Doctor Who Vs. I, Monster

Shown on the Horror channel today, this Amicus feature starred genre legends Christopher Lee (born 1922) and Peter Cushing (as Dr. Marlowe and Frederick Utterson).

I, Monster was writer (and co-producer) Milton Subotsky's take on the classic gothic novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, first published in 1886. This version is considered very faithful to Stevenson's book, but is set in Edwardian London.

Released by British Lion in 1971, the film featured six other Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Richard Hurndall (Lanyon) played the First Doctor (pictured) in The Five Doctors
• Susan Jameson (Diane) voiced Mrs. Moynihan for The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (Big Finish, 2000), then the recurring character of Mrs. Wibsey for the Hornets' Nest (2009), Demon Quest (2010), and Serpent Crest (2011) series from AudioGo (she had been cast as Morgan for Colony in Space but was replaced by Tony Caunter)
• Ian McCulloch (Man) was Nilson in Warriors of the Deep
• Aimée Delamain (Landlady) was Dona Arana in (the first part of) The Two Doctors
• fellow producer Max Rosenberg and Buster Ambler (sound mixer) both worked on the two Dalek films

New Doctor Who Companion Announced

The BBC today named the actor cast as the new male companion to join Doctor Who later this year. Samuel Anderson will play Danny Pink (pictured), a colleague of Clara at Coal Hill School. Anderson and Jenna Coleman worked together before on Emmerdale.

On joining the programme, Anderson said "I was so excited to join Doctor Who.. it's a quintessential part of British culture and I can't believe I'm part of it. It's an honour to work alongside Peter Capaldi and Jenna and I can't wait to show people how my character becomes involved with such a fantastic duo!"

Doctor Who Vs. The Beast Must Die

This low-budget British B-movie was shown on the Horror channel yesterday. In fact, the production - released in 1974 - was so cheap that an Alsatian doubled for the werewolf! Peter Cushing led the cast here (pictured as Dr Lundgren) in another Amicus horror feature, again co-produced by the Dalek film makers, Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky.

Eight other co-stars with Doctor Who connections here are:

• Michael Gambon (Jarmokowski) portrayed both Elliot and Kazran Sardick in A Christmas Carol
• Anton Diffring (Pavel) was De Flores in Silver Nemesis
• Tom Chadbon (Foote) played Duggan in City of Death, Merdeen in The Mysterious Planet, and voiced Gordon for No More Lies (Big Finish, 2007)
• Sam Mansary (Butler) was a Delegate in Mission to the Unknown, a Journalist in The War Machines, and a Diplomat in Day of the Daleks
• Andrew Lodge (Pilot) was an Assistant in The Savages
• Carl Bohen (Hunter) was a Tharil in Warriors' Gate
• Valentine Dyall (the Break voice) was the Black Guardian from The Armageddon Factor to Enlightenment, and voiced Slarn for Slipback (Radio 4, 1985)
• Bill Mitchell (Narrator) was a Newcaster in Frontier in Space, and voiced Zor for The Pescatons (Argo, 1976)
• Ted Samuels had also worked on SFX for both Dalek films

Great Doctor Who Quotes #4

"Believe me child, your future lies with David and not with a silly old duffer like me... One day I shall come back. Yes. I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine."

- The Doctor, The Dalek Invasion of Earth: Flashpoint 

(Boxing Day 1964)

Written by Terry Nation

(this speech also formed the pre-credit sequence to The Five Doctors, and featured in An Adventure in Space and Time)

Radio Times TV Review of 2013

That venerable publishing colossus, Christmas perennial, and loyal

Doctor Who advocate, the Radio Times, has revealed the results of their annual survey. Their website's top forty shows of the year has placed the programme at a respectable number twenty-two (down from number fifteen last year, and probably due to a reduced run of episodes). Mark Gatiss' one-off anniversary drama, An Adventure in Space and Time - his "love letter" to Doctor Who - also polled in thirteenth position.

  RT writer and resident Whovian Patrick Mulkern comments:

22) Doctor Who BBC1 
Despite peripheral distractions (stamps, books, docs, a Prom), fans could be forgiven for thinking the golden anniversary was lean in terms of transmitted episodes. The concluding chunk of series 7 was a stew of corkers and stinkers, with Mark Gatiss’ juicy pastiche The Crimson Horror (with Diana Rigg) eclipsing Neil Gaiman’s Cyber-tripe Nightmare in Silver. Steven Moffat’s big celebration special, simulcast in 94 countries, ticked fan boxes by deftly weaving old Who with new. Yet at a time when ever-younger Time Lords seemed in vogue, he and Gatiss boldly volleyed Peter Capaldi (55), David Bradley (71), John Hurt (73) and even the majestic Tom Baker (79) into primetime TV as viable Doctors. 

13)  An Adventure In Space and Time BBC2 
Taking its title from a tagline printed on every 1960s RT billing for Doctor Who, Mark Gatiss’ account of the show’s origins was meticulously and lovingly mounted, celebrating the team of outsiders who, 50 years ago, shook up the fusty Corporation and gave birth to a TV phenomenon. Doubly poignant, An Adventure was the last drama made at BBC TV Centre and showed how Doctor Who captivated, then cast aside, its original star William Hartnell. So much more than a startling looky-likey, David Bradley brought a terrier’s bite, a twinkle and immense pathos to Hartnell and the character he created. He deserves a Bafta.

Doctor Who @ 50: Great Doctor Who Quotes #3

"..I left my car outside a junkyard in the fog, and ended up catapulted through time and space. Me and.. Barbara.. we'd been intrigued by one of our pupils.. named Susan, and we'd followed her home. Well, turned out her home was just a box.. bigger on the inside.. some kind of science of the Doctor's. He was Susan's grandfather.. It was a ship really, on the outside it looked like a police telephone box.. but.. it could travel through time. Anyway, the Doctor whisked us off in this ship, TARDIS he called it.."

- Ian Chesteron, The Companion Chronicles: The Revenants

(Published by Big Finish, 2012)

Written by Ian Potter

Great Doctor Who Quotes #2

"In all my travelling throughout the universe I have battled against evil, against power mad conspirators. I should have stayed here! The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core... Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen? They're still in the nursery compared to us! Ten million years of absolute power. That's what it takes to be really corrupt."

- The Doctor, The Trial of a Time Lord, Part 13
(November 29th 1986)

Written by Robert Holmes