Doctor Who Vs. Asylum

Shown again on the Horror channel last night, 

this British horror film (known as House of 

Crazies in America) was the  fifth anthology

feature from Amicus Productions.

Prolific award-winning author and screenwriter

Robert Bloch (Psycho) adapted four of his own short stories here (as portmanteau tales Frozen Fear, The Weird Tailor, Lucy Comes to Stay and

 Mannikins of Horror).

The feature was directed by Roy Ward Baker

(A Night to Remember, Quatermass and the 

Pit), and produced by Max Rosenberg and 

Milton Subotsky.

Released by Cinerama in 1972, the film 

featured regular Amicus lead and genre

legend Peter Cushing (as Smith), Robert Powell, Britt Ekland, Charlotte Rampling, Herbert Lom, and nine other Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Richard Todd (Walter) played Sanders (pictured) in Kinda
• Sylvia Syms (Ruth) was Mrs. Pritchard in Ghost Light
• Geoffrey Bayldon (Max) was Organon in The Creature from the Pit, then later voiced Big Finish's first Unbound Doctor for both Auld Mortality (2003) and A Storm of Angels (2005)
• Sylvia Marriott (Head Nurse) was Lexa's Follower in Meglos
• John Franklyn-Robbins (Stebbins) was a Time Lord in (part 1 of) Genesis of the Daleks
• Tony Wall (Houseman) was Napoleon Bonaparte in The Reign of Terror: Prisoners of Conciergerie
• Anthony Waye (assistant director), Pamela Davies (continuity), and Gerald Larn (titles designer) all worked on Aaru's Dalek movies

Doctor Who Vs. The Whistle Blower

This British spy thriller (shown yesterday
on the movies4men channel), was based on
the novel by John Hale, and centred on the
mysterious death of a British Intelligence
agent, Bob Jones (played by Nigel Havers).
Michael Caine led the cast here as Frank
Jarvis, a father determined to uncover a
Cold War conspiracy that silenced his son -
a GCHQ translator who was about to 'blow
the whistle' on illegal and unethical practices.
The Whistle Blower followed other timely
political dramas Defence of the Realm, and
A Very British Coup (dramatised in 1988
and 2012).
Released in late 1986, the film also featured
John Gielgud, Gordon Jackson, and eleven
Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Havers was Peter Dalton (pictured left) in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, and voiced Dr. Nick Zimmerman for Big Finish's No More Lies (2007)
• James Fox (Lord) voiced Professor Chronotis for Shada (BF, 2003)
• Kenneth Colley (Pickett) voiced Cristophe Zarodnix for Sisters of the Flame and Vengeance of Morbius (both 2008)
• Big Finish actor Trevor Cooper (DI Bourne) was [Lancelot] Takis in Revelation of the Daleks and Friar Tuck in Robot of Sherwood, and voiced Sir Ralph for The Doomwood Curse, Shanks for The Haunting of Thomas Brewster (both 2008), Judah for The Beast of Orlok, Smithy for Castle of Fear (both 2009), both Captain Maddox and Stennan for Army of Death (2011), both the Colonel and Kimball for The Emerald Tiger (2012), and both Jonathan Jaggers and Mr. Preddle for Judoon in Chains (2016)
• Peter Miles (Kedge) was Dr. Charles Lawrence in The Silurians, Professor Whitaker for Invasion of the Dinosaurs, then was Nyder in Genesis of the Daleks, a role he reprised for both The Trial of Davros (2005), and I, Davros: Guilt (BF, 2006) - he also voiced Tragan for The Paradise of Death, and Curator Gantman for Whispers of Terror (BF, 1999)
• John Gill (Clergyman) was Oak in Fury from the Deep
• David Telfer (Ticket Collector) was the Huntsman in The Creature from the Pit
• Walter Henry (Veteran) was an Extra in (episode 2 of) The Myth Makers and The Silurians (6), a Primord in Inferno (6), and a Brother in The Masque of Mandragora (1 and 3)
• Raymond Hughes was costume designer on The Invisible Enemy too
• production buyer Peter Walpole was the set decorator on Rose, The End of the World, The Unquiet Dead, Aliens of London and World War Three
• Magdalen Gaffney was make-up artist on Death to the Daleks too