Doctor Who Vs. The Quatermass Experiment, Part 2: 2005

The contemporary remake of

Nigel Kneale's seminal series

of 1953 was transmitted live

(like the original) for BBC

Four's TV on Trial season in
April 2005.
Jason Flemyng (son of Amicus

film director, Gordon Flemyng)

became the seventh actor to

portray Professor Bernard

Quatermass, head of BERG -

the British Experimental

Rocket Group. It was during rehearsals that David Tennant (cast as

Dr. Briscoe) was offered the role of the Tenth Doctor, but his casting

was only announced two weeks after transmission. 

In the live broadcast, Flemyng even changed Quatermass' first line to
Briscoe to "Good to have you back Doctor" from the scripted "Gordon,"

Adapted by Richard Fell, the thriller was faithful to the source until the
climax, with the alien threat now confronted at the Tate Modern.

The serial (last repeated in 2008) featured Mark Gatiss, Andrew

Scott, and fourteen other Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Fell was also the executive producer of Death Comes to Time and Real Time
• Flemyng voiced the Captain for Big Finish's The Long Despair (2023)
• Adrian Dunbar (DI Lomax) voiced McCarthy for Brave New Town (2008)
• Torchwood regular Indira [Anne] Varma (Judith) was cast as the Duchess for Series 14
• Andrew Tiernan (Caroon) was Jim Purcell in Night Terrors
• Adrian Bower (Fullalove) voiced Steffen/the Authority for Survival of the Fittest (2010)
• Isla Blair (Blaker) was Lady Isabella Fitzwilliam in The King's Demons, then voiced Paula Taylor for Exotron (2007), Marge for Kidnapped! (2019), Charn for Palindrome (2020), and Older Mary Mortimer for Friend of the Family (2023)
• Kerry Godliman (Mrs. Matthews) voiced Karen Coltrane for The Eight Truths and Worldwide Web (2009)
• Paul Broughton (Editor) was Neville Lewis in War of the Sontarans
• Greg Bennett (Journalist) was a Guard in Dalek, Sycorax Warrior/ UNIT Soldier in The Christmas Invasion, and Guest in The Lazarus Experiment
• Debbi Slater was also production manager on Blink, Planet of the Ood, The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky, The Unicorn and the Wasp, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, then was associate producer on Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• Bill Whiston was sound supervisor on The Mysterious Planet too
• camera supervisor Robin Sutherland was an operator on Remembrance of the Daleks
• Julie Mann was vision mixer on The Greatest Show in the Galaxy too

Doctor Who Vs. Hard Sun

This co-production from Euston

Films and American streaming

service Hulu debuted on BBC1

(then iPlayer) in January 2018.

The thriller (a pre-apocalyptic

conspiracy, set in contemporary

London) starred Jim Sturgess and

former model Agyness Deyn as

DCI Charlie Hicks and DI Elaine

Renko.

Series creator and writer Neil

Cross (Luther) devised a potential

five-year story arc, but a sequel

remains unmade. The six-part

drama featured Varada Sethu, and

seventeen Doctor Who cast and

crew connections:

• Nikki Amuka Bird (Grace) was the Glass Woman [Helen Clay] in Twice Upon a Time, then voiced Tamasan for Big Finish's The Time War 2 (2018)
• Derek Riddell (DCS Bell) and Jamie Sives (Chapel) both appeared in Tooth and Claw, as Sir Robert MacLeish and Captain Reynolds - Riddell also voiced Lt. Comm. Sandy McNish for The Oncoming Storm (2016)
• Joplin [Chook] Sibtain (DS Sarafian) was Mark Grantham in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Warriors of Kudlak, and Tarak Ital in The Waters of Mars, then voiced David Brock for The Feast of Axos (2011), Athrid for The Acheron Pulse (2012), Sanjaya Starr for The Case of the Gluttonous Guru (2013), and Brian and Koggnossenti for Technophobia (2016)
• Adrian Rawlins (DS Mooney) was Dr. Ryder in Planet of the Ood, then voiced Abberline for Jago & Litefoot 7 (2014)
• Lorraine Burroughs (Simone) was Thalina in The Fires of Pompeii
• Robin Weaver (Fran) voiced Edwige Ponzi for Nothing to See Here (2016), and Arianda for Storm of the Horofax (2017)
• David Seddon (Buckley) voiced Irving, Garm, Mercenary and Tashan for The King of Sontar (2014), Quisling and Tarn 2 for The Lady in the Lake (2018), and Lendrik for The Day of the Comet (2021)
• Kae Alexander (Angie) voiced Waywalker for The Becoming (2016), and Mia Chan for Solitary Confinement (2023)
• Caroline Lawrie (Moira) voiced Queen Jabule for Cry of the Vultriss (2020)
• Teri Ann Bobb Baxter (Lily) voiced Passion for Master! 2 (2022), and Esther for Redacted
• Aisling Bea [born O'Sullivan] (Mari) was Sarah in Eve of the Daleks
• Martin Mayger (Man) was UNIT Soldier in The Day of the Doctor
• Richard Senior was also director of Let's Kill Hitler, Meanwhile in the TARDIS, Space and Time, Night and the Doctor, and Doctor Who at the Proms (2013), then second unit director on The Day of the Doctor
• line producer Debbi Slater was production manager on Blink, Planet of the Ood, The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky, The Unicorn and the Wasp, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, then associate producer on Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• Matthew Tabern was also film editor on Smith and Jones, The Shakespeare Code, Human Nature, The Family of Blood and The Sarah Jane Adventures
• Andy Pryor has also worked as casting director on the revived run since 2005, as well as The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood

Doctor Who Vs. Dark Heart

This feature-length thriller from Silverprint
Pictures was based on the crime novels of
Adam Creed, and acted as the pilot for the
forthcoming series. Due to the closure of ITV
Encore later this month, the six-part run will
air on ITV.
The serial (an adaptation of Suffer the 
Children, published in 2009) is set during
an August heatwave in London, and DI Will
Wagstaffe (played by Tom Riley) led the
investigation into a series of brutal attacks
on unconvicted paedophiles.
Originally shown on Encore in November
2016, the drama was repeated last night,
and featured Miranda Raison (as Sylvie),
and seventeen other Doctor Who cast and
crew connections:

• Riley portrayed Robin Hood (pictured) in Robot of Sherwood
• prolific Big Finish actor Tim Treloar (DS Smethurst) voiced Van Cleef for Return of the Rocket Men, the Lord President for Dark Eyes, the Ancient One for Gods and Monsters, Lord Jack for Destination Nerva, Tyron for The Burning Prince (all 2012), Telephus and Cisyphus for Mask of Tragedy (2014), Ergu for The Exxilons, and Narrator for The Third Doctor Adventures (from 2015), Damascus (2016) and Gardeners' World (2017)
• Anji Mohindra (DC Chancellor) played Rani Chandra in The Sarah Jane Adventures, and voiced Jyoti Cutler for Scavenger (2014)
• Nicholas Asbury (Dawlish) was Etoine in The Zygon Inversion, and voiced Rowe for The Many Deaths of Jo Grant (2011), Burmaster for UNIT: Assembled, and Chordok for The Silurian Candidate (both 2017)
• Robert Hands (Nico) was Algy in The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, and later voiced Captain Solex for The War Doctor 2, Pope Leo X for The Ravelli Conspiracy, Daniel Defoe for The Diary of River Song 2 (all 2016), and Lagrange for The First Doctor 2 (2017)
• T'Nia Miller (Gail) was the General in Hell Bent
• Justin Salinger (Regis) was Tasker in Oxygen
• Franc Ashman (Lisa) was Christine in The Big Bang
• Teresa Banham (Greta) was the Governor of HMP Broadfell in The End of Time
• Eugene Washington (Mallory) was Mr. Wagner in School Reunion
• Roy Holder (Caretaker) was Krelper in The Caves of Androzani 
• Polly Polivnick (Holly) was Peggy in Village of the Angels
• line producer Debbi Slater was production manager on Blink, Planet of the Ood, The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky, The Unicorn and the Wasp, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, then associate producer on Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• Colin Teague also directed The Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords, The Fires of Pompeii and Torchwood
• producer Chris Clough was the director of Terror of the Vervoids, The Ultimate Foe, Delta and the Bannermen, Dragonfire, The Happiness Patrol and Silver Nemesis
• Philip Hookway was film editor on Flatline too
• Mick Pantaleo was also the first assistant director on A Christmas Carol, The Doctor's Wife and Night Terrors