Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Connections Hot Fuzz by Mickie Newton



Confession time now people. How often have you been sitting watching a film and all the way through it you find yourself pointing out actors/actresses from Doctor Who, Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures? And not only do you point that out, but you go into detail of who they played and the episode/s they appeared in? If you say never, I don’t believe you? Call yourself fans!

I hold my hand up as being guilty and with pride! I can’t help it. It’s these moments that make you realise just how small the Whoniverse truly is. And Hot Fuzz has it’s fair share of participants!

So - I’m sitting watching Hot Fuzz and doing all of the above, and I realised there were enough Whovian alumni to fill a small fleet of Sontaran escape pods and so this which triggered an idea for me to write an article about this incredible connection.

So Hot Fuzz - What’s it all about?

DS Andy Wainwright: You do know there are more guns in the country than there are in the city.
DS Andy Cartwright: Everyone and their mum is packin' round here!
Nicholas Angel: Like who?
DS Andy Wainwright: Farmers.
Nicholas Angel: Who else?
DS Andy Cartwright: Farmers' mums.

Hot Fuzz is the second of the Cornetto films by Simon Pegg and Edger Wright (the writing team behind the TV series Spaced, many of which cast members from the series also appeared in the Pegg & Wright film cannon ). I might even write one about Shaun of the Dead and Worlds End, who knows. Yes we do have articles about Whovian actors in other things. But in the case of this, it’s almost the whole cast, not just one or two. Please don’t ask me to explain the Cornetto thing, we’ll be here until the sun explodes if I do!

The film is about an exceptional Police Officer, Sgt Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg). He’s so exceptional at his job that he is involuntarily transferred from the London Met to the sleepy (or seemingly sleepy) village of Sanford. Why? I hear you ask, did they send him there. Well that was because he was SO good at his job that he left nothing for anyone else to do. Nicholas is also a stickler for rules and regulations and sticks to them like a bug to the windscreen. He also never turns off. He is always on the case, even when there’s no case to be on, he’s on it!

At his new station in Sanford, he is partnered with the very sweet, but rather witless PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), who also happens to be the son of Inspector Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent). But all is not what it seems in this sleep village. People die, or go missing. And when they ‘accidentality’ die, it’s rather gruesome.

Along with Danny, Nicolas uncovers what is happening and cleans up the village. (The scene in the Somerfield Supermarket - yes a real supermarket, is one of the finest action scenes ever! )  No stone or swan goes unturned - in a nut shell, this is a fast paced comedy, though like the village, it starts off slow (though that is all part of it). It’s full of fun, laughter, gore, murder, lies, hatred, love, more gore, lots of swearing, more and more gore, more swearing, Cornetto’s, did I mention the gore? Oh and a Bond!! If you loved/enjoyed Shaun of the Dead...You’ll LOVE this!

So, who’s in it from the Whoniverse?

Okay, this is where I start something that is, to all intense and purposes, a list. Frankly I couldn’t think of any other way of doing this. I wanted to be all flash and create something beautiful, but that was the graphic designer in me being all silly and unrealistic. After all, this has to be loaded into blogger for all you lovely people to read and be in awe of. It’s a list...so enjoy and be surprised at just HOW many you’ve seen in Hot Fuzz from the Whoniverse. In this ‘list’ all but one person has appeared in Doctor Who. The one who didn’t, you’ll remember them and realise there’s a striking resemblance between his role in the two shows!

I’ve put the actors name and who they play in Hot Fuzz first and then I follow that with Doctor Who, Torchwood and in one case, Sarah Jane Adventures. The Episode’s and year and then their character name.

The Cast:

Simon Pegg played Sergeant Nicholas Angel
Doctor Who:
“The Long Game” 2005 - The Editor

Bill Nighy played Met Chief Inspector
Doctor Who:
“Vincent and the Doctor” 2010 - Dr. Black

Eric Mason played Bernard Cooper
Doctor Who:   
“The Mind of Evil” Episodes 1-3, 1971 - Senior Prison Officer Green
“The Sea Devils” Episode 2, 1972 - C.P.O. Smedley

Bill Bailey played Sergeant Turner
Doctor Who:
“The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe”  Xmas Special 2011 - Droxil

Timothy Dalton played Simon Skinner
Doctor Who:
“The End of Time part 1” 2009 - The Narrator
“The End of Time part2” 2010 - Lord President aka Rassilon

Jim Broadbent played Inspector Frank Butterman
Comic Relief: Doctor Who:
“The Curse of Fatal Death”1999 - The Doctor

Kevin Eldon played Sergeant Tony Fisher
Doctor Who:
“Death Comes to Time “ (TV Mini Series) 4 parts - Antimony (voice)
Part 1: “At the Temple of the Fourth” 2001
Part 2: “Planet of Blood” 2002
Part 3: “The Child” 2002
Part 4: “No Child of Earth” 2002

Olivia Coleman played PC Doris Thatcher
Doctor Who:
“The Eleventh Hour” 2010 - Mother

Anne Reid played Leslie Tiller
Doctor Who:
“Smith and Jones” 2007 - Florence Finnegan
“The Curse of Fenric” 4 parts, 1989 - Nurse Crane

Tim Barlow played Mr Treacher
Doctor Who:
“Destiny of the Daleks” 4 parts, 1979 - Tyssan

Ben McKay played Peter Cocker
Torchwood:
“Ghost Machine” 2006 - Bernie Harris

Ron Cook played George Merchant
Doctor Who:
“The Idiot’s Lantern” 2006 - Mr Magpie

David Bradley played Arthur Webley
Doctor Who 50th related:
“An Adventure in Space and Time” 2013 - William Hartnell/Doctor Who

Doctor Who:
“Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” 2012 - Solomon

Sarah Jane Adventures:
“Death of the Doctor” 2010 - Shansheeth Blue (Voice)







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