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. Burke and Hare

Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis portrayed the notorious 19th century serial killers, Burke
and Hare in this British black comedy.
David Tennant was originally
cast as Hare, but was replaced
by Serkis. The film was directed
by cult film maker John Landis,
writer of An American Werewolf 
in London.

During 1827 and 1828, two 
Irish immigrants, William Burke 
and William Hare perpetrated 
seventeen murders in the West 
Port area of Edinburgh, and sold 
the corpses to the anatomy 
lecturer, Dr. Robert Knox. The killers were only prosecuted when Hare was
given immunity to implicate his accomplice. Burke was hanged in 1829. Ironically, the bodies of executed criminals were then dissected, and Burke's skeleton is still displayed at the city's Medical College. Knox (played by Tom Wilkinson) never faced any criminal charges, and was forced to leave Scotland when the Anatomy Act (which outlawed 'body-snatching') was passed in 1832.

The second cinema depiction of these murders (released in 2010) was shown 
on BBC Two again last night, and featured Christopher Lee, Isla Fisher, Tim 
Curry, Ronnie Corbett and twenty Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Pegg (Burke) played the Editor in The Long Game, and voiced Don Chaney for Big Finish's Invaders From Mars (2002)
• Bill Bailey (Angus) was Droxil in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
• Jessica Hynes (Lucky) was Joan Redfern in Human Nature and The Family of Blood, then (that character's great-granddaughter) Verity Newman in The End of Time, and voiced Glory Bee also for Invaders From Mars
• David Schofield (Fergus) voiced Nostradamus for The Doomsday Quatrain (2011), and Billy for Death in Blackpool (2009), then starred in The Girl Who Died as Odin
• Steve Spiers (Doorman) was Commissioner Strickland in Aliens of London and World War Three
• Hugh Bonneville (Harrington) was Captain Henry Avery in The Curse of the Black Spot (and briefly in A Good Man Goes to War and The Wedding of River Song)
• Duncan Duff (Attendant) was a Newsreader in Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel, and voiced Joe Hartley for Night Thoughts (2006)
• Jenny Agutter (Lucy) voiced Sekhmet for The Bride of Peladon (2008)
• John Woodvine (Lord Provost) was the Marshal of Atrios in The Armageddon Factor, and voiced Galileo Galilei for Doom Coalition: The Galileo Trap (2015)
• Christopher Obi (Martin) was George in Closing Time
• Michael Smiley (Patterson) was Colonel Morgan Blue in Into the Dalek, and voiced Seedleson for Creatures of Beauty (2003)
• George Potts (Dr. Lister) voiced Ruben and Guard for You Are The Doctor and Other Stories (2015)
• Christian Brassington (Charles) voiced Alfred Stahlbaum for The Silver Turk (2011), and was the Editor in The Five(ish) Doctors
• Reese Shearsmith (Mackenzie) and Paul Davis (Patient) both starred in Sleep No More, as Rassmussen and King Sandman respectively, whilsr Shearsmith was also Dan Matthews in the two Auton VHS spin-offs, Andrew Powell in the PROBE video series, and depicted Patrick Troughton in An Adventure in Space and Time
• Danielle de Costa was also a stunt performer on Voyage of the Damned and Night Terrors
• Gary Hoptrough was a stuntman on The Runaway Bride and Let's Kill Hitler too
• stuntman Curtis Rivers was John Barrowman's stunt double on Utopia, The Sound of Drums and Torchwood
• prosthetics supervisor Waldo Mason was in the SFX crew for Aliens of London
• Lisa McDiarmid was also the stand-by art director on The Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords, Torchwood and the pilot episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures
• Neal Champion was the SFX supervisor on An Adventure in Space and Time too

Doctor Who Vs. The First Men in the Moon

First serialised by The Strand 
magazine and described as one
of the "fantastic stories" of
H G Wells (1866-1946), this
influential sci-fi romance was
published in 1901. The story
was adapted for cinema in
1919 and 1964.
Professor Arthur Cavor, his invention Cavorite, and lunar natives Selenites all appeared in The Martian War, Kevin J Anderson's 2006 sequel to Wells' The War of the Worlds.
The third, most faithful TV
adaptation of the novel was written by Mark Gatiss (who
also played Cavor), and was first shown in October 2010.
Repeated on BBC Four last night, the period drama (made by Can Do Productions) featured fifteen other Doctor Who cast and crew alumni:

• Rory Kinnear (Bedford) voiced Samuel Belfrage for Big Finish's Industrial Evolution (2011)
• Peter Forbes (Dad) voiced Philip for Unbound; Deadline (2003), Kryson for The Juggernauts (2005), Craig Swanson for The Feast of Axos, and Thorn for The Bounty of Ceres (2014)
• Katherine Jakeways (Mum) voiced Jill for Nightshade (2016)
• Julia Deakin (Mrs. Fitt) voiced Hannah Fry for Phantasmagoria (1999), and Harriet Griffin for Terror Firma (2005)
• Lee Ingleby (Chessocks) voiced Samson Griffin for Terror Firma (2005)
• Philip Jackson (Grand Lunar voice) voiced Laxton for Valhalla (2007), and Mr. Peabody for The Contingency Club (2017)
• prolific Big Finish actor Ian Hallard (Phi-Oo) voiced Sabian for Primeval (2001), Mouse and Winkler for Invaders From Mars, the Matrix for Neverland (both 2002), Zeuro for A Storm of Angels, Castellan Wynter for Gallifrey: Lies and Pandora (both 2005), Joseph Banks for The Transit of Venus, Captain Cannibal for Izzy's Story, John Polidori for Mary's Story (all 2009), Duncan for An Earthly Child (2010), Comtech Bron Kell for Dark Eyes 2: Time's Horizon, and Davent for Destroy the Infinite (both 2014) - he also portrayed director Richard Martin in An Adventure in Space and Time, and was Alan-a-Dale in Robot of Sherwood
• Steven Pemberton (Sun) was Strackman Lux in Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead
• Reece Shearsmith (Moon) was Andrew Powell in the PROBE video spin-off series, Dr. Dan Matthews in the Auton VHS releases, depicted Patrick Troughton in An Adventure in Space and Time, then was Rassmussen in Sleep No More
• Robert Judd (Celenite) was property master on Gatiss' anniversary biopic
• Liana Del Giudice was also film editor on The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Christmas Invasion, New Earth, School Reunion and The Day of the Doctor
• assistant editor David Fisher was editor on Series 11
• Chris Hutchinson was animator on Twice Upon a Time too
• Graham Frake (cinematographer) and Shirley Schumacher (assistant camera operator) also both worked on The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks

Doctor Who Vs. James Bond, Part 6

Another Bond film season continued 
on ITV4 last night with Roger Moore's 

fourth stint as the famous MI6 agent. 

The eleventh entry in the franchise, 
was based on the spy novel of 1955, 
itself adapted from Ian Fleming's own
potential film treatment.
Shot primarily  in France, the production was Eon's most expensive to date (the 
budget of $34 million was almost double 
that of The Spy Who Love Me), but 
Moonraker became the highest-grossing 
title until GoldenEye. 

Bernard Lee made his eleventh and final appearance here as M, and Richard Kiel 
returned as Jaws. Shirley Bassey again 
performed the title song, her third after Goldfinger and Diamonds are 
Forever.
Bond's next cinematic assignment was 
released in 1981. The film took its title from Fleming's Bond anthology
 (published in 1960), and contained elements from the short stories For Your 
Eyes Only and Risico. The feature was shot on location in Italy, Spain, Greece, 
the Bahamas and the North Sea, with interiors filmed at Pinewood studios. 
The theme song by Sheena Easton (nominated for an Oscar and a Golden 
Globe) replaced original choice Blondie. Both films featured a total of twenty-two Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

MOONRAKER 

• Peter Bennett (assistant director here and A View to a Kill; unit manager on For Your Eyes Only; location manager on Octopussy) was the first assistant director on fourteen revived series adventures (from Bad Wolf to The End of Time, and Attack of the Graske), the production manager on four other stories, then produced thirteen further instalments (from The Beast Below to The Zygon Inversion) and Torchwood: Children of Earth
• Terry Forrestal (Space Fighter here; stunts on Octopussy, Never Say Never Again, A View to a Kill and Goldeneye) was a Tractor Driver on K9 and Company
• for Derek Meddings, Martin Grace, Dinny Powell, Dorothy Ford and Rick Lester see my other Bond blogs

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

• Julian Glover (Kristatos) playde King Richard in The Crusade, and Scaroth in City of Death
• Graham Crowden (First Sea Lord) was Soldeed in The Horns of Nimon
• Noel Johnson (Vice Admiral) was King Thous in The Underwater Menace, and Charles Grover MP in Invasion of the Dinosaurs
• William Hoyland (McGregor) voiced Premier Jaeger for Big Finish's Live 34 (BF, 2005)
• Paul Brooke (Bunky) voiced Toby for Year of the Pig (BF, 2006)
• John [aka Juan] Moreno (Ferrara) was Dobson in (episode 2 of) The Ambassadors of Death
• Laurie Goode (Skier) was a Mutt in The Mutants (1), Time Lord in The Invasion of Time (3), Bandit in The Creature from the Pit (1), Tigellan in Meglos (2), Sailor in Enlightenment, and UNIT Trooper in Battlefield (1)
• Elizabeth Waller was the costume designer on The Robots of Death too
• Anthony Waye (assistant director here and Octopussy; production manager on A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, Skyfall; producer on Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace) was assistant director on both Dalek features
• Gareth Milne (stunts here and Skyfall) was George Cranleigh in Black Orchid, a Mortuary Attendant in Vengeance on Varos (2), and doubled for Peter Davison on Warriors of the Deep (1)
• Stuart Fell (stunts here, Octopussy and A View to a Kill) was a stuntman on Terror of the Autons (1) and The Ribos Operation (1), then fight arranger on The Talons of Weng-Chiang and State of Decay, and had roles in thirty-three other episodes (from The Claws of Axos to The Invasion of Time)
• Nick Wilkinson (stunts here, Octopussy, Never Say Never Again and Licence to Kill; Russian Soldier in The Living Daylights) was a stuntman on The Next Doctor too
• for Tim Condren, Jim Dowdall and Bill Weston see my other Bond blogs

Doctor Who Vs. Lesbian Vampire Killers

This British comedy-horror film, shown 

again on the Horror channel last night,
was essentially a big-screen vehicle 
for BBC double-act James Corden
and Matthew Horne, that ultimately
received mainly negative reviews.

Horne (pictured left as Jimmy) is best
known for his roles on three series of
The Catherine Tate Show and Nan,
whilst Corden now hosts The Late 
Late Show on CBS.
 Paul McGann co-starred here as
the Vicar of Cragwych, the Norfolk
village cursed by a centuries-old 
vampire. 

Northern Actors Bernard Hill (Boys 
from the Black Stuff, Titanic) and 
Andrew Lee Potts (Strange, Primeval) were originally set to play the 
Vicar and Jimmy. 

Released by Momentum Pictures in 2009, the film also featured these 
twenty-seven other Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Corden (Fletch) played Craig Owens in The Lodger and Closing Time
• Ripper Street actress MyAnna Buring (Lotte) was Scooti Manista in The Impossible Planet 
• Lucy Gaskell (Judy) was Kathy Nightingale in Blink
• Big Finish actor Travis Oliver (Steve) was Milo in Gridlock, and voiced Chris Cweji for Damaged Goods (2015), Original Sin and Cold Fusion (both 2016)
• Millennium FX designer Neill Gorton worked on seventy-nine instalments of the revived run (from The Christmas Invasion to The Doctor Falls), The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and Class
• Rob Mayor was also SFX supervisor on seventy-six adventures (from The Girl in the Fireplace to The Doctor Falls), and the programme's three spin-off series
• Martina Hawkins was also an effects administrator on forty stories (form The Next Doctor to The Doctor Falls), The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and Class
• mould maker Claire Green held that post on nineteen episodes (from The Girl Who Waited to Smile) and Class
• make-up effects technician Paula Eden was a painter on A Good Man Goes to War, The God Complex and Deep Breath
• stunt co-ordinator Derek Lea and Stuart Clark were both stuntmen on Dalek, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways, whilst Lea also worked on The Age of Steel and Partners in Crime
• Martin Rezard was also a prosthetics technician on ten stories (from The Girl in the Fireplace to The Sontaran Stratagem)
• make-up FX technicians Jon Moore, Darren Nevin, Fiona Walshe, Alexandra Wathey and Lauren Wellman were all prosthetics technicians on twenty-two episodes (from Rose to Deep Breath), four others (The Next Doctor, The Waters of Mars and The End of Time), another eight (from The Doctor's Daughter to The Time of the Doctor), twenty-seven parts (from The Lazarus Experiment to Heist) and seven more (from The Doctor's Daughter to The Bells of Saint John) respectively
• technicians Gill Reeves (was a SFX make-up artist on The Next Doctor and The Time of Angels) and Adrian Rigby (was the hair technician on The God Complex)
• make-up FX co-ordinator Kate Walshe was part of the prosthetics and SFX crews (in various roles) on forty-one instalments (from The Next Doctor to The Doctor Falls), The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• Mandy Gold was a make-up artist on The Curse of Fatal Death too
• Roger Tarry was also the carpenter on Midnight and The Lodger
• Louise Bohling was a scenic artist on New Earth too
• John Whalley was also a scenic artist on seventeen adventures (from Voyage of the Damned to The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)
• draughtsman Silas Williams was the stand-by carpenter on eight stories (from The Christmas Invasion to A Christmas Carol)
• Nick Foley was the ADR mixer on The Snowmen too
• Stephanie Carey was also a stunt performer on Voyage of the Damned, The Beast Below, The Curse of the Black Spot, Let's Kill Hitler, The Girl Who Waited, The Angels Take Manhattan and The Crimson Horror

Doctor Who Vs. Carry On Up The Khyber

The Carry On franchise consists of thirty low-budget British comedy features, produced from 1958 to 1978, whilst a final title (Carry On Columbus) was 
released in 1992. Thames Television later screened four Carry On Christmas
 specials between 1969 and 1973, followed by Carry On Laughing from ATV in 1975. The series also spawned three West End (1973-75) and regional stage plays (1976 and 1992), and even an album in 1971.

Anglo Amalgamated Films produced the first dozen titles (until 1966), and 

the Rank Organisation made the next nineteen. Writer Norman Hudis scripted the first six films, then was replaced by Talbot Rothwell who penned the next 

twenty. Every film was made at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, with 

most location filming undertaken nearby.

The films' humour (albeit dated and sexist by modern standards) was in 
the comic tradition of the British music halls and bawdy seaside postcards.
Producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas made all thirty-one films, 

and drew on their own repertory company of actors that included Kenneth 

Williams (who made 25 appearances), Joan Sims (24), Charles Hawtrey
 (23), Sid James (19), Kenneth Connor (17), Peter Butterworth (16), Hattie Jacques, Bernard Bresslaw (14 each), Jim Dale, Peter Gilmore (11 each), 
Barbara Windsor (10), Patsy Rowlands (9), Jack Douglas (8), and Terry 
Scott (7).
TV documentary What a Carry On? marked the fortieth anniversary of the 
series in 1998, and BBC Radio 2 broadcast a two-part celebration in 2010. 
ITV screened a three-part retrospective, also titled Carry On Forever, over 
Easter 2015 - shown on ITV3 today as part as a festive Carry On season.

The sixteenth instalment in the 
franchise was released in 1968, 
and is now widely considered 
one of the best entries in the run.

Regular series actors Sid James
(as Sir Sydney Ruff Diamond),
Kenneth Williams (the Khasi of
Kalabar), Joan Sims (Lady Joan), Charles Hawtrey (Private Widdle), Bernard Bresslaw (Bungit Din) and Peter Butterworth (Belcher) were joined by Angela Douglas (Princess Jelhi) in her fourth and final series role. Terry Scott (Sgt. Major MacNutt) returned after a minor role in Carry On Sergeant.

The comedy was a spoof of  the Kiplingesque portrayal of life in the British Raj,
and the Highland infantry (the Third Foot and Mouth Regiment) was inspired
by the epic British war film Zulu (1964). In typical risqué tradition, the film's
title (Khyber Pass) is rhyming-slang for arse.

The film (the second most popular release at the UK box office in 1969) was
shown today for ITV3's Easter Carry On season, and featured Roy Castle
(as romantic lead Captian Keene) and sixteen Doctor Who cast alumni:

• Castle (1932-1994) played Ian Chesterton in Dr. Who and the Daleks
• for Douglas see Carry On Screaming!
• David Spenser (Servant) was Thonmi in The Abominable Snowmen
• Derek Sydney (Major Domo) was Sevcheria in The Romans
• Steven Scott (Guard) was Kebble in The Power of the Daleks
• John Hallam (Burpa) was Light in Ghost Light
• Alan Bennion (Burpa) was Slaar in The Seeds of Death, Izlyr in The Curse of Peladon, and Azaxyr in The Monster of Peladon
• for Wanda Ventham (Wife), Peter Gilmore (Hale) and Walter Henry (Burpa) see Carry On Cleo
• Dinny Powell (Burpa) was a stuntman on (episode 1 of) Terror of the Autons, and Guard in The Curse of Peladon (4) and Genesis of the Daleks (3)
• for Julian Holloway (Shorthouse) and Simon Cain (Soldier) see Carry On At Your Convenience
• for Harry Fielder (Burpa) see Carry On Abroad
• for Aileen Lewis (Spectator) see Carry On Cruising
• Alf Mangan (Burpa here; Townsman in Carry On Cowboy; Assistant in Don't Lose Your Head; Camper in Carry On Camping; Audience in Carry On Girls) was an Extra in Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD

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)