Amy Pond

6) Capt. Jack Harkness

7) Ace [McShane]

8) Leela of the Sevateem

9) Jo Grant

10) The Brigadier