Department S (series)
Department S was a spy-fi adventure series created by Dennis Spooner and Monty Berman. Its televised run spanned 9 March 1969 to 4 March 1970 and was spun-off into a series of concurrently-published comic stories in TV Century 21. The magazine immediately absorbed Department S into its shared universe of the 2060s and, by extension, the expanded Doctor Who universe.
Crossovers with the DWU[[edit] | [edit source]]
In spite of this conceit that all of its series took place in a single universe, only one Department S story published in TV Century 21 crossed over with elements from the Doctor Who universe. This was a comic titled The Big-Tip Off!, which mentioned Unity City, the capital of the World Government first introduced in The Daleks comic strip. This reference manifested itself in the form of a "Stop Press" panel notably announcing the resignation of World President T.J. Younger. From 1965 to 1967, similar "Stop Press" panels were a staple feature of The Daleks comic strip and were used to tie the series to the TV21 shared universe on an almost-weekly basis.
In addition to this comic story, characters from Department S also crossed over into the Doctor Who universe through TV21's cover stories. Two of these, Landslide! and Radiation Hazard!, directly referenced the events of The Big Tip-Off!. Another, Mole Doomed!, instead tied-in to a different DWU crossover story, namely the Thunderbirds comic City of Doom.
Cast and crew connections[[edit] | [edit source]]
Dennis Spooner, who wrote several episodes of Doctor Who prior to the broadcast of Department S, was its co-creator. Terry Nation, whose most significant contribution to Who was the creation of the Daleks, wrote two episodes of the series.
Philip Barnikel worked on both series as a film editor. Dorothy Elliott worked on Department S as a set dresser and set designer and on Doctor Who as a props buyer while Peter Murray was a camera operator for the former and provided studio lighting for the latter.
Peter Wyngarde starred in every episode of Department S as Jason King and later portrayed Timanov in Planet of Fire. Guest actors for the series who had recurring roles in Doctor Who included Anthony Ainley (the Tremas Master), Jean Marsh (Sara Kingdom), Kate O'Mara (the First Rani), and Tony Selby (Sabalom Glitz).
Actors who appeared as a guest in both a Doctor Who production and Department S included John Acheson, Barry Andrews, Ray Armstrong, Roger Avon, Brian Badcoe, John Bailey, Patrick Barr, Reginald Barratt, Michael Barrington, Ann Bell, Isla Blair, Martin Boddey, Peter Bowles, Edward Brayshaw, Edward Caddick, Gerald Campion, John Carson, John Cater, Robert Cawdron, Nicolas Chagrin, Michael Coles, Peter Copley, Adrienne Corri, Arthur Cox, Ian Cullen, Iain Cuthbertson, Griffith Davies, Pamela Ann Davy, Clifford Earl, Frank Gatliff, Michael Godfrey, Colin Gordon, Clinton Greyn, Michael Griffiths, Michael Guest, John Hallam, Neil Hallett, Davyd Harries, Richard Heffer, Ann Holloway, Bernard Horsfall, Ben Howard, Inigo Jackson, Frederick Jaeger, Godfrey James, Reginald Jessup, Stratford Johns, Gertan Klauber, Alan Lake, Duncan Lamont, Peter Lawrence, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Philip Locke, Cyril Luckham, Neil McCarthy, Brian McDermott, Martin Miller, Wolfe Morris, Barbara Murray, John Nettleton, Derek Newark, George Pastell, Ron Pember, Steve Plytas, George Pravda, David Prowse, Peter Reynolds, Michael Robbins, George Roubicek, Robert Russell, Katherine Schofield, Leslie Schofield, John Savident, Cyril Shaps, Edward de Souza, Peter Thomas, Wanda Ventham, Alan Wheatley, Bill Wilde, Paul Whitsun-Jones, Jeremy Young, and Nik Zaran.
