Doctor Who: Who-ology (Dr Who)
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SEVEN
RELATIVE DIMENSIONS
DOCTOR WHO AND POPULAR CULTURE
‘Books and stuff?’
The Doctor, Castrovalva
Doctor Who has always moved with the times, but along the way has picked up a host of cultural references and shared actors with some of the biggest TV and movie franchises on the planet.
SOAP WHO
‘Well, first of all Peggy heard this noise in the cellar, so she goes down…’
Jackie Tyler, Army of Ghosts
Soap operas are part of the great TV viewing tradition of Great Britain. Following Doctor Who, Frazer Hines began a 22-year stint in the ITV soap Emmerdale in 1972. In 2012, Emmerdale repaid the favour as Jenna-Louise Coleman had previously found fame on the rural soap before playing Clara in Doctor Who. Connections between Doctor Who and the soaps are many: Freema Agyeman’s first TV role was in the 2003 revival of Crossroads – a soap co-created by Peter Ling, writer of The Mind Robber. Here’s a selection of other actors who have appeared in Doctor Who and four of the nation’s favourite soaps operas currently broadcast.
CORONATION STREET (ITV, 1960–PRESENT)
EASTENDERS (BBC, 1985–PRESENT)
DIMENSIONS IN TIME
To celebrate Doctor Who’s 30th anniversary in 1993, several Doctors visited Albert Square for a special Doctor Who-EastEnders crossover for the charity telethon Children in Need. The following EastEnders cast members appeared in character:
Wendy Richard
Gillian Taylforth
Letitia Dean
Pam St Clement
Mike Reid
Adam Woodyatt
Steve McFadden
Ross Kemp
Deepak Verma
Shobu Kapoor
Nicola Stapleton
(Ron Tarr also appeared in his role as Big Ron, in an alternative version of Part 2, which was not broadcast.)
EMMERDALE (ITV 1972–PRESENT)
HOLLYOAKS (CHANNEL 4 1995– PRESENT)
CONNECTING DOCTOR WHO AND THE ARCHERS
‘I’ve matured. I’m 1200 years old now. Plus I don’t want to miss The Archers.’
The Doctor, A Town Called Mercy
Terry Molloy, who played Davros three times in Doctor Who between 1984 and 1988, has played the role of Mike Tucker in The Archers since 1973.
Charles Collingwood (The Archers’ Brian Aldridge) played the Brigadier in a series of ‘Dr Where’ sketches for the BBC Schools programme Mathshow in 1975.
In the Christmas Day 2005 episode of The Archers, the warring brothers Ed and Will Grundy briefly called a halt on hostilities to watch The Christmas Invasion.
Ysanne Churchman, who provided the voice of Alpha Centauri in The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon, played Grace Archer from 1950 to 1955. On 22 September 1955, the character was killed in a fire, a dramatic storyline intended to keep audiences away from ITV, which launched on TV that evening.
Mary Wimbush, who played Julia Pargeter in The Archers between 1992 and 2005, played Sarah Jane Smith’s Aunt Lavinia in K-9 and Company.
Tamsin Greig, the nurse in The Long Game, has played Debbie Aldridge since 1991, flitting in and out of storylines as her character lives in Hungary most of the year.
Aristocratic Lord Cranleigh in Black Orchid and Crown Saxe-Coburghunter Redvers Fenn-Cooper from Ghost Light (both played by Michael Cochrane) are better known to Archers’ fans as former gentleman farmer Oliver Sterling.
THE NAME’S WHO. DOCTOR WHO
In 1986, Sylvester McCoy and Timothy Dalton worked together on a series of Shakespeare plays at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London. Within a year Sylvester had been cast as the Doctor and Dalton as James Bond, two of the great heroes of British popular culture. With Dame Diana Rigg (Tracy in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) guest starring in Doctor Who’s 2013 series, the following is a selection of actors who have appeared in both Doctor Who and the James Bond films.
Actor/writer Moris Farhi pitched two unused scripts to Doctor Who in the 1960s – ‘Farewell Great Macedon’ and ‘The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance’, and appeared in From Russia with Love and You Only Live Twice.
Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures script editor Gary Russell appeared as an uncredited extra in Octopussy.
TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO TARDIS HAS GONE BEFORE
On 21 June 1969, The War Games Episode Ten concluded Patrick Troughton’s time as the Doctor. Three weeks later, on 12 July, the BBC filled the slot vacated by Doctor Who with a new American sci-fi import – Star Trek. Five decades later, both Doctor Who and Star Trek remain among the most enduring television entertainment franchises in the world, and a small handful of actors share the distinction of having appeared in both.
Star Trek Key:
TOS: The Original Series
TNG: The Next Generation
DS9: Deep Space Nine
Voy: Voyager
Ent: Enterprise
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Neutral Zone, broadcast in 1988, a computer readout clearly shows the names of William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davidson (sic) and Colin Baker.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine cast members Alexander Siddig (Dr Bashir) and Chase Masterson (Leeta) have both recorded Doctor Who audio adventures for Big Finish Productions, as has Benedict Cumber-batch, who plays villain John Harrison in Star Trek: Into Darkness.
In 2012, the fictional universes of Doctor Who and Star Trek collided in the IDW comic book series Assimilation2, which saw the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory battle the Cybermen and Star Trek’s Borg alongside the Next Generation crew. It also transpired that the Fourth Doctor had encountered Captain James T. Kirk in his travels.
CARRY ON DOCTOR
In 1958, William Hartnell played the title role at the very beginning of another well-loved British institution – the Carry On film series. Here is a selection of actors who have appeared in both Doctor Who and the Carry Ons…
A GALLIFREY FAR, FAR AWAY
A selection of Rebels, Imperials and Dark Lords of the Sith that have appeared in both Doctor Who and the Star Wars films.
HARRY POTTER AND THE BIGGER ON THE INSIDE
Many Doctor Who actors have also appeared in the spell-binding Harry Potter film series.
POTTER PICKS
Actor Harry Melling (Dudley Dursley) is a grandson of Patrick Troughton.
Actor Alfie Enoch (Dean Thomas) is a son of William Russell.
TARDIS LIBRARY
Fictional books in the Doctor Who universe
Bartholomew’s Planetary Gazetteer
Read by Romana on Gallifrey (The Ribos Operation)
The Black Orchid by George Cranleigh
Published in 1925, an account of Cranleigh’s travels. The Doctor thought it was fascinating (Black Orchid, Earthshock)
The Book of the Old Time
The official history of the early Time Lords (The Deadly Assassin)
The definitive work on the Weeping Angels (actual title unknown) The only book ever written about the Angels. Written by a madman, barely readable, bit boring in the middle, no pictures (The Time of Angels)
Everest in Easy Stages
Tibetan text read by the Fourth Doctor in the hope of discovering tips on how to climb out of the Chloris Pit (The Creature from the Pit)
Fighting the Future by Joshua Naismith
Donna Noble’s 2009 Christmas present for Wilf (The End of Time)
Flora and Fauna of the Universe by Professor Thripsted
According to the Fourth Doctor, it listed Usurians as poisonous fungi (The Sun Makers)
The French Revolution, author unknown
Barbara Wright lent this history book to Susan Foreman who immediately noticed inaccuracies. Not long after, Ace picked up a similarly titled tome in the very same school (An Unearthly Child, Remembrance of the Daleks)
‘An illustrated guide to the Swampie tribe’
How the Doctor described a heavy, bound b
ook he found on the third moon of Delta Magna, ‘A sort of Bayeux tapestry with footnotes.’ Atrociously written but good pictures (The Power of Kroll)
A Journal of Impossible Things by Verity Newman
The story of a woman who fell in love with a man from the stars, based on the diaries of Joan Redfern (The End of Time)
The Last Chance for Man by Charles Grover
Environmental treatise by the politician and secret leader of Operation Golden Age (Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
The Legend of Pandora’s Box
Amy Pond’s favourite book as a child, and the basis of the Pandorica myth (The Pandorica Opens)
Melody Malone
A pulp detective novel from the 1930s which was in fact a message to the Doctor from his wife, River Song (The Angels Take Manhattan)
Monsters from Outer Space
Read by Ian while the Doctor fiddled with the Time Space Visualiser. Ian described it as good, but a bit far-fetched (The Chase)
The Origins of the Universe by Oolon Coluphid
The author got it wrong in the first line according to the Doctor, who wondered why he hadn’t asked someone who saw it happen (Destiny of the Daleks)
The Secret Books of Saxon
Containing instructions for how to achieve the Master’s resurrection. Never published (The End of Time)
The Sibylline Oracles
A series of texts compiling the prophesies of the Sibyl, founder of the Sibylline Sisterhood of Pompeii. The thirteenth book foretold the Doctor’s arrival (The Fires of Pompeii)
Teach Yourself Tibetan, author unknown
A book read by the Fourth Doctor on Chloris so that he could translate Everest in Easy Stages (The Creature from the Pit)
The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey
Dating back to the days of Rassilon and originally kept safe in the Panopticon Archives, this dangerous tome was stolen by Chronotis and brought to 20th-century Earth (Shada)
Real books in the Doctor Who universe:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (Chapman and Hall, 1843)
During an 1869 reading of his ghostly little book in Cardiff, Charles Dickens was interrupted by a Gelth-possessed corpse (The Unquiet Dead)
Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie (Collins, 1935)
The Doctor owned an edition published in the year five billion (The Unicorn and the Wasp)
Doctor in the House by Richard Gordon (Joseph, 1952)
In Mrs Smith’s boarding house, the Doctor picked up a discarded copy of the novel that spawned the film, radio and TV series (Remembrance of the Daleks)
The Doctor’s Dilemma by George Bernard Shaw
The Doctor read Shaw’s play, first staged in 1906, as he and Mel waited to be served in the milk bar that Ace was working in (Dragonfire)
Gutenberg Bible
The first major book produced from movable type on a printing press. Several of the 180 original copies were sold by Count Scarlioni to fund his time-travel experiments (City of Death)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown, 2002)
The Doctor speed-read a copy in Rose’s flat, commenting on its sad ending (Rose)
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
One of the three Books of Knowledge of Ravolox (The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet)
Monty Python’s Big Red Book (Methuen Publishing, 1971)
Just one of the books found in the planet-sized Library along with ‘whole continents’ of Jeffrey Archer and Bridget Jones (Silence in the Library)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
(William Collins and Sons, 1926)
Lady Clemency Eddison’s favourite Agatha Christie thriller (The Unicorn and the Wasp)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
(Chapman & Hall, 1870)
The last, and incomplete, work of Charles Dickens. After helping defeat the Gelth, Dickens planned to work aliens into the novel. (The Unquiet Dead)
A Textbook of Botany for Students by Amy F.M. Johnson BSc (Allman and Son, 1902)
Stumbled upon by the Fifth Doctor while in Cranleigh Hall (Black Orchid)
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (William Heinemann, 1895)
The Seventh Doctor’s reading matter while returning the Master’s remains to Gallifrey. The Eighth Doctor unsuccessfully tried to pick up where he left off after leaving San Francisco in the year 2000. (Doctor Who) Professor Chronotis also relaxed with a paperback edition in Shada.
UK Habitats of the Canadian Goose by H.M. Stationery Office
One of the three Books of Knowledge of Ravolox (The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet)
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (William Heinemann 1898)
The Master’s reading matter of choice after imprisoning the Third Doctor and Jo Grant. (Frontier in Space) Possibly inspired by Herbert’s encounter with the Sixth Doctor (Timelash)
The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley (MacMillan and Co, 1863)
One of the three Books of Knowledge of Ravolox (The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet)
LINKS BETWEEN DOCTOR WHO AND A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Charles Dickens gave a reading from A Christmas Carol in The Unquiet Dead.
The Eleventh Doctor riffed on Dickens’s plot in A Christmas Carol.
In the world created when River Song refused to kill the Doctor, Charles Dickens was interviewed about his new Christmas special on BBC Breakfast. All he would say was that it involved ghosts and the past, present and future all at the same time.
The first draft of the Doctor Who format guide suggested that a Christmas episode could be made in which Jacob Marley was in fact a ‘slightly tipsy’ Doctor!
Simon Callow, who played Charles Dickens in The Unquiet Dead and The Wedding of River Song, also played the novelist in the 2001 animated film Christmas Carol: The Movie. The same film also featured Michael Gambon (Kazran Sardick in the 2010 Christmas special) as the voice of the Ghost of Christmas Present.
David Collings – who appeared in Doctor Who three times, as Vorus in Revenge of the Cyberman, Poul in The Robots of Death and Mawdryn in Mawdryn Undead – played Bob Cratchit in the 1970 musical Scrooge.
Jon Pertwee played Jacob Marley in the 1992 stage revival of Scrooge. The cast also included Stratford Johns (Four to Doomsday) as the Ghost of Christmas Present.
Richard E. Grant, who played Dr Simeon in The Snowmen and the Doctor in The Curse of Fatal Death and Scream of the Shalka, played Bob Cratchit in the 1999 TV movie A Christmas Carol. Ian McNeice (Victory of the Daleks) also appeared in the cast as Mr Fezziwig.
Mark Strickson played young Ebenezer in the 1984 TV movie A Christmas Carol. The film also featured David Warner, the voice of Lord Azlok in Dreamland, as Bob Cratchit.
Nicola Bryant played Ebenezer Blackadder’s niece in 1988’s Blackadder’s Christmas Carol. The comedy special starred Rowan Atkinson and Jim Broadbent, and both later appeared in the 1999 Comic Relief Doctor Who spoof, The Curse of Fatal Death.
A number of Doctor Who alumni have recorded audiobooks of A Christmas Carol, including Martin Jarvis, Geoffrey Palmer, Richard Wilson and Tom Baker.
SONGS FOR ELEVEN
‘I can take you to the Battle of Trafalgar, the first anti-gravity Olympics, Caesar crossing the Rubicon, or Ian Dury at the Top Rank, Sheffield, England, Earth, 21 November 1979.’
The Doctor, Tooth and Claw
Music – from pop to classical – has always played an important part in Doctor Who. One of the earliest scenes in the series is a discussion of the merits of popular beat combo, John Smith and the Common Men (the fictional band had gone from 19 to 2 in the hit parade), and neatly provides the first mention of ‘John Smith’. Here’s a list of some of the songs featured in the series.
ORIGINAL SONGS
Songs written and composed especially for Doctor Who.
DOC OF THE POPS
‘It’s John Smith and the Common Men. They’ve gone from 19 to 2.’
> Susan, An Unearthly Child
Pop singles released by Doctors and companions.
VARIATIONS ON A THEME
Pop singles with a Doctor Who theme – sometimes literally…
POP PICKS
In addition to their chart single success, Doctor Who co-stars Billie Piper and John Barrowman have several albums on their discographies. Billie released Honey To The B in 1998, followed up with Walk Of Life in 2000. The Best of Billie was released in August 2005, shortly after Doctor Who’s return to television.
Tying into his career in stage musicals, John Barrowman released the albums Songs From Grease (1994), Aspects Of Lloyd Webber (1997), Reflections From Broadway (2003) and Swing Cole Porter (2004). Since his debut as Captain Jack Harkness in 2005, John has released a further three albums – Another Side (2007), Music Music Music (2008) and John Barrowman (2010), plus a best-of album, Tonight’s The Night in 2011.
And not to be outdone, even a Doctor put his name to an album. Who could possibly forget 1962’s Jon Pertwee Sings Songs For Vulgar Boatmen? No, we’re not making that up.
The B-side to the Human League’s 1981 single ‘Boys and Girls’ was titled ‘Tom Baker,’ in tribute to the actor’s time on Doctor Who. The cover featured an image of Tom, with the vinyl inscribed: ‘Thanks Tom’.
Hans Zimmer, famous for composing blockbuster film scores including Pirates of the Caribbean, Sherlock Holmes and The Dark Knight, played keyboards on the 1985 charity single ‘Doctor In Distress’.