Doctor Who Vs. All Creatures Great and Small, Series 1

A repeat run of this much-loved

period drama began on BBC4 last night. Set in 1930s Yorkshire, the

programme was based on the

works of Northern vet, Alf Wight

(1916-1995) - he wrote under the

pen-name of James Herriot, port-

rayed here by Christopher Timothy

(pictured, centre).

The first, thirteen part series

(originally shown from January

to April 1978) featured Robert

Hardy (left), Peter Davison (as brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon), Carol Drinkwater

(Helen), and a total of thirty-one Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Timothy was cast as Professor Parry for Big Finish's Secrets of Telos (2022)
• producer Bill Sellars was director of The Celestial Toymaker
• Terence Dudley was also writer of Four to Doomsday, Black Orchid, The King's Demons and K9 and Company
• Peter Moffatt was also director of State of Decay, The Visitation, Mawdryn Undead, The Five Doctors, The Twin Dilemma and The Two Doctors
• [Henry] Peter Grimwade was also PA (production assistant) on Spearhead from Space, The Daemons, Robot, Pyramids of Mars, The Robots of Death and Horror of Fang Rock, then was director of Full Circle, Logopolis, Kinda and Earthshock, then writer of Time Flight, Mawdryn Undead and Planet of Fire
• production unit manager John Nathan Turner became producer of the classic run in late 1979
• Johnny [Christopher] Byrne was also the writer of The Keeper of Traken, Arc of Infinity and Warriors of the Deep
• Anthony Steven was writer of The Twin Dilemma too
• [Henry] George Selway (Soames) was George and Frank Meadows in The Faceless Ones
• Terry Pearson (Pianist/Racegoer here, Barman in Series 2) was a Miner in The Mark of the Rani
• George A[lphonsus] Cooper (Crump) was Cherub in The Smugglers
• James [Rutherford Worsfold] Bree [born Thomson] (Plenderleith) was the Security Chief in The War Games, Nefred in Full Circle, and the Keeper of the Matrix in The Ultimate Foe
• Nicholas McArdle (Worley) was Leonard De Vries in The Stones of Blood
• Colin Fay (PC Blenkiron) was Condo in The Brain of Morbius
• Ivor [Charley] Salter (Newhouse) was the Morok Commander in The Space Museum, Odyysseus in The Myth Makers, and Sergeant Markham in Black Orchid
• John Collin [born Smith] (Alderson here & film, 1975) was Brock in The Leisure Hive
• [James Arnold] Rio Fanning (Mulligan) was Harker in Horror of Fang Rock
• John Hallet (PC Smith) was a PC in (episode 6 of) Shada
• Geoffrey Toone (Ransom) was Hepesh in The Curse of Peladon
• Gordon Reid (Lad) was Phillips in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1)
• Michael [Lawson] Sheard [born Perkins] (Adderley) 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)   
• Christopher Brown (Carmody) was Marriner in Enlightenment
• Rachel Davies (Mary) was Camilla in State of Decay
• Sheila Reid (Mrs. Donovan) was Etta in Vengeance on Varos, Clara's Gran in The Time of the Doctor and Dark Water, then voiced Claire for Good Night, Sweet Ladies (2014), and Janaiya for The Middle (2017)
• John [Kenneth] Alkin [born Foinquinos] (Flaxton) was Lomand in Planet of Fire (4)
• Edwin [Donald] Finn (Skipton) was the Landlord in The Massacre
• [James] Brian Finch's unmade script Leviathan was adapted by Big Finish in 2010
• Marilyn Gold was PA on Meglos too
• David Hughes also worked studio sound on The War Machines, Fury from the Deep, The Space Pirates (6), Colony in Space, Horror of Fang Rock and K9 and Company
• Bob Gell worked on studio lighting for Horror of Fang Rock too
• Thea Murray was PA on The Masque of Mandragora too