Doctor Who Vs. All Creatures Great and Small, Series 7

A repeat run of BBC1's much

loved period TV series continued

on Drama today. The programme

(now set in the Yorkshire Dales

of the 1950s) was based on the

works of Northern vet, Alf Wight

(1916-1995) - he wrote under

the pen-name of James Herriot,

and was portrayed here by

Christopher Timothy.

The sixth and penultimate

twelve part season (originally

shown in the autumn of 1990) featured Robert Hardy, Peter Davison,

and a total of twenty-six Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• for Timothy, Bill Sellars, Johnny Byrne, Sheila Reid and Rio Fanning see Series 1
• James Grout and Martin Matthews see Series 2
• for Keith Marsh and Tim Barker see Series 3
• Dominic Guard (Shadwell) was Olvir in Terminus
• Hugh [Thornton] Walters (Pendlebury), Ian [Jacob] Thompson (Carter), Douglas Ditta (Pearson) and Malcolm Rogers (Collins) all appeared in The Chase - as Shakespeare, Malsan, Willoughby and Dracula respectively - Walters was also Runcible in The Deadly Assassin, Vogel in Revelation of the Daleks, then voiced Roderick Allingham for The Fearmonger (2002), whilst Thompson was also Hetra in The Web Planet, and Rogers was Policeman in (episode 7 of) The Daleks' Master Plan
• Johnny [James] Barrs (Reed) was Fuller in The Mind of Evil (5)
• [Robert] Michael Bilton (Hart) was Charles de Teligny in The Massacre, Collins in Pyramids of Mars, and Time Lord in The Deadly Assassin
• Dinsdale [James] Landen (Brannan) was Dr. Judson in The Curse of Fenric
• Edward [Noel] Burnham (Norton) was Professors Watkins and Kettlewell in The Invasion and Robot respectively
• Ian [Gordon Arthur] Collier (Clintock) was Stuart Hyde in The Time Monster, Omega in Arc of Infinity and Big Finish's Omega (2003), and voiced Commissar Erco Sallis for Excelis Decays (2002), and Isaac Summerfield for Death and the Daleks (2004)
• Dee Sadler (Linda) was Flowerchild in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and reprised in 2024 for AUK Studios' Children of the Circus, then voiced Madeline Burns/Zeran Zee for The Broken Man (2026)
• [David] Roger Brierley (Wakeman) was Trevor in The Daleks' Master Plan (8), then provided the voice of Drathro in The Mysterious Planet
• for Peter Benson see Series 5
• for John Gill, James Garbutt and Graham Frake see Series 6
• stunt arranger Gareth Milne was George Cranleigh in Black Orchid, Mortuary Attendant in Vengeance on Varos, and doubled for Davison in Warriors of the Deep
• Richard Martin [Thomas] was also director of The Daleks, The Edge of Destruction (1), The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Web Planet and The Chase
• Steve Goldie (director) was assistant floor manager on The Armageddon Factor (6), and production manager on Terminus
• Peter Wragg was also VFX designer on Image of the Fendahl (1), The Visitation, Resurrection of the Daleks and Mindwarp
• Roger Sutton was vision mixer on Horror of Fang Rock too

Doctor Who @ 50: An Adventure In Space And Time [Updated]

Shooting on the Doctor Who 50th anniversary biopic resumed this morning in Central London. Writer Mark Gatiss accompanied the makers of An Adventure in Space and Time on Westminster Bridge to reconstruct some of the most iconic scenes in the series' history. The location filming for The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) was represented by four replica Daleks and a Sixties BBC film crew. Also present was Gatiss' partner, Ian Hallard playing director, Richard Martin.

Meanwhile, further details on the programme's cast and crew have emerged online this week. Joining actors David Bradley, Brian Cox, Jessica Raine, and Sacha Dhawan are newcomer Claudia Grant as Carole Ann Ford, Jemma Powell as Jacqueline Hill, Sarah Winter as Delia Derbyshire, Jeff Rawle as Mervyn Pinfield, Andrew Woodall as Rex Tucker, Jamie Glover as William Russell, and Russell himself has a cameo role as Harry. Comic actor, Reece Shearsmith, friend and former co-star of Gatiss, has been cast as Patrick Troughton.
The latest issue of Radio Times has reported that Lesley Manville plays William Hartnell's wife, Heather. The IMDB website now has a tentative listing for the BBC2 production, and also cites child actor Reece Pockney as Alan.

The crew now includes Andy Pryor (casting), Terry McDonough (director), Philip Kloss (film editor), Suzanne Cave (costume designer), John Pardue (director of photography), Dave Arrowsmith (production designer), Lucienne Suren (art director), and assistant Oliver Benson.