Doctor Who Vs. Tess of the D'Urbervilles

The BBC's second television adapt-

ation of this seminal Victorian work (serialised in 1891 and published a

year later) was first shown in the 

autumn of 2008.
Thomas Hardy's eighth novel
 focused on the tragically short life
of Wessex girl, Tess Durbeyfield,
portrayed here by Gemma
Arterton.
The first cinematic retelling of the

story (a silent movie of 1913) was 

itself based on the Broadway play

of 1897. The work was first dram-
atised in Britain by Hardy (1840-

1928) himself in 1924. Many film,
stage and TV versions followed, 

notably Roman Polanski's Tess 

(1979), and this WGBH co-prod-

uction.

The complete four-part saga was

repeated on Drama today - it featured Eddie Redmayne (as Angel), Hans

Matheson (Alec), Jodie Whittaker, Ruth Jones, and sixteen Doctor Who

cast and crew connections:

• Ian Puleston Davies (John) voiced Angus Selwyn for Big Finish's Absent Friends (2016)
• Jo Woodcock (Liza Lu) voiced Ziv for Starlight Robbery (2013), Susannah Nash for Static (2017), Marie for The Iron Maid (2018), and Kayla Worthington for The Day Before They Came (2021)
• Hugh Skinner (Felix) voiced Sebastian Vaughan for The Vigil (2019), Lord Oiliver Erpingham for The Headless Ones (2020), and Sir Lancelot for The Lone Centurion 2 (2022)
• Christopher Fairbank (Groby) voiced Doc Baroque for The Scapegoat (2009), Professor Pierre Aronnax for The Wreck of the Titan (2010), and Marc Brunel for Iron Bright (2018), and appeared in Flatline as Fenton
• Rebekah Staton (Marion) was Jenny in Human Nature and The Family of Blood
• Steven Robertson (Cuthbert) was Richard Pritchard in Under the Lake and Before the Flood
• Kenneth Cranham (Clare) voiced Tom Cardwell for Blood of the Daleks (2007)
• Donald Sumpter (Tringham) was Enrico Casali in The Wheel in Space, Commander Ridgeway in The Sea Devils, Erasmus Darkening in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Eternity Trap, and President Rassilon in Hell Bent
• Jeany Spark (Mercy) voiced Florence Nightingale for The Angel of Scutari (2009), Jelena for Prisoner of the Sun (2010), Daisy Chapel for Operation Hellfire (2020), Ifor Tragacanth/Cham Yal for The Doomsday Contract, Gonch/Piir Mother for The Melting Pot (both 2021), and Carol Protraxus/General Polly Juno for Silver and Ice (2022)
• Trevor Cooper (Crick) was [Lancelot] Takis in Revelation of the Daleks, and Friar Tuck in Robot of Sherwood - he voiced Rull for Magic Bullet's Kaldor City, Sir Ralph for The Doomwood Curse, Shanks for The Haunting of Thomas Brewster (both 2008), Judah for The Beast of Orlok, Smithy for Castle of Fear (both 2009), Captain Maddox/ Stennan for Army of Death (2011), Colonel Burroughs/Kimball for The Emerald Tiger (2012), Preddle/Jonathan Jaggers for Judoon in Chains (2016), Jonathan Mayfly/Sir Joseph Eagleton for The Ghosts of Greenwich (2019), Smallpiece for Merry Christmas Mr. Jago (2020), and Silas Keynes for The Ravencliff Witches (2022)
• Anna [Raymond] Massey (Mrs. D'Urberville) voiced Miss Pollard for The Girl Who Never Was (2007)
• Ellie Darcey Alden (Modesty) was Francesca in The Snowmen
• Sarah Counsell (Woman) was Waitress in Vincent and the Doctor
• stunt co-ordinator Gareth Milne was George Cranleigh in Black Orchid, Mortuary Attendant in Vengeance on Varos, and doubled for Peter Davison on Warriors of the Deep
• Janine Wilder was also scenic artist on thirty-six stories (from The Christmas Invasion to The End of Time), Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures pilot
• make-up assistant Vickie Lang was designer on An Adventure in Space and Time