Doctor Who Vs. Press

Produced by Lookout Point for BBC1, this drama
 (conceived and scripted by prolific dramatist
Mike Bartlett) is set in two warring news-
rooms in the British newspaper industry.
Charlotte Riley played Holly Evans, deputy news
editor at The Herald, whilst Ben Chaplin was
Duncan Allen, editor of tabloid The Post. The
rival papers, neighbours in the same London
square, are ethically chalk and cheese, but
both chase the same scoop, a MI5 whistle-
blower.
The six-part series concluded last night, and
featured Al Weaver, and sixteen Doctor Who 
cast and crew connections:

• Shane Zaza (Kane) was Prem in Demons of the Punjab
• David Suchet (Emmerson) was the Landlord in Knock Knock
• Dominic Rowan (West) voiced Corwyn for Big Finish's The Burning Prince (2012)
• David Schofield (Cartwright) voiced Billy for Death in Blackpool (2009), and Nostradamus for The Doomsday Quatrain (2011), then appeared in The Girl Who Died as Odin
• Tom Bell (Brooks) voiced Fakrid/Jinka for The Highest Science (2014), Arran/Shift for The Age of Endurance (2016), and Brian Sherborne for Intelligence for War (2023)
• Elliot Levey (PM Harper) voiced Gobernar and Blank for Vampire of the Mind (2016), and Colonel Marsden for Red Planets (2018)
• Pandora Clifford (Anna) voiced Zeeb and Zeet for Wicked Sisters (2020)
• Thalissa Teixeira (Angie) voiced Dr. Lenni Fisk for Into the Stars (2022), and Jenel Kilum'bu/Saggy for Defender of the Earth (2023)
• Dan Li (Lawyer) was Alexis in The Bells of Saint John
• Bern Callaco (Journalist) was an Operator in The Return of Doctor Mysterio, and Soldier in Thin Ice
• Lorna Brown (Carla) voiced Veega for Gallifrey: Time War 3 (2020)
• Tina Simmons (Director) made her TV debut as an Inferno Customer in (episode 1 of) The War Machines
• stunt co-ordinator Nick Gillard was the stunt arranger on Silver Nemesis (2)
• Faith Penhale was co-executive producer on The Day of the Doctor too
• Sean Clayton was also the second assistant director on Dalek and Father's Day
• Toby Wood was a music engineer on An Adventure in Space and Time too

Doctor Who Vs. Trauma

This psychological thriller centred on
the lives of two fathers, Dan Bowker
(played by John Simm) and Jon Allerton (Adrian Lester), whose paths cross when Dan's teenage son Alex
is stabbed and dies in the trauma
department under the care of consultant surgeon Allerton.
Scripted by Mike Bartlett (writer of Knock Knock and creator of Doctor Foster), the drama was produced by Tall Story Pictures and ITV Studios.
Trauma was shown over three
consecutive nights this week, and
featured twelve other Doctor Who 
cast and crew connections:

• Jemima Rooper (Nora) voiced Izzy Sinclair for Big Finish's The Company of Friends (2009)
• Jade Anouka (Alana) was the Waitress in The Bells of Saint John, and voiced Danuta for The Blood Furnace (2017)
• Steven Elder (Beckett) voiced Farrow for Jubilee (2003), and Rawden for Something Inside (2006)
• Calvin Dean (Saunders) was Ha-Ha in Nightmare in Silver
• Catherine Skinner (Lucy) voiced Cherryanne for The Entropy Plague (2015), and Princess Myrahla for The Eighth of March (2019)
• Paul Thornley (Holloway) voiced Marko for Seven Keys to Doomsday (2008), Michael Rond for Fitz's Story, Gomori for Paper Cuts (both 2009), and Robbie Flint and Cyril for Criss-Cross (2015)
• Richard Cox was film editor on The Next Doctor too
• John Mooney was also a sound assistant on Remembrance of the Daleks, Silver Nemesis (3), The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Battlefield and Ghost Light
• Joe Malone was sound assistant on The Husbands of River Song too
• James Metcalf was floor runner on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• Abbi Collins was also stunt co-ordinator on eleven episodes (from Rise of the Cybermen to The Waters of Mars) and The Sarah Jane Adventures
• Amanda Foster was a stunt performer on The Doctor's Daughter too

Doctor Who Vs. King Charles III

This Drama Republic production was adapted by
Mike Bartlett from his own Olivier award-winning
West End play, and starred most of the original cast.
In his final TV role, Tim Pigott-Smith portrayed
Charles, who begins his reign still haunted by
Princess Diana and struggling in a position he has
waited sixty years to hold.

The film opens with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth
II and the accession of Prince Charles. The new
monarch soon causes a constitutional crisis when
he refuses to sign a controversial bill to censure the
press, and the political fallout worsens when the
King dissolves Parliament. 

A thoroughly Shakespearean climax sees Prince William wrestle the throne from his father by forcing him to abdicate and thereby saving the monarchy.

King Charles III was shown on BBC Two last night, and featured eight Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Bartlett later scripted Knock Knock
• Pigott-Smith played Captain Harker in The Claws of Axos, and Marco in The Masque of Mandragora
• Katie Brayben ( Diana) was Ellie in Oxygen
• John Shrapnel (Archbishop of Canterbury) and Tim McMullan (Reiss) both starred in Big Finish's Doom Coalition 3 (2016) as Thomas Cromwell and Octavian respectively - Shrapnel has also been cast in The False Guardian and Time's Assassin (new for 2019)
• Adam James (Prime Minister) was DI Macmillan in Planet of the Dead
• Rupert Vansittart (Sir Matthew) was General Asquith in Aliens of London and World War Three, and voiced Sepulchre for Dead London (BF, 2008)
• producer Simon Maloney was the first assistant director on An Adventure in Space and Time