Doctor Who Vs. Raiders of the Lost Ark

The first instalment in the Indiana
Jones movie franchise (directed by

Steven Spielberg) was released by

Paramount Pictures in 1981.

Star Wars creator George Lucas
conceived the archaeologist hero

in 1973 with The Adventures of

Indiana Smith, and Raiders was

 eventually developed between

1978 and 1980. 

Han Solo actor, Harrison Ford

(born in Chicago in 1942) was

cast as Dr. Henry Walton Jones

Jr. just three weeks before 

filming began.

The film garnered many prizes

in 1982, including five Oscars,

seven Saturn awards, a Grammy, a Hugo, and BAFTA award. Following

the popular and critical success of Raiders, a prequel (The Temple of

Doom) and two sequels (The Last Crusade and Kingdom of the Crystal

Skull) were produced, and even spawned a spin-off series for American

TV, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992 to 96). Over forty years

on, the saga continues - a fifth Indiana Jones adventure, The Dial of

Destiny, opened at cinemas last summer.

Shown on Film4 tonight, the adventure featured Karen Allen, John

Rhys Davies, Denholm Elliott, and eighteen Doctor Who cast and

crew connections:

• Paul [born Peter John] Freeman (Dr. Belloq) voiced Jalnik for Big Finish's The Foe from the Future (2011)
• Ronald [William] Lacey (Toht) was offered the role of Jobel in November 1984, but Clive Swift was cast in Revelation of the Daleks
• Vic Tablian [born Varoujan Aintablian] (Barranca) made his TV debut as Ahmed in (part 1 of) Pyramids of Mars
• Wolf Kahler (Dietrich) voiced the Cart Driver for Blood and Steel (2022)
• Sonny Caldinez (Mongolian) was Kemel in The Evil of the Daleks, then titular Martians in The Ice Warriors (as Turoc), The Seeds of Death (Warrior), The Curse of Peladon (Ssorg), and The Monster of Peladon (Sskel)
• Tutte Lemkow [born Isak Samuel Lemkow] (Iman) was Kuiju in Marco Polo, Ibrahim  in The Crusdae (4), and Cyclops in The Myth Makers 
• Kiran Shah (Abu) was the Figure in Listen
• John [Morgan] Rees (Sergeant) was Hardy in Frontier in Space
• Michael [Lawson] Sheard [born Perkins] (Captain here; Hitler in The Last Crusade) was Rhos in The Ark (2), Dr. Roland Summers in The Mind of Evil, Laurence Scarman in Pyramids of Mars, Lowe in The Invisible Enemy, Mergrave in Castrovalva, the Headmaster in Remembrance of the Daleks, then voiced Orsino for The Stones of Venice (2001)
• Nick Gillard (German Soldier here, Tank Crewman in The Last Crusade) was the stunt arranger on Silver Nemesis (2)
• Russell Brook (Soldier) was Schoolboy in Mawdryn Undead (2), Man-at-arms in The King's Demons, Crewman in Warriors of the Deep, Attendant in Revelation of the Daleks (1), Lakertyan, Tetrap and Genius in Time and the Rani, and Chimeron in Delta and the Bannermen (1)
• Rick Lester (Soldier) was an Ogron in Day of the Daleks, Carnival of Monsters (2) and Frontier in Space
• stuntmen Peter Diamond, Harry Fielder, Billy Horrigan and Bill Weston all had uncredited roles in the classic run (from The Daleks to Shada collectively)
• stuntmen Martin Grace and Rocky Taylor were a Thal in Dr. Who and the Daleks, and a stuntman on The Idiot's Lantern respectively