Doctor Who Vs. Coronation Street @ 65, Part 8: 1979-1982

1968: Carson photographed in
Moss Side by John Madden

By the end of the Seventies, Corrie

had scant competition in its prime-

time slot. But some critics suggested

that the programme had grown com-

placent, whilst moving away from

 socially aware storylines, and was

again accused of portraying a dated view of working-class life. The late

1970's however, saw the show's

popularity grow, and the Street

regularly topped the TV ratings.

The series was again affected by

industrial action when the whole ITV

 network was blacked out for 75 days,

 from August 10th to October 24th

1979. The early 1980's would prove

 to be one of the soap's most popular

periods, and earned its highest view-

ing figures since its heyday. Ena Sharples (played by Violet Carson since

1960) left Corrie in 1980, and the wedding of Ken Barlow and Deirdre

Langton in 1981 was watched by over 24 million viewers.

 Then in 1982, a brand-new exterior set finally replaced the original,

which was little more than a dated facade. These four years on the

cobbles featured a total of twenty Doctor Who cast connections:

• Michael Melia (Cummings) was the Terileptil leader in The Visitation
• Bill McGuirk (Wilson here; DC Banks, 1984) was a Guard in The Enemy of the World, and Policeman in (episode 3 of) Terror of the Autons
• Paul Seed (Harris) was the Graff Vynda-Ka in The Ribos Operation
• Christian Rodska [born Rodskjaer] (Newton) voiced Laan Carder for Big Finish's Faith Stealer (2004), and Reverend Small for AudioGo's The Dead Shoes (2009)
• Sue Wallace (Mrs. Fletcher here; Jean, 2005) voiced Mrs. Baddeley for The Chimes of Midnight, Edith for Season of Fear (both 2002), and Mertil for The Whispering Forest (2010)
• [Max] Richard Shaw (Johnson) was Lobos in The Space Museum, Cross in Frontier in Space, and Lakh in Underworld
• Jonathan Caplan (Cheveski) was Roskal in Planet of Fire
• [Walter] Tenniel Evans (DI Vaughan) was Major Daly in Carnival of Monsters
• Kenny McBain was director of The Horns of Nimon too
• Paul Lowther (Jackson) was a Knight in The King's Demons, and Orderly in Frontios
• Gilbert Wynne (Dodds) was Thara in The Krotons
• Brian [Reginald] Miller (Elliott here; Pughes, 2012) [husband of Elizabeth Sladen and father of Sadie Miller] was Dugdale in Snakedance, provided Dalek voices for Resurrection of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks and Time Streams, and was Barney in Deep Breath
• Graham Seed (Solicitor) voiced Bevan for The Forgotten Village (2014), Pyrepoint for The Romance of Crime (2015), Gramoryan 2/Taverner/Squire for Divorced, Beheaded, Regenerated (2019), Franz for The Gloaming (2024), and Sir Gordon Carmichael for The Caller (2025)
• David [John] Simeon [born Townsend] (Simpson here; Dr. Bird, 1998) was Private Latimer in Inferno, and Alastair Fergus in The Daemons (1)
• Dave Hill (Hurst) voiced Nessican for Death Comes to Time
• Tony Osoba (McGregor here; Peter Ingram, 1990) was Lan in Destiny of the Daleks, Kracauer in Dragonfire, and was Duke in Kill the Moon
• Philip Jackson (Smitty) voiced Laxton for Valhalla (2007), Peabody for The Contingency Club (2017), and Harry Price for The Dalby Spook (2022) 
• Brian Capron (Worthington here; Richard Hillman, 2001-03; Dickie in A Knight's Tale) voiced Lesley Kulcade for Subterfuge (2020)
• Mark Eden [born Douglas John Malin] (Randle here; Alan Bradley, 1986-89) and Lesley [Ann] Manville (Jill) both appeared in An Adventure in Space and Time, as Donald Baverstock and Heather Hartnell - Eden was also the eponymous Marco Polo

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)