Doctor Who Vs. Ashes to Ashes, Series 1

 

"My name is Alex Drake. I've been shot and that bullet's

taken me back in time. Now I'm lost in 1981. All I can do

is fight, and search, and stay alive. Because somehow I

will find a way home."

The sequel series to Life On Mars was also produced by Monastic and 
Kudos for BBC Wales. Keeley Hawes now led the cast as another out-
of-time detective, DI Alex Drake - a colleague of recently deceased

DCI Sam Tyler. Philip Glenister, Marshall Lancaster and Dean Andrews

 all reprised their roles (as DCI Gene Hunt, DC Chris Skelton and DS

Ray Carling respectively), and were also joined by newcomer

Montserrat Lombard (as WPC Shaz Granger).

Ashes to Ashes (referencing another David Bowie song) was co-

created by Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah, and centres 

on a present-day Metropolitan Police inspector, Drake who is shot 

and regains consciousness in 1981. Like its predecessor, the period

 setting was lovingly recreated against a rich backdrop of social

 history, and more importantly here, the music of the early eighties.

A repeat run of the first six-part season (originally transmitted from

January 9 to February 27 2008) concluded on That's TV last night -

it featured a total of forty Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Hawes played Ms. Delphox in Time Heist 
• Graham was also writer of Fear Her, The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People
• series producer Beth Willis was an executive producer on Doctor Who Confidential, The Adventure Games, and twenty-seven stories (from The Eleventh Hour to The Wedding of River Song)
• Julie Scott was also a BBC production executive on ninety instal- ments (from The Runaway Bride to Last Christmas), Time Crash, The Adventure Games, Dreamland, Music of the Spheres, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, An Adventure in Space and Time, The Five (ish) Doctors Reboot, and Doctor Who Proms
• Jonny Campbell was also director of The Vampires of Venice and Vincent and the Doctor
• Catherine Morshead was also director of Amy's Choice and The Lodger 
• Adam James (Markham) was DI Macmillan in Planet of the Dead
• Joseph Long (Luigi) was Rocco Colasanto in Turn Left, and the Pope in Extremis
• Geff Francis (Viv James) was George [Maitland] in The Bells of Saint John
• Roy [William] Skelton (voice of Rainbow puppets Zippy and George) voiced Daleks, Monoids, Cybermen and Krotons for the classic series, and was Norton in Colony in Space, James in (episode 5 of) The Green Death, Marshal Chedaki in The Android Invasion, and King Rokon in The Hand of Fear, then voiced James Carver for Big Finish's Test of Nerve (2002)
• Rupert Graves (Moore) was John Riddell in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
• Paul Thornley (Kay) voiced the Computer/Marko for Seven Keys to Doomsday (2008), Gomori/Steward for Paper Cuts, Michael Rond for Fitz's Story (both 2009), Robbie Flint/Cyril for Criss-Cross (2015), Relb/Sita for The Butler Did It, and Captain Goben for Pursuit of the Nightjar (both 2023)
• Sid Mitchell (Dane) was Pickens for The Haunting of Thomas Brewster (2008)
• Christopher Fairbank (Bonds) was Fenton in Flatline, and voiced Doc Baroque for The Scapegoat (2009), Pierre Aronnax for The Wreck of the Titan (2010), and Marc Brunel for Iron Bright (2018)
• Callum Dixon (Thief) was Jarva Slade in Kerblam!
• Amelda Brown (Elaine) voiced Margaret for The Gunpowder Plot
• Nik Howden (Youth) was Maurice in Vincent and the Doctor
• Claire [Louise] Rushbrook (Trixie) was Ida Scott in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit, then voiced Tula Chenka for Escape from Kaldor (2018) and The Robots (2019-23), and the Abbess/Marna for Out of Time 1 (2020)
• Leo Bill (Burns) was the Pilot in A Christmas Carol
• Tracy Wiles (Girl) voiced Moira Brody for Masters of Earth (2014), Lilith Lovett for The Year of the Bat, Jacqui McGee for UNIT: Extinction (both 2015), UNIT: Silenced (2016), Death on the Mile (2018), Narcissus, The Power of River Song (both 2019), UNIT: Between Two Worlds, Outback, Longshot (all 2021), Agents of the Vulpreen, Objective: Earth (both 2022), Commander Barnac for The Neverwhen (2016), Ground Control/Secretary for Their Finest Hour, Sharlan for The Invention of Death, Hadway/Salma/V75 for Escape from Kaldor (all 2018), Drones for The False Guardian and Time's Assassin, Announcer for State of Bliss, Comms for The Famished Lands, Servant for Fugitive in Time, Marzanna/Engel for Nightmare Country, Various for The Robots 1 (all 2019), The Robots 2 and Dark Side of the Moon (2022), Tryana for Return to Skaro (2020), FELINE/Maria/ Patricia for A Forever Home, Draven/Shira/Sentinel for The Shadow Squad (both 2021), Shorak for Storm of the Sea Devils, and Peggy Cressler for Bad Apple Brigade (both 2024)
• Lucy [Jane] Briers (Patty) voiced Jenny Chaplin for After the Daleks (2021)
• Jeanie Gold (Partygoer) was Neighbour in The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky and The End of Time (1)
• Russell [George] Tovey (Johnstone) was Midshipman Alonso Frame in Voyage of the Damned, The End of Time (2) and [Big Finish's] One Enchanted Evening (2017), then Barclay Pierre Dupont in The War Between the Land and the Sea
• Phil Davis (Cale) was Lucius Petrus Dextrus in The Fires of Pompeii, and voiced Titus for The Cannibalists (2009)
• Madhav Sharma (Chatterjee) was Patel in Frontier in Space (3)
• Troy Glasgow (Ska Boy) was Angelo in The Time of Angels
• Geoffrey [Dyson] Palmer (Scarman) was Edward Masters in The Silurians, the Administrator in The Mutants (1), and Captain Hardaker in Voyage of the Damned 
• Paul Anderson (Suspect) made his TV debut in The Christmas Invasion as Jason
• [Michael Thomas] Jeremy Clyde (Chief Super) voiced George Sinclair for Absent Friends (2016), Lord Braye for Planet of the Drashigs (2019), and Tony Clare for Stranded (2020-22)
• David Schaal (Look-a-like) voiced Sergeant Zogroth/Bus Driver for The Star Beast (2019)
• Sean Clayton was second assistant director on Dalek and Father's Day too
• Derek Lea was also a stuntman on Dalek, Bad Wolf, The Parting of the Ways, The Age of Steel and Partners in Crime
• Gary Hoptrough and Rob Hunt were both stuntmen on The Runaway Bride - they also worked on Let's Kill Hitler and The Day of the Doctor respectively
• Christine Greenwood was make-up designer on Remembrance of the Daleks too
• film editor Jamie Pearson also edited nine episodes (from The Eleventh Hour to The Angels Take Manhattan)
• Edmund Butt was the composer on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• Matt Wood (visual effects supervisor) and Simon Blackledge (VFX artist) both worked on A Town Called Mercy and The Power of Three - Wood also worked on The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
• Antonia Grant was also the location manager on The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords

Doctor Who Vs. Agatha Christie's Poirot, Series 10

David Suchet returned as the

Queen of Crime's Belgian sleuth

for another four feature-length

serials, first shown in early 2006.

Ariadne Oliver (portrayed here by

Zoe Wanamaker) was a creation whom Christie said had "a strong

dash of myself".

 Oliver debuted in Cards on the

Table, where her own iteration of

 The Body in the Library is refer-

enced - that title was actually

used by Christie in 1942. Oliver

 featured in six further books, including The Pale Horse (pub-

lished in 1961), where she met

the Calthorps, friends of Miss

Marple from The Moving Finger,

whilst other works by Oliver were discussed by characters in The Clocks (1963). Like Christie and her contemporaries, the fictional writer was a member of the Detection

Club. A repeat run of the tenth season began on ITV3 tonight - it

featured William Russell (who celebrates his 99th birthday today),

and a total of thirty-seven Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

The Mystery Of The Blue Train 
(UK TX: New Year's Day 2006/Published in 1928)

• Hettie Macdonald was also director of Blink, The Doctor's Meditation, The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar
• Lindsay [Vere] Duncan (Tamplin here; Marina in The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, 2010) was Captain Adelaide Brooke in The Waters of Mars
• [Simon Richard] James D'Arcy (Kettering here; Burton in The Moving Finger, 2006) voiced Michael for Big Finish's Paradise 5 (2010)
• for Nicholas Farrell (Knighton) see The ABC Murders
• [Carolyn] Jane [Onslow] How (Lady here; Veronica in Cat Among the Pigeons) was Rebec in Planet of the Daleks
• Roger Lloyd Pack (Caux) was John Lumic in Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel
• Josette [Patricia] Simon (Mirelle) voiced Sarana Teel for The Sontaran Ordeal (2016), and Taraneh for The Mind Runners (2018)
• first assistant director Stephen Woolfenden was director of Nightmare in Silver
• for Sean Clayton see Murder on the Links
• Nick Wilkinson (stunt co-ordinator here & Taken at the Flood) was a stuntman on The Next Doctor
• Dean Forster was also stuntman on seven episodes (from The Christmas Invasion to A Good Man Goes to War), The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• Adam Harvey was assistant editor on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• series script editor Beth Willis was co-executive producer on twenty-seven stories (from The Eleventh Hour to The Wedding of River Song), Doctor Who Confidential, then Space/Time and The Adventure Games
• Jamie McCoan was film editor on Blink too

Cards On The Table (UK TX: March 19/Published in 1936)

• Alex Jennings (Dr. Roberts here; Calgary for Ordeal by Innocence, 1983; DI Curry in They Do It With Mirrors, 2009; Richard for Magnolia Blossom; and was cast in The Murder at the Vicarage, 2026) voiced Lord Hawthorn for The Hunting Season (2021)
• Lesley [Ann] Manville (Lorrimer) depicted Heather Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time
• Robert Pugh (Hughes here; Easterbrook in A Murder is Announced, 2005) was Tony Mack in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, and voiced Emmett Burrows for Five Twenty-Nine (2016)
• Alexander [born Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi] Siddig (Shaitana here) voiced Rosto for Sisters of the Flame and The Vengeance of Morbius (both 2008), the Captain for The Wreck of the Titan, Nemo for Legend of the Cybermen (both 2010), the Sultan for 1001 Nights (2012), and Marcus Gifford for I Went to a Marvellous Party (2016)
• Lucy [Katherine] Liemann (Miss Burgess here; Sonia in Third Girl) voiced Zennox for Last of the Cybermen
• David Westhead (Wheeler) was Kemper in The Shakespeare Code
• Honeysuckle [Susan] Weeks (Rhoda here; Romaine in Witness for the Prosecution, 2010; Agatha Christie in Frankie Drake Mysteries) voiced Heleyna for Agents of Chaos (2016)
• Cordelia Bugeja (Mrs. Luxmore) was Esther Spears in The War Between the Land and the Sea

After The Funeral (UK TX: March 26/Published in 1953)

• Robert [Guy] Bathurst (Entwhistle) voiced Cardinal Padrac for Doom Coalition, then was General Farquhar in Survivors of the Flux
• Annabel Scholey (Sorrel) was Claire Brown in The Halloween Apocalypse, Village of the Angels and The Vanquishers
• for Philip Anthony (Vicar) see The ABC Murders
• Anna Calder-Marshall (Maude) voiced Mathilda Pierce for Scream of the Shalka
• for John Carson (Abernethie) see The Incredible Theft

Taken At The Flood (UK TX: April 2/Published in 1948)

• Jenny [Ann] Agutter (Adela here; Agnes in 4.50 from Paddington; Narrator of The Agatha Christie Code) voiced Sekhmet for The Bride of Peladon (2008)
• Richard [John] Hope [Walker] (Spence here & Mrs. McGinty's Dead) was Malohkeh in The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood and The Wedding of River Song, and Bleytal in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, then voiced Moreland for The Bounty of Ceres, William Heaton for Changing of the Guard (both 2014) and Rise and Shine, Harry Harvey for Damaged Goods (both 2015), Philip Cook/Kal for Absent Friends (2016), Jastrok for UNIT: Assembled (2017), and General Reinhardt for Shellshock (2022)
• Celia [Diana Savile] Imrie (Kathy here; Maid in Death on the Nile, 1978; Mde. Joilet in 4.50 from Paddington; Narrator of Talking Pictures: The Films of Agatha Christie, 2020) was [Rosemary] Kizlet in The Bells of Saint John, and voiced Dr. Elizabeth Bradley for The Fifth Citadel (2013), Mde. Tissot for Gallery of Ghouls, and Lady Livia Caralis for Enemy Lines (both 2016)
• Tim [Peter] Pigott Smith (Woodward here; Stubbs in Dead Man's Folly, 1986) was Captain Harker in The Claws of Axos, and Marco in The Masque of Mandragora
• Elizabeth [Jean Williams] Spriggs (Leadbetter here; Mildred in Spider's Web, 1982; Miss Johnson for Murder in Mesopotamia, 1994) was Tabby in Paradise Towers
• for David Yelland (George) see Murder in the Mews
• for Pip Torrens (Cloade) see The Mystery of the Spanish Chest
• Elliot [Aidan] Cowan (Hunter here; Hudd in They Do It With Mirrors, 2009) voiced Gark for The Fifth Traveller (2016)
• Patrick [Bashir] Baladi (Cloade here; Frayn in The Blue Geranium, 2010) was cast in The War Between the Land and the Sea
• Marcus Catlin was also first assistant director on The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood, The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang