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