Doctor Who Vs. The Odessa File

Based on the 1972 novel by espionage writer 

Frederick Forsyth, this thriller told the story of 

journalist Peter Miller's (played by Jon Voight) 

investigation into Holocaust survivor, Solomon
Tauber and the subsequent search for the top
secret Odessa file.
Towards the end of the Second World War,

the Nazi secret society ODESSA was formed

 by members of the SS, among them Eduard 

Roschmann (portrayed here by Maximillian 

Schell), the butcher of Riga concentration 

camp. In 1963, President Nasser of Egypt 

sought to perfect a missile strike to destroy
Israel. His key scientists were mainly 

recruited from Hitler's former rocket

program and Odessa members still intent

on wiping out the Jews.

Released by Columbia in 1974, this Anglo-German film was shown

on TCM tonight - it featured Yorkshire-born actress Mary Tamm

(1950-2012), Derek Jacobi, and two other Doctor Who cast

connections:

• Peter Jeffrey (Porath) and Cyril Shaps (Voice of Tauber) both starred opposite Tamm in The Androids of Tara, as Count Grendel and the Archimandrite - Jeffrey was also the Pilot in The Macra Terror, whilst Shaps was also John Viner in The Tomb of the Cybermen, Dr. Lennox in The Ambassadors of Death, and Professor Herbert Clegg in Planet of the Spiders

Doctor Who Vs. V For Vendetta

People should not be

afraid of their govern-

ments. Governments

should be afraid of their

people.

Based on Alan Moore's cult

graphic novel, this British 

fantasy thriller (from the 

makers of The Matrix) was

shown on TCM last night.

Warner Bros' UK cinematic

 release was originally

scheduled for November

2005 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot,
which inspired the main character here, the titular 'V'.

Set in a futuristic, dystopian Britian ruled by a totalitarian regime,

Evey Hammond (played by Natalie Portman) is rescued from the

secret police - the corrupt Fingermen - by a ruthless freedom

fighter in a stylised Guy Fawkes mask, known only as V (port-

rayed by Hugo Weaving).

V For Vendetta illustrator David Lloyd later stated that the "Guy

Fawkes mask has now become a brand and placard to protest 

against tyranny, [its] an icon of popular culture" (and has since

 been adopted by the Anonymous activist group).

The film also starred John Hurt (as the Big Brother-like leader

of the fascist Norsefire Party, Chancellor Sutler), Stephen Rea,

Roger Allam, Ben Miles, Eddie Marsan, and twenty-four Doctor

Who cast and crew connections:

• James [Brian Mark] Purefoy was originally cast as V but left the role six weeks into production - he later voiced Count Dracula for Big Finish's Son of the Dragon (2007)
• Rupert Graves (Dominic) was John Riddell in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
• Stephen [John] Fry (Dietrich) voiced the Minister of Chance for Death Comes to Time, and was C in (part 1 of) Spyfall
• Tim [Peter] Pigott-Smith (Creedy) was Captain Harker in The Claws of Axos, and Marco in The Masque of Mandragora
• Guy Henry (Heyer) voiced Director Ikron for Infamy of the Zaross (2017)
• Sir John [Ronald] Standing [born Leon] (Lilliman) voiced Fenric for Gods and Monsters (2012), and Professor Threadstone for Vampire of the Mind (2016)
• Cosima Shaw (Patricia) was Steffi Ehrlich in The Waters of Mars
• Derek Hutchinson (Bureaucrat) voiced Altus for The Burning Prince (2012), the Usher for A Life in the Day, and Brother Callis for Eye of Darkness (2015)
• Michael Simkins (CS Bradley) voiced Raxxil for The Planet of Witches (2020)
• Amelda Brown (Mistress) voiced Margaret for The Gunpowder Plot
• John [Henry] Ringham (Old Man) was Tlotoxl in The Aztecs, Josiah Blake in The Smugglers, and Robert Ashe in Colony in Space
• Madeleine Rakic-Platt (Young Evey) was Ella in Forest of the Dead, and Lily Frobisher in Torchwood: Children of Earth
• Paul Antony-Barber (Father) was Kendrick in Rise of the Cybermen
• Richard Laing (Lieutenant) voiced Ukarme for The Mind's Eye (2007), Clerks for Dead London (2008), and Lieson Tilpractice Frong, Skorpios and Geoff for The Doomsday Contract (2021)
• Matthew Bates (Fedco Man) voiced Courtland for The Tears of Isis (2015)
• Greg Donaldson (Operator) voiced Coach Bela Destry for The Game (2005), and David for Power Play (2012)
• Peter Walpole was also a set decorator on the first five instalments of the revived series in 2005
• Lesley Smith (stylist) began her career as a make-up assistant on State of Decay
• technician Andy Hagon was a foley mixer on The Empty Child
• Stuart Clark was a stuntman on Dalek, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways too
• James O'Donnell was also a stuntman on Rise of the Cybermen, The Age of Steel, Army of Ghosts and Doomsday
• Rocky Taylor and Christopher Fosh both worked on The Idiot's Lantern, as stuntman and voice over artist respectively
• Andy Smart was also a stuntman on Evolution of the Daleks and Let's Kill Hitler