Doctor Who Vs. Marple: The Pale Horse

Agatha Christie's fifty-second crime novel (pub-

lished in 1961) did not feature Miss Marple, but

another amateur detective, the novelist Ariadne

Oliver. She appeared in seven other books (from

1936 to 1972), but was omitted from both tele-

vision adaptations of The Pale Horse, shown in

1997 and 2010. Mammoth Screen also drama-

tised the mystery for BBC1 in 2020.

 ITV's first version starred Louise Jameson,

Jean Marsh, Geoffrey Beevers, Hermione

Norris and Leslie Phillips, whilst this production

 was repeated on ITV3 tonight.

Julia McKenzie again portrayed Jane Marple -

she co-starred with eighteen Doctor Who cast

and crew connections:

• Lynda Baron [born Lilian Ridgeway] (Mrs. Coppins) recorded The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon (sung off screen) for The Gunfighters, then played Captain Wrack in Enlightenment, and Val in Closing Time
• Tom Ward (Cottam) was Captain Latimer in The Snowmen
• [Christopher] Nicholas Parsons (Gorman here; Dr. Crump in Murder Ahoy) was Reverend Wainwright (pictured) in The Curse of Fenric
• Pauline Collins (Thyrza here; Dr. Kendall in Sparkling Cyanide) was Samantha Briggs in The Faceless Ones, then Queen Victoria in Tooth and Claw
• Bill Paterson (Bradley here; Conan Doyle in The Mysterious Case of Agatha Christie) was Dr. Edwin Bracewell in Victory of the Daleks, and briefly in The Pandorica Opens
• Nigel [George] Planer (Venables) was Vorgenson for the Doctor Who Live: The Monsters are Coming arena tour, and voiced Alex Marlowe for Big Finish's Hothouse (2009), and Herrax/Old Racnoss Emperor for Empire of the Racnoss (2017)
• John Joseph Feild (Osbourne here; Doyle in Death on the Nile, 2004) voiced David McCallister for Blue Forgotten Planet (2009)
• Elizabeth Rider (Mrs. Davis) provided the ATMOS voice for The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky, was Ellen in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Lost in Time, Linda in The Time of the Doctor, then voiced Galatea for The Well-Mannered War (2015)
• Susan Lynch (Sybil) was Angstrom in The Ghost Monument
• Amy Manson (Ginger) voiced Jeanie/System for Into the Stars (2022)
• for Damien Timmer, Sean Clayton and Nigel Squibbs (crew) see The Body in the Library
• for Matthew Tabern and Gavin Walters (crew) see A Pocket Full of Rye
• Vicki Lang was make-up designer on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• for stunt co-ordinator Tom Lucy see At Bertram's Hotel
• for Donna Shakesheff (runner) see The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side