Doctor Who Vs. Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side

The final three productions in BBC1's

acclaimed Miss Marple series were

made when Joan Hickson agreed to

reprise her definitive portrayal, which finally enabled the Corporation to

dramatise all twelve Marple novels.

The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side

(Agatha Christie's eighth full-length

Miss Marple mystery, and her fifty-

third novel) was published in 1962,

then issued as The Mirror Crack'd in

North America - the EMI Films' adapt-

ation adopted the same truncated title

in 1980.

The Queen of Crime was influenced by

the real-life tragedy of American act-

ress Gene Tierney for her plot. The book's title was taken from Tennyson's

The Lady of Shalott, and was dedicated

to Margaret Rutherford.

Agatha Christie: Unfinished Portrait

(narrated by Hickson in 1990) and this festive special were both repeated on

BBC4 last night - the mystery (originally shown at Christmas 1992) featured

Barry Newman, David Horovitch, and fourteen Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

• [Patricia] Claire Bloom [born Blume] (Marina here; Ada in By the Pricking of My Thumbs, 2006) was the Woman in The End of Time
• for John Castle see A Murder is Announced
• Judy [Valerie] Cornwell (Heather here; Valerie in The Lamp; Dora/Miss Marple in A Murder is Announced, 1999/2015) was Maddy in Paradise Towers
• for Rhoda Lewis see A Pocket Full of Rye
• Christopher Good (Hawes) was Morgan in The Beast Below
• Glynis Barber (Lola here; Julia in A Murder is Announced, 1979; Unknown in And Then There Were None, 1987; Cora in Endless Night, 2013; Salome in Death on the Nile, 2025) voiced Kathy Blake for The Sinestran Kill (2019), and Nicholaa de la Haye for The Outlaws (2022)
• John [Sleeman] Croft (Inch) was Tom Girton in The Daemons
• Annette Peters (Make-up lady) was an Extra in (episode 1 of) The Invasion, and Passenger in Nightmare of Eden (2)
• Juley Harding was also production assistant on Black Orchid and The Caves of Androzani
• make-up designer Suzanne Jansen began her television career as an assistant on The Masque of Mandragora
• Judy Pepperdine was costume designer on Warriors of the Deep too
• Nick Barnett was the props buyer on Ghost Light too
• for Bernard Ashby see The Body in the Library
• for Alan Spalding see They Do It With Mirrors

Doctor Who Vs. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson

This period drama was American producer

Sheldon Reynolds' second production

based on the works of Conan Doyle - 26

years after The Adventures of Sherlock

Holmes.

Geoffrey Whitehead (born 1939) and 

Donald Pickering (1933-2009) now port-

rayed Holmes and Watson.

In 1979, Sheldon struck a deal with the

Polish state broadcaster to takeover Poltel Studios. The twenty-four part series was

made on a low-budget in Poland, then was

only ever shown on a single US station in 1982. This obscure drama featured these

eighteen Doctor Who cast connections:

• Pickering was Eyesen in The Keys of Marinus, Blade in The Faceless Ones, and Beyus in Time and the Rani
• Patrick [David] Newell (Lestrade here; PC Benson in A Study in Terror; Blessington in The Resident Patient; Bobster in Young Sherlock Holmes) was Colonel Faraday in The Android Invasion
• Bernard Bresslaw (Smythe) was Varga in The Ice Warriors
• Keith Skinner (John) was Rondel in Vengeance on Varos
• Tony [Patrick] Caunter (Ballard) was Morgan in Colony in Space, and Jackson in Enlightenment
• William Morgan Sheppard (Mischkin) was [the Older] Canton Delaware in The Impossible Astronaut
• Glynis [born van der Riet] Barber (Meredith here; Beryl in The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1983) voiced Kathy Blake for Big Finish's The Sinestran Kill (2019), and Nicholaa de la Haye for The Outlaws (2022)
• Derren Nesbitt [born Horwitz] (Wharton) was Tegana in Marco Polo, then voiced Thomas Dodd for Spare Parts (2002), and Quences for Auld Mortality (2003)
• John [Derek] Carson [Parker] (Vickers) was Ambril in Snakedance
• Colette Gleeson (Lady Warminster) was Caris in Meglos
• Brian [John Lumley] Hawksley (Butler) was Brewster in Black Orchid
• Iain Rattray (Judson) was Habris in State of Decay
• [Albert] Geoffrey Bayldon (Hadlock here; Johnson in The Bruce Partington Plans) was Organon in The Creature from the Pit, and voiced the Doctor for Auld Mortality and A Storm of Angels (2005)
• James Bree [born Rutherford Worsfold Thomson] (Butler here; Barnicot in The Six Napoleons, 1965; Coroner in The Empty House, 1986; Barrister in Without a Clue; Dietrich in The Leading Lady) was the Security Chief in The War Games, Nefred in Full Circle, and the Keeper of the Matrix in The Ultimate Foe
• Eric Francis (Stage Manager) was the First Elder in The Sensorites
• Catherine Schell [born Katherina Freiin Schell von Bauschlott] (Sylvia) was Countess Scarlioni in City of Death
• Michael Sheard (Butler) was Rhos in (episode 2 of) The Ark, Dr. Roland Summers in The Mind of Evil, Laurence Scarman in Pyramids of Mars, Lowe in The Invisible Enemy, Mergrave in Castrovalva, the Headmaster in Remembrance of the Daleks, Chief Baxter in Fury from the Deep (2002), then voiced Orsino for The Stones of Venice (2001)
• Patsy Smart (Mrs. Chivvey here; Masseur in The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1978) was the Ghoul in The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1)

Doctor Who Vs. Agatha Christie's Marple: Series 6

Julia McKenzie returned as Jane Marple for the final

season of ITV's period crime drama. The first case

was based on the Queen of Crime's fifty-fifth novel

(published in 1964), and was the third TV version of

A Caribbean Mystery.

Part two was adapted from a short-story that first

appeared in 1960's The Adventure of the Christmas

Pudding - it combined the plot of The Thumb Mark of St. Peter (from an earlier anthology of 1932) with the

original narrative of Greenshaw's Folly.

The final mystery did not originally feature Marple -

the book (released in 1967, and one of the author's

favourites) was also dramatised for cinema (in 1972),

and Radio 4 (2008).

When it was announced that the BBC had acquired

the rights for the production of further Christie

adaptations in 2014, ITV Studios effectively axed

Marple. The network's Poirot series also concluded in

late 2013 after fourteen years. The Corporation has subsequently shown new versions of Partners in

Crime, And Then There Were None, Witness for the

Prosecution, The ABC Murders, Ordeal by Innocence,

The Pale Horse and latterly, Murder is Easy. 2017

saw Channel 5's Crooked House, and the second film version of Murder on the Orient Express, whilst the reworked Death on the

Nile and Why Didn't They Ask Evans? soon followed. The recent A Haunting

in Venice was based on Hallowe'en Party.

The second drama was repeated on ITV3 today - the whole run featured a

total of twenty-seven Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

A Caribbean Mystery (UK TX: June 16 2013)

• for director Charles Palmer see The Murder at the Vicarage
• Big Finish actor Warren [Martin] Brown (Jackson) was Jake Willis in Praxeus - he voiced Stephen Gibson for Industrial Evolution, Johnny Skipton for Dead Men's Tales (both 2011), Rufus Stone/To'Koth for Signs & Wonders (2014), then Lieutenant Sam Bishop for UNIT: Extinction (2015), UNIT: Shutdown, UNIT: Silenced (both 2016), UNIT: Assembled (2017), UNIT: Cyber Reality, Lady Christina 1 (both 2018), UNIT: Incursions (2019), Lady Christina 2 (2021), Way of the Burryman and The Forth Generation (both 2022)
• Charity [Rose] Wakefield (Molly) was Lucy Fletcher in The Return of Doctor Mysterio
• Pippa Bennett Warner (Victoria) was Saibra in Time Heist, Narrator of Helena and the Beast (2015), Bill and the Three Jackets and Twelve Angels Weeping, then voiced the Deterrent for The Furies, Ruzalla for Ravenous 1, Livia Caralis for Time War (all 2018), The War Master 4 (2019) and Time War 4, and Fliss Keeley for The Trojan Daleks (both 2021)
• Robert Webb (Kendall) provided the voice of Robot 2 for Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
• Alastair Mackenzie (Hillingdon here; Ferguson in Death on the Nile, 2004) voiced Julian St. Stephen for Counter Measures 1 (2012), and Adric Traken for Prisoners of Fate (2013) and The Entropy Plague (2015)
• Hermione [Jane] Norris (Evelyn here; Celestine in The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan; Hermia in The Pale Horse, 1997) was Captain Lundvik in Kill the Moon
• MyAnna [Margaretha] Buring [Rantapáá] (Lucky) was Scooti Manista in The Impossible Planet
• Matthew Tabern was also film editor on both 2007 seasons of the revived run and The Sarah Jane Adventures

Greenshaw's Folly (UK TX: June 23 2013)

• Julia Sawalha (Mrs. Cresswell) was Emma in The Curse of Fatal Death
• Joanna David [born Hacking] (Grace here; Claire in The Red Signal; Wilhelmina for Dumb Witness, 2006; Emma in 4.50 From Paddington, 1987) voiced Mrs. Audley for AudioGo's The Broken Crown (2011)
• Robert Glenister (Brophy) was Salateen in The Caves of Androzani, then Thomas Edison in Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror, and voiced Eliot for The War Master 11 (2024)
• Oscar Pearce (Oxley) voiced the Captain for Counter Measures 4 (2015), Captain Ted Mears for The Auton Infinity (2022), and Cicerone 1 for Worlds Beyond (2024)
• Sean Clayton was also the second assistant director on Dalek and Father's Day
• Paul Kennington was also a stuntman on Rise of the Cybermen, The Age of Steel, Army of Ghosts, Doomsday and The Doctor's Daughter 
• Tom Lucy was also the stunt co-ordinator on sixteen stories (from Smith and Jones to The Next Doctor) and Torchwood

Endless Night (UK TX: December 29 2013)

• Janet Henfrey (Mrs. Lee) was Miss Hardaker in The Curse of Fenric, Mrs. Pitt in Mummy on the Orient Express, the Adjudicator in Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor, and voiced Mrs. Vangaurd for The Spirit Trap (2010), Dr. Petherbridge for An Eye for Murder, Mrs. Jefferies for The Concrete Cage (both 2014), Dorothy for The Screaming Ceiling (2019), Sister Magdalene for Abbey of Heretics (2020), Verkuvia for The Day of the Comet (2021), and Narrata for Morbius 1 (2024)
• Celyn Jones (DS Keene) voiced Geraint for The Lady of the Lake
• Aneurin Barnard (Hayman) voiced Antan/Taker for The Whispering Forest (2010), then was Roger ap Gwilliam in 73 Yards
• Tamzin [Maria] Outhwaite (Mrs. Rogers) was the Captain in Nightmare in Silver, then voiced Morton for Secrets of Telos (2022)
• William Hope (Lippincott) voiced General Tillington for Renaissance of the Daleks (2007)
• Glynis Barber [born van der Riet] (Cora here; Julia in A Murder is Announced, 1979; Unknown in And Then There Were None, 1987; Lola in The Mirrror Crack'd from Side to Side, 1992; Salome in Death on the Nile, 2025) voiced Kathy Blake for The Sinestran Kill (2019), and Nicholaa de la Haye for The Outlaws (2022)
• [Anne Gwendoline] Wendy Craig (Marjorie here; Mrs. Gardener in Evil Under the Sun, 1998) voiced Shonnath for Fugitive in Time (2019), Queen Elizabeth I for The Hollow Crown, Martha Malvani for The Gulf (both 2021), Bette for Auld Lang Syne (2022), and Older Maddie Mortimer for The Diary of River Song 11 (2023)
• Erick Hayden (Jayne) was Sorensson in Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror
• for Stephen Churchett see The Murder at the Vicarage
• Alan Bond (Guest) was a UNIT Soldier in The Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords and Torchwood: Children of Earth
• Balazs Bolygo was also cinematographer on The Rebel Flesh, The Almost People and Closing Time

Doctor Who Vs. Silent Witness, Series 25

The twenty-fifth season of BBC

Studios' evergreen crime drama

was first shown in the spring of

2022 - it starred Emilia Fox and

David Caves as doctors Nikki

Alexander and Jack Hodgson.

The Home Office forensic path-

ologists (based in London's Lyell

Centre) were joined by Genesis

Lynea (Dr. Simone Tyler).

A repeat run of the six-part

series began on Drama last

night - it saw the return of

Amanda Burton as Dr. Sam

Ryan, and featured Jemma

Redgrave, and a total of

sixteen Doctor Who cast and

crew connections:

• for Lynea see Series 24
• for director Bill Anderson see Series 3
• Hugh [Antony Kobna] Quarshie (Mashaba) was Solomon in Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks
• Matthew Gravelle (Faulkner) voiced Klinus for Random Ghosts and The Lights of Skaro (both 2014), then provided the titular voice of Kerblam!
• for Ian Puleston Davies see Series 11
• Dave Simon (Raman) was an Extra in Rogue 
• Duncan Preston (DI Campbell) voiced the titular alien in the Doctor Who and Crayola sketch for Victoria Wood as Seen on TV
• Nadia Albina (Emma) was Diane [Curtis] in Flux and Legend of the Sea Devils, then voiced Oshia for Previously, Next Time (2022), and Keetree for Face of the Apocalypse (2024)
• Paul Thornley (Caulfield) voiced Marko for Seven Keys to Doomsday (2008), Michael Rond for Fitz's Story, Gomori for Paper Cuts (both 2009), Robbie Flint/Cyril for Criss-Cross (2015), Relb/Sita for The Butler Did It, and Captain Goben for Pursuit of the Nightjar (both 2023)
• Simon Lipkin (Clarke) was Nollarr in The Girl Who Died
• Glynis [born van der Riet] Barber (Caroline) voiced Kathy Blake for The Sinestran Kill (2019), and Nicholaa de la Haye for The Outlaws (2022)
• for Mark Frost see Series 7
• Chris Anderson (Meehan) was a Chorister in The Rings of Akhaten
• for Amir Nazempour see Series 23
• Stuart Bagshaw was foley editor on Survivors of the Flux
• Chris Rodgers was also colourist on The Lie of the Land and Empress of Mars