Doctor Who Vs. Prime Suspect 2

Actors Helen Mirren (as DCI Jane Tennison), 
John Benfield (CS Mike Kernan), Jack Ellis
(DI Muddyman), Craig Fairbrass (DI Burkin), 
Richard Hawley (DC Haskons), Ian Fitzgibbon
(DC Jones), Philip Wright (DC Lillie), and Andrew Tiernan (DC Rosper) all returned for the second 
season of Granada's acclaimed, multi-award 
winning police procedural drama.

Originally shown in December 1992, the serial 
earned its first Emmy Award (for Outstanding Miniseries) and Mirren won her second Best 
Actress BAFTA.

The two-part case (again written by Lynda La
Plante and subtitled Operation Nadine) concluded
another repeat run on ITV3 last night, and 
featured Geoffrey Beevers (as the Coroner) and
ten other Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Colin Salmon (DS Oswalde) was Dr. Moon (pictured) in Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, then voiced Trooper Salway for Big Finish's Wirrn Dawn (2009)
• Lloyd McGuire (Calder) was Lugo in (part 1) of The Face of Evil, and voiced Lieutenant Tendexter for The Architects of History (2010)
• Tom Watson (Harvey) was Ramo in The Underwater Menace
• Matt Bardock (Reynolds) was Al in Flatline
• Nina Sosanya (Joanne) was Trish Webber in Fear Her
• Adrian Schiller (Gold here and Series 3) was Uncle in The Doctor's Wife, and voiced Zanith for Time Works (2006)
• Junior Laniyan (Allen) was Suited Customer in Time Heist
• Michael Fitzgerald (Rodin) was the Duke of Manhattan in New Earth
• David Ryall (Bream) voiced both Carthok and Valentine for Phantasmagoria (1999)
• Carol Noakes (Newsreader) voiced Olerik for The Acheron Pulse (2012)

Doctor Who Vs. Titanic (2012)

The centenary of the loss of RMS Titanic was marked by
ITV's big-budget costume drama, written by Downton
 Abbey creator, Julian Fellowes. Titanic set out to paint
a picture of Edwardian society, telling the stories of 
almost a hundred characters, both real and fictional,
from every social level.

Their narratives were developed and interwoven over the first three parts, each of which ended in a cliff-
hanger as the disaster unfolds. The final episode drew
all these separate strands together and revealed who survived the sinking.

The series first aired over four Sunday nights in March
and April 2012 (and two consecutive nights on
American TV), and concluded another repeat run on
ITV Encore last night.
The star-studded cast of Titanic, headed by Geraldine Somerville and Linus Roache, featured Jenna Louise
Coleman (pictured as Annie Desmond), Ruth Bradley
 (Mary Maloney), and seventeen other Doctor Who cast connections:

• Toby Jones (Batley) played the Dream Lord in Amy's Choice, and voiced renegade Time Lord Kotris for Big Finish's Dark Eyes (2012)
• Linus [William] Roache (Manton) was Reginald Pye in Lux
• Celia Immrie (Grace) was Miss Kizlet in The Bells of Saint John, and voiced Dr. Elizabeth Bradley for Counter Measures (BF, 2013), Madame Tissot for Gallery of Ghouls, and Livia for Gallifrey: Enemy Lives (both 2016)
• James Wilby (Bruce Ismay) voiced Tenebris for both The Acheron Pulse and The Shadow Heart (2012)
• 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)
• Christine Kavanagh (Mrs. Thayer) was Aram in Timelash
• Sylvestra Le Touzel (Lady Duff Gordon) made her TV debut, aged 10, in The Mind Robber, as a Child
• Simon Paisley Day (Duff Gordon) was a Steward in The End of the World, and Rump in Face the Raven
• Big Finish actor Miles Richardson (JJ Astor) was Captain Douglas Cavendish in both video spin-off dramas Downtime (1995) and Daemos Rising (2004), and voiced Charles Darwin for Bloodtide (2001), Irving Braxiatel for Zagreus (2003), Theatre of War (2015) and Gallifrey: Enemy Lines, and Black Rod for The Gunpowder Plot
• Brian McCardie (First Officer Murdoch) voiced Alan Weir for Masters of Earth (BF, 2014)
• Ben Bishop (Lyons) voiced Stone for The Justice of Jalxar (BF, 2013)
• 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)
• Jeff Mash (Valet) was Grant in Day of the Moon
• Mark Lewis Jones (Evans) voiced Professor Oliver Mortlake for The Darkness of Glass (BF, 2015)
• Olivia Darnley (Bessie) made a cameo appearance in The Five(ish) Doctors as Kourtney

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

The Daily Telegraph Presents The 80 Best BBC Shows Of All Time

The Telegraph, that renowned right-wing 

broadsheet, has revealed the results of its 

latest cultural survey. 

The poll marks the eightieth anniversary of 

the BBC's television service, which launched 

at Alexander Palace in November 1936. 

The newspaper's TV critics chose their eighty 

favourite TV programmes produced by the 

Corporation since broadcasting resumed after 

the Second World War.

The world's longest-running sci-fi TV show was 

placed at a very respectable number four:

4: Doctor Who (BBC One, 1963-1989, 1996, 2005 onwards)

"Always more than simply a science-fiction series, the adventures of a renegade Time Lord travelling through time and space in a blue Police Box has survived much derision within the Corporation and is now regarded as one of the jewels in its crown. The series shouldn't have worled, but thanks to a cleverly versatile format, a haunting theme tune and properly terrifying baddies, it is TV's greatest survivor. Much like the good Doctor himself."

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

Doctor Who Vs. Agatha Christie, Part 1

The biggest mystery in the life of Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (1890-1976) is undoubtedly the story of her disappearance in 1926, 
when she vanished for eleven days. She never spoke of those missing 
days, and the ninety year old controversy remains as intriguing as any 
of her crime novels.

In late 1926, Agatha's husband Archie told her that he wanted a divorce. 
On December 3rd, the couple quarrelled, and Archie left their house, Styles, 
in Sunningdale, Berkshire, to see his mistress, Nancy Neele, at Godalming. 
Later that same evening, Agatha disappeared, informing her secretary in a letter 
that she had left for Yorkshire. Her abandoned Morris Cowley was found beside 
a lake at Newlands Corner, near Guildford.

Despite a public outcry and a massive manhunt, the novelist was only identified 

on December 14th, as a guest at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate. Even fellow crime writers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L Sayers took an interest

in the case.

Agatha was then diagnosed with an amnesiac 'fugue state', but many contemporary commentators believed she had staged a publicity stunt. In 1998, author Jared Cade speculated that Agatha had planned her disappearance, and wanted to publicly embarrass Archie. Biographer Andrew Norman also studied the case, and The Guardian reviewed his book here. The Christies divorced in 1928, and Agatha married the archaeologist Max Mallowan (1904-1978) two years later.

These events were dramatised in the British film, Agatha starring Vanessa Redgrave as the famous writer, and Dustin Hoffman as the reporter, Wally Stanton. Future James Bond actor, Timothy Dalton portrayed Agatha's adulterous husband, Colonel Archibald Christie (1899-1962). His affair is seen here as the catalyst for Agatha's breakdown, and she even booked into her hotel under the alias of Teresa Neele. The film (released by Warner in 1979) was screened on ITV3 today, and featured these ten Doctor Who cast and crew connections: 

• Dalton played Lord President Rassilon in The End of Time
• Carolyn Pickles (Charlotte) voiced Lady Meera for Big Finish's Army of Death (2011)
• Paul Brooke (Foster) voiced Paolo for The Ghosts of N-Space, and Toby the Sapient Pig for Year of the Pig (BF, 2006)
• Timothy West (Kenward) voiced Kai Tobias for Phobos (BF, 2007), Turvey for Cuddlesome (BF, 2008), and Dr. Magnus Soames in House of Blue Fire (BF, 2011)
• Harry Fielder (Policeman), a veteran of the original run, had parts as a Guard (in serials PP, ZZZ, 4L, 4P, 5A, 5F, 5Z), a Crewman (SS, 4T), a Vogan (4D), an Assassin (4Q), a Tigellan (5Q), and a Krarg for Shada
• Christopher Fairbank (Luland) voiced the Professor for The Wreck of the Titan (BF, 2010), and Doc Baroque for The Scapegoat (BF, 2009) - he is married to Camille Coduri
• John Joyce (Waiter) had an uncredited role in The Myth Makers, and was Garvin in The Daemons
• Hubert Rees (Official) made three classic era appearances, as the Chief Engineer in Fury from the Deep, Captain Ransom in The War Games, and John Stevenson in The Seeds of Doom
• Peter Arne (Manager) had been cast in Frontios as Range, but was replaced by William Lucas when he was murdered in his London home in August 1983
• Tony Bell was a boom operator on The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot too

TO BE CONTINUED 

Doctor Who Vs. The Jury

ITV's prime-time mini-series, The Jury II was

first shown over five consecutive nights in

November 2011. 

The drama centred on the story of the twelve

men and women called for jury service in the

retrial of a man accused of a triple murder,

after the High Court overturned the original

guilty verdict.

This courtroom drama (the follow-up to

Granada's own six-part series, which aired 

n February 2002 - see footnote below) began 

another repeat run on ITV3 last night. 

The cast, headed by Roger Allam (Endeavour)

and Julie Walters (Harry Potter) as rival QC's,

featured twenty-one Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Ronald Pickup (Livingstone) made his TV debut as the Physician in The Reign of Terror: Tyrant of France, then later voiced Kestorian for Time Works (2006), and Elder Bones for Spaceport Fear (2013) both from Big Finish
• Steven Mackintosh (Brierley) played Gazak in Timelash
• Anne Reid (June) was Nurse Crane in The Curse of Fenric, and Florence Finnegan in Smith and Jones
• Ronan Vibert (Branson) was Professor Skinner in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Last Sontaran
• Keith Parry (Clerk) was the Bus Driver in Planet of the Dead
• Natasha Williams (Clerk) was a Pharmacist in Gridlock
• Shobu Kapoor (Mum) was a Woman in Journey's End, and voiced Sai Chopra for Vortex Ice (2017)
• Meera Syal (Headmistress) was Nasreen Choudhry in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood
• Danny Sapani (DI Scott) was Colonel Manton (pictured) in A Good Man Goes to War
• Nicholas Asbury (Romeo) voiced Rowe for The Many Deaths of Jo Grant (2011), and Visguard, Captain Morgan and SB Officer for The Churchill Years 2 (2018)
• Ivanno Jeremiah (Takana) voiced Abasi for The Ghosts of Gralstead (2013)
• Meg Wynn Owen (Olive) was Old Isabella in A Christmas Carol
• John R Walker (Dent) was a Cured Patient in New Earth, an Injured Man in Evolution of the Daleks, and a Sales Rep in Planet of the Ood
• Ivanno Jeremiah (Tahir) was Rafando in Extremis
• Eben Young (Radio Host) was Colonel Don Brabbit in The Pyramid at the End of the World
• Rakhee Thakrar (Sister) has been cast as new Big Finish companion Bliss
• film editor Philip Kloss also edited The Doctor's Daughter, Midnight, The End of Time, Torchwood: Children of Earth and An Adventure in Space and Time
• John May (Guard) was Kev in The Halloween Apocalypse
• Adam Harvey was assistant editor on the 50th anniversary biopic too
• Toby Ford was first assistant director on A Good Man Goes to War too
• Nick Roberts was also ADR mixer on The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone, The Vampires of Venice, Cold Blood and The Lodger

The Jury (2002) starred Derek Jacobi, and another ten Doctor Who

cast alumni: Nina Sosanya, Michael Maloney, Sylvia Syms, Nicholas

Farrell, Ellen Thomas, John Duttine, Paul Reynolds, Helen McCrory,

William Hoyland, James Doherty, and Matt Dineen.