Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.
They’ve been crushed, blown up, drowned, plunged to the bottom of fiery warehouses, fallen from rooftops, collapsed in restaurants, fallen downstairs, and generally been the victims of an uncaring deity determined to wring every ounce of tension and drama from their demise; yes, it’s a hard, albeit short lived life being a guest star on long-running medical drama Casualty.
When not being the centrepiece of a Rube Goldberg machine operated by the cruel hand of fate, there’s also the more comfy, less deathy secondary role of ‘pleasant patient with baffling mysterious condition’ where our plucky staff, through cunning, gentle persuasion, and inter-department flirtation manage to root out the cause of what brought the be-gowned one to their ward.
It’s basically House only with more convincing accents and Kit-Kats in the vending machines.
So, it begs the question, which one of these fates shall befall Katy Manning this weekend when she swaps time causality for Casualty and guest stars in Sweet Little Lies, the 21st episode of this, the 29th series.
The only clues so far are that Manning, who played Jo Grant alongside the Third Doctor before returning to the world of Doctor Who in The Sarah Jane Adventures story, Death of the Doctor, will be playing Marjorie Miller which is so far, so blah but, and this is the kicker of all kickers… She has a psychic dog.
Whether or not the dog will join the staff full time and become the slightly more useful Deanna Troi of the team remains to be seen.
Unfortunately the dog will not be voiced by John Leeson.
Other Doctor Who alumni who have also appeared in Casualty include the Ninth Doctor himself Christopher Eccleston, David Walliams from The God Complex, Rula Lenska from Resurrection of the Daleks and Celia Imrie from The Bells of Saint John.
While in the opposite direction, Jaye Griffiths – a familiar face from shows like Sherlock, Coronation Street and, more importantly, Bugs – will follow in the footsteps of Freema Agyeman and appear in an episode of Doctor Who after a guest spot on Casualty. Griffiths has been confirmed as a Series 9 guest star alongside Clare Higgins who, guess what, also appeared in Casualty.
I guess Kate Winslet was right; Casualty really is an occasionally explody rite of passage for most British actors.
Sweet Little Lies airs Saturday, Feb 21 at 9:15 pm on BBC One.
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