Tuesday 29 March 2022

Doctor Who Vs. Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective

Accident prone detective 'Dangerous'
Davies appeared in four comic crime
novels by Leslie Thomas, published
between 1976 and 1998.
The first case, The Last Detective, was
adapted by ITC in 1981, followed by
Granada's TV version in 2003 - Davies
was played by Peter Davison.
The film was shown on Talking Pictures
TV last night - it featured Bernard
Cribbins (the titular DC), Colin Baker,
Bill Maynard, Joss Ackland, and nine
Doctor Who cast connections:

  • Frank Windsor [Higgins] (Fennell) was Sir Ranulf Fitzwilliam in The King's Demons, and Inspector Mackenzie in Ghost Light
  • Maureen [Diane] Lipman (Ena) was the Wire in The Idiot's Lantern
  • Eric Francis (Albert) was the First Elder in The Sensorites
  • Sam Dastor (Longton) voiced Professor Narayan for The Emerald Tiger (2012)
  • Roy Stewart (Pomeroy) was Toberman in The Tomb of the Cybermen, and Tony in Terror of the Autons
  • [John] Frank Jarvis [born Train] (Heavy) was the Corporal in (episode 3 of) The War Machine, Ankh in Underworld, and Skart in The Power of Kroll
  • Mike Reynell (Officer) was an Exxilon in Death to the Daleks, and Kaled Scientist in Genesis of the Daleks (6)
  • Charles Pemberton (Evans) was a titular alien in The Tomb of the Cybermen, and Alien Technician in The War Games (5)
  • Pam [Ann] St. Clement (Mrs. Norris) reprised her EastEnders role of Pat Butcher for Dimensions in Time

Saturday 26 March 2022

Doctor Who Vs. Hi-De-Hi!

BBC1's popular period
sitcom was celebrated
tonight with 5's Hi De
Hi!: All the Laughs &
More.
The show (based on
writer Jimmy Perry's
experience as Butlins Redcoat) debuted at
New Year 1980 - it
endured for nine
seasons, and even
won the BAFTA
for Best Comedy
Series in 1984.
With David Croft,
Perry (1923-2016) created wartime comedies Dad's Army and It Ain't
Half Hot Mum, then You Rang M'Lord?, whilst Croft (1922-2011) also conceived Are You Being Served? and Allo' Allo'.
Set in the late 1950s and early Sixties, the programme followed the
antics of the employees of the fictional Maplins holiday camp when the
popularity of domestic holidays was already in decline. Package deals
were increasingly luring campers abroad, and in the last episode of the
show most of the staff lost their jobs. In real life, the camp where the
outdoor scenes were filmed, Warners in Dovercourt, Essex, only closed
in the 1990s.
Hi-De-Hi! made stars of actors Ruth Madoc (as Gladys Pugh), Paul
Shane (Ted Bovis), Simon Cadell (Fairbrother), Jeffrey Holland (Spike),
Su Pollard (Peggy), and David Griffin (Dempster), and featured a total
of thirty-two Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

  • Griffin was Commander Mitchell in The Sea Devils
  • Leslie [Gilbert] Dwyer (Partridge) was Vorg in Carnival of Monsters
  • Barry [Frederick] Howard (Stuart-Hargreaves) was Oliver Barnes in The End of Time
  • Ben [Patrick] Aris (Dalrymple-Sykes) was Lieutenant Shears in (part 1 of) Invasion of the Dinosaurs
  • David Troughton (Sgt. Pritchard) was a Guard in The Enemy of the World, Private Moor in The War Games (6), King Peladon in The Curse of Peladon (a role reprised in 2009 for Big Finish's Prisoner of Peladon and 2022's Peladon), then Professor Winfold Hobbes in Midnight - he also voiced Tinghus for Cuddlesome (2008), the Black Guardian for The Destroyer of DelightsThe Chaos Pool (both 2009), The Well Mannered War (2015), The Pursuit of History and Casualties of Time (both 2016), Raymond Gallagher for The Crimes of Thomas Brewster (2011), and the Second Doctor for AudioGo's Serpent Crest plays The Hexford Invasion and Survivors in Space (both 2011)
  • Jean Challis (Woman) was Aunt Betty in The Idiot's Lantern
  • [John] Talfryn Thomas (Davies) and Helen Dorward (Woman) both appeared in Spearhead from Space (1) as Mullins and Nurse - Thomas was also Dave in The Green Death
  • Ron [Henry] Pember (Detective) voiced Seedle for Slipback
  • Susan Jameson (Jenny) was cast as Morgan for Colony in Space but was replaced by Tony Caunter - she later voiced Mrs. Moynihan for The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (2000), then Fenella Wibbsey for Hornets' Nest (2009), Demon Quest (2010), Serpent Crest (2011), The Thing from the Sea (2018), The Winged Coven (2019) and The Penumbra Affair (2022)
  • Ian [Gordon Arthur] Collier (Sutcliffe) and John [Christopher] D Collins [born Dixon] (Bailiff) both starred in Arc of Infinity as Omega and Talor - Collier was also Stuart Hyde in The Time Monster
  • Derek Benfield (Dad) voiced Dr. John Hallam for Catch 1782 (2005)
  • Michael [Anthony] Robbins (Roger) was Richard Mace in The Visitation
  • Timothy [Dingwall] Bateson (Charlie) was Binro in The Ribos Operation
  • Perry Benson (Trevor) was the Ice Cream Man in The Eleventh Hour
  • Kathleen [Mary] Bidmead (Matron) was a Tribe Elder in The Mysterious Planet, Rezzie in Paradise Towers, Mrs. Smith in Remembrance of the Daleks, Tourist in Silver Nemesis, and Woman in Survival
  • Jimmy [Campbell] Mac [born McLeod] (Camper) was Villager in The Daemons, and Peasant in State of Decay (1)
  • Arthur Bostrom (Hulk) voiced Arken for Scaredy Cat (2005)
  • Michael [Harold] Lomax (Vicar) was Technician in The Silurians (1)
  • Keith [Charles] James (Camper) was Patterson in Inferno (5)
  • Martyn Read (Sergeant) was Security Guard in Silver Nemesis (1)
  • Sarah Jones Parry (Player) was Citizen in Full Circle (1)
  • Jeff Stewart [born Stewart Jeffrey] (Constable) was Dukkha in Kinda
  • Geoffrey Leesley (Collector) voiced Paramount Minister Mortund for Arrangements for War (2004)
  • Freddie Earlle (Jack) was Aldo in Warriors' Gate
  • Morris [Randolph] Barry (Monty) was Tollund in The Creature from the Pit (1), but is better known as director of The Moonbase, The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Dominators
  • Russell Brook (Waiter) was Crewman in Warriors of the Deep, Attendant in Revelation of the Daleks (1), Lakertyan, Tetrap and Genius for Time and the Rani, and Chimeron for Delta and the Bannermen (1)
  • Jay McGrath (Man) was Worker in The War Machines (3), UNIT Soldier in The Silurians (3), Coven Member in Image of the Fendahl, and Dead Androgum in The Two Doctors (1)
  • Harry Fielder (Constable) was a Guard (in serials PP, ZZZ, 4L, 4P, 5A, 5F, 5Z), Crewman (SS, 4T), Vogan (4D), Assassin (4Q), Tigellan (5Q), and Krarg in Shada
  • Paul Allen was also production designer on The Seeds of Death, Spearhead from Space and Horror of Fang Rock
  • Mike Robotham was also film editor on The King's Demons and The Two Doctors

Friday 25 March 2022

Doctor Who Vs. The Shadow Line

This dark and gritty crime drama was
written, produced and directed by
Hugo Blick. Here, DI Jonah Gabriel
(played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) is assigned
to investigate the murder of a notorious
London drugs baron.
Following a BAFTA screening, the seven
-part thriller was shown on BBC2 from
May to June 2011, and featured
Christopher Eccleston (as Joseph
Bede), Sharon D Clarke, Stephen
Rea, Rafe Spall, and twenty-three
other Doctor Who cast and crew
connections:

  • both Lesley Sharp [born Karen Makinson] (Julie) and Ace [born Ahsen Rafiq] Bhatti (Khokar) also appeared opposite Eccleston in The Second Coming
  • Robert Pugh (Harris) was Tony Mack in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, and voiced Emmett Burrows for Big Finish's Five Twenty-Nine (2016)
  • Sean Gilder (Beatty) was the Sycorax Leader in The Christmas Invasion
  • Sasha Behar (Laing) and Lorraine Burroughs (WPC) both starred in The Fires of Pompeii, as Spurrina and Thalina
  • Clare Calbraith (Laura) voiced Trooper for Urban Myths, Maria for Son of the Dragon (both 2007), Starling for The Phoenix Strain (2016), and Orla for The Blood Furnace (2017)
  • Tobias Menzies (McGovern) was Lieutenant Stepashin in Cold War
  • Rachel [Joanne] Bavidge (Nurse) voiced the European Leader for The Defectors (2015), and Seru for The Isos Network (2016)
  • Tony Osoba (Solicitor) was Lan in Destiny of the Daleks, Kracauer in Dragonfire, and Duke in Kill the Moon
  • Martha [Esther] Cope (Reporter) was the Controller in Bad Wolf, and voiced Captain Tanya Oswin for The Nowhere Place, Talia for 100, and Commander Lind for The Sons of Kaldor (2018)
  • Simon [Timothy] Chandler (Consultant) voiced Corporal Arthur Dimes for Churchill Victorious (2018)
  • Nigel [Edward] Hastings (Spokesman) was the Commander in The Pyramid at the End of the World, and voiced Quain for Creatures of Beauty (2003), and Boden for Return to Skaro (2020)
  • Anjela Lauren Smith (Kirsten) voiced Genevieve for The Coney Island Chameleon (2019)
  • John Heffernan (PC Felix) voiced Vonchef for Revenge of the Swarm (2004), Honos for The Trial of a Time Machine (2018), and the Nine for The Crucible of Souls (2016), Companion Piece, Relative Time (both 2019) and The Dreams of Avarice (2022)
  • Lloyd McGuire (Clerk) was Lugo in The Face of Evil, and voiced Tendexter for The Architects of History (2010)
  • Charles Kay [born Piff] (Halton) voiced the Curator in Excelis Rising (2002)
  • Nadine [Panchita] Marshall (Officer) voiced Shepstay for Earth Aid (2011), Katrice for You are the Doctor, and Kordel for The Grand Betelgeuse Hotel (both 2015)
  • David Schofield (DS Foley) was Odin in The Girl Who Died, and voiced Billy for Death in Blackpool (2009), Nostradamus and Conclave Leader for The Doomsday Quatrain (2011), Parval for The Sorcerer of Albion (2020), and Gostak for The End of the Beginning (2021)
  • Jonathan [Louis] Tafler (Book keeper) voiced Captain Waldo for The Paradise of Death, and Pietro Clemenza for The Ghosts of N-Space
  • Alex Kaye Besley was also assistant director on The Sarah Jane Adventures: Invasion of the Bane and The Shakespeare Code
  • stunt co-ordinator Gareth Milne was George Cranleigh in Black Orchid, Mortuary Attendant in Vengeance on Varos, and doubled for Peter Davison in Warriors of the Deep
  • Ian Pead was stunt double on Twice Upon a Time too

Monday 21 March 2022

Doctor Who Vs. Witness for the Prosecution

Agatha Christie's courtroom drama
began life as a short story (published
as Traitor's Hands bFlynn's Weekly
in 1925), which then featurein
anthologies in 1933, 1948 and 1993.
The mystery was first adapted for radio
 in 1949, then was dramatised for the
London stage in late 1953. During its
run, Christie also had two other plays
staged, making her the only female
playwright to have three productions
performed simultaneously in the West
End. A Broadway version followed a
year later. The play was adapted for 
cinema by in 1957, starring Charles 
Laughton, Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power. Acclaimed revivals of
the play opened in York, Leeds, and latterly at County Hall, London.
The original story has garnered four treatments for television - two
from the BBC (broadcast in 1949 and 2016), one from CBS (1953),
and this production from Hallmark. The TV movie premiered in late
1982 - it featured Sir Ralph Richardson (pictured), Beau Bridges,
Deborah Kerr, Donald Pleasence, Wendy Hiller, and twelve Doctor 
Who cast and crew connections:

  • [Enid] Diana [Elizabeth] Rigg (Christine here; Arlena in Evil Under the Sun, 1982) played Winifred Gillyflower in The Crimson Horror
  • Peter [John] Sallis (Carter here; Poirot in Hercule Poirot's Christmas, 1986) was Elric Penley in The Ice Warriors, and was due to appear as Striker in Enlightenment
  • [Francis] Michael Gough (Judge here; Durand in The Fourth Man) was the titular entity in The Celestial Toymaker, and Councillor Hedin in Arc of Infinity 
  • [Albert] Frank Mills (DCI Hearne here; Crump in A Pocket Full of Rye, 1985) was the Telescope Director in (episode 1 of) Terror of the Autons
  • Peter [Francis Gabian] Copley (Dr. Harrison here; Brabazon in Nemesis; Burgoyne in The Mystery of the Spanish Chest) was Dr. Warlock in Pyramids of Mars
  • Primi Townsend [born Beardsley] (Diana) was Mula in The Pirate Planet
  • Aubrey [Harold] Woods (Tailor) was the Controller in Day of the Daleks
  • Walter Henry [born Israel Nagelkop] (Juror here; Waiter in Evil Under the Sun) was an Extra in The Myth Makers (2) and The Silurians (6), Primord in Inferno, and Brother in The Masque of Mandragora
  • Harry Van Engel (Juror) was a Kaled Scientist in Genesis of the Daleks
  • Zulema [Noel] Dene [born Walliker] (Miss Johnson) voiced Danna for Soldier Obscura (2018)
  • Cliff Culley (optical FX) was VFX designer on Planet of the Daleks, Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Robot
  • Maurice Gillett was supervising electrician on both Dalek films too

Sunday 20 March 2022

Doctor Who Vs. Day of the Triffids

 The BBC's second, lavish re-
working of John Wyndham's
classic sci-fi novel was first
shown over two nights at
Christmas 2009 - it followed
 the Corporation's more 
 faithful TV version of 1981.
After readings of the book
on the BBC Home Service in
1953, radio productions were
broadcast in 1957, 1968 and
2001, and a cinema adapt-
ation (starring Carole Ann 
Ford) was released by Rank
in 1962.
Published in 1951, this post-
apocalyptic thriller is the best-known work of English novelist Wyndham (1903-1969), and related the colonisation of Earth by an aggressive
plant species, the carnivorous Triffids. A sequel by Simon Clark, The
Night of the Triffids (2001) was adapted by Big Finish in 2014, then transmitted on BBC Radio two years later.
Both feature-length episodes were repeated on 5Action today, and
featured Joely Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Eddie Izzard, Jason
Priestley, and eighteen Doctor Who cast connections:

  • [Stephen] Dougray Scott (Bill Masen) played Major Alec Palmer in Hide
  • Brian [Denis] Cox (Dennis) voiced the Ood Elder in The End of Time, and depicted Sydney Newman in An Adventure in Space and Time
  • Troy Glasgow (Troy) was Angelo in The Time of Angels
  • Big Finish actor/writer Lizzie Hopley (Hilda) voiced Gemma Griffin for Terror Firma (2005), Sue for Night Thoughts, Lady Lillian Hawthorne for The Veiled Leopard, Yarvell for I, Davros (all 2006), the Mantasphid Queen for The Infinite Quest, Brinna, Secretary and Comp for Cyberman, Sister Christie for The Emporium at the End (both 2016), Miss Steel for The Creeper (2020), and Camper for Silver Medal (2021)
  • Steven [William Thomas] Elder [born Lawrence] (Koch) voiced Commander Farrow for Jubilee (2003), Siy Tarkov for Dalek Empire (2004), Eric Rawden for Something Inside (2006), Lord Lycaon for I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day and Brightly Shone the Moon That Nightand Rudolph for Blood on Santa's Claw (all 2019)
  • William [Michael] Ilkley (Jeff) was Tim Bass in The Mark of the Rani
  • Paul Chahidi (Vronsky) voiced Hason for The Destroyer of Delights (2009), George Townsend for Industrial Evolution (2011), and the Shepherd for Persuasion, and Daleks Among Us (both 2013)
  • Julia Joyce (Imogen) was the Young Rose Tyler in Father's Day, and Holly Frobisher in Torchwood: Children of Earth
  • Raji James (Doctor) was Dr. Rajesh Singh in Doomsday and Army of Ghosts
  • Rita Davies (Wheelchair Woman) voiced Janneus for Primeval (2001), and Tashek for Innocence (2006)
  • Stephanie Carey (Barricade Woman) was a stunt performer on ten episodes (from Voyage of the Damned to The Vanquishers)
  • Greg Bennett (Soldier) was a Guard in Dalek, Sycorax Warrior and UNIT Soldier in The Christmas Invasion, and Guest in The Lazarus Experiment
  • Amanda Foster was a stunt performer on The Doctor's Daughter too
  • Will [John] Willoughby [born Haynes] was also a stuntman on nine adventures (from Rose to A Town Called Mercy) and Torchwood
  • Marcus Catlin was also the first assistant director on The Hungry Earth, Cold BloodThe Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang
  • Neal Champion was the SFX supervisor on An Adventure in Space and Time too
  • Carly Reddin (props) was art director on Cold War
  • Simon Diggins was also ADR recordist on twenty-five stories (from The Day of the Doctor to Twice Upon a Time)

Saturday 19 March 2022

Doctor Who Vs. Flood

This British disaster film (released by Lionsgate in 2007) was shown on 5 Action today, and was based on the eco-thriller written by Guernsey-born climate change expert, Richard Doyle. The novel depicts the aftermath of a devastating Atlantic storm on the British Isles. Present day London is threatened by a catastrophic flood (then subsequent fires from a refinery explosion), and the Thames Barrier fails. 
The drama (first broadcast on ITV as a mini-series in May 2008 and
repeated on ITV3 in Janaury 2011) however, concentrates on the
flooding of the capital. Ironically, the city's saviour proves to be the
weather, and rain extinguishes the second Great Fire. Doyle's book
(published in 2002) is highly detailed and researched, full of incident
and characterisation, with a true sense of scale and realism. Flood
conveys a thoroughly convincing scenario, presented with tangible 
peril and rising panic - a highly recommended and insightful read
that remains one of my favourite books.
The extended two-part TV version of Flood featured Robert Carlyle,
Jessalyn Gilsig, Joanne Whalley, Tom Hardy, Tom Courtenay, David 
Hayman, and eleven Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

  • David [Courtney] Suchet (Campbell) played the Landlord in Knock Knock
  • Nigel [George] Planer (Hopkins) was Vorgenson in The Monsters Are Coming!, and voiced Marlow for Big Finish's Hothouse (2009), then the Old Emperor and Herrax for Empire of the Racnoss (2017)
  • Rob Dixon (Bryant) voiced Reggie Mead for Project: Twilight (2001), and Sergeant Wood for No Man's Land (2006)
  • Pip [Dean] Torrens (Richardson) was Headmaster Rocastle in Human Nature and The Family of Blood, then voiced Charlie Gibbs for Eldrad Must Die! (2013)
  • Martin Ball (Wyatt) was Roger Davey in Partners in Crime
  • Chrissie Cotterill (Christine) was Madame Vernet in Vincent and the Doctor
  • John Benfield [born Jonathan Edmund Fulford Turner] (Frank) voiced Don for Autumn (2007), and Captain Greeg for The Song of Megaptera (2010)
  • stunt co-ordinator Jim Dowdall had uncredited roles in Day of the DaleksGenesis of the Daleks and Frontios
  • Christopher Fosh (Engineer) and stuntman Steve Griffin both worked on The Idiot's Lantern too
  • Susan Wooldridge (Nash's Assistant) auditioned for the role of Leela in 1976

Sunday 6 March 2022

Doctor Who Vs. The Monocled Mutineer

Shown over four consecutive Sunday nights
from August 31 to September 21 1986 to ten
million viewers on BBC1, this seminal work
attracted controversy from the right-wing
commentators, who again accused the BBC
of left-wing bias.
The historical drama, written by Alan Bleasdale,
was adapted from the book (published in 1978)
by William Allison and John Fairley. The authors
 also faced criticism from the Tory press.
The BBC had originally approached Bleasdale
in 1981 to adapt the book, which dramatised
the life of Percy Toplis (1896-1920), a British
Army deserter present at the Etaples mutiny
 of September 1917, during the Great War.
The series was only repeated once by the BBC, 
in 1988. The VHS release of 1999 was followed
 by a DVD version in 2007.
As part of the Corporation's commemoration 
of the start of the First World War, Matthew
Sweet examined the impact of The Monocled Mutineer in Free Thinking, broadcast on Radio 3 in April 2014. The
BAFTA winning drama (last repeated on Forces TV in 2017) featured
Best Actor nominee Paul McGann (pictured in his breakthrough role
as Toplis), and twenty-three other Doctor Who cast and crew alumni:

  • Penelope [Alice] Wilton (Lady Angela) played Harriet Jones MP in Aliens of LondonWorld War ThreeThe Christmas Invasion and The Stolen Earth
  • Cherie [Mary] Lunghi (Dorothy) voiced Lady Adela Forster for Big Finish's The Emerald Tiger (2012)
  • Ron Donachie (Strachan) was a Steward in Tooth and Claw
  • Timothy [Lancaster] West (Thomson) voiced Kai Tobias for Phobos (2007), Ronald Turvey for Cuddlesome (2008), and Dr. Magnus Soames for House of Blue Fire (2011)
  • David Allister (Asser) was Stimson in The Leisure Hive, and Bruchner in Terror of the Vervoids
  • Philip McGough (Woodhall) was Sergeant [Graham] Calder in Resurrection of the Daleks
  • Richard [John] Ireson (Ritchie) was Axus in The Krotons, and Soldier in The Mind Robber
  • Noel [Philip] Coleman (Sir John) was General Smythe in The War Games
  • Malcolm Terris (Johnson) was Etnin in The Dominators, and the Co-Pilot in The Horns of Nimon
  • Eric Mason (Sgt. Major) was Green in The Mind of Evil, and CPO Smedley in The Sea Devils
  • Anthony Calf (Guinness) made his TV debut as Charles in The Visitation, was Colonel Godsacre in Empress of Marsand voiced Lord Barset for Frozen Time (2007), and Cal for Zero Space (2018)
  • [John] Anthony Carrick (Parry) was Captain Rossini in The Masque of Mandragora
  • Jim [Edward] Carter (Spencer) voiced Brother Bernard in The Book of Kells (2010)
  • John Owens (C.O.) was Thorpe in The Daemons
  • [Rosemary] Rowena Cooper (Miss Cruikshank) was Angela Price in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Lost in Time, then voiced La Concierge for Demon's Quest: The Demon of Paris (2010), Emily Shaw for The Last Post (2012) and The Cloisters of Terror (2015), Jean Bazemore for Jago & SonMother Superior for The Unbound Universe (both 2016) and Ruler of the Universe (2017), and Queen Victoria for The Victorian AgeThe Torchwood ArchiveJago & Litefoot Forever (2018) and Infidel Places (2022)
  • John Benfield [born Jonathan Edmund Fulford Turner] (Extra) voiced Don for Circular Time: Autumn (2007), and Captain Greeg for The Song of Megaptera (2010)
  • David Arlen [born Sydney Bough], Terry Paris, Timothy Block and Iestyn Jones were Warrior Guard in The Mutants, Grecian Wrestler in Four to Doomsday, Tanner in Black Orchid, and ISA crewman in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship respectively
  • Tariq Anwar was also the film editor on The Sun Makers and The Five Doctors
  • Matthew Kuipers was production manager on K9 & Company too
  • Graham Brown was also a SFX assistant on Resurrection of the Daleks and Attack of the Cybermen, uncredited VFX assistant on (part 4 of) Full CircleThe Five DoctorsThe Caves of Androzani (4) and Revelation of the Daleks (2), then VFX designer on The Curse of Fenric

Tuesday 1 March 2022

Doctor Who Vs. Van Der Valk, Series 1

This classic ITV crime drama starred Barry
Foster as the titular Dutch detective, and
was based on characters created by Nicolas
Freeling for his Van Der Valk books in 1962.
Produced at Thames Television's studios in
 London, location scenes were shot in
Amsterdam, and the series first aired in the
autumn of 1972. The show was was revived
in 1991, and Marc Warren was cast in the
recent modern remake.
A repeat run of the first, six-part season
(including an episode directed by Douglas
Camfield) began on Talking Pictures TV
tonight - it featured Richard Hurndall,
Trevor Martin, and a total of thirteen
Doctor Who cast connections:

  • [John] Clifford Rose (Boersma here; De Groote in Series 3) was Rorvik in Warriors' Gate
  • Michael [Pierce] Turner (Dr. Smeding) was Jarvis Bennett in The Wheel in Space
  • Dave Carter (Stribos) was a Rebel in (episode 1 of) The Power of the Daleks, IE Guard in The Invasion (1), titular reptile in The Silurians, Primord in Inferno, Attendant in Terror of the Autons (1), Prison Officer in The Mind of Evil, Skybase Guard in The Mutants (1), Roundhead Officer in The Time Monster (3), Sergeant Duffy in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1), and Grierson in The Android Invasion
  • [John] Colin McCormack (Sailor) was the Commander in The Sun Makers
  • James Cairncross (Dr. Jagerman) was Lemaitre in The Reign of Terror, and Beta in The Krotons
  • [Sarah] Patricia Quinn (Yvonne) was Belazs in Dragonfire
  • Jonathan Newth (Chemist) was Orfe in Underworld
  • [Albert] Geoffrey Bayldon (Kettner) was the oldest actor to portray the Doctor in any medium - he starred in Big Finish's Auld Mortality (2003) and A Storm of Angels (2005), and he was also Organon in The Creature from the Pit
  • Peter [Wiliam] Pratt (Westermann) was the Master in The Deadly Assassin 
  • John [Morgan] Rees (Mulhauzen) and Harold [born Israel] Goldblatt (Moen) both appeared in Frontier in Space, as Hardy and Professor Dale
  • Michael [Lawson] Sheard [born Perkins] (Harkemer here; Ruytens in Series 3) was Rhos in The Ark (2), Dr. Roland Summers in The Mind of Evil, Laurence Scarman in Pyramids of Mars, Lowe in The Invisible Enemy, Mergrave in Castrovalva, the Headmaster in Remembrance of the Daleks, then voiced Orsino for The Stones of Venice (2001)
  • Christopher Matthews (Receptionist) was Radar Technician in The Tenth Planet