Doctor Who Vs. Des

Nilsen (1945-2018) was convicted of the murders
of six young men, but confessed to nine others.
Only seven of his victime were ever identified.

"If you hadn't

caught me that

day, it'd be a

 hundred and

fifty, not fifteen.

I could never

have stopped."

'What follows is

based on 'Killing

for Company' by

Brian Masters

and on extensive

research and

personal

accounts.'

  

ITV Studios' acclaimed true-crime drama opened in 1983 with the

arrest of Scottish serial killer, Dennis Nilsen, portrayed by David

Tennant.

A repeat run of Des (first shown over three consecutive week

nights in September 2020) concluded on ITV3 last night - it also

featured Daniel Mays, Jason Watkins, and eighteen Doctor Who

cast and crew connections:

• Mays (DCI Jay) was Alex in Night Terrors
• Watkins (Masters) was Webley in Nightmare in Silver
• Ron Cook (DSI Chambers) was Mr. Magpie in The Idiot's Lantern
• Pip [Dean] Torrens (Lawrence) and Gerard [James Pertwee] Horan (Lockwood) both appeared in Human Nature and The Family of Blood, as Headmaster Rocastle and Clark/Father of Mine - Torrens then voiced Charlie Gibbs for Eldrad Must Die! (2013), and Kenton for Break the Ice (2022)
• Ben Bailey Smith (DC Lodge) was Durkas Cicero in The Tsuranga Conundrum
• Silas Carson (Cavendish) was Uvlavad for The Sarah Jane Adventures: Warriors of the Kudlak, and provided Alien voices for The End of the World, then Ood voices for The Impossible Planet, The Satan Pit, Planet of the Ood, The End of Time, Pond Life, Survivors of the Flux, The Vanquishers and Big Finish's Prisoner of the Ood and The War Master 2 (both 2018) - he also voiced Trave for Havoc, the Sicari for Collateral and Assassins, Commentator for Warzone (all 2019), Garlon Rosh for The Robots of War, Brian for He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not (both 2020), Dr. Winston Grange for Time Flies (2022), and Ramesh Kamal for Storm of the Sea Devils
• Jamie Parker (Green) voiced Wulfric/Edgar for Leviathan, Major Richter for The Architects of History (both 2010), Douglas for Aimed at the Body, Plummer for Lightspeed, Frank Reichenbach for The Bookshop at the End of the World, Virgilio for Interlude, Brian for Echo Chamber, Jasper Fernbridge for Towards Zero, Torrence for Castle Hydra, Sandar for Effect and Cause, Sir Percy/ Terrance for Plight of the Pimpernel (all 2020), Captain Hallorin for Ravagers (2021), and Tsar Alexander II/Trinity for Hidden Depths (2022)
• Faye McKeever (Linda) was Louise Miller in Empire of Death and Lucky Day
• Ken Bones (Judge) was the General in The Day of the Doctor and Hell Bent - a role reprised for Dreadshade (2020), The Mission, The Horror and Gallifrey: War Room (all 2022) - he also voiced Dreislav/Thomas Bloodchild for The Bloodchild Codex (2013), and David/Anders Kristiansen for The Keeper of Light
• Andrew Woodall (Hardy) depicted Rex Tucker in An Adventure in Space and Time
• Beth Goddard (Frances) voiced Christine Colley for The Sontaran Project (2017), Ludina Braskell for Ravenous 1 (2018), Barton for The Moons of Vulpana, Vella for A Photograph to Remember and Rulers of Earth (all 2019), Sally/Time Lady for Operation: Hellfire (2020), and Allerdyce Benexa/Pangladasha for Ice Heist! (2023)
• Laurie Kynaston (Stottor) voiced the titular alien for Mind of the Hodiac (2022)
• [Sally] Amaka Okafor (Emily) voiced Agnes for L.E.G.E.N.D. (2019), Aurora for Quantum of Axos (2022), and Abby for Storm of the Sea Devils (2024)
• Jonathan Coy (Bowen) voiced Fowler for Jago & Litefoot 9 (2015)
• Tony Way (Cattran) was Alf in Deep Breath
• Tor Clark (Foreman) was a Teacher in Let's Kill Hitler
• Jade Jenkins (second asst. camera) was a trainee on Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror and Praxeus

Doctor Who Vs. Bleak House

Considered one of Charles Dickens' finest
works, Bleak House was originally pub-

lished in twenty monthly instalments from

March 1852. The writer's fourteenth novel is

also cited as amongst the earliest forms of

fiction to include a major role for a detective.

The first television reworking of Bleak House

was produced by the BBC in 1959, then again

 in 1985. A third version (the winner of five

BAFTAs and two Emmy awards and double

Golden Globe nominee) was first broadcast
on BBC1 from October to December 2005. 

PBS stations screened the drama in America

from 2006. The Radio Times marked the

bicentenary of Dickens' birth in 2012 with a

 poll to find the best adaptation of his novels,

and the most recent Bleak House series was

voted the best ever Dickens tale for TV - a repeat run began on Drama

today. The cast for this fifteen-part series was led by Charles Dance,

Denis Lawson, Ian Richardson, Patrick Kennedy, Gillian Anderson, Alun

Armstrong, Hugo Speer, Nathaniel Parker, Richard Harrington, Richard

Griffiths, Johnny Vegas, and featured Catherine Tate (pictured as

Mrs. Chadbond) and thirty-one Doctor Who cast/crew connections:

• script editor Caroline Skinner was co-executive producer on the revived run (from The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe to The Name of the Doctor), An Adventure in Space and Time and The Doctors Revisited
• Anna [Charlotte] Maxwell Martin (Esther here; Mrs. Strong in David Copperfield, 2019) was Suki Macrae Cantrell [Eva St. Julienne) in The Long Game, and voiced Maddie Bower for Big Finish's The Diary of River Song 2 (2017)
• Carey [Hannah] Mulligan (Ada here; Belle for A Christmas Carol, 2020) and Richard Cant (Mercury) both appeared in Blink - as Sally Sparrow and Malcolm Wainwright
• Tom Georgeson (Clamb) was Kavell in Genesis of the Daleks, and Inspector in Logopolis
• Timothy [Lancaster] West (Sir Dedlock here; Bounderby in Hard Times, 1977; Bumble in Oliver Twist, 1982) voiced Kai Tobias for Phobos (2007), Ronald Turvey for Cuddlesome (2008), and Dr. Magnus Soames for House of Blue Fire (2011)
• Burn [Hugh Winchester] Gorman (Guppy) was Torchwood series regular Owen Harper, and voiced the Network for Echoes of Extinction (2021)
• Pauline Collins (Miss Flite here; Mrs. Gamp in Dickensian) was Samantha Briggs in The Faceless Ones, then Queen Victoria in Tooth and Claw
• Phil Davis (Smallweed here; Scott in Mr. Quilp; Noah in Oliver Twist, 1982; Brooker in Nicholas Nickleby, 2002) was Lucius Petrus Dextrus in The Fires of Pompeii, and voiced Titus for The Cannibalists (2009)
• Anne Reid (Miss Rouncewell here/Mrs. Bagnet, 1985) was Nurse Crane in The Curse of Fenric, and Florence Finnegan in Smith and Jones
• Louise Brealey (Judy) voiced Charlotte Willis for The Foe from the Future (2012), and Dr. Millicent Belanger for The Viyran Solution (2014)
• Michael Smiley (Squod) voiced Seedleson for Creatures of Beauty (2003), then was Colonel Morgan Blue in Into the Dalek
• Peter Guinness (Coroner) and Roberta [Alexandra Mary] Taylor [born Roberts] (Mrs. Pardiggle) both starred in The Holy Terror (2000) as Childeric/Berengaria - Guinness also voiced Baron Teufel for The Beast of Orlok (2009), Rovus for The Star Men (2017), and Mr. Dread for Dreamland - Taylor also voiced Angela Wisher for Cuddlesome, and Maid for I Was Churchill's Double (2018)
• Sheila [Cameron] Hancock (Mrs. Guppy) was Helen A in The Happiness Patrol
• Joanna David [born Hacking] (Mrs. Badger) voiced Mrs. Audley for AudioGo's The Broken Crown (2011)
• Kelly Hunter (Miss Barbary) was the Shadow Architect in The Stolen Earth and The Magician's Apprentice 
• [David] Matthew Kelly (Turveydrop here; Bumble in Celebrate Oliver!) voiced Michelangelo for Fallen Angels (2016)
• Bryan Dick (Prince) voiced the Exec for Theatre of War (2015), and Finnian Valentine for The Devil You Know (2018)
• Amelda Brown (Landlady) voiced Margaret for The Gunpowder Plot
• Robert Pugh (Chadbond) was Tony Mack in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, and voiced Emmett Burrows for Five Twenty-Nine (2016)
• Anthony Cozens (Usher) was the Concierge in The Husbands of River Song
• Michelle Tate (Guster) was Abigail in The Crimson Horror
• Liza Tarbuck (Mrs. Jellyby) voiced Lysette Barclay for Plague of the Daleks (2009), and Captain Kaliko for The Infinite Quest
• Rod Arthur (Neckett) was Mr. Parsons in School Reunion
• Richard Bonehill (stuntman/sword master) was the Flight Engineer in Time Flight, First Officer in Enlightenment, Guardolier in Timelash, and Guard in Revelation of the Daleks and Terror of the Vervoids
• Steve Robinson was also first assistant director on The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks
• executive Gordon Ronald was head of production on The Zygon Inversion and The Husbands of River Song
• Ian Adrian was also a camera operator on The Vampires of Venice, The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood, Vincent and the Doctor, The Lodger and An Adventure in Space and Time 
• post-production supervisor Beewan Athwell was the VFX producer on fourteen episodes, from A Christmas Carol to The Wedding of River Song
• Jason Gill was also costume assistant on fourteen stories (from A Christmas Carol to The Wedding of River Song), Space/Time and Death is the Only Answer

Doctor Who Vs. Cinderella

Disney Picture's live-action reworking

of their animated classic of 1950 was

shown on BBC1 tonight.

Lily James depicted the eponymous

folk heroine Ella, Cate Blanchett was

her wicked stepmother, Helena Bonham

Carter was the Fairy Godmother, and Richard Madden was the Prince.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, the film

was released in 2015 - it also featured

Derek Jacobi, Alex Macqueen,

Stellan Skarsgard, Holliday Grainger,

and twelve other Doctor Who cast

connections:

• Nonso Anozie (Captain) was Hydroflax in The Husbands of River Song
• Hayley [Elizabeth] Atwell (Mother) voiced Asha for Blood of the Daleks (2007), Eleanor for The Doomwood Curse (2008), Seksa for The Whispering Forest (2010), and President Sheridan Moorkurk for The Sands of Life and War Against the Laan (both 2013)
• Mimi Ndiweni (Lady) was Abby in Oxygen, and voiced Ronnie Brockman for Big Dig (2013), Alicia Dowan/Secretary for Subterfuge (2019), and Other River for The Two Rivers (2022)
• Tom Edden (Footman) was Pharmacist in Gridlock
• Joseph Kloska (Assistant) voiced the Perfect One for The Masters of Luxor, Dukhin for The Acheron Pulse (both 2012), King Henry IV/Sir Robert de Wensley/Adam/Tom Chaucer for The Doctor's Tale (2014), Habrild for Order of the Daleks (2016), Schandel for Pretty Lies (2017), Morris/Centurion for The Iron Legion, Neville Plumstead/ Bobby Harrris/the Creature for The Ghosts of Greenwich (both 2019), Pilot Finlay for Genetics of the Daleks (2020), Ivo Hislop Cannon for Long Shot (2021), Tannus Vallon/ Suit for Chronomancer, Ludwig Von Husseldorf for Lay Down Your Arms (both 2022), and Corg for Dominant Species (2024)
• Ella Smith (Lady) voiced the titular role for The Wrath of Medusa (2022)
• Adetomiwa Edun (Trooper) was Brock in The Return of Doctor Mysterio
• Michael Jenn (Doctor) was Clarence DeMarco in The Name of the Doctor
• Josh O'Connor (Guard) was Piotr in Cold War 
• Gerald Horan (Vaneering) was Mr. Clark/Father of Mine in Human Nature and The Family of Blood 
• Bentley Kalu (Rider) was Hood in The Angels Take Manhattan
• Ryan Stuart was a stuntman on Nightmare in Silver too