Doctor Who Vs. Centurion

Pathé's historical action film, written and
directed by Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers),
was loosely based on the legend of the
massacre of the Roman Ninth Legion in
Caledonia (ancient Scotland) in the early
second century AD. 

The story was popularised in the 1954 

children's novel, The Eagle of the Ninth,

adapted as The Eagle in 2011. The cast was

led by Michael Fassbender and Dominic West

as the titular Centurion, Quintus Dias and

General Titus Flavius Virilus.

Released in 2010 by Warner Bros. the film
 was screened on Legend Extra last night,

and featured Noel Clarke, and twenty-two

Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• David [Mark] Morrissey (Bothos) was Jackson Lake in The Next Doctor
• Liam Cunningham (Brick) was Captain Zhukov in Cold War
• Lee Ross (Septus) was the Boatswain in The Curse of the Black Spot
• JJ [John Joseph] Field (Thax) voiced David McCallister for Big Finish's Blue Forgotten Planet (2009)
• Rachael [Atlanta] Stirling (Druzilla) was Ada Gillyflower in The Crimson Horror, and voiced Demesne Furze for Trail of the White Worm (2012), Adelaine Dutemps for The Monster of Montmartre (2015) and Jill Meadows for Technophobia (2016)
• Dimitri Leonidas (Leonidas) was Howie Spragg in The God Complex
• Paul [born Peter John] Freeman (Agricola) voiced Jalnik for The Foe from the Future (2012)
• Peter Guinness (Cassius) voiced Mr. Dread for Dreamland, Childeric for The Holy Terror (2000), Baron Teufel/Zoff for The Beast of Orlok (2009), Rovus for The Star Men (2017), and Garzan for The Dying Breed (2025)
• Simon Chadwick (Messenger) was Cal Kilburne in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Enemy of the Bane
• Michael Carter (Antoninus) began his acting career as Prisoner/UNIT Soldier in The Mind of Evil
• Greg Bennett (Centurion) was Sycorax Warrior/UNIT Soldier in The Christmas Invasion, and Guest in The Lazarus Experiment
• Sharon Colley was a make-up artist on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• make-up assistant Vivienne Simpson was make-up artist on twenty-eight adventures (from A Christmas Carol to The Name of the Doctor)
• Jim McCallum (dressing props) was stand-by art director on The Day of the Doctor
• ADR recordist Simon Diggins was ADR mixer on fifteen stories (from the 50th anniversary special to The Husbands of River Song)
• David Forman was also stuntman on Tooth and Claw, The Girl in the Fireplace, The Idiot's Lantern, Fear Her and The Runaway Bride
• stunt double Jamie Edgell was stuntman on The End of the World, then stunt co-ordinator on Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways
• stunt co-ordinator Paul Herbert was stuntman on The End of Time
• George Cottle was also stuntman on Boom Town, The Runaway Bride and Smith and Jones 
• Rob Cooper and Rick Englsih were stunt performers on Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and Tooth and Claw respectively
• stuntman Gordon Seed was stunt co-ordinator on thirty-six episodes (from The Idiot's Lantern to Kill the Moon
• Paul Kennington was also a stuntman on Rise of the Cybermen, The Age of Steel, Army of Ghosts, Doomsday and The Doctor's Daughter

Doctor Who Vs. Raiders of the Lost Ark

The first instalment in the Indiana
Jones movie franchise (directed by

Steven Spielberg) was released by

Paramount Pictures in 1981.

Star Wars creator George Lucas
conceived the archaeologist hero

in 1973 with The Adventures of

Indiana Smith, and Raiders was

 eventually developed between

1978 and 1980. 

Han Solo actor, Harrison Ford (born

 in Chicago in 1942) was cast as Dr.

Henry Walton Jones Jr. just three

weeks before filming began.

The film garnered many prizes in

1982, including five Oscars, seven

Saturn awards, a Grammy, a Hugo,

and BAFTA award. Following the popular and critical success of Raiders, a

prequel (The Temple of Doom) and two sequels (The Last Crusade and

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) were produced, and even spawned a spin-

off series for American TV, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Over forty

years on, the saga continues - a fifth Indiana Jones adventure, The Dial

of Destiny, opened in the summer of 2023.

Shown on ITV2 tonight, the adventure featured Karen Allen (Marion),

John Rhys Davies (Sallah), Denholm Elliott (Marcus Brody), and these

twenty-three Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Paul [born Peter John] Freeman (Dr. Belloq) voiced Jalnik for Big Finish's The Foe from the Future (2011)
• Ronald [William] Lacey (Toht) was offered the role of Jobel in November 1984, but Clive Swift was cast in Revelation of the Daleks
• Vic Tablian [born Varoujan Aintablian] (Barranca) made his TV debut as Ahmed in (part 1 of) Pyramids of Mars
• Wolf Kahler (Dietrich) voiced the Cart Driver for Blood and Steel (2022)
• Sonny Caldinez (Mongolian) was Kemel in The Evil of the Daleks, then titular Martians in The Ice Warriors (as Turoc), The Seeds of Death (Warrior), The Curse of Peladon (Ssorg), and The Monster of Peladon (Sskel)
• Tutte Lemkow [born Isak Samuel Lemkow] (Iman) was Kuiju in Marco Polo, Ibrahim  in The Crusdae (4), and Cyclops in The Myth Makers 
• Kiran Shah (Abu) was the Figure in Listen, and Emojibot in Smile
• John [Morgan] Rees (Sergeant) was Hardy in Frontier in Space
• Michael [Lawson] Sheard [born Perkins] (Captain here; Hitler in The Last Crusade) was Rhos in The Ark (2), Dr. Roland Summers in The Mind of Evil, Laurence Scarman in Pyramids of Mars, Supervisor Lowe in The Invisible Enemy, Mergrave in Castrovalva, the Headmaster [Harvey Parson] in Remembrance of the Daleks, and Chief Baxter in Fury from the Deep (2002) - he also voiced Duke Orsino for The Stones of Venice (2001)
• Nick Gillard (German Soldier here, Tank Crewman in The Last Crusade) was the stunt arranger on Silver Nemesis (2)
• Russell Brook (Soldier) was Schoolboy in Mawdryn Undead (2), Man-at-arms in The King's Demons, Crewman in Warriors of the Deep, Attendant in Revelation of the Daleks (1), Lakertyan/Tetrap/Genius in Time and the Rani, and Chimeron in Delta and the Bannermen (1)
• Peter Ross Murray (Guard) was also a Lakertyan
• Barry [John] Summerford (Soldier) was Golden Age Man in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (6), Elite Guard in Genesis of the Daleks, Vogan in Revenge of the Cybermen (1), Private Thurston in Terror of the Zygons (2), UNIT Soldier in The Seeds of Doom (6), Security Guard in The Hand of Fear (2), Audience Member in The Sun Makers (4), Shrieve in The Ribos Operation (4), Guard in The Armageddon Factor (1) and The Creature from the Pit (1), and Foster in The Keeper of Traken (1)
• Darrell Brook (Soldier) was Man-at-arms in The King's Demons, Lakertyan/Genius in Time and the Rani, and Navarino in Delta and the Bannermen (1)
• [Robert] Gerry Crampton (Soldier) was Captive in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 AD
• Rick Lester (Soldier) was an Ogron in Day of the Daleks, Carnival of Monsters (2) and Frontier in Space
• stuntmen Peter Diamond, Harry Fielder, Peter Brace, Billy Horrigan and Bill Weston all had uncredited roles in the classic run (from The Daleks to Shada collectively)
• stuntmen Martin Grace and Rocky Taylor were a Thal in Dr. Who and the Daleks, and a stuntman on The Idiot's Lantern respectively

Doctor Who Vs. Trial & Retribution XII

Lynda La Plante's acclaimed crime

drama returned to ITV in January

2009 - David Hayman, Dorian

Lough, Victoria Smurfit, and Vince

Leigh reprised their respective

roles (as DCS Walker, DS Satchell,

DCI Connor, and DS Palmer).

Like La Plante's earlier hit series

Prime Suspect, the programme

employed a distinctive split screen

technique. A repeat run of the final, six-part season began on ITV3 last

night - the three cases featured a total of ten Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

Siren

• Gary Cady (Randall) was Luke Ward in The Mark of the Rani
• Joseph Kennedy (Sebastian) was Will Scarlett in Robot of Sherwood
• for Damian Bromley and Bob Shipsey see Series 11

Ghost Train

• director Stefan Schwartz played the Knight Commander in Battlefield
• Vince Leigh (DS Palmer) voiced Matrix Keeper/Computer for Songs of Love, Volstrom for The Side of the Angels (both 2017), and Kazan for The Split Infinitive (2019)
• Helen Steinway Bailey (Vicky) was stunt performer on Amy's Choice

Shooter

• Jaimi Barbakoff (Zoe) voiced Councillor Geflo for The Foe from the Future, and Lt. Dervish for The Shadow Heart (both 2012)
• sound mixer John Taylor was boom operator on The Five Doctors

Doctor Who Vs. Bleak House

Considered one of Charles Dickens' finest
works, Bleak House was originally pub-

lished in twenty monthly instalments from

March 1852. The writer's fourteenth novel is

also cited as amongst the earliest forms of

fiction to include a major role for a detective.

The first television reworking of Bleak House

was produced by the BBC in 1959, then again

 in 1985. A third version (the winner of five

BAFTAs and two Emmy awards and double

Golden Globe nominee) was first broadcast
on BBC1 from October to December 2005. 

PBS stations screened the drama in America

from 2006. The Radio Times marked the

bicentenary of Dickens' birth in 2012 with a

 poll to find the best adaptation of his novels,

and the most recent Bleak House series was

voted the best ever Dickens tale for TV - a repeat run began on Drama

today. The cast for this fifteen-part series was led by Charles Dance,

Denis Lawson, Ian Richardson, Patrick Kennedy, Gillian Anderson, Alun

Armstrong, Hugo Speer, Nathaniel Parker, Richard Harrington, Richard

Griffiths, Johnny Vegas, and featured Catherine Tate (pictured as

Mrs. Chadbond) and thirty-one Doctor Who cast/crew connections:

• script editor Caroline Skinner was co-executive producer on the revived run (from The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe to The Name of the Doctor), An Adventure in Space and Time and The Doctors Revisited
• Anna [Charlotte] Maxwell Martin (Esther here; Mrs. Strong in David Copperfield, 2019) was Suki Macrae Cantrell [Eva St. Julienne) in The Long Game, and voiced Maddie Bower for Big Finish's The Diary of River Song 2 (2017)
• Carey [Hannah] Mulligan (Ada here; Belle for A Christmas Carol, 2020) and Richard Cant (Mercury) both appeared in Blink - as Sally Sparrow and Malcolm Wainwright
• Tom Georgeson (Clamb) was Kavell in Genesis of the Daleks, and Inspector in Logopolis
• Timothy [Lancaster] West (Sir Dedlock here; Bounderby in Hard Times, 1977; Bumble in Oliver Twist, 1982) voiced Kai Tobias for Phobos (2007), Ronald Turvey for Cuddlesome (2008), and Dr. Magnus Soames for House of Blue Fire (2011)
• Burn [Hugh Winchester] Gorman (Guppy) was Torchwood series regular Owen Harper, and voiced the Network for Echoes of Extinction (2021)
• Pauline Collins (Miss Flite here; Mrs. Gamp in Dickensian) was Samantha Briggs in The Faceless Ones, then Queen Victoria in Tooth and Claw
• Phil Davis (Smallweed here; Scott in Mr. Quilp; Noah in Oliver Twist, 1982; Brooker in Nicholas Nickleby, 2002) was Lucius Petrus Dextrus in The Fires of Pompeii, and voiced Titus for The Cannibalists (2009)
• Anne Reid (Miss Rouncewell here/Mrs. Bagnet, 1985) was Nurse Crane in The Curse of Fenric, and Florence Finnegan in Smith and Jones
• Louise Brealey (Judy) voiced Charlotte Willis for The Foe from the Future (2012), and Dr. Millicent Belanger for The Viyran Solution (2014)
• Michael Smiley (Squod) voiced Seedleson for Creatures of Beauty (2003), then was Colonel Morgan Blue in Into the Dalek
• Peter Guinness (Coroner) and Roberta [Alexandra Mary] Taylor [born Roberts] (Mrs. Pardiggle) both starred in The Holy Terror (2000) as Childeric/Berengaria - Guinness also voiced Baron Teufel for The Beast of Orlok (2009), Rovus for The Star Men (2017), and Mr. Dread for Dreamland - Taylor also voiced Angela Wisher for Cuddlesome, and Maid for I Was Churchill's Double (2018)
• Sheila [Cameron] Hancock (Mrs. Guppy) was Helen A in The Happiness Patrol
• Joanna David [born Hacking] (Mrs. Badger) voiced Mrs. Audley for AudioGo's The Broken Crown (2011)
• Kelly Hunter (Miss Barbary) was the Shadow Architect in The Stolen Earth and The Magician's Apprentice 
• [David] Matthew Kelly (Turveydrop here; Bumble in Celebrate Oliver!) voiced Michelangelo for Fallen Angels (2016)
• Bryan Dick (Prince) voiced the Exec for Theatre of War (2015), and Finnian Valentine for The Devil You Know (2018)
• Amelda Brown (Landlady) voiced Margaret for The Gunpowder Plot
• Robert Pugh (Chadbond) was Tony Mack in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, and voiced Emmett Burrows for Five Twenty-Nine (2016)
• Anthony Cozens (Usher) was the Concierge in The Husbands of River Song
• Michelle Tate (Guster) was Abigail in The Crimson Horror
• Liza Tarbuck (Mrs. Jellyby) voiced Lysette Barclay for Plague of the Daleks (2009), and Captain Kaliko for The Infinite Quest
• Rod Arthur (Neckett) was Mr. Parsons in School Reunion
• Richard Bonehill (stuntman/sword master) was the Flight Engineer in Time Flight, First Officer in Enlightenment, Guardolier in Timelash, and Guard in Revelation of the Daleks and Terror of the Vervoids
• Steve Robinson was also first assistant director on The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks
• executive Gordon Ronald was head of production on The Zygon Inversion and The Husbands of River Song
• Ian Adrian was also a camera operator on The Vampires of Venice, The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood, Vincent and the Doctor, The Lodger and An Adventure in Space and Time 
• post-production supervisor Beewan Athwell was the VFX producer on fourteen episodes, from A Christmas Carol to The Wedding of River Song
• Jason Gill was also costume assistant on fourteen stories (from A Christmas Carol to The Wedding of River Song), Space/Time and Death is the Only Answer

Doctor Who Vs. Without a Clue

"The brains behind Sherlock Holmes

belonged to Dr. Watson, according

to this farce, the shy doctor having

invented the fictitious sleuth as a

front for his own crime detection

skills. As Holmes captured the

public's imagination (depicted in

The Strand magazine), Watson

was forced to hire actor Reginald

Kincaid (played here by Michael

Caine) to impersonate him. How

they fare while investigating a

plot (hatched by Paul Freeman's

Professor Moriarty) to undermine

the British Empire with forged

fivers is the comedy basis for

this mismatched buddy movie. Its lots of fun, despite the hammy

performances, and Ben Kingsley's Watson wipes the floor with

Caine's Holmes." Alan Jones, Radio Times.

Released by Orion in late 1988, the ITC production originally had

the working title The Impostor of Baker Street, then was intended

to be marketed as Sherlock and Me. Shown on Talking Pictures

today, the film also featured Jeffrey Jones (as Lestrade), and a 

dozen Doctor Who cast connections:

• [Peter John] Freeman voiced Jalnik for Big Finish's The Foe from the Future (2012)
• Lysette [Ann Chodzko] Anthony (Leslie) voiced Clara Harris for Assassin in the Limelight (2008), Hazel Bright for Hothouse (2009), and Sophia for The Secret History (2015)
• Harold [Sidney] Innocent (Johnson) was Gilbert M in The Happiness Patrol, and voiced Freeth for The Paradise of Death
• Ivor Roberts (Reporter) was Mogran in Genesis of the Daleks
• James [Rutherford Worsfold] Bree [born Thomson] (Barrister here; Barnicot in The Six Napoleons, 1965; Coroner in The Empty House, 1986) was the Security Chief in The War Games, Nefred in Full Circle, and Keeper of the Matrix in The Ultimate Foe
• Clive Mantle (Thug here; Frankland in The Hounds of Baskerville) voiced Oliver Cromwell for The Settling (2006), Tuvold for The Burning Prince (2012), Tillegat and Lieutenant Treeves for Destroy the Infinite (2014), and Chuke for Genetics of the Daleks (2020)
• John Tordoff (Andrews) was Alec Leeson in (episode 4 of) Colony in Space
• Richard Henry (Hadlers) was a Mentor in Mindwarp
• Chris Webb (Henchman here; Stuntman on The Sign of Four, 1987) was a Monoid in The Ark
• stuntmen Stuart Fell and Terry [Anthony] Walsh both worked on the classic run
• Rocky [Laurie] Taylor (stunts here & A Game of Shadows) was a stuntman on The Idiot's Lantern
• Terry Forrestal (stunts here; Sir Hugo in The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1982) was a Driver in K9 and Company

Doctor Who Vs. Van Der Valk, Series 5

ITV's classic crime drama again starred Barry Foster as the eponymous Dutch detective, was based on characters created by Nicolas Freeling for
his Van Der Valk novels in 1962. Produced at Thames Television's studios
 in London, with location scenes shot in the books' Amsterdam setting, the 
show was revived in early 1991, thirteen years after the previous series.
A repeat run of the final, three-part season (first shown in early 1992)
concluded on the Talking Pictures TV channel last night, and featured 
twenty-one Doctor Who cast connections:

• Brian Cox (Szabo) provided the voice of the Elder Ood in The End of Time, and depicted Sydney Newman in An Adventure in Space and Time
• Malcolm Tierney (Nagel) was Dolland in Terror of the Vervoids
• Vernon Dobtcheff (Jonge) was an Alien Scientist in The War Games , then voiced Dadda Desaka for The Cradle of the Snake (2010), Sibelius Crow for The Necropolis Express, Shamur for The Children of Seth (both 2011), Professor Heinrich Schumann for Counter Measures 1: Threshold (2012), and Jorenzo Zorn for The Genesis Chamber (2016)
• Sion Tudor Owen (Staal) was Tandrell in The Mysterious Planet
• Kevork Malikyan (Colombian) was Kemel Rudkin in The Wheel in Space
• Martyn Whitby (Swart) was a Drayman in The Mark of the Rani
• Paul Freeman (Tromp) voiced Jalnik for The Foe From the Future (2012)
• Stephen Moore (Hensen) was Eldane in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, and voiced Clark Goodman for The Eight Truths and Worldwide Web (2009)
• Maggie Steed (Maria) voiced Madame Rana Zandusia for Mission to Magnus (2009)
• Julian Fox (Samuel) was Peter Hamilton in Death to the Daleks
• Ian Barritt (Hartog) was Professor [Gerald] Peach in The Unicorn and the Wasp
• Richard Mayes (Farmer) was Chief Baxter in Fury from the Deep
• Celia Imrie (Marijke) was Miss [Rosemary] Kizlet in The Bells of Saint John, and voiced Dr. Elizabeth Bradley for The Fifth Citadel (2013), Madame Tissot for Gallery of Ghouls, and Lady Livia Caralis for Gallifrey: Enemy Lines (both 2016)
• Angela Bruce (Tony) was Brigadier Winifred Bambera in Battlefield, a role reprised by Big Finish for Animal (2011)
• Holly De Jong (Hannie) voiced Amelia Doory for Project: Twilight (2001)
• Martin McDougall (Vendor) voiced Craddock for He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not (2020)
• Tony Caunter (Voss) was Morgan in Colony in Space, and Jackson in Enlightenment 
• Pip Torrens (de Groot) was Headmaster Rocastle in Human Nature and The Family of Blood, then voiced Charlie Gibbs for Eldrad Must Die!(2013)
• Barry Aird (Postman) was a Time Lord Soldier in The Last Day
• for David McKail see Series 3
• stunt arranger Peter Brayham was stunt co-ordinator on The Christmas Invasion, New Earth and School Reunion