Doctor Who Vs. King Ralph

Released by Universal in 1991, this minor box-

office hit was shown on Sky Comedy tonight. 

When the entire House of Wyndham is 

electrocuted to death in a freak accident,

the only survivng heir to the British throne

 is revealed as the long-lost, working-class

American, Ralph Jones (played by John

Goodman).

Installed in London, Ralph is then schooled 

as the new monarch by (the real heir)

Willingham (Peter O'Toole) and Phipps

 (Richard Griffiths), but is frustrated by
the traitorous heir apparent, Lord Graves

(John Hurt). The cast of King Ralph also
featured Camille Coduri (pictured as
Miranda) and fifteen other Doctor Who
cast and crew connections:

• Julian Glover (King Gustav) played King Richard in The Crusade, and Scaroth in City of Death
• Ian Gelder (Instructor) was Dekker in Torchwood: Children of Earth, then provided the Remnant voices in The Ghost Monument, was Zellin in Can You Hear Me?, and voiced the Commander for Legend of the Cybermen (2010)
• Leslie Phillips (Halliwell) voiced Robert Knox for Medicinal Purposes (2004) and Assassin in the Limelight (2008) - Phillips also appeared with Hurt in Scandal
• Ann Beach (Mum) voiced the Deacon for Night Thoughts (2006)
• Rudolph Walker (King Mulambon) was Harper in The War Games
• Dallas Adams (MC) was Professor Howard Foster in Planet of Fire
• Angus MacKay (Tailor) was Lord Cardinal Borusa in The Deadly Assassin, and the Headmaster in Mawdryn Undead
• Roger Ashton-Griffiths (Photographer) was Quayle in Robot of Sherwood
• Rodney Cardiff (Servant) was a Draconian Guard in (episode 5 of) Frontier in Space
• Henry Roberts (Researcher) was a Jousting Judge in The King's Demons (1)
• Tina Simmons (Dignitary) began her career as an Inferno Customer in The War Machines (1)
• stunt co-ordinator Greg Powell was the Knight in The Time Monster
• cinematographer Kenneth MacMillan had been a film cameraman on Planet of Evil
• Peter Walpole was also the set decorator on Rose, The End of the World, The Unquiet Dead, Aliens of London and World War Three
• associate editor William Webb also edited Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures

Doctor Who Vs. S.O.S. Titanic

Warner also appeared
in James Cameron's 1997
blockbuster

This Anglo-American production was originally

shown over two nights on ABC television in

September 1979, then opened in European

cinemas. The TV movie depicts the doomed

maiden voyage of 1912 from the perspectives

of First, Second and Third Class passengers,

and was the first Titanic film released in colour.

Exterior deck scenes on the famed liner were

filmed on board RMS Queen Mary, whilst TSS

 Manxman doubled for RMS Carpathia. Some

interior onboard scenes were recorded in the

Adelphi and Waldorf hotels in Liverpool and

London, and Peel in the Isle of Man served as

the backdrop for Queenstown.

Shown on the Talking Pictures TV channel

tonight, the film featured David Warner (as

Laurence Beesley), Ian Holm (Bruce Ismay),

David Janssen (John Jacob Astor), Harry
Andrews (Captian Smith), and thirteen 

Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Ed Bishop (Harris) voiced General Finch for Big Finish's Full Fathom Five (2003)
• Tony Caunter (Officer Wilde) was Morgan in Colony in Space, and Jackson in Enlightenment 
• Robert Pugh (Farrell) was Tony Mack in The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, and voiced Emmett Burrows for Five Twenty-Nine (2016) 
• Maurice Roeves (Stoker Barret) was Stotz in The Caves of Androzani
• Peter Bourke (Harold Bride) was Mr. Chambers in Human Nature
• Alec Sabin (Frederick Fleet) was Ringway in Earthshock
• Malcolm Stoddard (Officer Lightoller) voiced Urtak for The Zygon Who Fell to Earth (2008)
• Phil Davis (Lookout) was Lucius Petrus Dextrus in The Fires of Pompeii, and voiced Titus for The Cannibalists (2009)
• André Maranne (Navratil) was Roger Benoit in The Moonbase
• Nick Brimble (Abelseth) voiced Shreeni for Exotron (2007), Kith for Max Warp (2008), Dudley Jackson for The Eternal Summer (2009), Olaf Ericksson for The Book of Kells (2010), and Commander Harlan for The Conscript (2017)
• Barbara Lane was also the costume designer on The Claws of Axos, The Daemons, The Curse of Peladon, The Time Monster, The Android Invasion, The Seeds of Doom and The Hand of Fear
• gaffer Maurice Gillett was the supervising electrician on both Amicus Dalek films

Doctor Who Vs. We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story

Produced in the same vein as
BBC Two's previous celebra-
tory dramas, The Road to
Coronation Street (broadcast
 in 2010) and An Adventure in

Space and Time (2013), this

film chronicled the troubled

conception of another iconic

British television institution,
namely Dad's Army.
In 1967, actor Jimmy Perry
 (1923-2016) submitted a
script (based on his time in
the Home Guard, entitled
Fighting Tigers) to Michael Mills (BBC Head of Comedy). Perry and his
friend David Croft (1922-2011) were commissioned to write a pilot
episode then a full series. Dad's Army launched in July 1968.
Perry and Croft (portrayed here by Paul Ritter and Richard Dormer)
assembled a now legendary ensemble cast - Arthur Lowe (depicted
by John Sessions), John Le Mesurier (Julian Sands), Clive Dunn

(Mark Heap), John Laurie (Ralph Riach), Arnold Ridley (Michael

Cochrane), James Beck (Kevin Bishop), Kieran Hodgson (Ian
Lavender), and Bill Pertwee (Shane Ritchie).

Dad's Army was watched by over 18 million viewers at its peak and
became one of the best-loved and most successful British sitcoms 

ever. The show endured for nine years, and spawned two films (in 

1971 and 2016), a radio series (1974-76), two stage shows (1975 

and 2007), a newspaper comic strip (1973), and even a musical 

(2004). Presented by Victoria Wood, documentary Don't Panic: 

The Dad's Army Story celebrated the writers' legacy in 2000.

UKTV marked the comedy's golden anniversary in July 2018
with Saluting Dad's Army, and the Gold channel (home to
regular repeats) debuted The Lost Episodes last September.

Croft and Perry later conceived other hit period pieces, It Ain't
 Half Hot Mum (1974-81) and Hi-De-Hi (1980-88). Croft also
collaborated with Jeremy Lloyd and they created Are You Being 
Served? (1972 to 1985) and Allo' Allo' (1982-92).

Originally shown in December 2015 (then repeated on BBC2 to

celebrate fifty years of the comedy), We're Doomed! aired again

today - it featured Keith Allen and seven Doctor Who cast alumni:

• Ritchie voiced Drax for Big Finish's Connections (2022)
• Hodgson voiced Findel for Last of the Cybermen, Arin/Dennis for The Red House, Alam and Hilsee for The Isos Network, Bennus for The Innocent (all 2015), Klick Chervain for The Skin of the Sleek and The Thief Who Stole Time (both 2017), and Devon Pryce for Tales from New Earth (2018)
• Cochrane was Charles Cranleigh in Black Orchid and Redvers Fenn-Cooper in Ghost Light, then voiced Lieutenant Colonel Brook for No Man's Land (2006), Murgat for Brotherhood of the Daleks (2008), Colonel Hugh Spindleton for The Trail of the White Worm and The Oseidon Adventure (both 2012), Professor Chivers for The Time Machine (2013), and Geralk for The Fate of Krelos and Return to Telos (both 2015)
• Sessions provided the voice of Gus for Mummy on the Orient Express, and voiced Tannis for Death Comes to Time, Mozart for 100: My Own Private Wolfgang (2007), and Roland for Castle of Fear (2009)
• Heap voiced the Middleman for The Middle (2017)
• Harry Peacock (Mills) was Proper Dave in Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead
• Roy Hudd (Bud Flanagan) voiced Max Miller for Pier Pressure (2006)

Doctor Who Vs. Oliver Twist (2007)

Victorian literary classic Oliver Twist 
(also known as The Parish Boy's 
Progress, and originally published
monthly in Bentley's Miscellany from
1837-39) was only Charles Dickens'
second novel.

The first television adaptation of the
book was produced by the BBC in
1962, followed by a more faithful
version in 1985.
 An ITV dramatisation from Alan
Bleasdale, was broadcast in 1999.

This BAFTA winning treatment

was first transmitted on BBC1

 over five consecutive week 

nights in December 2007.

Writer Sarah Phelps later adapted

Great Expectations, The Casual 

Vacancy, And Then There Were 

None, Dickensian, The Witness

for the Prosecution, Ordeal by

Innocence, The ABC Murders and The Pale Horse.

This series then aired in America and Australia in 2009, and was repeated

again on the Drama channel today. The cast, headed by Timothy Spall (as

 Fagin), Tom Hardy (Bill Sikes), with the famous orphan now depicted by 

William Miller, featured Michelle Gomez (Mrs. Sowerby), Nicola Walker

 (Sally) and fourteen other Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Sophie Okonedo (Nancy) voiced Alison Cheney for Scream of the Shalka, then played Queen Liz 10 in The Beast Below and The Pandorica Opens
• Sarah Lancashire (Mrs. Corney) was Miss Foster in Partners in Crime
• Julian Rhind Tutt (Monks) voiced Lexhan for The Paradise of Death, and Berkhoff for Big Finish's Tales From New Earth (2018)
• Anna Massey (Mrs Bedwin) voiced Miss Pollard for The Girl Who Never Was (2007)
• Paul Chahidi (Quack) voiced Hason for The Destroyer of Delights (2009), George Townsend for Industrial Evolution (2011), Bondsman Tango-Veldt and the Shepherd and for Persuasion, and the Entity for Daleks Among Us (both 2013)
• John [Gibb Marshall] Sessions (Sowerby) provided the voice of Gus for Mummy on the Orient Express, and voiced General Tannis for Death Comes to Time, Mozart for 100: My Own Private Wolfgang (2007), Roland of Brittany for Castle of Fear (2009), and George Wilson for Torchwood: The Conspiracy (2015)
• Morven Christie (Rose) was Alice O'Donnell in Under the Lake and Before the Flood
• Vincent Franklin (Limbkins) voiced Lord Stormblood for Scenes from her Life (2016)
• Mariah Gale (Agnes) was Eliza in Knock Knock
• Amy Roberts was also the costume designer on Image of the Fendahl, Full Circle, State of Decay, The Keeper of Traken, Time Flight and Mawdryn Undead
• Nicholas Hopkins was third assistant director on Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways too
• Francesco Reidy was also second assistant director on The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky
• Richard Dyer was sound recordist on The Satan Pit two-parter too
• SFX supervisor Steve Lucas was an uncredited VFX assistant on The Creature from the Pit and Warriors' Gate (part 4)

Doctor Who Vs. James Bond, Part 7

Following the departure of

George Lazenby after just one appearance as James Bond in

1969's On Her Majesty's Secret 

Service, United Artists secured 

the return of Sean Connery for 

the seventh entry in the 

franchise.

Diamonds Are Forever was
adapted from Ian Fleming's 

fourth spy novel of 1956, and 

was released in late 1971.

Shirley Bassey performed

vocals on her second Bond

theme song (see Goldfinger).

When Connery relinquished 

the lead role again, co-

producer Albert R Broccoli

 insisted that another British

 actor replace him, and

London-born Roger Moore

(1927-2017) was cast for Live and Let Die in 1972. 

When Eon's usual composer, John Barry, was unavailable, former Beatles

producer George Martin was hired, and Paul McCartney wrote the title

song for his latest band Wings - later nominated for an Oscar.

The Man With The Golden Gun (loosely based on Fleming's 1965 thriller)
was the last film co-produced by Harry Saltzman, and the resulting
legalities over the Bond property delayed production of the next
instalment, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

Another Bond season continued on ITV4 last night with Moore's debut 

assignment, and the three adventures here featured a total of twenty

Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

• Joseph Furst (Dr. Metz) was Professor Zaroff in The Underwater Menace
• John Abineri (Representative) was Van Lutyens in Fury from the Deep, General Carrington in The Ambassadors of Death, Richard Railton in Death to the Daleks, and Ranquin in The Power of Kroll
• Bill Hutchinson (Controller) was Sergeant Thompson in (episode 4 of) The War Games
• Clifford Earl (Officer) was the Sergeant in The Daleks' Master Plan (7), and Major Branwell in The Invasion
• Michael Stevens (CIA Agent) was a Soldier in The Myth Makers (1), Daffodil Man in Terror of the Autons (3), UNIT Motorcyclist and Prisoner in The Mind of Evil, and Guard in The Curse of Peladon (1)
• Ron Gregory (Patron here; Clerk in Never Say Never Again) was a Guardian in The Ark
• Vincent Wong (Croupier here; Patron in The World is Not Enough; General Li in Die Another Day) was Ho in The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Chinese Delegate in Day of the Daleks, and Captain in Enlightenment
• for Ed Bishop and Shane Rimmer see You Only Live Twice
• for David de Keyser see O.H.M.S.S.

LIVE AND LET DIE

• Roy Stewart (Quarrel) was Toberman in The Tomb of the Cybermen, and Tony in Terror of the Autons
• Dennis Edwards (Baines) was a Centurion in The Romans (1), and Lord Gomer in The Invasion of Time
• Robert La Bassiere (Thug) was a titular alien in The Krotons
• Louis Mahoney (Patron) was a Newscaster in Frontier in Space, Ponti in Planet of Evil, and the elder Billy Shipton in Blink
• for Aileen Lewis and Lewis Alexander (Delegates) see From Russia With Love and Casino Royale
• Derek Meddings (VFX here, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only and Goldeneye) worked on SFX for The Invasion (1)

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN

• Sonny Caldinez (Kra) was Kemel in The Evil of the Daleks, then Turoc in The Ice Warriors, Warrior in The Seeds of Death, Ssorg in The Curse of Peladon, and Sskel in The Monster of Peladon
• Michael Osbourne (Lieutenant) was an Extra in The Myth Makers (2), Guardian in The Ark, and Sorak in The Horns of Nimon
• for Rocky Taylor see Dr. No

Doctor Who Vs. The Field of Blood

Shown in 2011,
ITV3's The  A-Z of 
Crime represented
the letter G with
Glasgow. Tartan Noir 
author Denise Mina
(born 1966), herself 
a Glaswegian, said 
that Scotland's
second city "is the
perfect [locale] to
write crime fiction
for. It's small,
there's a lot of
crime, a lot of
poverty, and there's so any different textures. Everybody knows every-
body else, people talk to each other, what could be better really?" Mina's
fifth crime novel, The Field of Blood (published in 2005) is set in 1980s
Glasgow, and was dramatised for BBC1 in 2011. Jayd Johnson won the 
Best Actress BAFTA Scotland award for her portrayal of cub reporter
Paddy Meehan. The Dead Hour followed in 2013, and the final part of
Mina's Meehan trilogy, The Last Breath, remains unadapted for TV.
A repeat run of the two thrillers began on BBC Scotland last night -
they featured Peter Capaldi (as Dr. Pete), Jonas Armstrong, David
Hayman, anda total of nine Doctor Who cast connections:

• David Morrissey (Devlin) played Jackson Lake in The Next Doctor
• Brian [Tom] Vernel (Naismith) was Lucius in The Eaters of Light, and voiced Robert for Big Finish's Dethras (2017)
• Derek Riddell (DS Patterson) and Ron Donachie (Sean) both starred in Tooth and Claw, as Robert MacLeish and Steward
• Katherine Kelly (Maloney) was Miss Quill in Class
• Des McAleer (Neilson) 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)
• Scott Napier (gaffer) and Colin Price (best boy) both worked on The Day of the Doctor too
• Neal Champion was SFX supervisor on An Adventure in Space and Time too

Doctor Who Vs. Liar, Series 1

ITV's hit psychological thriller concluded in

October 2017 with a climax that will see 

the programme return to the network for

a second series next month.

Liar focused on the police investigation into 

the alleged rape of teacher Laura Nielson, 

played by Joanne Froggatt. Ioan Gruffudd

was her attacker, surgeon Andrew Earlham.
Another repeat run of the six-part crime

drama (from Two Brothers Pictures and

All3Media) concluded on ITV3 last night,

and featured Peter Davison, Adjoa

Andoh, and twenty-eight other Doctor

Who cast and crew connections:

• Big Finish actor Warren Brown (Bailey) voiced Stephen Gibson for Industrial Evolution (2011), Rufus Stone and To'Koth for Signs and 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) and UNIT: Incursions (2019) - he was also Jake Willis in Praxeus
• Shelley Conn (DI Harmon) voiced Asha Qureshi for Situation Vacant (2010)
• Danny Webb (DS Maxwell) was Mr. Jefferson in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit, then voiced Byron for The Girl Who Never Was (2007), and Ori for The Dark Husband (2008)
• Zoe Tapper (Katy) voiced Collis for Legion of the Lost (2016)
• Kieran Bew (Ian) voiced Arthur Kettleson 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) Dwayne Pherber for The End of the Beginning (2021), Grannus Drek for The Tribulations of Thadeus Nook (2021), and Davlin Crux for Hooklight 1 (2025), and was Ivan in Oxygen
• Chu Omambala (Semer) was Major Blake in The Christmas Invasion
• Richie Campbell (Liam) voiced Floyd for Renaissance of the Daleks (2007), and Jeremiah Henderson for The Torchwood Archive (2016)
• David Avery (Brown) was Fabian in The Name of the Doctor
• Tim Chipping (Wilson) voiced Grigory for The Wanderer (2012), and Constable Wolsey and Mandrake for The Widow's Assassin (2014)
• Laura Aikman (Charlotte) voiced Young Anita for Buried Memories (2019), and Lila Kreeg for Master! (2021)
• Clare Higgins (Felicity) was Ohila in The Night of the Doctor, The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar
• Franc Ashman (Examiner) was Christine in The Big Bang
• Tim Packham (Teacher) began his TV career as a Plasmaton in Dimensions in Time
• co-executive producer James Strong was the director of The Impossible Planet, The Satan Pit, Daleks in Manhattan, Evolution of the Daleks, Voyage of the Damned, Partners in Crime and Planet of the Dead
• Ray Holman was also costume designer on twenty-eight stories (from Blink to The Husbands of River Song), and Torchwood
• Mike Jones was also film editor on twelve stories (from Rose to Face the Raven)
• Lynsey Muir was also assistant director on thirteen episodes (from The Christmas Invasion to Doomsday) and Torchwood
• dialogue editor Doug Sinclair was sound editor on forty-two stories (from Rose to The Waters of Mars), and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and sound designer on The Infinite Quest
• Helen Atherton was also stand-by art director on twenty-eight adventures (from A Christmas Carol to The Name of the Doctor)
• Louis Burnett (graphic designer) and Sebastian Marczewski (second assistant camera) were both trainees on An Adventure in Space and Time
• Jamie Talbutt was also foley editor on fifty-eight episodes (from A Christmas Carol to The Husbands of River Song), and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and sound FX editor on Shadows of the Vashta Nerada
• Tom Fears was camera trainee on Face the Raven too
• Gareth Hughes was also a camera operator on fourteen editions (from Rsoe to Heaven Sent)
• Rob Carter was also steadicam operator on The Bells of Saint John, The Rings of Akhaten and Last Christmas
• 2nd unit DoP Joe Russell was steadicam operator on thirty-seven instalments (from Blink to The Day of the Doctor)
• principle standby Ian Fowler was costume assistant on fourteen stories (from Into the Dalek to The Husbands of River Song)
• Simon Marks was also costume supervisor on thirteen episodes (from The Magician's Apprentice to the 2015 Christmas special)