Doctor Who Vs. Silent Witness, Series 8

The eighth season of

BBC1's popular crime

drama was first shown

in the autumn of 2004,

and starred Amanda

Burton's final appear-

ance as Home Office

pathologist, Professor

Sam Ryan. Following

the series opener, Ryan

returned home to

Northern Ireland.

William Gaminara and 
Tom Ward (as doctors Leo Dalton and Harry Cunningham) were then
joined by newcomer, Emilia Fox as Dr. Nikki Alexander.

A repeat run of the series began on Drama channel last night - it

featured a total of twenty-eight Doctor Who cast/crew connections:

A Time to Heal (UK TX: September 5 & 6)

• Des McAleer (Nevin here, Patrick in Series 18: Protection, Lawson in S22: Deathmaker) voiced Lefty Lonnigan for A Life of Crime (2016), and Blujaw Skaldson for The Skin of the Sleek and The Thief Who Stole Time (both 2017)
• Anne Bird (Nurse) voiced Caitriona and Shazza for The Rapture (2002), and Ambassador Egopolis for Appropriation (2006)
• Patrick Drury (Gaghan) voiced Major Fanshaw for Murder at Moorsey Manor, and Tom Carlton for The Wax Princess (both 2014)
• SFX supervisor Graham Brown was SFX assistant on Resurrection of the Daleks and (part 1 of) Attack of the Cybermen
• Charlie Bluett was also prosthetics technician on thirty-nine episodes (from Rose to Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS), The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• for Michael Darbon, Philip Kloss, Debbi Slater, Terry Elms, Neil Gorton, Ian Adrian and Rod Woodruff see my other series blogs

Death by Water (UK TX: September 12 & 13)

• Philip Bird (DCI Tennant) made his TV debut as a Swampie in The Power of Kroll, then voiced Shepton Rothwell for Big Dig (2013)
• Phyllis Logan (Helen here, Jennifer in S13: Shadows) was Andinio in The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
• Kate Fleetwood (Sienna) was the voice of Ship for The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Mad Woman in the Attic
• David [Michael] Harewood (Stuart) was Joshua Naismith in The End of Time, and voiced President Vallan for Army of Death (2011)
• Ozzie Yue (Micky) was the Foreman in The Angels Take Manhattan

Nowhere Fast (UK TX: September 19 & 20)

• Ramon Tikaram (Bhandari) voiced Wanchese for Voyage to the New World (2012), the Castellan for The Eleven, Marlock for Theatre of War, Colonel Vikram Shindi for UNIT: Extinction (all 2015), UNIT: Silenced (2016), UNIT: Encounters (2017), UNIT: Cyber Reality and UNIT: Revisitations, Colin Colchester Price for Torchwood (all 2018), and President Dunn La for The World Traders (2021)
• James Wilby (Gibb) voiced Tenebris for The Acheron Pulse and The Shadow Heart (both 2012), Professor John Torrance for The Sontaran Project, and Pascal for Blind Summit (2018)
• Sylvestra Le Touzel (Birley) also made her TV debut on the classic era, as a Child in The Mind Robber
• Ken Bradshaw (DS Gaskell) voiced Colonel Fischer for Human Conflict (2018)

Body 21 (UK TX: September 26 & 27)

• Douglas Mackinnon was also director of eight stories (from The Sontaran Stratagem to The Husbands of River Song)
• Tony Bluto (Delivery Man) was Driver Joe in Midnight
• Shaun Parkes (DI Freeman here, Walker in S19: Life Licence) and Danny Webb (DS Bradley) both appeared in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit as Captain Zachary Cross Flane and John Jefferson respectively - Webb also voiced Byron for The Girl Who Never Was (2007), and Ori for The Dark Husband (2008)
• Emma Cunniffe (Rosa) was Claire in Night Terrors, and voiced Caleera for Doom Coalition 2 (2016) and Doom Coalition 4, and Madame Berber for The Dying Room (both 2017)
• Kieran Bew (Wiltshire here, Lockford in S14: First Casualty) was Ivan in Oxygen, and voiced Arthur Kettleson/Barry for The Lady of Mercia (2013), Murdo Jamieson for The Helm of Awe, Krim Pollensa for Month 25 (both 2017), Richard Cooper for The Creeping Death (2019), Lunk/ V97 for Do No Harm (2020), Grannis Drek for The Tribulations of Thadeus Nook, Dwayne Pherber for The End of the Beginning (both 2021), and Davlin Crux for Hooklight 1 (2024)
• Stewart James was a stuntman on Victory of the Daleks too

Doctor Who Vs. Ripper Street, Series 2

This dark period drama (a joint

production from Tiger Aspect and

BBC America) was created by 

Richard Warlow and was filmed

entirely in Dublin which doubled

for the East End of London.

Whitechapel, 1890 - over a year

since the last killing by Jack the

Ripper - H Division is responsible

for policing the deprived district.

Here, real-life DI Edmund Reid,

portrayed by Matthew Macfayden,

served with fictional detectives,

Drake (Jerome Flynn) and Jackson

(Adam Rothenberg), whilst the most

prominent figure in the infamous

murder investigation, DCI Abberline

was played by Clive Russell.

Series two was originally broadcast

in the autumn of 2013 and won a BAFTA Craft Award, but the programme was cancelled even before the run concluded. However,

by February 2014 it was confirmed that Amazon Prime (formerly

Lovefilm) would revive Ripper Street. The third season began

streaming in the UK in November 2014, then aired on BBC America

 in April 2015, and a fourth British run followed in January 2016.

The second, eight part season (now available on Britbox) featured

Neve McIntosh, and a total of fifteen Doctor Who cast and crew

connections:

• for Myanna Buring and Justin Avoth see Series 1
• Nicholas [Robin Frank] Woodeson (Dr. Corcoran) voiced the Clocksmith for Big Finish's Doom Coalition 3 (2016), and the title character for The Quest of the Engineer (2020)
• James Wilby (Broadwick) voiced Tenebris for The Acheron Pulse and The Shadow Heart (both 2012), Professor John Torrance for The Sontaran Project, and Pascal for Blind Summit (both 2018)
• Andrew Tiernan (Self) was Jim Purcell in Night Terrors
• Paul Kaye (Cain) was Albar Prentis in Under the Lake and Before the Flood
• Robert Goodman (Werner) was Mandrel in Nightmare of Eden, Citizen in (part 4 of) Full Circle, Time Lord in Arc of Infinity (1), Guest in Enlightenment, Colonist in Frontios, Crewman in Resurrection of the Daleks (1), The Mysterious Planet and Mindwarp, Officer in Terror of the Vervoids, then Reg in Listen
• Keith Skinner (Skinner) was Rondel in Vengeance on Varos (1)
• Craige Els (Brother) was Karvanista in Flux
• Justin Salinger (Hinchcliffe) was Tasker in Oxygen
• Alexander Cobb (Nuttal) voiced Foreman/UNIT Courier/Sergeant Lowe for Old Friends (2022), and Dr. Raymond for Lethal Progress (2026)
• Belinda Stewart Wilson (Prudence) voiced Overton for Who Killed Toby Kinsella? (2016), and Vashir for The Return of the Doctor (2025)
• Glenn Spears (Refuge Man) was Sergeant Major Peach in Empress of Mars
• Balazs Bolygo was also the cinematographer on The Rebel Flesh, The Almost People and Closing Time
• Matthew Tabern was also film editor on Smith and Jones, The Shakespeare Code, Human Nature, The Family of Blood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures