Doctor Who / The New Avengers – Actor Connections

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 #346)

So then I noted how many episodes of Doctor Who featured Avengers actors, and which episodes didn’t (and not just actors, but also writers, script editors, producers & directors). After checking all of the Emma Peel stories (summarized here), and also the first season of The Avengers here and the Cathy Gale seasons here, and the Tara King episodes here, the number of stories (classic era only) which didn’t feature an Avengers actor got quite small.

The First Doctor

The Edge of Destruction (the classic story with the smallest cast)

The Fourth Doctor

The Ark in Space, The Hand of Fear, The Face of Evil, The Robots of Death, Nightmare of Eden, Shada

The Fifth Doctor

Kinda, Earthshock, Resurrection of the Daleks, The Caves of Androzani

The Sixth Doctor

Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos

The Seventh Doctor

Paradise Towers, Delta and the Bannermen

As I mentioned, we have already looked at the entirety of the original series. So today we are going to look through the 26 episodes that made up the sequel series, The New Avengers, which aired in 1976 – 1977.

How small will our list get as we make our way through these two seasons?

The New Avengers – Season One

• Gareth Hunt co-starred in every episode of The New Avengers as Mike Gambit. He played Arak on Doctor Who, in Planet of the Spiders with the Third Doctor.

• Joanna Lumley also co-starred in every episode of The New Avengers as Purdey. She never appeared in Doctor Who properly, but she did play a version of the 13th Doctor in the comic relief special The Curse of Fatal Death, in 1999.

1.1 The Eagle’s Nest

• Peter Cushing (Von Claus) played Dr. Who in two Dalek movies in the 1960’s–Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150, both of which adapted Dalek stories from television.

• Frank Gatlif (Karl) appeared in The Monster of Peladon with the Third Doctor, as Ortron.

• Trevor Baxter (Brown-Fitch) memorably appeared in The Talons of Weng-Chiang as Professor Litefoot, a role that was reprised in many Big Finish audio dramas.

1.2 House of Cards

• Peter Jeffrey (Ivan Perov) guest starred in The Macra Terror (Second Doctor) as the Pilot and The Androids of Tara (Fourth Doctor) as Count Grendel.

• Derek Francis (The Bishop) was Emporer Nero in The Romans with the First Doctor.

• Gordon Sterne (Professor Vasil) appeared in The Ambassadors of Death with the Third Doctor, as Heldorf

• Jeremy Wilkin (Dr. Tulliver) was Kellman in Revenge of the Cybermen with the Fourth Doctor.

1.3 The Last of the Cybernauts…?

• Martin Fisk (2nd Guard) was in The Leisure Hive, with the Fourth Doctor, as Vargos.

• Ray Armstrong (1st Guard) was in The Ambassadors of Death with the Third Doctor, as Grey.

• Rocky Taylor (Cybernaut) did uncredited stunt work in The Daleks’ Masterplan (with the First Doctor) and The Curse of Peladon (with the Third Doctor), and credited stunt work in the modern series in The Idiot’s Lantern with the Tenth Doctor.

1.4 The Midas Touch

• John Carson (Freddy) was Ambril in Snakedance, with the Fifth Doctor.

• Pik Sen-Lim (Sing) appeared in The Mind of Evil with the Third Doctor, as Captain Chin Lee.

• Chris Tranchell (Doctor) was in several episodes of Doctor Who–-The Massacre with the First Doctor as Roger Colbert, The Faceless Ones with the Second Doctor as Jenkins, and in The Invasion of Time with the Fourth Doctor as Andred, the guy who ends up marrying Leela.

• Geoffrey Bateman (Simpson) was in the Fourth Doctor story Nightmare of Eden as Dymond.

• Tim Condren (Boz) appeared in Doctor Who a couple of times uncredited, but was credted as a Guerilla in Day of the Daleks with the Third Doctor.

1.5. Cat Amonst the Pigeons

• 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.

• Peter Copley (Prof. Waterlow) was in the Fourth Doctor story Pyramids of Mars as Dr. Warlock.

• Hugh Walters (Lewington) appeared in Doctor Who several times–as Commentator Runcible in The Deadly Assassin with the Fourth Doctor, as Vogel in Revelatoin of the Daleks with the Sixth Doctor, and as William Shakespeare in The Chase as the First Doctor.

• Kevin Stoney (Tomkins) was collaborator Mavic Chen in The Daleks’ Masterplan, with the First Doctor, and collaborator Tobias Vaughn in The Invasion with the Second Doctor. He was also Tyrum in Revenge of the Cybermen with the Fourth Doctor.

1.6 Target!

• Dennis Spooner (writer) – See 1.5, above

• Keith Barron (Draker) was Captain Striker in the Fifth Doctor story, Enlightenment.

• Robert Beatty (Col. Ilenko) played General Cutler in The Tenth Planet, the last First Doctor story.

• Roy Boyd (Fred Bradshaw) appeared as Driscoll in one episode of The Hand of Fear with the Fourth Doctor.

• Frederick Jaeger (Jones) appeared three times in Doctor Who–with the First Doctor in The Savages as Jano, and with the Fourth Doctor in Planet of Evil as Sorenson and The Invisible Enemy as Professor Marius.

• Deep Roy (Klokoe) was Mr. Sin in The Talons of Weng-Chiang with Fourth Doctor, and made an uncredited appearance as a Possican delegate in Trial of a Time Lord.

• Bruce Purchase (Professor Lopez) was the Captain in The Pirate Planet with the Fourth Doctor.

1.7 To Catch a Rat

• Barry Jackson (John Cledge) was Jeff Garvey in both Mission to the Unknown and The Daleks’ Masterplan, and also Ascaris in The Romans, all with the First Doctor. He also appeared with the Fourth Doctor as the Time Lord Drax in The Armageddon Factor

• Dallas Cavell (Farmer) appeared in Doctor Who a bunch o times over the tyears

• Rio Fanning (Lane) was Harker in The Horror of the Fang Rock with the Fourth Doctor.

• Jimmy Gardner (Little Man) appeared in Marco Polo with the First Doctor as Chenchu, and then much later in Underworld with the Fourth Doctor as Idmon.

• Dallas Cavell (Farmer) appeared all over the place in Doctor Who–he was a Roads Work Overseer in The Reign of Terror and Bors in The Daleks’ Masterplan, both with the First Doctor. Then he was Captain Jebb Trask in The Highlanders with the Second Doctor, Quinlan in The Ambassadors of Death with the the Third Doctor, and the Head of Security at the Pharos Project in Castrovalva with the Fifth Doctor.

1.8 The Tale of the Big Why

• Derek Waring (George Harmer) was Shardovan in the Fifth Doctor opener, Castrovalva.

• George A. Cooper (Burt Brandon) guest starred in the First Doctor historical story The Smugglers, as Cherub.

• Roy Marsden (Frank Turner), who is famous to me a the star of the political espionage series The Sandbaggers, was in the Tenth Doctor episode Smith and Jones, as Mr. Stoker.

• Geoffrey Toone (Minister) played the villainous Hepesh in The Curse of Peladon, with the Third Doctor.

1.9 Faces

• Dennis Spooner (co-writer) – See 1.5, above

• David de Kayser (Dr. Prator) was apparently the voice of the Atraxi in The Eleventh Hour, the Eleventh Doctor’s debut story.

• Richard Leech (Craig Terrison) played Gatherer Hade in the Fourth Doctor story The Sun Makers.

• Neil Hallett (Mark Clifford) appeared in Timelash as Maylin Renis.

• David Webb (Harold Bilston) played Leeson in Colony in Space, a Third Doctor adventure.

• Donald Hewlett (Torrance) was in The Claws of Axos as Torrance, with the Third Doctor.

• Michael Sheard (Peters) was a prolific guest star in Doctor Who, playing Rhos in The Ark (First Doctor), Dr. Summers in The Mind of Evil (Third Doctor), Laurence Scarman in Pyramids of Mars (Fourth Doctor), Lowe in The Invisible Enemy (also Fourth Doctor), Mergrave in Castrovalva (Fifth Doctor), and the Headmaster in Remembrance of the Daleks (Seventh Doctor).

1.10 Sleeper

• Mark Jones (Chuck) guest starred in The Seeds of Doom with the Fourth Doctor, as Arnold Keeler, and the Krynoid’s Voice.

• Prentis Hancock (Bart) made a few appearances on Docgor Who: as the 2nd Reporter in Spearhead from Space and Vaber in Planet of the Daleks (both with the Third Doctor), and as Salamar in Planet of Evil and the Captain in The Ribos Operation (both with the Fourth Doctor).

• David Schofield (Ben) appeared as Odin in the Twelfth Doctor story The Girl Who Died.

1.11 Three Handed Game

• Dennis Spooner (co-writer) – See 1.5, above

• Stephen Greif–also spelled Stephen Grief, apparently–(Juventor) never appeared on Doctor Who on TV, but he was in The Infinite Quest, an animated Tenth Doctor story with David Tennant, playing the voice of Gurney. He is also well known as Travis from the first season of Blake’s 7.

• Annie Lambert (Helen McKay) played Enlightenment in the Fifth Doctor story Four to Doomsday (not to be confused with the Fifth Doctor story, Enlightenment, which she wasn’t in).

• Ronald Leigh-Hunt (General) was in Doctor Who a couple of times–The Seeds of Death as Radnor, with the Second Doctor, and Revenge of the Cybermen as Commander Stevenson, with the Fourth Doctor.

• Hugh Morton (Professor) was also in The Seeds of Death with the Second Doctor, as Sir James Gregson.

1.12 Dirtier by the Dozen

• Stephen Moore (Major Prentice) was Eldane in Cold Blood, an Eleventh Doctor story, as well as the voice of Marvin in many adaptations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

• Michael Barrington (General Stevens) played Sir Colin Thackary in the Fourth Doctor story, The Seeds of Doom.

• Brian Croucher (Terry) was Borg in the Fourth Doctor story The Robots of Death, and is well known as the second Travis in Blake’s 7.

• David Purcell (Orderly) was Abbott in on episode of the Fourth Doctor story The Hand of Fear.

1.13 Gnaws

• Dennis Spooner (writer) – See 1.5, above.

• Morgan Sheppard (Walters), also known as William Morgan Sheppard, played the older Canton Delaware in The Impossible Astronaut, with the Eleventh Doctor. He also reprisee the role briefly in The Wedding of River Song via archive footage, but was still credited.

• Julian Holloway (Charles Thornton) was Paterson in the Seventh Doctor story Survival, the last classic Doctor Who story ever.

• Peter Cellier (Carter) was Andrews in Time-Flight, with the Fifth Doctor.

• Jeremy Young (Ivan Chislenko) played Kal in the first Doctor Who story, An Unearthly Child, and also Gordon Lowery in the special one-part story Mission to the Unknown (produced during the era of the First Doctor, but not featuring any Doctor).

2.1 Dead Men Are Dangerous

• Michael Turner (Dr. George Culver) was Jarvis Bennett in The Wheel in Space, a Second Doctor story.

• Roger Avon (Headmaster) appeared in The Crusade as Saphadin and The Daleks’ Masterplan as Daxtar, both with the First Doctor.

2.2 Angels of Death

• Dinsdale Landen (Coldstream) was Dr. Judson in The Curse of Fenric, a Seventh Doctor adventure.

• Terence Alexander (Manderson) was Lord Ravensworth in the Sixth Doctor story, The Mark of the Rani.

• Lindsay Duncan (Jane) co-starred with David Tennant as Adelaide Brooke, in the Tenth Doctor special, The Waters of Mars.

• Christopher Driscoll (Martin) was a security guard in The Idiot’s Lantern with the Tenth Doctor.

• This episode also guest starred both Caroline Munro and Pamela Stephenson, neither of whome were in Doctor Who but who are both pretty well known for other things.

2.3 Medium Rare

• Dennis Spooner (writer) – See 1.5, above.

• Jeremy Wilkin (Richards) was Kellman in Revenge of the Cybermen with the Fourth Doctor.

• Neil Hallett (Roberts) was Maylin Renis in Timelash with the Sixth Doctor.

• Maurice O’Connell (McBain) was Cockerill in Frontios, with the Fifth Doctor.

2.4 The Lion and the Unicorn

This is the first episode I’ve found which didn’t have feature anyone credited who had also been in an episode of Doctor Who (aside from Gareth Hunt, of course). However, Reg Woods is uncredited here as a Journalist, and also appears uncredited in State of Decay as a Guard and uncredited in Shada a Krarg.

2.5 Obsession

• Roy Purcell (Controller) was in two Third Doctor stories: The Mind of Evil as Chief Prison Officer Powers and The Three Doctors as Time Lord President.

2.6 Trap

• Kristopher Kum (Tansing) was Fu Peng in the Third Doctor story The Mind of. Evil.

• Edward Kelsey (Soo choy, voice) appeared in Doctor Who several times–as a slave buyer in the First Doctor’s The Romans, as Resno in the Second Doctor’s The Power of the Daleks, and as Edu in the Fourth Doctor’s The Creature from the Pit.

2.7 Hostage

• Barry Stanton (Packer) was Noma in The Twin Dilemma, the first Sixth Doctor story.

• Richard Ireson (Vernon) played a Soldier in The Mind Robber and Axus in The Krotons, both with the Second Doctor.

2.8 K is for Kill: Part 1: The Tiger Awakes

• Diana Rigg makes an uncredited cameo via archive footage–of course she appeared in The Crimson Horror with the Eleventh Doctor as the villainous Mrs. Gillyflower.

• Kenneth Watson (Salvation Army Major) was Bill Duggan in The Wheel in Space with the Second Doctor.

• Tony Then (Monk) played Lee in The Talons of Weng-Chiang with the Fourth Doctor.

Tony Then and Kenneth Watson are also listed as appearing in Part 2 of this story (Tiger by the Tail) as the same characters, but uncredited. They are the only actors from that story who also appeared in Doctor Who (aside from Gareth Hunt, of course).

2.10 Complex

• Dennis Spooner (writer) – See 1.5, above.

2.12 Emily

• Dennis Spooner (writer) – See 1.5, above.

2.13 Forward Base

• Dennis Spooner (writer) – See 1.5, above.

• David Calderisi (Halfhide) played Charlie in one episode of The Mind of Evil, with the Third Doctor.

• Maurice Good (Milroy) was Phineas Clanton in the First Doctor’s The Gunfighters.

And that is it! Not so many connected actors in the last few episodes there, which is I think partly because the production moved to Canada for some of those episodes, so I guess the pool of actors didn’t include so many Doctor Who alumni (or future guest stars).

And I was a little surprised at how many actors from this show also appeared on the revived Doctor Who.

But as far as our classic stories goes, we were able to eliminate this time

The Hand of Fear

The Robots of Death

Nightmare of Eden

Shada (if we’re allowed to include uncredited actors)

Not all that many, really. We’re still left with The Edge of Destruction, The Ark in Space, The Face of Evil, Earthshock, Resurrection of the Daleks, The Caves of Androzani, Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos, Paradise Towers, and Delta and the Bannermen. Ten classic stories without a connection to The Avengers, which is more than I’d like.

However, I still have a few more trick up my sleeve…