Lately, I’ve been going through some other movies and shows and finding where there are actors or creative talent that they have in common with Doctor Who.
Also recently, I finished going through all the “Emma Peel” episodes of the 1960s TV show The Avengers and blogging about each one( starting here), including noting when its guest cast were also people who made appearances in Doctor Who. I was struck by how much crossover there was.
(Daily Doctor Who #319)
So then I noted how many episodes of Doctor Who featured Avengers actors, and which episodes didn’t. The number of stories (classic era only) which didn’t is actually reasonably small:
The First Doctor
The Edge of Destruction (the classic story with the smallest cast), The Reign of Terror, Planet of the Giants, The Rescue, The Web Planet, The Time Meddler, Galaxy Four, The Ark, The Gunfighters
The Fourth Doctor
The Ark in Space, The Sontaran Experiment, The Hand of Fear, The Face of Evil, The Robots of Death, The Invasion of Time, The Pirate Planet, The Stones of Blood, Destiny of the Daleks, Nightmare of Eden, Shada, The Leisure Hive, Full Circle, Logopolis
The Fifth Doctor
Castrovalva, Kinda, Earthshock, Terminus, Warriors of the Deep, Resurrection of the Daleks, The Caves of Androzani
The Sixth Doctor
Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos, Revelation of the Daleks
The Seventh Doctor
Paradise Towers, Delta and the Bannermen, Dragonfire, Remembrance of the Daleks, The Curse of Fenric, Survival
So then I got to wondering how small that list would get if we went through all the other Avengers episodes, from both before and after Emma Peel.
We’ll start with the mostly missing (another connection with Doctor Who!) first season, which co-starred Patrick Macnee as John Steed and Ian Hendry as Dr. David Keel (neither of whom appeared in Doctor Who). And then we’ll see how many episodes come off our list…
1.1 Hot Snow
• Charles Wade (Johnson) – Appeared in Marco Polo with the First Doctor.
• Godrey Quigley (Spicer in this and in Brought to Book, below) – Showed up as “Dortmun” in the second Peter Cushing Daleks movie – Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150.
1.2 Brought to Book
• Laurence Archer (Johns) – Was in The Daemons, uncredited, with the Third Doctor
• Clifford Elkin (Pretty Boy) – Was in Frontier in Space with the Third Doctor.
• Robert James (Ronnie Vance) – Was in a number of stories: The Power of the Daleks with the Second Doctor and The Masque of Mandragora with the Fourth Doctor, and appeared uncredited in The Daemons with the Third Doctor.
• Neil McCarthy (Bart) – Showed up in The Mind of Evil with the Third Doctor and The Power of Kroll with the Fourth.
• Charles Morgan (Nick Mason) – Was in The Abominable Snowmen with the Second Doctor and The Invasion of Time with the Fourth Doctor.
1.3 Square Root of Evil
• Heron Carvic (Five) – Was in The Keys of Marinus with the First Doctor in a voice role
• John Woodvine (Bloom) – Was in The Armageddon Factor with the Fourth Doctor.
1.5 Crescent Moon
• Eric Thompson (Paul) – Was in The Massacre with the First Doctor.
• Roger Delgado (Vasco) – Played the Master in eight serials with the Third Doctor
1.6 Girl on the Trapeze
• Dennis Spooner (writer) – Wrote several Doctor Who stories, including The Reign of Terror, The Romans and part of The Daleks’ Masterplan, all with the First Doctor. Also was the script editor for a chunk of Season 2 of Doctor Who, from The Rescue to The Chase.
• Edwin Richfield (Stefan) – Appeared in both The Sea Devils with the Third Doctor, and The Twin Dilemma with the Sixth.
• Ivor Salter (Police Sergeant) – Appeared in The Space Museum and The Myth Makers with the First Doctor, and Black Orchid with the Fifth.
• David Gray (Dr. Sterrett) – Was in The Abominable Snowmen with the Second Doctor.
1.7 The Radioactive Man
• Christine Pollon (Mary Somers) – Had a voice role in Underworld, with the Fourth Doctor.
• George Pravda (Marko Ogrin) – Appeared thrice in Doctor Who, in The Enemy of the World with the Second Doctor, The Mutants with the Third Doctor, and The Deadly Assassin with the Fourth Doctor.
• Paul Grist (2nd Police Constable) – Was in The Claws of Axos with the Third Doctor.
1.9 Ashes of Roses
• Peter Ling (one of the episode’s writers) – Also wrote most of The Mind Robber for Doctor Who, with the Second Doctor.
• Edward Dentith (Maurice Roffey) – Appeared in The Invasion with the Second Doctor
• Mark Eden (Jacques Beronne) – Played the titular role in Marco Polo with the First Doctor.
1.10 Hunt the Man Down
• Maurice Good (Paul Stacey) – Was in The Gunfighters with the First Doctor.
1.11 Please Don’t Feed the Animals
• Dennis Spooner (writer, like 1.6 above) – Wrote several Doctor Who stories, including The Reign of Terror, The Romans and part of The Daleks’ Masterplan, all with the First Doctor. Also was the script editor for a chunk of Season 2 of Doctor Who, from The Rescue to The Chase.
• Tenniel Evans (Felgate) – Appeared in Carnival of Monsters with the Third Doctor.
1.12 Dance with Death
• Peter Ling (writer, like 1.9 above) – Also wrote most of The Mind Robber for Doctor Who, with the Second Doctor.
• Angela Douglas (Beth Wilkinson) – Was in Battlefield, with the Seventh Doctor, as the Brigadier’s wife!
• Neil Wilson (Police Sergeant) – Was in Spearhead from Space with the Third Doctor.
• Geoffrey Palmer (Major Caswell) – One of a small group of actors to appear in both classic and revived Doctor Who. He was in Doctor Who and the Silurians and The Mutants with the Third Doctor, and then much later in Voyage of the Damned with the Tenth Doctor.
1.13 One for the Mortuary
• Dennis Edwards (Pallaine) – Showed up in The Romans with the First Doctor, and The Invasion of Time with the Fourth.
• Frank Gatliff (Dubois) – Was in The Monster of Peladon with the Third Doctor.
• Steven Scott (Hotel Concierge) – Was in The Power of the Daleks with the Second Doctor.
1.14 The Springers
• Donald Morley (Neame) – Showed up in The Reign of Terror with the First Doctor.
• David Webb (Pheenay) – Appeared in Colony in Space with the Third Doctor.
1.15 The Frighteners
• Philip Locke (Moxon) – Guest-starred in Four to Doomsday with the Fifth Doctor
• Stratford Johns (Sir Thomas Weller) – Also guest starred in Four to Doomsday with the Fifth Doctor
• Godfrey James (Nature Boy) – Was in Underworld with the Fourth Doctor.
• Neil Wilson (Beppi, a different role than he had in 1.12, above) – Was in Spearhead from Space with the Third Doctor.
• Eric Elliott (Butler) – Was in The Ark with the First Doctor.
1.16 The Yellow Needle
• Reed De Rouen (one of the episode’s writers) – Appeared as an actor in The Gunfighters, alongside the First Doctor.
• Michael Barrington (Head Waiter) – Was in The Seeds of Doom with the Fourth Doctor.
• Eric Dodson (Inspetor Anthony) – Had a small role in The Visitation with the Fifth Doctor
• Wolfe Morris (Ali) – Guest starred as Padmasambhava in The Abominable Snowmen with the Second Doctor.
1.17 Death on the Slipway
• Tome Adams (PC Butterworth) – Was in Warriors of the Deep with the Fifth Doctor.
• Hamilton Dyce (Sergeant Brodie) – Was in Spearhead from Space with the Third Doctor.
• Gary Watson (Pardoe) – Was in The Evil of the Daleks with the Second Doctor.
1.18 Double Danger
• John Lucarotti (one of the episode’s writers) – Wrote three First Doctor serials for Doctor Who—Marco Polo, The Azteks, and The Massacre.
1.19 Toy Trap
• Bill Strutton (writer) – Wrote The Web Planet for the First Doctor of Doctor Who
• Tex Fuller (Lennie Taylor) – Had an uncredited role in Death to the Daleks with the Third Doctor
• Anne Tirard (Mrs. McCabe) – Appeared in The Romans with the First Doctor, and in The Ribos Operation with the Fourth Doctor.
1.20 Tunnel of Fear
• Morris Perry (Police Sergeant) – Was in Colony in Space with the Third Doctor.
1.21 The Far Distant Dead
• John Lucarotti (writer) – Wrote three First Doctor serials for Doctor Who—Marco Polo, The Azteks, and The Massacre.
• Tom Adams (Rayner) – Appeared in Warriors of the Deep with the Fifth Doctor.
• Reed de Rouen (Zun Garcia) – Was in The Gunfighters with the First Doctor.
• Francis De Wolff (Hercule Zeebrugge) – Appeared in both The Keys of Marinus and The Myth Makers, both with the First Doctor.
1.22 Kill the King
• Peter Barkworth (Crichton-Bull) – Was in The Ice Warriors with the Second Doctor
• Burt Kwouk (King Tenuphon) – Appeared in Four to Doomsday with the Fifth Doctor.
1.23 Dead of Winter
• Neil Hallett (Weber) – Was in Timelash with the Sixth Doctor.
• John Woodvine (Harry) – Appeared in The Armageddon Factor with the Fourth Doctor
1.24 The Deadly Air
• Keith Anderson (Heneger) – Appeared in The Reign of Terror, with the First Doctor.
• Geoffrey Balydon (Professor Kilbride) – Guest starred in The Creature from the Pit with the Fourth Doctor
• Michael Hawkins (Dr. Philip Karswood) – Appeared in Frontier in Space with the Third Doctor.
• John Stratton (Dr. Owen Craxton) – Was one of the main villains in The Two Doctors with the Sixth and Second Doctors
1.25 A Change of Bait
• John Bailey (Lemuel Potts) – Guest starred in Doctor Who three times–in The Sensorites with the First Doctor, The Evil of the Daleks with the Second Doctor, and The Horns of Nimon with the Fourth Doctor.
• Henry Soskin, aka Henry Lincoln (Peter Sampson) – Was a writer on Doctor Who, co-writing The Abominable Snowman, The Web of Fear and, under a pseudonym, The Dominators.
• Graham Rigby (Nat Fletcher) – Was in The Dalek Invasion of Earth with the First Doctor
1.26 Dragonsfield
• Keith Barron (Technician) – Appeared in Enlightenment with the Fifth Doctor
• Eric Dodson (One-Fifteen) – Showed up in The Visitation with the Fifth Doctor.
• Ronald Leigh-Hunt (Reddington) – Guest starred in both The Seeds of Death with the Second Doctor and Revenge of Cybermen with the Fourth Doctor.
• Morris Perry (Second Technician) – Showed up in The Colony in Space with the Third Doctor.
• Michael Robbins (Landlord) – Played Richard Mace in The Visitation with the Fifth Doctor.
• Steven Scott (Boris) – Appeared in The Power of Daleks with the Second Doctor.
• Barbara Shelley (Susan Summers) – Guest starred in The Planet of Fire with the Fifth Doctor.
So let’s see, do any of these take stories off of our list?
Yes! We eliminate seven serials:
The Reign of Terror
The Rescue
The Web Planet
The Ark
The Gunfighters
The Invasion of Time
Warriors of the Deep
We only get The Rescue by counting Script Editor Dennis Spooner, who wrote a couple of stories for The Avengers. I’m not looking at everyone in the production team, but I will count writers and directors. Interestingly, we get The Web Planet because both its script editor (Spooner) and actual writer (Bill Strutton) worked on season one of The Avengers.
So that still leaves us with 32 classic-era serials. But, there are also several seasons of The Avengers still to examine!
Blue Towel Productions 