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