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. Chasing Shadows

Originally shown in the autumn of
2014, this crime thriller from ITV
Studios focused on the work of the
national Missing Persons Bureau.
The cast was led by Reece
Shearsmith as misfit DS Sean
Stone, an acutely anti-social and
awkward but brilliant detective
exiled to the bureau. 

A repeat run of this four-part mini

series concluded on ITV Encore last

night, and featured Alex Kingston

(as analyst Ruth Hattersley), Noel

Clarke (DCI Carl Pryor), Adjoa

Andoh (Angela), and eighteen

further Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

• Shearsmith (DS Stone) appeared briefly in An Adventure in Space and Time as Patrick Troughton, and was Rassmussen in Sleep No More
• Big Finish artist John Albasiny (Harvey) voiced both Lev Tlostoy and Preston for The Angel of Scutari (2009), Colonel/Major Maxim Felnikov for both Thin Ice and Crime of the Century (2011), Chris Fleming for Phantoms of the Deep (2013), and Jesper for Equilibrium (2015)
• Lynda Baron (Maggie) recorded The Ballas of the Last Chance Saloon (sung off screen) for The Gunfighters, then was Captain Wrack in Enlightenment, and Val in Closing Time
• Nick Malinowski (Dr. Kent) was Eric in A Christmas Carol
• Nadine Marshall (Donna) voiced Shepstay for Earth Aid (2011), and both Katrice and Kordel for You are the Doctor and Other Stories (2015)
• Don Warrington (CS Drayton) was the President in Rise of the Cybermen, and voiced Rassilon for Seasons of Fear, The Time of the Daleks, Neverland (all 2002), Zagreus (2003), Caerdroia and The Next Life (both 2004)
• Imogen Daines (Chloe) voiced Nidhi Chand for Jenny 3 (2024)
• Alfie Field (Bryan) was Timmy in The Beast Below
• Daniel Brocklebank (Dr. Francis) voiced Sheldukher for The Highest Science (2014), Tauras for Gallifrey: Intervention Earth, and David Daniels for Damaged Goods (both 2015)    
• Letitia Wright (Taylor) was Anahson in Face the Raven
• Tony Lucken (Blake) was also a stuntman on Dalek, Bad Wolf, The Parting of the Ways and The End of Time
• Tony Slater-Ling was also the cinematographer on The Vampires of Venice and Vincent and the Doctor
• St. John O'Rorke was the editor on The Time of the Doctor too
• Lucinda Wright was also the costume designer on the whole of Series 1
• boom operator Ross Adams was sound engineer on thirteen episodes (from Asylum of the Daleks to The Name of the Doctor)
• sound mixer Ronald Bailey was the sound recordist on Daleks in Manhattan, Evolution of the Daleks, 42 and Utopia
• Jamie Harcourt was a camera operator on The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit too
• script supervisor Sarah Hayward worked on the continuity for Love & Monsters