Turn Left

Rose (Billie Piper) and Donna (Catherine
Tate) try to change destiny

One episode (Turn Left)
First broadcast Jun 21 2008
Average audience for story: 8.09m

REGULAR CAST

David Tennant (The Doctor) Born Apr 18 1971 Click here for David Tennant's entry on The Parting of the Ways

Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) Born Dec 5 1969 Click here for Catherine Tate's entry on Doomsday

GUEST CAST

Paul Richard Biggin (Soldier) Born 1985
Career highlights
Other work includes The Bill (2007), Rod is God (2012), Leyton Stone: Monster Hunter! (2019, which he also created and produced) and The F1rst Team (2020).
Facts
Paul was a recipient of the BBC Radio Drama Carleton Hobbs Bursary Award in 2006, winning a five-month contract to be part of the BBC Radio Drama Company.

Terri-Ann Brumby (Woman in doorway) Born 1971
Career highlights
Further work includes The Greek Man from Pakistan (2003), My Mad Fat Diary (2013), Pleasure Island (2014), Catastrophe (2015) and Top Boy (2019).
Facts
Terri-Ann is also a playwright, including the 2011 BBC Radio 4 play The Benefit of Time. Here she is on Twitter.

Lachele Carl (Reporter [Trinity Wells]) Born Apr 29 1960 Click here for Lachele Carl's entry on Aliens of London

Chipo Chung (Fortune Teller) Born Aug 17 1977
Doctor Who credits
Played: Chantho in Utopia (2007)
Played: Fortune Teller in Turn Left (2008)
Career highlights
Born in Tanzania as a refugee, and raised in Zimbabwe, Chipo debuted in 2003's Absolute Power, followed by Proof (2005), Sunshine (2007), Dalziel and Pascoe (2007), The Last Enemy (2008), In the Loop (2009), Identity (2010), Camelot (2011), Sherlock (2012), The Politician's Husband (2013), Fortitude (2015), A.D: The Bible Continues (2015), Thirteen (2016), Absentia (2017), Chimerica (2019) and Resurrection (2021). She also provides the voice of Hong-Mei in Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (2018-21). Ironically, in the 2017-19 series Into the Badlands, Chipo played a character called The Master!
Facts
Chipo's first name means "gift" in the Shona language, spoken in Zimbabwe. She spent her first two years as a refugee in Mozambique, escaping the war in Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia). Her parents are both Zimbabwean politicians, Fay Chung and Rugare Gumbo. Chipo founded the organisation SAFE (Sponsored Arts For Education) which develops theatre for social change in Kenya, focusing on HIV education and abolishing female genital mutilation. Here's Chipo on Twitter.

Neil Clench (Man in pub) Born 1978
The short Where is Lucy? (2021) is Neil's only other screen credit. However, he also works as a drama coach and choreographer. Here he is on Twitter.

Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott) Dec 29 1928 to Jul 27 2022 Click here for Bernard's entry on Voyage of the Damned

Noma Dumezweni (Captain Magambo) Born Jul 28 1969
Doctor Who credits
Played: Captain Magambo in Turn Left (2008), Planet of the Dead (2009)
Career highlights
Born in Swaziland, Noma's earliest credit was The Knock (1999), followed by Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Mysterious Creatures (2006), After Thomas (2006), Shameless (2007), EastEnders (2007), The Colour of Magic (2008), Casualty (2012), Frankie (2013), Midsomer Murders (2015), The Incident (2015), Capital (2015), Black Earth Rising (2018), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Normal People (2020), The Undoing (2020), Made for Love (2021) and Pose (2021).

Awards

2006: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Play (A Raisin in the Sun)

2017: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Play (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child)
Facts
Her surname means "famous in the world" in Xhosa. Noma arrived in the UK in 1977 as a refugee, with her sister and mother. In 2016-18 Noma played Hermione Granger in the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Here's Noma on Twitter.

Jacqueline King (Sylvia Noble) Click here for Jacqueline's entry on The Runaway Bride

Marcia Lecky (Mooky Kahari) Born 1977

Career highlights

Marcia's other credits include Casualty (2007), Doctors (2015), Not Going Out (2018) and Holby City (2021). In the 1990s she worked behind the cameras as a production accountant on Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and My Summer with Des, and in 2015 as a production manager on Holby City.

Joseph Long (Rocco Colasanto)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Rocco Colasanto in Turn Left (2008)
Played: The Pope in Extremis (2017)
Career highlights
Debuted in Widows (1985), then Magnum PI (1985), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1986), CATS Eyes (1987), London's Burning (1988), Capital City (1989), Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1990), The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1994), The Final Cut (1995), Trial and Retribution (1998), Casualty (2000), Where the Heart Is (2001), Daniel Deronda (2002), Little Britain (2003), The Mysti Show (2004), EastEnders (2003-04), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005), Genie in the House (2006), The Other Man (2008), Sherlock (2010), Zen (2011), Borgia (2013), Dracula Untold (2014), Transporter: The Series (2014), Killing Jesus (2015), The Collection (2016), Peaky Blinders (2017), Murder on the Orient Express (2017), We Die Young (2019), Waiting for the Barbarians (2019) and Pennyworth (2020). He may be best remembered as Luigi the barman in Ashes to Ashes (2008-10), or Abd Aziz in Tyrant (2016).
In 2017 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Joseph here.

Sanchia McCormack (Housing officer) Born 1971

Doctor Who credits

Played: Housing officer in Turn Left (2008)

Played: Train Marshal Halaz in The Power of the Doctor (2022)
Career highlights
Sanchia debuted in The Bill (1997), then Holby City (2000), Lloyd and Hill (2003), Making Waves (2004), William and Mary (2005), Vital Signs (2006), Lewis (2007), Midsomer Murders (2009), Wallander (2008/10), Coronation Street (2011), White Heat (2012), Broadchurch (2013), EastEnders (2000/13/16/17), Edge of Heaven (2014), Doctors (2007/10/14/20), The Tunnel (2016), Catastrophe (2017), The Windsors (2017), Silent Witness (2018), Sex Education (2020), The Crown (2020) and The Madame Blanc Mysteries (2021).

Suzanne McLean (Veena Brady)
Career highlights
Debuted in Grange Hill (2000), followed by Coupling (2001), Little Miss Jocelyn (2006/08), Freestyle (2010), Amina (2012), The Honourable Woman (2014), EastEnders (2016), Good Omens (2019), Sulphur and White (2020) and Pennyworth (2021).

Awards

2023: Member of the order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to the arts and to marginalized young people
Facts
Suzann was a torchbearer for the 2012 Olympic relay. She runs the Young and Talented theatre school, and is artistic director of Theatre Peckham. Here she is on Twitter.

Jason Mohammad (Newsreader) Born Sep 17 1973
Doctor Who credits
Played: Newsreader in The Christmas Invasion (2005), The Sarah Jane Adventures: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (2007), The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Lost Boy (2007), Voyage of the Damned (2007), Turn Left (2008), The Stolen Earth (2008), The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Man Who Never Was (2011)
Career highlights
Jason joined the BBC in 1997 as a reporter for Wales Today, and stayed with BBC Wales as a presenter until 2013 when he became the host of Final Score on BBC1. He is also a snooker commentator for the Corporation, and has a weekday morning show on BBC Radio Wales.
Facts
Jason gets fan mail for his part in Doctor Who: "So many people ask me about my roles in Doctor Who. I get fan mail from all over the world - the best one was from a guy in New Zealand who said he thought I played the role of a newsreader so well that he thought I was a real newscaster!"

Bhasker Patel (Jival Chowdry) Born Feb 7 1956
Career highlights
Ugandan Bhaskar debuted in The Garland (1981), then Grange Hill (1982), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), My Beautiful Landrette (1985), Sob Sisters (1989), Chimera (1991), Brookside (1987/92, as Nawaz Hamoud), Wild West (1992), Civvies (1992), Transatlantis (1995), GoldenEye (1995), Twin Town (1997), North Square (2000), NCS Manhunt (2002), Sea of Souls (2004), Thunderbirds (2004), Ethelbert the Tiger (2005), Kidulthood (2006), 8 (2008), Law and Order UK (2009), The Infidel (2010), Junkhearts (2011), The Lingo Show (2013), Pulp (2013), Demon Baby (2014), The Vote (2015), Snowden (2016), Open My Eyes (2016), The Game Changer (2019) and MI5 Project Red Book (2020). He has played Rishi Sharma in more than 700 episodes of soap Emmerdale since 2011.
Facts
Bhasker, who moved to London from his ancestral homeland of Gujarat in 1973, is on Twitter.

Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) Born Sep 22 1982 Click here for Billie Piper's entry on Rose

Ben Righton (Oliver Morgenstern)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Oliver Morgenstern in Smith and Jones (2007), Turn Left (2008)
Career highlights
Debuted in A Good Year (2006), then took roles in Flawless (2007), Bones (2008), Cuckoo (2009), Joe Maddison's War (2010), Law and Order UK (2011), The Patrol (2013) and Mr Selfridge (2016).
Facts
Ben can be seen in the Refreshingly Perfect advertising campaign for Carling lager. He has also broadcast on BBC Radio London. Here's his Twitter.

Clive Standen (UNIT soldier) Born Jul 22 1981
Doctor Who credits
Played: Private Harris in The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky (2008)
Played: UNIT soldier in Turn Left (2008)
Career highlights
Debuted in Ten Days to D-Day (2004), then Waking the Dead (2004), Doctors (2005), Heroes and Villains (2006), Robin Hood (2009), Camelot (2011), Hammer of the Gods (2013), Atlantis (2014), Everest (2015), Patient Zero (2018), In Like Flynn (2018), Vault (2019), Mirage (2020) and Council of Dads (2020). He regularly played Rollo in Vikings (2013-18) and Bryan Mills in Taken (2017-18).
Facts
When he was a teenager, Clive was a national Muay Thai boxing champion and later a fencing gold medallist. Here's his Twitter feed.

Lawrence Stevenson (Soldier)
Career highlights
Lawrence's other work includes Cash and Curry (2008), Horrible Histories (2009), Coriolanus (2011) and Christmas Eve (2015).

Lorraine Velez (Spanish maid) Born Nov 2 1964
Career highlights
American Lorraine made her credited debut in Pinero (2001), then Law and Order (2002), Casualty (2005) and Elementary (2015). She has had a busy career in musical theatre, notably in the original West End production of Fame, as well as Miss Saigon, Rent, Porgy and Bess and Dreamgirls.
Facts
Her twin sister is actress Luna Lauren Velez, best known for playing Maria LaGuerta in Dexter. In 2008, Lorraine sang A Prayer for the Long Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama during his visit to France.

Natalie Walter (Alice Coltrane) Born Dec 24 1979
Career highlights
Debuted in The Thin Blue Line (1996), then Get Well Soon (1997), Babes in the Wood (1998-99), The Honeytrap (2002), I Want Candy (2007), Lady Godiva (2008), Cockneys vs Zombies (2012), Family Tree (2013), Horrible Histories (2015-17), I May Destroy You (2020), Strike (2020) and Bloods (2021).
Facts
Natalie's father was David Walter, the former BBC and ITN reporter, while her grandmother was the cousin of one-time British Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw. In 2003-04, Natalie, who is also a descendant of John Walter, founder of The Times newspaper, was in a relationship with Tenth Doctor David Tennant. Here she is on Twitter.

Catherine York (Female reporter)
Catherine's only other acting credit is Buried Treasure (2001), but she has also worked as a presenter on Britain's Best Breaks (2006).

CREW

Russell T Davies (writer) Born Apr 27 1963 Click here for Russell T Davies' entry on Rose

Graeme Harper (director) Born Mar 11 1945 Click here for Graeme Harper's entry on The Caves of Androzani

Susie Liggat (producer) Born 1968 Click here for Susie Liggat's entry on Human Nature/ The Family of Blood

Brian Minchin (script editor) Born Aug 5 1978 Click here for Brian Minchin's entry on Voyage of the Damned