Doctor Who Vs. Agatha Christie's Poirot, Series 10

David Suchet returned as the

Queen of Crime's Belgian sleuth

for another four feature-length

serials, first shown in early 2006.

Ariadne Oliver (portrayed here by

Zoe Wanamaker) was a creation whom Christie said had "a strong

dash of myself".

 Oliver debuted in Cards on the

Table, where her own iteration of

 The Body in the Library is refer-

enced - that title was actually

used by Christie in 1942. Oliver

 featured in six further books, including The Pale Horse (pub-

lished in 1961), where she met

the Calthorps, friends of Miss

Marple from The Moving Finger,

whilst other works by Oliver were discussed by characters in The Clocks (1963). Like Christie and her contemporaries, the fictional writer was a member of the Detection

Club. A repeat run of the tenth season began on ITV3 tonight - it

featured William Russell (who celebrates his 99th birthday today),

and a total of thirty-seven Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

The Mystery Of The Blue Train 
(UK TX: New Year's Day 2006/Published in 1928)

• Hettie Macdonald was also director of Blink, The Doctor's Meditation, The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar
• Lindsay [Vere] Duncan (Tamplin here; Marina in The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, 2010) was Captain Adelaide Brooke in The Waters of Mars
• [Simon Richard] James D'Arcy (Kettering here; Burton in The Moving Finger, 2006) voiced Michael for Big Finish's Paradise 5 (2010)
• for Nicholas Farrell (Knighton) see The ABC Murders
• [Carolyn] Jane [Onslow] How (Lady here; Veronica in Cat Among the Pigeons) was Rebec in Planet of the Daleks
• Roger Lloyd Pack (Caux) was John Lumic in Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel
• Josette [Patricia] Simon (Mirelle) voiced Sarana Teel for The Sontaran Ordeal (2016), and Taraneh for The Mind Runners (2018)
• first assistant director Stephen Woolfenden was director of Nightmare in Silver
• for Sean Clayton see Murder on the Links
• Nick Wilkinson (stunt co-ordinator here & Taken at the Flood) was a stuntman on The Next Doctor
• Dean Forster was also stuntman on seven episodes (from The Christmas Invasion to A Good Man Goes to War), The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• Adam Harvey was assistant editor on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• series script editor Beth Willis was co-executive producer on twenty-seven stories (from The Eleventh Hour to The Wedding of River Song), Doctor Who Confidential, then Space/Time and The Adventure Games
• Jamie McCoan was film editor on Blink too

Cards On The Table (UK TX: March 19/Published in 1936)

• Alex Jennings (Dr. Roberts here; Calgary for Ordeal by Innocence, 1983; DI Curry in They Do It With Mirrors, 2009; Richard for Magnolia Blossom; and was cast in The Murder at the Vicarage, 2026) voiced Lord Hawthorn for The Hunting Season (2021)
• Lesley [Ann] Manville (Lorrimer) depicted Heather Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time
• Robert Pugh (Hughes here; Easterbrook in A Murder is Announced, 2005) was Tony Mack in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, and voiced Emmett Burrows for Five Twenty-Nine (2016)
• Alexander [born Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi] Siddig (Shaitana here) voiced Rosto for Sisters of the Flame and The Vengeance of Morbius (both 2008), the Captain for The Wreck of the Titan, Nemo for Legend of the Cybermen (both 2010), the Sultan for 1001 Nights (2012), and Marcus Gifford for I Went to a Marvellous Party (2016)
• Lucy [Katherine] Liemann (Miss Burgess here; Sonia in Third Girl) voiced Zennox for Last of the Cybermen
• David Westhead (Wheeler) was Kemper in The Shakespeare Code
• Honeysuckle [Susan] Weeks (Rhoda here; Romaine in Witness for the Prosecution, 2010; Agatha Christie in Frankie Drake Mysteries) voiced Heleyna for Agents of Chaos (2016)
• Cordelia Bugeja (Mrs. Luxmore) was Esther Spears in The War Between the Land and the Sea

After The Funeral (UK TX: March 26/Published in 1953)

• Robert [Guy] Bathurst (Entwhistle) voiced Cardinal Padrac for Doom Coalition, then was General Farquhar in Survivors of the Flux
• Annabel Scholey (Sorrel) was Claire Brown in The Halloween Apocalypse, Village of the Angels and The Vanquishers
• for Philip Anthony (Vicar) see The ABC Murders
• Anna Calder-Marshall (Maude) voiced Mathilda Pierce for Scream of the Shalka
• for John Carson (Abernethie) see The Incredible Theft

Taken At The Flood (UK TX: April 2/Published in 1948)

• Jenny [Ann] Agutter (Adela here; Agnes in 4.50 from Paddington; Narrator of The Agatha Christie Code) voiced Sekhmet for The Bride of Peladon (2008)
• Richard [John] Hope [Walker] (Spence here & Mrs. McGinty's Dead) was Malohkeh in The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood and The Wedding of River Song, and Bleytal in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, then voiced Moreland for The Bounty of Ceres, William Heaton for Changing of the Guard (both 2014) and Rise and Shine, Harry Harvey for Damaged Goods (both 2015), Philip Cook/Kal for Absent Friends (2016), Jastrok for UNIT: Assembled (2017), and General Reinhardt for Shellshock (2022)
• Celia [Diana Savile] Imrie (Kathy here; Maid in Death on the Nile, 1978; Mde. Joilet in 4.50 from Paddington; Narrator of Talking Pictures: The Films of Agatha Christie, 2020) was [Rosemary] Kizlet in The Bells of Saint John, and voiced Dr. Elizabeth Bradley for The Fifth Citadel (2013), Mde. Tissot for Gallery of Ghouls, and Lady Livia Caralis for Enemy Lines (both 2016)
• Tim [Peter] Pigott Smith (Woodward here; Stubbs in Dead Man's Folly, 1986) was Captain Harker in The Claws of Axos, and Marco in The Masque of Mandragora
• Elizabeth [Jean Williams] Spriggs (Leadbetter here; Mildred in Spider's Web, 1982; Miss Johnson for Murder in Mesopotamia, 1994) was Tabby in Paradise Towers
• for David Yelland (George) see Murder in the Mews
• for Pip Torrens (Cloade) see The Mystery of the Spanish Chest
• Elliot [Aidan] Cowan (Hunter here; Hudd in They Do It With Mirrors, 2009) voiced Gark for The Fifth Traveller (2016)
• Patrick [Bashir] Baladi (Cloade here; Frayn in The Blue Geranium, 2010) was cast in The War Between the Land and the Sea
• Marcus Catlin was also first assistant director on The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood, The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang

Doctor Who Vs. Dad's Army: The Animated Lost Episodes

Digital TV channel Gold recreated three lost episodes of the BBC's beloved wartime sitcom for their UKTV Originals strand. Dad's Army endured for eighty instalments over nine series (from 1968 to 1977), but a trio of stories remain lost from the archives. Originally shown in late 1969, The Lonliness of the Long Distance Walker, A Stripe for Frazer and Under Fire were remade by Mercury Productions (makers of Gold's 50th anniversary documentary Saluting Dad's Army). Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson are now portrayed by Kevin McNally and Robert Bathurst, roles made famous by Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier, whilst Corporal Jones, Privates Frazer, Walker, Godfrey, and Pike were played by Kevin Eldon, David Hayman, Matthew Horne, Timothy West (who replaced Bernard Cribbins), and Tom Rosenthal.

The original instalments (and two Christmas specials) were given another lease of life when animated by BBC Studios, and began screening on Gold last night. The reconstructed versions (first shown in 2019) featured a total of eleven Doctor Who cast connections:

• McNally was Lieutenant Hugo Lang in The Twin Dilemma, and Professor Eustacius Jericho in Flux - he also voiced Henry for Spider's Shadow (2008), Vakrass for The End of the Beginning, and Merrick Kingdom for Dalek Universe (both 2021)
• Bathurst (also depicted Le Mesurier in Hattie) voiced Cardinal Padrac for Doom Coalition (2015-17), then was General Farquhar in Survivors of the Flux
• Eldon voiced Antimony for Death Comes to Time, and was Ribbons in It Takes You Away
• West voiced Kai Tobias for Phobos (2007), Ronald Turvey for Cuddlesome (2008), and Dr. Magnus Soames for House of Blue Fire (2011)
• Simon Ludders (Hodges [Bill Pertwee]) was Patient in New Earth, and Overseer in Thin Ice, then voiced Luke Palmer for Outbreak (2016), Policeman for Instant Karma, Magister Feris for The Angel of History, Elliot King for The War Master 2 (all 2018), Monty/Ogron for The Uncertain Shore (2020), Control for Rogue State, Dr. Andrews for Time Flies, and Colin Carter for Dark Side of the Moon (all 2022)
• Tracy Ann Oberman (Mavis [Janet Davies]) was Yvonne Hartman in Army of Ghosts and Doomsday - a role reprised for Big Finish's Torchwood - and also voiced Temperance Finch/Mrs. Grenville for Deimos and The Resurrection of Mars (both 2010), and the titular Tartarus (2019)
• Christopher Villiers (Brigadier) was Hugh Fitzwilliam in The King's Demons, Professor Moorhouse in Mummy on the Orient Express, and voiced Cacothis for Absolution (2007)
• Julia [Margaret] Deakin (Chairwoman) voiced Harriet Griffin for Terror Firma (2005), and Old Anita for Burrowed Time (2019)
• Andrew Havill (Brigadier here; Meeks in Dad's Army, 2016) was the Chief Steward in Voyage of the Damned, and voiced Aleister Portillon /Squire Claude for The Witch From the Well (2011), and Colonel Wildman for The Enchantress of Numbers (2019)
• Philip Pope (Murphy) voiced Father Harpin for The Foe from the Future (2011), Jovians for The Jupiter Conjunction, Pendolin for The Time Museum, John White/George Chapman for Voyage to the New World (all 2012), Templeton for Counter Measures (2013-15), Baker for The Monstrous Menagerie, Dr. Reginald Peacock for Murder at Moorsey Manor, John Rippon for The Wax Princess (all 2014), Boss/William/Baron Worthing for Treason and Plot (2020), and Speaker/Boss for Run (2023)
• Tamzin Griffin (Mrs. Keen) voiced Negotiator Vresha for Dreamtime (2005)
• Howard Burden was also costume designer on thirty adventures (from Asylum of the Daleks to Last Christmas)

Doctor Who Vs. Carry On @ 65

The Carry On franchise consists of thirty low-budget British comedy

features, produced from 1958 to 1978, whilst a final production was

released in 1992. 

Thames Television later screened four Carry On Christmas specials

between 1969 and 1973, followed by Carry On Laughing from ATV in

1975. The series also spawned three West End (1973-75) and regional

stage plays (1976 and 1992), and even an album in 1971.

Anglo Amalgamated Films produced the first dozen titles (until 1966),

and the Rank Organisation made the next nineteen. Writer Norman

Hudis (1922-2016) scripted the first six films, then was replaced by

Talbot Rothwell (1916-1981) who penned the next twenty. Every film

was made at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, with most location

filming undertaken nearby.

The films' humour (albeit dated and sexist by modern standards) was

in the comic tradition of the British music halls and bawdy seaside post-

cards. Producer Peter Rogers (1914-2009) and director Gerald Thomas

(1920-1993) made all thirty-one films, and drew on their own repertory

company of actors that included Kenneth Williams (who made 25 appear-

ances), Joan Sims (24), Charles Hawtrey (23), Sid James (19), Kenneth

Connor (17), Peter Butterworth (16), Hattie Jacques, Bernard Bresslaw

(14 each), Michael Nightingal (13), Jim Dale, Peter Gilmore (11),

Barbara Windsor (10), Patsy Rowlands, Marianne Stone (9), Julian

Holloway, Jack Douglas, Billy Cornelius (8), Terry Scott, Hugh Futcher,

Cyril Chamberlain, Gertan Klauber, Anthony Sagar (7), Lucy Griffiths

(6), Joan Hickson, David Lodge, Bill Maynard (5), Eric Barker, Bill Owen,

June Whitfield, Leslie Phillips, Liz Fraser, Dilys Laye, Angela Douglas,

Jacki Piper, Jon Pertwee (4), and Bernard Cribbins (3).

Hartnell (the titular officer,
Grimshawe) & Kenneth Connor

TV documentary What a Carry On? 
marked the fortieth anniversary of 
the series in 1998, and BBC Radio 
2 broadcast a two-part celebration
 in 2010. 
ITV first screened their three-part 
retrospective, also titled Carry On 
Forever, over Easter 2015.

This iconic franchise began sixty-

five years ago this summer with

the release of Carry On Sergeant

- shown on Sky Greats today.

Based on the play, The Bull Boys, 
by English novelist RF Delderfield, 
the comedy was never intended to 
launch any sequels, but due to its

box-office success, Carry On Nurse,

followed a year later. The rest is cinema history.

Led by William Hartnell, the cast here featured Charles Hawtrey, Norman Rossington (his co-stars from Granada's The Army Game),

Jacques, Bob Monkhouse, Shirley Eaton, Owen, and ten future

Doctor Who alumni:

• Gerald [Theron] Campion (Calloway) was Wilkin in Shada
• [Albert] Martin Boddey (Specialist here; Perkins in Carry On Nurse) was Robert Walker in The Sea Devils
• Bernard [Frederic Bemrose] Kay (Recruit) was Carl Tyler in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Saladin in The Crusade, DI Crossland in The Faceless Ones, and Caldwell in Colony in Space, then voiced Major Dickens for Big Fiish's Night Thoughts (2006)
• Leon Eagles (Recruit) was Jabel in The Face of Evil
• Derek Martinus [born Buitenhuis] (Recruit) was the director of Galaxy 4, Mission to the Unknown, The Tenth Planet, The Evil of the Daleks, The Ice Warriors and Spearhead from Space
• Ivor Danvers (Recruit) voiced Wendle Marr for Nekromanteia (2003), Dr. John Dee for A Storm of Angels (2005), and Professor Gareth Edmons for Buried Secrets (2006)
• Norman Huntley (Recruit) was Ulf in The Time Meddler, and Sergeant Peters in The Invasion
• Don McCorkindale (Recruit here; Tubby in Carry On Cabby) voiced Don Fabrizio for The Ghosts of N-Space, and Porthintus for The Wreck of the World (2017)
• Reg Thomason (Soldier here; Porter in Carry On Nurse; Operator in Carry On Constable; Passenger in Carry On Cruising; Officer in Carry On Jack; Citizen in Carry On Cleo; Patron in Carry On Cowboy; Guest in Carry On Loving; Councillor in Carry On Girls; Audience in Carry On Behind) was a Resistance Man in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 AD
• Joan Ellacott (dress designer here & Carry On Nurse, then costume designer on Carry On Regardless; Carry On Cruising; Carry On Cabby; Carry On Jack) was assigned to The Deadly Assassin