Doctor Who Vs. Dad's Army

"Who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler if you think

we're on the run?

We are the boys who will stop your little game! We are

the boys who will make you think again!"

In 1967, actor Jimmy Perry (1923-2016) submitted a script (based on

his time in the Home Guard, entitled Fighting Tigers) to Michael Mills,

Head of Comedy at the BBC. Perry and his friend David Croft (1922-

2011) were commissioned to write a pilot episode then a full series. 

Dad's Army launched on July 31 1968.

The writer's assembled an ensemble cast of mainly elderly, comic 

actors (to reflect those exempt from wartime conscription) led by 

Arthur Lowe (1915-82) as Captian George Mainwaring) and John 

Le Mesurier (1912-83) as Sergeant Arthur Wilson.

Clive Dunn (1920-2012), John Laurie (1897-1980), James Beck

 (1929-73), Arnold Ridley (1896-1984), Ian Lavender (born 1946), 

and Bill Pertwee (1926-2013) played the other regular characters -

 Corporal Jones, Privates Frazer, Walker, Godfrey, Pike and Warden

Hodges respectively.

Dad's Army was watched by over 18 million viewers at its peak,

became one of the best-loved and most successful British sitcoms

ever, and is still regularly repeated on BBC2 and worldwide.

The show endured for eighty episodes over nine years, and spawned

 two cinema spin-offs (in 1971 and 2016), a radio series (1974-76), 

two stage shows (1975 and 2007), and even a musical (2004).
In 2000, the documentary Don't Panic: The Dad's Army Story was 

shown, and the BFI placed the comedy 13th in their 100 Greatest 

British TV programmes survey. The show was voted fourth in a BBC 

poll to find the country's favourite sitcom in 2004.
In 2015, BBC2 screened We're Doomed!, a comedy drama that

chronicled the troubled conception of Dad's Army, and the show's

 fiftieth anniversary was marked by the Royal Mail and UKTV's

Saluting Dad's Army. The Gold channel (home of the comedy's

repeats) also broadcast The Lost Episodes in August 2019.

Croft and Perry later conceived other hit period pieces, It Ain't Half

Hot Mum (1974-81) and Hi-De-Hi (1980-88). Croft also collaborated

with Jeremy Lloyd and they created Are You Being Served? (1972 to

1985) and Allo' Allo' (1982 to 1992).

A repeat run of the six-part debut season began on GOLD tonight

- the entire series (which ran to November 1977) featured John

Leeson, and a total of eighty-one Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

• [John] Talfryn Thomas (Cheeseman) was Mullins in (part 1 of) Spearhead from Space, and Dave in The Green Death
• John [Henry] Ringham (Bailey/Bracewell) was Tlotoxl in The Aztecs, Josiah Blake in The Smugglers, and Robert Ashe in Colony in Space
• [William] Fulton [Beith] Mackay (Ramsey) and Michael Lomax (Warden) both starred in The Silurians, as Dr. John Quinn and Technician
• [Albert] Edward [Walker] Evans (Reed/Rees/Monteverdi) was Ted Moss in Image of the Fendahl
• Alan Tilvern (Captain Rodrigues/Colonel) was Forester in Planet of Giants
• Campbell [born Jacob Kobel] Singer (Menzies/McAllister) and Carmen Silvera (Fiona) both appeared in The Celestial Toymaker - as Joey the Clown/King of Hearts/Sergeant Rugg and Clara the Clown/Queen of Hearts/Mrs. Wiggs respectively
• Erik Chitty (Clerk/Sedgewick) and [Robert] Michael Bilton (Maxwell) both starred in The Massacre and The Deadly Assassin, as Charles Preslin (1) and Charles de Teligny, then Co-ordinator Engin and Time Lord - Bilton was also Collins in Pyramids of Mars
• Freddie Earlle (Henry/Sergeant) was Aldo in Warriors' Gate
• Philip [Arvon] Madoc [born Jones] (U-Boat Captain) was Eelek in The Krotons, the War Lord in The War Games, Dr. Mehendri Solon in The Brain of Morbius, Fenner in The Power of Kroll, Brockley in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 AD, and voiced Victor Schaeffer for Master (2003), and Rag Cobden for Return of the Krotons (2009)
• James [Gordon] Copeland (Ogilvie) and Patrick Tull (Suspect) both appeared in The Krotons as Selris and Kroton
• John [Edward] Cater (Clarke) and Desmond Cullum Jones (Platoon) both starred in The War Machines as Professor Melvin Krimpton and Worker
• [Charles] Edward Underdown (Holland) was Zastor in Meglos
• Peter [William Shorrocks] Butterworth (Budgen) was the Monk in The Time Meddler and The Daleks' Master Plan
• Norman Mitchell [born Driver] (Rogers), Roger Avon (Doctor) and May Warden (Mrs. Dowding) all starred in The Daleks' Master Plan - as Policeman (7), Daxtar (4) and Old Sara (12) - Avon was also Saphadin in The Crusade, and Wells in the second Dalek film
• Kenneth [Murray] Watson (RAF Officer) was Bill Duggan in The Wheel in Space, and Craddock in Amicus' second Dalek film
• Michael Osborne (Boy Scout) was an Extra in The Myth Makers (2), Guardian in The Ark, and Sorak in The Horns of Nimon
• Stanley McGeagh (Waller) was Allen in Colony in Space (3), and Drew in The Sea Devils
• Charles Morgan (MP) was Songsten in The Abominable Snowmen, and Gold Usher in The Invasion of Time
• Andrew Carr (Officer) was Senior Guard in Day of the Daleks
• Geoffrey Hughes (Corporal) was Popplewell in The Ultimate Foe
• Cy Town (Steward) appeared in thirty-five episodes of the classic run (from an uncredited role in The Silurians to Haemovore in The Curse of Fenric) and was a Dalek operator in every Dalek story from Frontier in Space onwards
• Chris [James] Gannon (Clerk) was Casey in The Talons of Weng-Chiang
• Jack Le White [born Albert Arthur Whiteley] (Porter) was Criminal (3) and Cameraman (7) in The Daleks' Master Plan
• Robert Lankesheer (MO) was the Chamberlain in The Crusade
• [William] Pat Gorman (Soldier) starred in eighty-three classic series episodes (from The Dalek Invasion of Earth to Attack of the Cybermen)
• Anthony Lang (Warden) was an Egyptian in The Daleks' Master Plan, Extra in The Highlanders (1) and The Faceless Ones (1), Time Lord in The Three Doctors (1), and Kaled Councillor in Genesis of the Daleks
• Emmett Hennessy (German) was Customer in The Massacre (1) and The War Machines (1), Roman Soldier in The War Games (2), Guerilla/Aide in Day of the Daleks, and Prison Guard in Frontier in Space
• Bob [James] Hornery (Gent) was the Pilot in The Horns of Nimon (1)
• Peter [Osborn] Whitaker (Platoon) was Inspector Gascoigne in The Faceless Ones (1), Worker in The Seeds of Death (5), Thal Politician in Genesis of the Daleks, Mentiad in The Pirate Planet, Grecian Man in Four to Doomsday, and Onlooker in Remembrance of the Daleks (1)
• Freddie Wiles and Freddie White (Platoon here & film) were Shelterer in The Enemy of the World, and Audience member/Meditator in Planet of the Spiders (1)
• Hugh Cecil [born Alfred Cecil Ware] (Platoon) was Technix in The Daleks' Master Plan (1), Priest in The Massacre (2), Worker in The War Machines (3), and Extra in The Silurians (6)
• Michael Moore, Jimmy Mac and Vic Taylor (Platoon) were all Villagers in The Daemons - Mac was Peasant in State of Decay (1) too, whilst Taylor was also Saxon in The Time Meddler, Guard in The Massacre (1), Worker/Soldier in The War Machines, and UNIT Soldier in The Silurians (3)
• stuntman Rick Lester was an Ogron in Day of the Daleks, Carnival of Monsters (2) and Frontier in Space
• Ray London was also designer on The War Machines, The Krotons and The Mind of Evil
• Richard Hunt was also designer on Galaxy 4, Mission to the Unknown, The Smugglers and The Invasion
• Tim Gleeson was also designer on Colony in Space and The Time Monster
• Geoff Powell was designer on Time and the Rani too
• Barry Newberry was also production designer on fourteen stories (from 100,000 BC to The Awakening)
• John Dunstan was film editor on The Pirate Planet too
• Bob Rymer was also film editor on The Massacre, The Claws of Axos, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Death to the Daleks and Planet of the Spiders
• Cynthia Goodwin, Sandra Exelby and Sylvia Thornton were make-up assistants on Spearhead from Space, The Time Warrior and The Android Invasion respectively
• Cecile Hay Arthur was also make-up artist on Revenge of the Cybermen, Underworld, Destiny of the Daleks, Meglos and Vengeance on Varos
• Ann Ailes Stevenson was also make-up artist on The Face of Evil and The Awakening 
• sound recordist John Gatland worked on film sound for The Time Warrior, The Monster of Peladon, Planet of the Spiders, Revenge of the Cybermen, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Earthshock (1), Time Flight and The Five Doctors
• Michael McCarthy also worked on studio sound for Terror of the Zygons, The Invisible Enemy and The Sun Makers
• Laurie Taylor worked on studio sound for Castrovalva too
• Alan Machin also worked on studio sound for The Android Invasion, Four to Doomsday, Kinda, The Visitation, Black Orchid and Earthshock
• sound recordist Ron Blight worked on film sound for Black Orchid and Snakedance (4)
• John Holmes also worked on studio sound for eleven stories (from The Massacre to Logopolis)
• Bill Chesneau (film sound) was sound recordist on The Invasion, The Curse of Peladon, Death to the Daleks and The Leisure Hive
• Ray Angel also worked on sound for The Reign of Terror, The Web Planet, The Space Museum, The Chase, The Time Meddler, The Ark and The Web of Fear
• Graham Bedwell (film sound) was film recordist on The Hand of Fear, The Deadly Assassin, Destiny of the Daleks and City of Death
• grams operator Keith Bowden worked on studio sound on The Mark of the Rani, The Two Doctors and Ghost Light
• boom operator Clive Derbyshire was film sound assistant on Terror of the Zygons
• SFX assistant Peter Day later provided VFX for fifty-one episodes (from The Evil of the Daleks to The Sun Makers) after uncredited appearances as Trojan in The Myth Makers (3), Patron in The  Massacre (1), and Worker in The War Machines
• Jim Ward was also VFX assistant on The Silurians, The Mind of Evil, Day of the Daleks, The Time Warrior and Death to the Daleks, then designer on Revenge of the Cybermen
• assistant Tony Harding was VFX designer on The Invisible Enemy, The Power of Kroll, State of Decay, The King's Demons and The Awakening
• Len Hutton was also VFX assistant on Fury from the Deep and Inferno, then designer on The Android Invasion, The Deadly Assassin and The Androids of Tara
• assistant John Friedlander was mask maker on Frontier in Space and Genesis of the Daleks, and VFX designer on The Ark in Space and The Sontaran Experiment
• Ron Oates was also VFX designer on The Abominable Snowmen, The Ice Warriors, The Web of Fear, The Dominators and The Green Death
• Howard King also worked on studio lighting for eighteen stories (from Marco Polo to The Curse of Peladon)
• George Summers also worked on lighting for The Gunfighters, The War Machines, The Highlanders in The Underwater Menace
• Stephen A Farnell was film cameraman on The Daleks too
• Peter Chapman was also film cameraman on The Robots of Death, The Visitation, Black Orchid and Time Flight
• Len Newson was film cameraman on The Android Invasion too
• Alan Jonas was also film cameraman on The War Machines, The Underwater Menace, The Web of Fear, The Invasion, The Krotons and The War Games
• costume assistant Michael Burdie was costume designer on The Armageddon Factor
• costume supervisor Mary Husband was designer on Day of the Daleks