Doctor Who Vs. Coronation Street at 60, Part 7: 1976-1978

By 1976, Corrie was in decline, so Bill Podmore was appointed to give the series a facelift and

soon a new title sequence starred a cat for the

first time. Established as a kitchen-sink drama

in the Sixties, the show now received a much

needed injection of humour - under Podmore's

producership ratings stabilised. An episode in

April 1977 gained almost 21 million viewers,

the highest figure of the decade.

These three years on the Street featured

Geoffrey Beevers (as Mr. Liston in episode 

1768), and twenty-six Doctor Who cast and 

crew connections:

• Geoffrey Bateman (Lightfoot) was Dymond in Nightmare of Eden
• Lois Baxter (Marie) was Lamia in The Androids of Tara
• Mary Healey (Thelma here; Yvonne, 1990) was a Killjoy in The Happiness Patrol
• Big Finish actor Philip Bretherton (Rod here; Weston, 1991; Ian Davenport, 2005) voiced Plenipotentiary Suskind for Arrangements for War (2004), Scrivener for Recorded Time, D'Urberville, Heathcliff and Darcy for A Most Excellent Match (both 2011), and Vituperon for The Devil's Armada (2014)
• William Hoyland (Hardcastle) voiced Premier Jaeger for Live 34 (2005)
• Colin Farrell (Holmes) was Benni in Orphan 55
• Arthur Kelly (Monkey) was Smithy in The Witchfinders
• John Duttine (Baker) voiced Hector for Exotron (2007)
• Derek Francis (Beaumont) played Nero in The Romans
• Graham Weston (Livesley) was Russell in The War Games, and De Haan in Planet of Evil
• Roy Boyd (Franklyn) was Driscoll in (part 2 of) The Hand of Fear
• Leslie Dwyer (Dugdale) was Vorg (pictured) in Carnival of Monsters
• Sylvia Coleridge (Sonia) was Amelia Ducat in The Seeds of Doom
• Christopher Coll (Goodwin here; and Victor Pendlebury, 1982-1992) was Phipps in The Seeds of Death, and Stubbs in The Mutants
• Geoffrey Leesley (Cox here; and Clegg, 2002) voiced Paramount Minister Mortund for Arrangements for War, and Harold for Audio- Go's Serpent Crest: The Broken Crown (2011)
• John Tordoff (Hill here; and Hesketh, 1999) was Alec Leeson in Colony in Space (4)
• Daphne Heard (Lizzie) was Martha Tyler in Image of the Fendahl
• Angela Bruce (Janice) was Brigadier Winifred Bambera in Battlefield, a role reprised for Animal (2011)
• Barry Jackson (Garfield) was Ascaris in The Romans, Jeff Garvey in Mission to the Unknown, Drax in The Armageddon Factor
• Jimmy Gardner (Hargreaves) was Chenchu in Marco Polo, and Idmon in Underworld
• Alan Bromly was also director of The Time Warrior and Nightmare of Eden
• Tristan de Vere Cole was director of The Wheel in Space too
• Matthew Robinson was also director of Resurrection of the Daleks and Attack of the Cybermen
• Darrol Blake was director of The Stones of Blood too
• John Black was also director of The Keeper of Traken, Four to Doomsday and K9 and Company
• director Roger Cheveley had been the production designer on The War Games