Doctor Who Vs. Houdini and Doyle

Stephen Mangan and Michael Weston

led the cast of this period drama, as

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

and Harry Houdini (1874-1926).

The series of supernatural mysteries

debuted on ITV in March 2016 (ahead 

of its run on ITV Encore), and was

loosely based on the lives of friends,

Scottish writer Doyle and American

illusionist Houdini (born Erik Weiss in

Hungary). 

Their (fictionalised) partnership had been explored before in The Great

Houdini (1976), FairyTale (1997),

Houdini (1998 and 2014), and the

plays, Impossible (2015) and Ether

(2019). Doyle later turned crime

fighter for the BBC's Murder Rooms (2000), The Strange Case of

Sherlock Holmes (2005), and Arthur & George (play, 2010/ITV,

2015).

The famous duo were aided in their investigations here by DCI

Merring (played by Tim McInnerny) and Scotland Yard's first

female officer, Constable Adelaide Stratton (Rebecca Liddiard).

The ten-part season (a co-production with Fox) was last repeated

in late 2017 on the now defunct ITV Encore, and featured a total

of thirty-nine Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• McInnerney (also Clay in The Red Headed League; Ferret in Fairy Tale; Selden in The Strange Case; Sir Eustace in The Abominable Bride) was Klineman Halpern in Planet of the Ood, then voiced Admiral Dolne for Big Finish's The Well-Mannered War (2015)
• Laura Frazer (Lydia here; Clara in Reichenbach Falls) was Kane in Orphan 55
• Diana [Marilyn] Quick (Mrs. Weiss) voiced Prime for Scream of the Shalka
• Phil Nice (Gilby) was Henry in Kill the Moon
• Michael Dickins (Robber) was a Villager in The Time of the Doctor
• Mary Healey (Mrs. Blake) was a Killjoy in The Happiness Patrol
• James [Edward] Fleet (Dr. Pilsen) voiced O'Reilley for Max Warp (2008), Geoff Cooper for The Entropy Composition, and Martin Ashcroft and Sir Jack Merrivale for Special Features (2010)
• Chook [Joplin] Sibtain (Dr. Chandra) was Mark Grantham in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Warriors of Kudlak, Dr. Tarak Ital in The Waters of Mars, then voiced David Brock for The Feast of Axos (2011), Athrid for The Acheron Pulse (2012), Sanjaya Starr for The Case of the Gluttonous Guru (2013), and the Koggnossenti and Brian for Technophobia (2016)
• Nicholas Burns (Batch) was Lord Sutcliffe in Thin Ice
• Blake Harrison (Biggs) voiced Lieutenant Daniel Hopkins for The Helliax Rift, Hour of the Cybermen and Warlock's Cross (all 2018)
• Owen [Nigel Courtney] Teale (Havensling) made his TV debut as Maldak in Vengeance on Varos, and voiced Hayton for The Mind's Eye (2007)
• Janine Duvitski [born Christine Drzewicki] (Martha) voiced Alpha Wheeler for The Jabari Countdown (2018)
• Lex [Alexander Carey] Shrapnel (Pearce) voiced Robin Marshall for Shadow of the Past, and Toby for The Spirit Trap (both 2010)
• Joe Sims (Nathaniel) voiced Chief Orderly/Wilde/Jumper for The Rise of the New Humans (2018), Sergeant Grout/Arthur for Spring Heeled Jack (2019), Abe Porter/Chauncey/Pat for Precious Anninilation (2020), Mark Seven for Queen of the Mechonoids, and Jim Berenger for The Primeval Design (both 2021)
• Jeremy Swift (Whitaker) voiced Fraser for The Seas of Titan (2022)
• Ruth Lass (Clara) voiced Elodie Kendall for Future Phantoms (2024)
• Nathan Stewart Jarrett (Downey) was Leo Rugazzi in Revolution of the Daleks 
• Richard Price (Stage hand here; Guard in Holmes & Watson; Man in The Irregulars) was a Guest in The Runaway Bride and The Lazarus Experiment, Passerby in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Mark of the Berserker and Partners in Crime, Takran Soldier in The Doctor's Daughter, Cyberman in World Enough and Time, The Doctor Falls, Ascension of the Cybermen and The Timeless Children, Postman and Team-mate in Kerblam!, Sniperbot in The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, Judoon in Fugitive of the Judoon, Dalek operator in Revolution of the Daleks, and Shadow Kin in Class
• Daniel O'Hara was also director of Under the Lake and Before the Flood 
• Edward Bazalgette was also director on The Doctor's Meditation, The Girl Who Died, The Woman Who Lived, The Return of Doctor Mysterio and Class
• production manager Helen Blyth was assistant production co-ordinator on fourteen instalments (from A Christmas Carol to The Wedding of River Song)
• production designer Arwel Jones was the stand-by art director on twelve episodes (from The End of the World to Cold Blood) and Torchwood, a set director on The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks, then art director on twenty-nine other stories (from The Runaway Bride to Journey's End) and Attack of the Graske
• Adrian Rigby was also prosthetics make-up artist on Face the Raven, and was hair technician on The God Complex
• prosthetics technician David Malinowski was a SFX make-up artist on The Time of Angels
• Thomas Alibone was the second assistant director on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• George Atkins (ADR mixer) and Sam Biggs (ADR recordist) both worked on The Time of the Doctor and Flatline in those posts
• Jade Poole was also SFX assistant co-ordinator on thirteen editions (from In the Forest of the Night and Hell Bent)
• Gerry Glynn, Russ Perkin and Dave Kneath were all SFX technicians on seasons 8 and 9 too
• Danny Hargreaves was also SFX (technician then) supervisor on fifty-five episodes (from The Girl in the Fireplace to Last Christmas) 
• stunt performers Dean Forster, Dani Biernat, Belinda McGinley, Gordon Seed and William Willoughby all held that posts on the revived run
• Daniel Bishop was steadicam operator on The Husbands of River Song too