Doctor Who Vs. Agatha Christie's Poirot, Series 4

 David Suchet (who portrayed Hercule Poirot),

Hugh Fraser (Hastings), and Philip Jackson

(pictured left, as DI Japp) all returned for

three feature-length period dramas based

on the Queen of Crime's novels.

Death in the Clouds was published in 1936,

The ABC Murders followed a year later, and

One, Two Buckle My Shoe was issued in 1940.

A repeat run of the mysteries (first shown in

the winter of 1992) began on ITV3 today -

they featured Christopher Eccleston, and a

total of twenty-four Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

The ABC Murders (UK TX: January 5)

• Donald Sumpter (Cust) 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
• Donald [Macleod] Douglas (Clarke) was Vural in The Sontaran Experiment
• Nicholas Farrell [born Frost] (Fraser here; Metcalf in The Mousetrap, 2012) was Brian Green PM in Torchwood: Children of Earth, and voiced Gammades for Time Reef, Phil for A Perfect World (both 2008), Captain Frank for Last of the Cybermen (2015), and Browman for A Ghost of Alchemy (2023)
• David McAlister (Glen here; West in Sleeping Murder; Dr. Lord for Sad Cypress, 1992) provided a Megara voice for The Stones of Blood
• Allan Mitchell (Kerr) and John [Patrick] Breslin (Barnard) both appeared in Spearhead from Space, as Wagstaffe and Captain Munro respectively
• Philip Anthony [Johnson] (Doctor here; Vicar in After the Funeral; Calthrop in The Pale Horse; DI Slack in Murder at the Vicarage, 1982) was Roald in (episode 1 of) The Daleks' Master Plan
• [William] Pat Gorman (Sergeant here; London Man in The Case of the Missing Will; Commissionaire in Finessing the King; Golfer in A Pocket Full of Rye, 1985; Reporter in Thirteen at Dinner) made appearances in over a hundred instalments of the classic series (from The Dalek Invasion of Earth to Attack of the Cybermen)
• stuntmen Eddie Powell was Thompson in the second Dalek film, and Bill Weston began his TV career as a Militiaman in The Smugglers 
• Garry Dawson also worked on stand-by props for Cold War, The Crimson Horror and The Sarah Jane Adventures pilot episode

Death In The Clouds (UK TX: January 12)

• Sarah Woodward (Jane) voiced Theodora for Secret History (2015), Vesh Taralesh for Stolen Goods (2018), and Anla Jessik for The Quest of the Engineer (2020)
• Richard [John] Ireson (Fournier) was a Soldier in The Mind Robber, and Axus in The Krotons
• John Bleasdale (Mitchell) was one of the titular Robots of Death
• Raymond Sawyer (Clerk) was the Desk Sergeant in Blink
• director Stephen [John] Whittaker was Craftsman Weams in The Web of Fear

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (UK TX: January 19)

• Karen [Natasha Alison] Gledhill (Gladys) made her TV debut as Alison Williams in Remembrance of the Daleks, a role she reprised for Big Finish's Counter Measures
• Bruce [John] Alexander (Chapman) voiced Hingus for Emissary of the Daleks (2019), and Jadzis for Susan's War 2 (2024)
• Laurence Harrington (Morley) was Lunar Guard in Frontier in Space
• Sara Stewart [born Scott Griffith] (Jane here; Greta for Endless Night, 2008; Hubbard in Murder on the Orient Express, 2022) provided the Computer voice for The End of the World
• Kevork Malikyan (Amberiotis here; Clerk for Murder on the Orient Express, 1993/4) was Kemel Rudkin in The Wheel in Space
• Mary [Veronica] Healey (Beryl) was a Killjoy in The Happiness Patrol
• George [Edward] Waring (Coroner) was Arden in The Ice Warriors
• for Jill Goldston see Series 2