Doctor Who Vs. Agatha and the Truth of Murder

In December 1926, Agatha

Christie went missing for eleven

days. The circumstances

surrounding her disapperance

have never been revealed. This

film imagines what might have

happened...

This channel 5 thriller is another
fictionalised account of Christie's unexplained vanishing. It is revealed

that Christie (portrayed here by Ruth

Bradley) staged her disappearance

and evaded the ensuing nationwide hunt to investigate the real-life unsolved murder of Florence

Nightingale Shore (goddaughter of the Crimean war nurse) who was bludgeoned to death on a Sussex

bound train in 1920. The Queen of Crime (1890-1976) had writer's block

and posed here as Mary Westmacott, her later pen-name.

The thriller spawned two sequels for 5 - The Curse of Ishtar (in 2019), and

The Midnight Murders (2020). The channel later broadcast documentaries

Inside the Mind of Agatha Christie and Agatha Christie's England.

First shown at Christmas 2018 (then rerun on Boxing Day and New Year's

Day 2019) the film was repeated on U&Drama today - it featured Ralph

Ineson, Dean Andrews, Michael McElhatton, and these six Doctor Who

cast connections: 

• Tim McInnerny (Randolph here; Rev. Clement in The Murder at the Vicarage, 2004) was Klineman Halpen in Planet of the Ood, and voiced Admiral Dolne for Big Finish's The Well-Mannered War (2015), and the eponymous role for Puccini and the Doctor (2024)
• Pippa Haywood (Mabel here; Mrs. Price in Ordeal by Innocence, 2007; Mrs. Upjohn in Cat Among the Pigeons, 2008) voiced the Prime Minister for Seed of Chaos and The Destructive Quality of Life (both 2017), Jaxa for Seizure, Teremon for The War Master 2 (both 2018), and Captain Graff for Genetics of the Daleks (2020)
• Blake Harrison (Travis here & Agatha and the Midnight Murders) voiced Lieutenant Daniel Hopkins for The Helliax Rift, Hour of the Cybermen and Warlock's Cross (all 2018), then starred in Village of the Angels as Namaca Ost Parvess Po
• Brian McCardie (Persimmion here; Gould in Ordeal by Innocence, 2018) voiced Alan Weir for Masters of Earth (2014)
• Samantha Spiro (Pamela) was Hazran in The Doctor Falls
• Joshua Silver (Franklin) voiced Charlie Nisbett for The Romance of Crime (2015)

Doctor Who Vs. Murder is Easy

This period crime drama was based

on Agatha Christie's twenty-fifth

novel (known in America as Easy

to Kill), published in 1939. A US

TV version was shown in 1982,

followed by ITV's treatment in

2009, and was now adapted by

Mammoth Screen and BritBox for

BBC1. The two-part mystery con-

cluded last night - it featured

Douglas Henshall, Mark Bonnar,

and nine Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

• David Jonsson [Fray] (Fitzwilliam) voiced Corporal James Morley for Big Finish's Invocation (2017)
• Penelope [Alice] Wilton (Lavinia here; Louise in They Do It With Mirrors, 2009) played Harriet Jones MP in Aliens of London, World War Three, The Christmas Invasion and The Stolen Earth
• Tom Riley (Whitfield here; Argyle in Ordeal by Innocence, 2007; Boynton in Appointment With Death, 2008) was Robin Hood in Robot of Sherwood
• Tamzin [Maria] Outhwaite (Mrs Pierce here; Mrs Rogers in Endless Night, 2013) was the Captain in Nightmare in Silver, then voiced Morton for Secrets of Telos (2022)
• Brian McCardie (Bull here; Gould in Ordeal by Innocence, 2018; Persimmon in Agatha and the Truth of Murder) voiced Alan Weir for Masters of Earth (2014)
• Ron [Eaglesham] Donachie [born Porter] (Coroner) was the Steward in Tooth and Claw
• Christina Low was also stunt performer Spyfall and Flux
• Lloyd Bass (stunt co-ordinator) was stuntman on The Time of the Doctor and Twice Upon a Tim
• Segun Akinola was also composer of thirty-one Doctor Who adventures

Doctor Who Vs. Ordeal By Innocence

Published in late 1958, the Queen

of Crime's fifty-seventh mystery

novel was one of the author's favourite works and is now

considered a classic of the genre. 

Cannon Films' adaptation of Ordeal

By Innocence was released in 1985,

followed by ITV Studio's treatment 
for Marple in 2007. 
This version was scripted by Sarah

Phelps, writer of And Then There

Were None and Witness for the Prosecution.

When allegations of sexual assault 
were levelled at actor Ed Westwick 
his role was recast and makers 
Mammoth Screen returned to 
Scotland to reshoot the drama. The whole, three-part thriller (event-

ually shown in April 2018 after a four-month postponemnet) was

repeated for BBC4's Agatha Christie season last night - it featured

Anna Chancellor, Anthony Boyle, Luke Treadaway, Alice Eve,

Matthew Goode, and eleven Doctor Who cast and crew alumni:

• Bill [Francis] Nighy (Leo Argyll here; Marsh in Thirteen at Dinner) played Dr. Black in Vincent and the Doctor
• Morven Christie (Kirsten here; Elsie in The Labours of Hercules) was Alice O'Donnell in Under the Lake and Before the Flood
• Christian [Louis] Cooke (replaced Westwick as Mickey) was Private Ross Jenkins in The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky
• Eleanor Tomlinson (Mary) was Eve in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Mad Woman in the Attic
• Brian McCardie (Gould) voiced Alan Weir for Big Finish's Masters of Earth (2014)
• Gary Hoptrough was also stuntman on The Runaway Bride and Let's Kill Hitler
• stunt co-ordinator Tony Lucken was stuntman on Dalek, Bad Wolf, The Parting of the Ways and The End of Time
• Adam Recht was film editor on A Christmas Carol too
• Gerry Glynn and David Kneath were also SFX technicians on four- teen episodes (from Kill the Moon to Twice Upon a Time) and six- teen others (from Into the Dalek to The Husbands of River Song)
• conductor Dave Foster was a musician on over a hundred stories (from Voyage of the Damned to

Doctor Who Vs. Sea of Souls, Series 3

Fellow Glaswegians actors Bill 
Paterson, Dawn Steele and 
Iain Robertson all returned for 
the third, penultimate run of 
this supernatural drama, set 
at Scotland's fictional Clyde 
University parapsychology 
department.

First shown on BBC1 in the
winter of 2006, this six-part 
season featured Paul

McGann, and twenty-one

other Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

Insiders (UK TX: January 7)

• Brian McCardie (Beale) voiced Alan Weir for Big Finish's Masters of Earth (2014) 
• Gary Hoptrough was also a stuntman on The Runaway Bride and Let's Kill Hitler

Oracle (UK TX: January 14)

• Jeff Rawle (Norman) was Plantagenet in Frontios, Lionel Harding in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Mona Lisa's Revenge, then depicted Mervyn Pinfield in An Adventure in Space and Time

Sleeper (UK TX: January 21)

• Phyllis Logan (Elaine) was Andinio in The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
• for Stephen Garwood (producer), Jonathan Farmer (assistant director), Barbara Southcott (make-up designer), Pam Mullins (make-up artist), Edmund Butt (composer), Toby Wood (music engineer), Scott Napier (electrician), Sheila Johnston (script supervisor), and Ray Holman (costume designer) see Series 2

The Newsroom (UK TX: January 28)

• Ronald [Alfred] Pickup (Galt) made his TV debut as the Physician in (episode 4 of) The Reign of Terror, and voiced Kestorian for Time Worls (2006), Elder Bones for Spaceport Fear (2013), and the Old One for Jago & Litefoot 12 (2016)
• Sheila Reid (Aggie) was Etta in Vengeance on Varos, Clara's Gran in The Time of the Doctor and Dark Water, and voiced Claire for Good Night, Sweet Ladies (2014), and Janaiya for The Middle (2017)

Succubus (UK TX: February 4)

• Emma Campbell-Jones (Sarah) was Dr. Kent in The Wedding of River Song, Cass in The Night of the Doctor, then voiced Shola for The Paradox Planet and Legacy of Death (both 2016), and Layla Bridge for Battlegrounds (2022)
• Lucy [Ursula] Griffiths (Rebecca) voiced Mabel Dobbs for The Auntie Matter (2013)
• Dave Humphries was also the foley recordist on The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways

Rebound (UK TX: February 11)

• for Peter Guinness (Duncan) see Series 2
• Rob Hunt was also a stuntman on The Runaway Bride and The Day of the Doctor
• Peter Kersey was a SFX technician on the Doctor Who TV Movie too