Doctor Who Vs. Agatha Christie's Poirot, Series 8

David Suchet (the definitive Hercule Poirot), Hugh

Fraser, Philip Jackson, and Pauline Moran all returned

 for Evil Under the Sun - based on the Queen of

Crime's twenty-second novel, published in 1941.

The book was dramatised for cinema in 1982, BBC

radio (1999), and even a PC game (2007) before

this ITV Studios production.

Fraser's Captain Hastings also appeared in the

second feature-length case, filmed on location in

Tunisia - Murder in Mesopotamia was adapted from

the 1938 novel.

The first mystery (originally shown in the spring of

2001) was repeated on ITV3 today - both serials

featured a total of fourteen Doctor Who cast and

crew connections:

Evil Under the Sun (UK TX: April 20)

• Russell [George] Tovey (Lionel here; PC Reed in Murder is Easy, 2008) was Midshipman Alonso Frame (pictured) in Voyage of the Damned - a role reprised for The End of Time (2) and Big Finish's One Enchanted Evening (2017) - he was also Narrator of BBC Books' The Doctor Trap, The Eyeless (both 2008) and Doctor Who Confidential (2011)
• Michael Higgs (Redfern) was the Men behind Desks in Delia: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes, then voiced Sir Aubrey Fanshaw Smith for Operation Werewolf (2024)
• David Mallinson (Kenneth) voiced Brodlik for Creatures of Beauty (2003)
• Carolyn Pickles (Emily here; Charlotte in Agatha; Miss Giles in The Mirror Crack'd; Mrs. Erskine/Alison for Sleeping Murder, 2001) voiced Lady Meera Darone for Army of Death (2011), Dr. Hilary Standish for The Stuff of Nightmares, Cardinal Ollistra for The Side of the Angels (both 2017), Dark Universe (2020), Allegiance (2022) and Manoeuvres (2023), Professor Marian Schaeffer for The Tyrants of Logic, and Traherne for An Ideal World (both 2018)
• David Timson (Blatt here; DI Campbell for At Bertram's Hotel, 2004; Babcock/Vicar for The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, 1998; Dr. Roberts for Cards on the Table, 2002) voiced Morpeth for The Trial of George Litefoot (2013)
• Ian [Jacob] Thompson (Major here; cast in Murder is Easy, 1993) was Hetra in The Web Planet, and Malsan in (episode 2 of) The Chase
• Kenneth [Alfred] Gilbert (Applegood) was Richard Dunbar in The Seeds of Doom
• stuntman Peter Diamond was stunt double and fight arranger on the classic run (from The Daleks to The Daemons)
• Jamie Harcourt was also a camera operator on The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit

Murder in Mesopotamia (UK TX: June 2)

• Pandora Clifford (Sheila) voiced Zeeb for The Garden of Storms, and Zeet for The People Made of Smoke (both 2020)
• Christopher Bowen (Carey) was Mordred in Battlefield
• cinematographer Kevin Rowley was film cameraman on Destiny of the Daleks and The Mark of the Rani
• Chris Wimble was also film editor on The Ambassadors of Death, The Daemons, The Invasion of Time and The Leisure Hive (1)
• camera loader Chris Samworth was focus puller on Kill the Moon