Doctor Who Vs. Spooks, Series 2

Peter Firth, Matthew Macfayden,

Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Hugh

 Simon, Rory MacGregor, Esther Hall,

and Megan Dodds all returned for the

RTS award-winning second series of

BBC1's spy drama, which first aired

in the summer of 2003.

Nicola Walker and Shauna Macdonald

both joined the programme here, as

new MI5 officers, Ruth Evershed and

Sam Buxton.

A repeat run of season two (extended

to ten parts) began on U&Drama last

night - it featured a total of twenty-five

Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Benedict [Timothy Carlton] Cumberbatch (North) voiced Howard Carter for Big Finish's Fake Gods (2008)
• Gary Bakewell (PC) voiced Student Taylor for Insurgency, and Christian Griswold for Other Lives (both 2005) 
• Alexander [born Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi] Siddig (Khalduin) voiced Rosto for Sisters of the Flame and The Vengeance of Morbius (both 2008), Captain Nemo for The Wreck of the Titan and Legend of the Cybermen (both 2010), the Sultan for 1001 Nights (2012), and Marcus Gifford for I Went to a Marvellous Party (2015)
• John Hopkins (Anton) voiced Fairfield for The Great Beyond (2024)
• Wiilliam Gaminara (Gleeson) voiced Lord Alfred de Souza for Skin Deep (2018), The Wreck and Long Shot (both 2021), and Engineer Terson for Chase the Night (2020), then was Ted Campbell in The War Between the Land and the Sea 
• Lucy O'Connell (Doctor) was the Olive Woman in The Lazarus Experiment
• Christopher Fairbank (Blaney) was Fenton in Flatline, and voiced Doc Baroque for The Scapegoat (2009), Pierre Arronax for The Wreck of the Titan, and Marc Brunel for Iron Bright (2018)
• Steve Robinson was also first assistant director on The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks
• Julie Cox (Maxi) voiced Mary Shelley for Mary's Story (2009), The Silver Turk, The Witch from the Well and Army of Death (all 2011)
• Sophie Okonedo (Amanda) was Queen Liz 10 in The Beast Below and The Pandorica Opens, and voiced Alison Cheney for Scream of the Shalka
• Jo [Mary] Joyner (Stephanie) was Lynda Moss in Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways, then voiced Fenice for Boundaries (2022)
• Richard Braine (Phil) voiced Percy Closed for The English Way of Death (2015), Professor Linus Woolf for Entanglement (2018), and Father Meitinger for Never the End Is (2024)
• Mark Lewis Jones (Wooley) voiced Professor Oliver Mortlake for The Darkness of Glass (2015)
• Tim [Charles Robert Noel] Bentinck (RAF Voice) provided the voice of the Monks for Extremis and The Pyramid at the End of the World (and reprised for Big Finish's Five Hundred Ways to Lose Your Lover), and voiced Jenkins/Giles Moreau for Destination: Nerva, Roger Buchman for Wirrn Isle (both 2012), Williams/Kavurshkin/Curtis/ Comrade for The Forgotten Village, Nathaniel Whitlock for Moonflesh, Ned Bones/Lord Burghley for The Devil's Armada (all 2014), Colonel George Radlett for The English Way of Death, Chowdras/Governor for Planet of the Rani (both 2015), General Kallix for The Neverwhen (2016), Wakefield/Stonegood/Cabby for The Contingency Club, the Great Intelligence/Edward Travers for Time of the Intelligence (both 2017), Lord Crozion for Kingdom of Lies, Franz Kafka for Whodunnit? (both 2018), Alfie/Computer for Ghosts (2020), Karlos/Guard/ Reveller for The Tribulations of Thadeus Nook (2021), Older Henry Mortimer for Friend of the Family (2023), Lucas Welland for Invasion of the Body Stealers, Professor Alistair Gray for Lost Hearts (both 2024), Garf/the Great Zenith for Self-Help (2025), and Tommy Pierce for Torchwood
• Kieran Bew (Bryant) was Ivan in Oxygen, and voiced Barry/Arthur Kettleson for The Lady of Mercia (2013), Murdo Jamieson for The Helm of Awe, Krim Pollensa for Month 25 (both 2017), Richard Cooper for The Creeping Death (2019), Lunk/V97 for Do No Harm (2020), Dwayne Pherber for The End of the Beginning (2021), Grannus Drek for The Tribulations of Thadeus Nook, and Davlin Crux for Hooklight (2025)
• Leo Bill (Woods) was the Pilot in A Christmas Carol
• Roger Brierley (Getty) was Trevor in (episode 8 of) The Daleks' Master Plan, then provided the voice of Drathro in The Mysterious Planet
• Steve Kirby (Trevor) was Pirate/Villager in The Smugglers
• Michael Cochrane (Vaughan) was Charles Cranleigh in Black Orchid, Redvers Fenn-Cooper in Ghost Light, and voiced Lieut. Col. Brook for No Man's Land (2006), Murgat for Brotherhood of the Daleks (2008), Colonel Spindleton for The Trail of the White Worm and The Oseidon Adventure (2012), the Creevix for The Time Machine (2013), and Geralk for The Fate of Krelos and Return to Telos (2015)
• Kammy Darweish (Hussain) was Kumar in Survivors of the Flux, then voiced Declerq for A Passion for Fashion (2025)
• for Jenny Agutter and Alastair Parker see Series 1
• Matthew Graham was also writer of Fear Her, The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People
• costume supervisor Fiona McCann was an assistant on Love & Monsters
• Neal Champion was the SFX supervisor on An Adventure in Space and Time too

Doctor Who Vs. The Alienist, Series 1

In the 19th century, persons suffering from mental illness were

thought to be alienated from their own natures. Experts who

studied them were therefore known as alienists.

Paramount Television and Anonymous Content announced plant to

adapt Caleb Carr's 1994 historical thriller of the same name in 2015,

but this subsequent period drama debuted on TNT in January 2018,

then was acquired by Netflix. A sequel, Angel of Darkness, followed

in 2020.

Daniel Bruhl was cast as the titular psychiatrist, Dr. Kreizler (pictured

right) - he was joined by Luke Evans (as John Moore), and Dakota

Fanning (Sara Howard).

The ten-part thriller (set in the New York of 1896) debuted on the

rebranded U (formerly UKTV) TV streaming platform this week - it

featured David Warner, Christopher Naylor, and twenty-eight

Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Steven Pacey (Van Bergen) voiced Trevor for Big Finish's The Zygon Who Fell to Earth (2008), then was Narrator of The Secret Invasion (2020) and The Kairos Ring (2021)
• Ignatius Anthony (Graves) voiced Lee for The Blood Furnace, Gorrister for The Silurian Candidate (both 2017), and Pa Scarrity for Family Matters  (2020)
• Maria Teresa Creasey (Mother) voiced Dr. Abigail Crane for The House of Kingdom (2021), and Beatrice Stewart for Fallen Heroes (2025)
• Clare Calbraith (Mrs. Zweig) voiced Trooper for Urban Myths, Maria for Son of the Dragon (both 2007), Starling for The Phoenix Strain (2016), and Orla for The Blood Furnace
• Katie Brayben (Edith) was Ellie in Oxygen
• Tate Pitchie Cooper (Fatima) was the Young Landlord in Knock Knock
• William Gaminara (MacLeod) voiced Lord Alfred de Souza for Lady Christina 1 (2018), and Engineer Terson for Chase the Night (2020)
• Nicholas Asbury (Dr. Tuthill) voiced Rowe for The Many Deaths of Jo Grant (2011), Anthony Burmaster for UNIT: Assembled, Chairman Bart Falco for The Silurian Candidate (both 2017), Captain Morgan/ Visguard/SB Officer for Churchill Victorious, Dante for The Diary of River Song 4 (both 2018), Captain Zenna/Kivall for Out of Time 1, Shakespeare for The Hollow Crown, Tenebrae/Franz Albrecht Stuart for Rulers of Earth (all 2020), Commander Stevenson/Pietersen for Return of the Cybermen, Mollis for Colony of Fear, Preacher Stem for The Melting Pot (all 2021), Dr. Sturm/German Colonel for Shellshock, and Hari Ventross for Kaldor Nights (both 2022), then was Etoine in The Zygon Inversion
• Gerald Tyler (Matchett) voiced Marco Fendelman for Night of the Fendahl (2019)
• Tim [born Michael John Leigh] Barlow (Knezler) was Tyssan in Destiny of the Daleks
• Richard Bremmer (Mortician) voiced General Hemmings/Valcon/Taxi driver for The Valley of Death (2011), and Old Beowulf for Black and White (2012)
• Corey [John] Johnson (Weaver) was Henry Van Statten in Dalek
• Jonathan Stones Fewings (Blunt) was the Male Programmer [Davitch Pavale] in Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways, and voiced Major Wheatley for Hounded (2016)
• Michael Jibson (Fuller) voiced Corporal Gibbs for Big Finish's The Forsaken (2015)
• Robert Gill (Hatter) voiced Lycurgus for The Big Blue Box (2019)
• Anson Boon (Hall Boy) voiced Peter Dillard for Class 2 (2018)
• Max Fincham (Thomas) was Lad in The Star Beast
• Ronan [David Jackson] Vibert (Murray) was Professor Skinner in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Last Sontaran, and voiced Ravener for Jago & Litefoot 12 (2016), and Zaal for The Perfect Prisoners (2019)
• Ania Marson (Effie) voiced Victoria for Inseparable (2025)
• Lewis McGowan (Boot black) was Judy's brother in The Eaters of Light
• David Langham (Harper) was a Guard in Robot of Sherwood, then voiced Kramp/Tau Ceti for Run (2023)
• James Hawes was also director of The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Christmas Invasion, New Earth and School Reunion
• Jamie Payne was also director of Hide and The Time of the Doctor
• Gavin Struthers was cinematographer on The Power of Three too
• Philip Kloss was also film editor on The Doctor's Daughter, Midnight, The End of Time, Torch, Torchwood and An Adventure in Space and Time
• Nick Arthurs was film editor on Hide too
• Karl Probert was also supervising art director on The Doctor's Wife, Night Terrors and The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
• set decorator Holly Thurman was production buyer on fourteen stories (from A Town Called Mercy to Time Heist)

Doctor Who Vs. The Quatermass Xperiment

Image courtesy of Zeroroom

Professor Bernard Quatermass

was introduced to television

audiences seventy years ago

by Cumbrian-born screenwriter

Thomas Nigel Kneale in The

Quatermass Experiment.

Quatermass II followed in 1955,

and both serials were quickly

acquired by Hammer studios.

The subsequent productions,

The Quatermass Xperiment and

Quatermass 2, were released

in 1955 and 1957, and starred

Irish-born Hollywood actor

Brian Donlevy (1901-1972) as

the eponymous rocket scientist.

Kneale had always been critical

of Donlevy's interpretation of the

lead role and requested the part

be recast for the next sequel,

Quatermass and the Pit.

The first film remake (marketed in America as The Creeping

Unknown) was screened on the Talking Pictures TV channel last

night - it featured five future Doctor Who cast/crew connections:

• [Ernest] Edward Dentith (Constable) was Major General Billy Rutlidge in The Invasion
• Michael Godfrey [born Collins] (Fireman) was Captain Samuel Pike in The Smugglers
• Paul [Alfred] Phillips (Bystander) was Guard/Prisoner in (episode 2 of) The War Games, and Miner in The Monster of Peladon (3)
• John Timberlake [born Murphy] (Reporter) was a Shelterer in The Enemy of the World, and Kaled Scientist in Genesis of the Daleks
• Jane Asher (Girl) voiced the eponymous companion for Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?, then was Andrea Yates in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Whatever  Happened to Sarah Jane?, and voiced Elaine Hartwell for Big Finish's  9 to 5 (2018), and Pilot Dena for Chase the Night (2020)