Doctor Who Vs. Inspector Morse Specials

Central's final Morse mysteries
 were all based on Colin Dexter's
 last crime novels, and were first

screened from 1995 to 2000.

John Thaw and Kevin Whately
again portrayed the Oxford-based

detectives (although Lewis did not appear in the penultimate thriller,

which examined a real-life Victorian

murder).

Published in 1999, Dexter's final work, The Remorseful Day, con-

cluded the thirteen year saga with

Morse's death - the drama spawned

two spin-off series, Lewis (2006 to 2015) and Endeavour (2012-2024). Three-times BAFTA winner (twice for Morse) John Thaw died in 2002, aged 60, whilst Dexter's death at the age

of 86 was announced in March 2017.

A repeat run of the five cases concluded on ITV3 today - they featured a

total of twenty-eight Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

The Way Through the Woods

(Published 1992/UK TX: November 29 1995)

• Nicholas Le Prevost (Dr. Hardinge) voiced the Barber Surgeon for Big Finish's The War Doctor Begins 4 (2022)
• Christopher Fairbank (Daley) was Fenton in Flatline, and voiced Doc Baroque for The Scapegoat (2009), Pierre Arronax for The Wreck of the Titan (2010), and Marc Brunel for Iron Bright (2018)
• Gary Powell (Parnell) was Dev Ashton in 42
• Robin Soans (McBryde here; Straker in Endeavour: Fugue) was Luvic in The Keeper of Traken, and Chronolock Guy in Face the Raven, then Narrator of BBC Audio's The Sins of Winter (2015)
• Damien Timmer (script editor here & Death is Now My Neighbour; executive producer on Lewis and Endeavour) was a Menoptera in An Adventure in Space and Time

The Daughters of Cain

(Published 1994/UK TX: November 27 1996)

• Phyllis Logan (Julia) was Andinio in The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
• Nadim [Joakim] Sawalha (Dr. Hassan) voiced Sapnil Khan for The Magic Mousetrap (2009), and the Old Man for 1001 Nights (2012)
• Nicky Goldie (WPC) voiced the Spillager Empress for Winter for the Adept, Valeria Hedone for The Fires of Vulcan (both 2000), Inquisitor Danby for Excelis Rising (2002), and Polk for The Moonrakers (2020)
• Andrew [James] Spooner (Technician) voiced Panpipe/Whydini/ Conductor/Ragnarok God for The Psychic Circus (2019), Professor Brooke for Genetics of the Daleks (2020), Tarlos/Fanza for Colony of Fear, Artie for Prey and Vengeance (all 2021), Kedge Ampston for Heart of Orion, Engineer Sabo for Power of the Dominators, Clutch Father for The Tides of the Moon (all 2022), Librarian/Herder/Helms- man for The Green Gift (2023), Dr. Erno Balthazar/Bartholomew for Last Words, Ogrons for Unknown Soldiers (both 2024), Bailiff/Eustace/ Norris for The Final Poblom, Chief Elect Tuldra for The Remains of Kaerula and The Ruins of Kaerula, and Dr. Varna/Marshal Duhrak for The Worst of All Evils (all 2025)
• hair stylist Lisa Pickering began her TV career as assistant make-up artist on (part 4 of) Warriors' Gate

Death is Now My Neighbour

(Published 1996/UK TX: November 19 1997)

• Richard [David] Briers (Bream) was the Chief Caretaker in Paradise Towers
• John [Morley] Shrapnel (Dr. Storrs here; Morse for BBC Radio 4) voiced Thomas Cromwell for The Eighth Piece and The Doomsday Chronometer (both 2016), and Nigel Colloon for The False Guardian and Time's Assassin (both 2019)
• Susan Engel (Dora) was Cessair in The Stones of Blood, then voiced Muriel Joy for A Blind Eye (2004)
• Maggie Steed [born Baker] (Angela) voiced Madamme Rana Zandusia for Mission to Magnus (2009)
• Candida Gubbins (Sarah) voiced Nimriel/May for London Orbital (2022)
• Julia Dalkin (Rachel) voiced Hannah Fry for Phantasmagoria (1999), then was Janet in Global Conspiracy?
• [John] Colin McCormack (Hargreaves) was the Commander in The Sun Makers

The Wench is Dead

(Published 1989/UK TX: November 11 1998)

• Alan [Grey] Mason (Greenaway) was Corporal Nutting in The Silurians
• Sara Carver (Fiona) voiced Andrea Winnington for UNIT (2004), the Khellian Queen for Three's a Crowd (2005), Kim Kronotska for Memory Lane (2006), and Sylvia for City of the Daleks
• Juliet Cowan (Joanna) was Chrissie Jackson in The Sarah Jane Adventures, then voiced Bryer in Come Die With Me, and Adriana Beauvais for Dead to the World (both 2015)
• Steve Robinson was also assistant director on The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks

The Remorseful Day (UK TX: November 15 2000)

• writer Stephen Churchett was Bill in Attack of the Cybermen
• Paul [born Peter John] Freeman (Harrison) voiced Jalnik for The Foe from the Future (2011)
• TP [Thomas Patrick] McKenna (Phelps) was Captain Cook in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy 
• Colin Spaull (Chas) was [August] Lilt in Revelation of the Daleks, Crane in Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel, then voiced Colonel Baxter for The Fearless (2007), and Henrik for Grand Theft Cosmos (2008)
• Aiden J David (Holmes) voiced Lish for The Raincloud Man (2008)
• Simon Hepworth (Harrison here; Tingwell in Endeavour: Pylon) voiced Miles McLellan/Pandora/Server/Orderly/Pilot for Open the Box (2018)
• film editor Jamie McCoan edited Blink too 

Doctor Who Vs. The Pale Horse

The Queen of Crime's fifty-second
crime novel (serialised then pub-
lished in 1961) featured novelist
Ariadne Oliver. She also appeared
in seven other books (from 1936
to 1972), but was omitted from
both of ITV's adaptations of The 
Pale Horse (shown in 1997 and
2010), and Mammoth Screen's

version.
The mystery was also dramatised
twice for BBC Radio, in 1993 and
2014. BBC1's most recent Agatha

Christie thriller (another screen-

play from Sarah Phelps) was first

shown in February 2020. The full,

two-part version was repeated on

BBC4 last night - it featured Rufus Sewell, Kaya Scodelario, and twenty-

one Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Bertie [born Robert] Carvel (Osborne here; Max Mallowan in Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures) was the Mysterious Man in The Lazarus Experiment
• Sean [Carl] Pertwee (DI Lejeune here; Oglander in The King of Clubs; Dr. Griffith in The Moving Finger, 2006; Stubbs in Dead Man's Folly, 2013) made a cameo appearance in The Five(ish) Doctors
• Claire Skinner (Yvonne here; Amy in A Murder is Announced, 2005; Miss Rich in Cat Among the Pigeons;) was Madge Arwell in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
• Sarah Woodward (Clemency here; Jane in Death in the Clouds) voiced Theodora for Secret History (2015), Vesh Taralesh for Stolen Goods (2018), and Anla Jessik for The Quest of the Engineer (2020)
• James [Edward] Fleet (Venables here; Carter in The Secret Adversary; Scudamore & Sherston for Absent in the Spring) voiced O'Reilley for Max Warp (2008), Geoff Cooper for The Entropy Composition, and Martin Ashcroft and Sir Jack Merrivale for Special Features (both 2010)
• Nicky Goldie (Mrs. Coppins here; cast in Witness for the Prosecution, 2024) voiced the Spillager Empress for Winter for the Adept, Valeria Hedone for The Fires of Vulcan (both 2000), Inquisitor Danby for Excelis Rising (2002), and Polk for The Moonrakers (2020)
• stunt co-ordinators Dani Biernat and Crispin Layfield both worked on the revived run
• Matt Hermiston was stuntman on The Woman Who Fell to Earth too
• Charlotte Mitchell (costume designer here; assistant on Poirot) was costume assistant on Love & Monsters, then supervisor on Blink and Turn Left
• David Key was also camera assistant on six adventures (from Last Christmas to Twice Upon a Time)
• Joanne Pearce (art director) was prop buyer on The Return of Doctor Mysterio, The Pilot, Smile and The Doctor Falls
• James Moss was also camera operator on The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky and Torchwood
• Matt Sanders (art director was draughtsman on ten episodes (from the 2016 Christmas special to Twice Upon a Time) and artist on Class
• Gareth Webb (3rd Crowd AD) was floor runner on Hide, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, Nightmare in Silver and The Name of the Doctor
• Shirley Schumacher was also focus puller on The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks
• Dewi Jones (sound first assistant) was boom operator on The Five (ish) Doctors Reboot
• Mark Turner was SFX supervisor on The Long Game too
• Ben Blackall was also stills photographer on twenty stories (from The Woman Who Fell to Earth to The Timeless Children)
• Luke Jefferson was first assistant camera on Death in Heaven too
• Monty Till (location manager) was unit manager on eight episodes (from The Snowmen to The Time of the Doctor)