Doctor Who Vs. Agatha Christie, Part 1

"Loss-of-memory cases are rare, but occasionally

genuine" The Disappearance of Mr. Dagenham (1924)

First screened in September 2004, BBC2 celebrated the life and

career of the Queen of Crime (1890-1976) with the drama, A Life

in Pictures.

Agatha's story was told in flashback, from her perspective at two

distinct times in her life - through the sessions with her psychiatrist (following her disappearance in 1926), and then via interviews at the

tenth anniversary of The Mousetrap in 1962. Much of the film focused

on her notorious disappearance, after her first husband Archie Christie

 had asked Agatha (portrayed by Olivia Williams) for a divorce. Whilst

some contemporary commentators suggested a publicity stunt, the

doctor here concluded that the writer had experienced a fugue state,

 and her amnesia was genuine. In 1999, Hercule Poirot and the Disappearing Novelist (part of BBC2's documentary series, The Great Detective) also supported that diagnosis.

Sky Arts' Agatha Christie Vs. Hercule Poirot later examined the

novelist's flight in the context of the reception to her latest work,

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

Gareth Roberts' story, The Unicorn and the Wasp also depicted the

events (albeit fictional) leading up to Agatha's flight. By the end of

 the episode, the action had moved from the Queen of Crime's

atypical setting - the English country house - to Silent Pool, where

her car was actually found abandoned. Here, the Doctor deduced

 that the incident caused Agatha's memory loss.

A Life in Pictures (last repeated by the BBC in 2008, then shown

on Drama in 2019) is now available on Britbox - it featured Mark

Gatiss, Bonnie Wright, and seven Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

• Anna [Raymond] Massey (Older Agatha here; Narrator of Death on the Nile, 1976; Miss Pebmarsh in The Clocks) voiced Miss Pollard for Big Finish's The Girl Who Never Was (2007)
• Raymond [Anthony] Coulthard (Archie Christie here; Raymond West for The Case of the Perfect Maid) voiced Loki/Edgar/Hawks for Cobwebs (2010), Ralph/Acolyte for Suburban Hell (2015), and Robac/Servers/Dalmari for The Destination Wars (2017)
• Anthony O'Donnell (Kenward/Poirot) was Commander Kaagh in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Enemy of the Bane and The Last Sontaran
• Bertie [born Robert] Carvel (Max Mallowan here; Osborne in The Pale Horse, 2020) was the Mysterious Man in The Lazarus Experiment
• Olivia Darnley (Nurse here; Cherry in The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, 2010) voiced Emily Cole for Prisoner of the Ood (2018), and made a cameo appearance in The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot
• Tim McMullan (Pharmacist here; Meredith in The Witness for the Prosecution, 2016) voiced the Eight for Doom Coalition 3 (2016)
• Mick Pantaleo was also the first assistant director on A Christmas Carol, The Doctor's Wife and Night Terror, then producer on Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar and Agatha and the Midnight Murders

The Mysterious Case of Agatha Christie (part of Sky's Urban

Myths strand) aired in April 2018, and featured seven other

Doctor Who links:

• Anna [born Charlotte] Maxwell Martin (Christie here; Sophia for Crooked House, 2008; Ethel in And Then There Were None, 2015) was Suki Macrae Cantrell in The Long Game, then voiced Maddie Bower for The Diary of River Song 2 (2016)
• Bill Paterson (Conan Doyle here; Bradley in The Pale Horse, 2010) was Dr. Edwin Bracewell in Victory of the Daleks and The Pandorica Opens
• Rosie Cavaliero (Dorothy L Sayers here; Bunch for Sanctuary & Tape-Measure Murder) voiced Cassie Schofield for Project: Twilight (2001) and Project: Lazarus (2003), and Marge Ellmore for Infamy of the Zaross (2017)
• Mark Bonnar (Billy here; Alfred for 4.50 from Paddington, 1997) was Jimmy in The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People, then voiced Heath Porteus for The English Way of Death (2015), Zoltan Frid for The Labyrinth of Buda Castle (2016), and the Eleven for Doom Coalition, Ravenous, Dark Universe (2020) and UNIT: Nemesis 1 (2021)
• Adrian [Philip] Scarborough (Danders) was Kahler Jex in A Town Called Mercy and The Making of the Gunslinger, and voiced Rupert Von Thal for The Boy That Time Forgot (2008)
• Tor Clark (Angela) was a Teacher in Let's Kill Hitler
• Alex Kaye Besley was second assistant director on The Shakespeare Code too

Doctor Who Vs. Brexit: The Uncivil War

This topical political drama chronicled
the controversial activities of the official
pro-Brexit group in the run-up to the
momentous EU Referendum of June
23 2016.
Writer James Graham also scripted
Coalition and The Vote. Benedict
Cumberbatch depicted Dominic
Cummings, director of the ultimately
victorious Vote Leave campaign.
Shown on Channel 4 last night, the TV
film featured Mark Gatiss (the voice
of Peter Mandelson), and eighteen
Doctor Who cast and crew alumni:

• Toby Haynes also directed The Pandorica Opens, The Big Bang, A Christmas Carol, The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon
• Cumberbatch voiced Egyptologist Howard Carter for Big Finish's Forty Five: Fake Gods (2008)
• John Heffernan (Elliott) voiced Vonchef for Revenge of the Swarm (2004), the Impostor for Doom Coalition 3 (2016), Honos for The Seventh Doctor: The New Adventures 1 (2018), the Nine for Ravenous 3 and The Legacy of Time (both 2019)
• Tim McMullan (Jenkin) voiced Octavian for Doom Coalition 3
• Rory Kinnear (Oliver) voiced Samuel Belfrage for Industrial Evolution (2011)
• Liz White (Mary) and Annabelle Dowler (Facilitator) both appeared in The Snowmen, as Alice and Walter's Mother
• Simon Paisley Day (Carswell) was the Steward in The End of the World, and Rump in Face the Raven
• Henrietta Clemett (Lucy) was Matilda in The Impossible Astronaut
• Rakie Ayola (Camilla) was the Hostess in Midnight, then voiced Pollia and Lambda Epsilon for The Time War 2 (2018), and Andrea for One Mile Down (2019)
• Mark Dexter (Voice of David Cameron) was Dad in Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead
• stuntman Glenn Marks was stunt co-ordinator on Human Nature, The Family of Blood and Blink
• Matthew Cannings was film editor on The Snowmen too
• Florence Tasker (graphic designer) was buyer on twelve episodes (from Asylum of the Daleks to The Name of the Doctor)
• Joe Malone was sound assistant on The Husbands of River Song too
• John Mooney (sound mixer) was sound assistant on Remembrance of the Daleks, (part 3 of) Silver Nemesis, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Battlefield and Ghost Light
• Euan Toms was ADR assistant on The Witchfinders too
• Rob Carter was also steadicam operator on The Bells of Saint John, The Rings of Akhaten and Last Christmas

Doctor Who Vs. Bodyguard

This political thriller from World Productions
 (now part of ITV Studios) was created and
scripted by Jed Mercurio, writer of Cardiac 
Arrest and Line of Duty.
When protection officer Sergeant David
Budd (portrayed by Richard Madden) is
assigned to guard the ambitious and
powerful Home Secretary Julia Montague
(Keely Hawes) he is torn between his duty
and his beliefs. The former soldier despises
everything she stands for but is responsible
for her safety.

The six-part series attracted an audience of
11 million as it concluded last night, the best
ratings for a BBC drama since The Next
 Doctor aired in 2008. Bodyguard featured
Gina McKee, and ten Doctor Who cast and
crew connections:

• Hawes played Ms. Delphox in Time Heist
• Stephanie Hyam (Chanel) was Heather in The Pilot and The Doctor Falls
• Vincent Franklin (Travis) voiced Lord Stormblood for Big Finish's Doom Coalition 2 (2016)
• Pippa Haywood (Craddock) voiced Jaxa for Ravenous 2, and Teremon for The War Master 2 (both 2018)
• Nina Toussaint White (Rayburn) was Mels in Let's Kill Hitler, and voiced Brooke 2 for The Diary of River Song 3, and Loba Christata for Tales From New Earth (both 2018)
• David Westhead (Vosler PM) was Kempe in The Shakespeare Code
• Anji Mohindra (Nadia) was Rani Chandra in The Sarah Jane Adventures, and voiced Jyoti Cutler for Scavenger (2014)
• Wendy Albiston (Receptionist) voiced Madame de Chevreuse for The Church and the Crown (2002)
• Tina Simmons (Nurse) began her career as an Inferno Customer in (episode 1 of) The War Machines
• Iain Atkinson was second assistant director on Flatline too

Doctor Who Vs. From Hell

The most recent cinematic depiction of
the Whitechapel Murders of 1888 was
this big-budget Hollywood thriller, 
directed by the Hughes brothers, and
released by Fox in 2001.

Based on the graphic novel series of the
same name by Alan Moore and Eddie
Campbell (originally published in Taboo
from 1989 to 1992, then issued in a
collected edition in 1999), the film also
presents the most widely known theory
behind the Jack the Ripper mystery -
the Royal conspiracy.

The cast was led by Johnny Depp and
Robbie Coltrane as real-life detectives,
Inspector Frederick Abberline (1843-
1929) and Sergeant George Godley
(1856-1941). Heather Graham
portrayed the final canonical victim, Mary Kelly (who actually survived
here), Ian Holm was royal doctor, Sir William Gull (who became a Ripper suspect in the 1970's), and Ian Richardson was Sir Charles Warren (1840-1927), the beleaguered Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

From Hell was shown again on the 5Star channel last night, and also
featured eighteen Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Ian McNeice (Coroner Drudge) played Winston Churchill in Victory of the Daleks and The Wedding of River Song (a role reprised by Big Finish for The Churchill Years and Ravenous), and voiced Zeus for Immortal Beloved (2007), and Reginald Harcourt for Renaissance Man (2012)
• Susan Lynch (Liz Stride) was Angstrom in The Ghost Monument
• Lesley Sharp (Kate Eddowes) was Sky Silvestry in Midnight
• Samantha Spiro (Martha Tabram) was Hazran in The Doctor Falls
• Joanna Page (Ann Crook) was Queen Elizabeth I in The Day of the Doctor
• Paul Rhys (Dr. Ferral) voiced Max Paul for The Scapegoat (2009)
• Mark Dexter (Prince Eddy) was Dad in Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead 
• David Schofield (McQueen) was Odin in The Girl Who Died, and voiced Billy for Death in Blackpool (2009), and Nostradamus and Conclave Leader for The Doomsday Quatrain (2011)
• Sophia Myles (Victoria) was Reinette in The Girl in the Fireplace, and voiced Rania Chuma for Kill the Doctor! and The Age of Sutekh (both 2018)
• Vincent Franklin (George Lusk) voiced Lord Stormblood for Doom Coalition 2 (2016)
• Steve John Shepherd (Constable) voiced Simon Devlin for UNIT: Extinction (2015)
• Donald Douglas (Director) was Vural in The Sontaran Experiment
• John Owens (Governor) was Thorpe in The Daemons
• Gary Powell (Constable) was Dev Ashton in 42
• Anthony Parker (John Merrick, the Elephant Man) was a Millennium FX technician on The Family of Blood, Utopia, The Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords, The Rebel Flesh, The Almost People, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and The Snowmen
• Rupert Holliday Evans (Sailor) was Colonel Mace in The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky
• James Greene (Governor) was the Abbott in The Bells of Saint John
• sound mixer John Taylor was a boom operator on The Five Doctors

Doctor Who Vs. The Witness For The Prosecution

Writer Sarah Phelps followed BBC One's 

And Then There Were None (2015) 

with another Agatha Christie thriller,
first shown at Christmas 2016.

The Witness for the Prosecution began

life as a short story, published as Traitor Hands by Flynn's Weekly in 1925.
The courtroom drama was first adapted
for radio in 1949, then was dramatised
for the London stage in late 1953.
During its run, Christie also had two
other plays staged, making her the
only female playwright to have three
productions performed simultaneously
in the West End.

The play was soon adapted for cinema
in 1957, starring Charles Laughton,
Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power.
The original story has now garnered
four treatments for television - 

previous serials appeared in 1949

(BBC), 1953 (CBS), 1982 (Hallmark).
Christie aficionado Kim Cattrall contacted Mammoth Screen when the BBC 

announced plans for the newest version, and was consequently cast as
Emily French.

A repeat run of this two-part mystery began on BBC Four last night - it 

featured Andrea Riseborough (as Romaine), Billy Howle (Leonard Vole), 

and nine Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Toby Jones (Mayhew here; Ratchett in Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express) was the Dream Lord in Amy's Choice, and voiced Kotris for Big Finish's Dark Eyes (2012)
• David Haig (Carter here; Horton in Marple: Murder is Easy) was Pangol in The Leisure Hive
• Tim McMullan (Meredith KC) voiced Octavian for Doom Coalition 3 (BF, 2016)
• Charles De'Ath (Deveraux) was Adelaide's Father in The Waters of Mars
• Andrew Havill (Starling here; Peel in Partners in Crime; Hjerson in Poirot: The Clocks) was the Chief Steward in Voyage of the Damned, and voiced Aleister Portillon and Squire Claude for The Witch From the Well (BF, 2011)
• executive producer Damian Timmer (here, Poirot, Marple, And Then There Were None and Ordeal By Innocence) made a cameo appearance in An Adventure in Space and Time as a Menoptera
• SFX supervisor Scott McIntyre was the armourer on The Day of the Doctor
• Julius Ogden (first assistant camera) was focus puller on nine stories (from Closing Time to the 50th Anniversary special)
• Joe Russell was also a camera operator on thirty-seven episodes (from Blink to the Anniversary special)

Doctor Who Vs. North Sea Hijack

This British thriller from Cinema Seven Productions
was known as Ffolkes outside the UK, then was
renamed Assault Force for American TV. The film
was a vehicle for Roger Moore and Anthony Perkins
- both wanted to escape typecasting roles. James
Bond actor Moore followed Moonraker with this
project, whilst Perkins was best known for Psycho.

Released by Universal in 1980, the feature was a
box office flop - it was shown on the Spike channel
today - it featured James Mason, and seventeen
Doctor Who cast connections:

• Jeremy Clyde (Tipping) voiced George Sinclair for Big Finish's Doom Coalition (2016)
• George Baker (Fletcher) was Decider Login in Full Circle
• John Lee (Phillips) was Alydon (pictured) in The Daleks
• Tim Bentinck (Harris) voiced Giles Moreau and Jenkins for Destination Nerva, Roger Buchman for Wirrn Isle (both 2012), Nathaniel Whitlock for Moonflesh (2013), both Ned Bones and Lord Burghley for The Devil's Armada (2014), Colonel Radlett for The English Way of Death, Chowdras and Governor for Planet of the Rani (both 2015), General Kallix for The War Doctor 2: Infernal Devices (2016), Wakefield and Stonegood for The Contingency Club, Professor Edward Travers and the Great Intelligence for The New Counter Measures 2 (both 2017), and Lord Crozion for Kingdom of Lies (2018)
• Thane Bettany (Heyerdal) was Tarak in State of Decay
• Jonathan Newth (Kirk) was Orfe in Underworld
• Martin Matthews (Man) was Kurster in The Androids of Tara
• Eiji Kusuhara (Eiji) was a Chinaman in Four to Doomsday, and voiced Professor Toshio Shimura for Enemy of the Daleks (BF, 2010)
• Eric Mason (Stallemo) was Smedley in The Sea Devils, and Green in The Mind of Evil
• Barry Andrews (Driver) was Stott in Nightmare of Eden
• David Ashford (Cab Driver) was Dad in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
• Dinny Powell, Greg Powell (Assault Team Member) and stuntmen Martin Grace, Rick Lester, Valentino Musetti and Mark McBride all worked on the classic run

Doctor Who Vs. King Charles III

This Drama Republic production was adapted by
Mike Bartlett from his own Olivier award-winning
West End play, and starred most of the original cast.
In his final TV role, Tim Pigott-Smith portrayed
Charles, who begins his reign still haunted by
Princess Diana and struggling in a position he has
waited sixty years to hold.

The film opens with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth
II and the accession of Prince Charles. The new
monarch soon causes a constitutional crisis when
he refuses to sign a controversial bill to censure the
press, and the political fallout worsens when the
King dissolves Parliament. 

A thoroughly Shakespearean climax sees Prince William wrestle the throne from his father by forcing him to abdicate and thereby saving the monarchy.

King Charles III was shown on BBC Two last night, and featured eight Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Bartlett later scripted Knock Knock
• Pigott-Smith played Captain Harker in The Claws of Axos, and Marco in The Masque of Mandragora
• Katie Brayben ( Diana) was Ellie in Oxygen
• John Shrapnel (Archbishop of Canterbury) and Tim McMullan (Reiss) both starred in Big Finish's Doom Coalition 3 (2016) as Thomas Cromwell and Octavian respectively - Shrapnel has also been cast in The False Guardian and Time's Assassin (new for 2019)
• Adam James (Prime Minister) was DI Macmillan in Planet of the Dead
• Rupert Vansittart (Sir Matthew) was General Asquith in Aliens of London and World War Three, and voiced Sepulchre for Dead London (BF, 2008)
• producer Simon Maloney was the first assistant director on An Adventure in Space and Time

Doctor Who Vs. Prime Suspect, Series 7

Actors Helen Mirren (as DCS Jane Tennison), 
Robert Pugh (DS Simms), and Tom Bell 
(retired DS Bill Otley) all returned for the 
seventh and final season of Granada's 
acclaimed, multi-award winning police 
procedural drama.

Originally shown in October 2006, the serial 
earned three further Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Miniseries and Lead Actress for 
Mirren) and another BAFTA.
Lynda La Plante's novel Tennison was adapted by Noho Film, and the six-part prequel series, 
Prime Suspect: 1973, launched on ITV last night.

The two-part case (subtitled The Final Act)
began another repeat run on ITV3 last night, and featured Brendan Coyle (as DCS Mitchell), Robbie Gee (DI Traynor), Russell Mabey (DS 
Cox), Stephen Tompkinson (Sean Philips), and ten Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Big Finish actor Laura Doddington (DC Wood) voiced Zara for The Judgement of Isskar, The Prisoner's Dilemma, The Chaos Pool (all 2009), The Archive (2015) and Wicked Sisters (2020), Vale Endrogan for Gallifrey: Intervention Earth (2015), Idratz for The Very Dark Thing, Delilah for The Torchwood Archive (both 2016), and Lady Sutlumu for The War Master 6 (2021)
• Carolyn Pickles (Pauline) voiced Lady Meera Darone for Army of Death (2011), and Cardinal Ollistra for Doom Coalition 4 (2017)
• Seroca Davis (Delores) was Shona in Closing Time
• Nonso Anozie (Robert) was Hydroflax (pictured) in The Husbands of River Song
• Tim Preece (Speaker) was Codal in Planet of the Daleks, and voiced the President for Unbound: He Jests at Scars (2003)
• Helen Griffin (Speakers) was Mrs. Moore in Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel, then voiced both Director Cardell and Ship's Computer for Cobwebs (2010)
• Ricky Nixon (Bishop) voiced Turma for The War Master 3 (2019)
• make-up designer Deanne Turner was an artist on Planet of the Daleks
• Alex Kaye-Besley was an assistant director on The Shakespeare Code too
• SFX technician Charlie Bluett worked on forty-one stories (from Rose to Before the Flood), The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and Class

Doctor Who Vs. Murder on the Home Front

This period drama from Carnival Films
was inspired by Evidence for the Crown,
a book by Molly Lefebure (1919-2013)
which chronicled the writer's wartime
work with pioneering forensic pathologist
Dr. Keith Simpson (1907-1985).
1940: the height of the London Blitz.
Dr. Lennox Collins (Home Office
pathologist, forensic sciencist and
advocate of Locard's principle) is enlisted
by Scotland Yard when a prostitute is strangled and a Swastika is found carved on her tongue. Collins, played by Patrick Kennedy (Bleak House, War Horse)
is assisted in the hunt for the 'Nazi
Strangler' by his new secretary and
would-be crime reporter Molly (Tamzin
Merchant).
The two-part serial (originally shown in May 2013) was repeated on ITV3
last night, and featured thirteen Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Geoffrey Sax directed the Doctor Who TV Movie too
• James Fleet (Professor Stephens) voiced O'Reilley for Max Warp (2008), Geoff Cooper for The Entropy Composition, and Martin Ashcroft and Sir Jack Merrivale for Special Features (both included on The Demons of Red Lodge and Other Stories release of 2010)
• Richard Bremmer (Maxton) voiced General Hemmings, Valcon and Taxi Driver all for The Valley of Death (BF, 2011), and Old Beowulf for Black and White (BF, 2012)
• John Heffernan (Zeigler) voiced Vonchef for Revenge of the Swarm (BF, 2014), and the Imposter for Doom Coalition 3 (BF, 2016)
• Angus Wright (Carver) voiced Magnus Greel for The Butcher of Brisbane (BF, 2012), and Alek Zenos for We Are The Daleks (BF, 2015)
• Greg Bennett (PC) was a Sycorax Warrior and UNIT Soldier in The Christmas Invasion, and a Guest in The Lazarus Experiment
• Paul Heasman was the stunt co-ordinator on Survival too, and was an uncredited Nazi in Silver Nemesis
• stunt performers Lee Sheward, Kim McGarrity, Seon Rogers and Marcus Shakesheff all worked on the revived run
• Gareth Spensley was also the colourist on twenty-two stories (from The God Complex to The Return of Doctor Mysterio)
• script supervisor Karen Jones began her TV career as PA on Mindwarp