Doctor Who Vs. The Mirror Crack'd

Agatha Christie's eighth full-length

Marple mystery (her fifty-third novel)

was published in 1962, then issued as

The Mirror Crack'd in America. 

The Queen of Crime utilised the real life

tragedy of Hollywood actress Gene

Tierney as the basis of her plot. The title

of the book was taken from The Lady of

Shalott by Tennyson, and was dedicated

to Marple actress Margaret Rutherford.

Shown on BBC4 last night, this British film

version (the first adaptation of the story)

also used the shorter US title. Television treatments followed in 1992 (BBC) and

2011 (ITV Studios). Released by Associated

Film in late 1980, Angela Lansbury (1925-

2022) led the stellar cast as Jane Marple,

and was joined by Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, Tony Curtis, Kim Novak,

Geraldine Chaplin, Edward Fox, and thirteen Doctor Who cast connections:

• Big Finish actor Carolyn Pickles (Miss Giles here; Charlotte in Agatha; Emily in Evil Under the Sun, 2001; Alison/Mrs. Erskine for Sleeping Murder, 2001) voiced Lady Meera Darone for Army of Death (2011), Dr. Hilary Standish for AudioGo's The Stuff of Nightmares, Cardinal Ollistra for The Side of the Angels (both 2017), Dark Universe (2020), Allegiance (2022) and Manoeuvres (2023), Professor Marian Schaeffer for The Tyrants of Logic, and Traherne for An Ideal World (both 2018)
• Eric [Norman] Dodson (Major) was the Headman in (part 3 of) The Visitation
• Peter Woodthorpe (Scout Master here; Dr. Harrison for The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1985) voiced Joey Oxford for Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?
• Richard [Leeper] Leech [born McClelland] (Director) was Gatherer Hade in The Sun Makers
• Lewis Alexander [born Herbert Alexander Lewis] (Man) was Army Officer in The War Machines (3)
• Les Conrad, [Alfred Harold] John Doye and Mike [Carew] Reynell (Guests) all appeared in the classic run
• Del Watson (Villager) was uncredited Alien Guard/Crimean Soldier in The War Games
• Angus [Newton] MacKay (Coroner) and [Walter] Llewellyn Rees (Villager) both starred in The Deadly Assassin, as Cardinal Borusa and the President respectively, whilst MacKay was also the Head- master in Mawdryn Undead
• Reg Turner (Ambulance Man) was a Thal in Genesis of the Daleks
• Rita Tobin Weske [born Marguerite Esther Richards] (Villager) was the Cleaner in The Talons of Weng-Chiang (3)

The Murder At Midnight segment also starred:

• Dinah [Nadyejda] Sheridan [born Ginsburg] (Lady Ridgeley here; Letitia in A Murder is Announced, 1977) was Chancellor Flavia in The Five Doctors
• John [David] Bennett (Barnsby here; Waiter in The Alphabet Murders; Erskine in Sleeping Murder, 1987) was General Finch in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, and Li H'sen Chang in The Talons of Weng-Chiang
• Nigel [Hector Munro] Stock (DI Gates here; Starkwedder in An Unexpected Guest, 1958; Narrator for The Mysterious Dame Agatha, 1975) was Professor Hayter in Time Flight