The Beast Below

Are there no dentists on
Starship UK?

One episode (The Beast Below)
First broadcast Apr 10 2010
Average audience for story: 8.42m + 1.35m iPlayer = 9.77m

REGULAR CAST

Matt Smith (The Doctor) Born Oct 28 1982 Click here for Matt Smith's entry on The End of Time

Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) Born Nov 28 1987 Click here for Karen Gillan's entry on The Fires of Pompeii

GUEST CAST

David Ajala (Peter the winder) Born May 21 1986
Career highlights
Debuted uncredited in Kidulthood (2006), then gained credits in Adulthood (2008), The Dark Knight (2008), Winter Sun (2010), Silent Witness (2011), One Day (2011), Misfits (2011), Offender (2012), Death in Paradise (2013), Black Mirror (2013), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Jupiter Ascending (2015), Beowulf (2016), Kill Command (2016), Brotherhood (2016), Nightflyers (2018) and Supergirl (2018-19). He also played Sean Campbell in 18 episodes of Dream Team (2007), Flipside in the series Trexx and Flipside (2008), Will Van Renseller in Black Box (2014), Burton in Falling Water (2016-18) and Cleveland Booker in Star Trek: Discovery (2020-21).
Facts
Here's David on Twitter.

Jonathan Battersby (Winder) Dec 1 1952 to May 22 2010 (prostate cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Winder in The Beast Below (2010)
Played: Tall thin man in Victory of the Daleks (2010, uncredited)
Career highlights
Debuted in Knowing the Score (1986), then The Houseman's Tale (1987), High Road (1990), Taggart (1988/92), Cardiac Arrest (1995), Emmerdale (2007) and Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2008).
Facts
Jonathan died just weeks after his appearances in Doctor Who. As well as an actor, he was also an admired investment advisor, and served as the president of the Life Insurance Association between 2003-05.

Alfie Field (Timmy) Born 1999
Career highlights
Alfie debuted in Goodbye to the Normals (2006), then took roles in The Legend of Dick and Dom (2009), The Awakening (2011), The Woman in Black (2012), Siblings (2014), Chasing Shadows (2014), Grantchester (2016), Curfew (2019) and The Alieniest (2020). He also provided the voice of the title character in the animated series Mike the Knight (2011-12).

Christopher Good (Morgan) Born May 12 1956
Career highlights
Christopher made his screen debut in Budgie (1972), then Father Brown (1974), Upstairs, Downstairs (1974), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Danger UXB (1979), Secret Army (1979), The History of Mr Polly (1980), Brideshead Revisited (1981), Victor Victoria (1982), Gandhi (1982), Diana (1984), Bottle Boys (1985), Crossroads (1987), The Wimbledon Poisoner (1994), The Choir (1995), Pie in the Sky (1997), Possession (2002), Murphy's Law (2004), Egypt (2005) and Foyle's War (2010). He also regularly played Quentin in The Famous Five (1995-97).

Facts

In retirement, Christopher worked on restoring an old mill and gardens in Herefordshire.

Terrence Hardiman (Hawthorne) Apr 6 1937 to Apr 18 2023
Career highlights
Debuted in Traveller Without Luggage (1965), then appeared in Softly Softly: Task Force (1971), Running Scared (1972), Pope Joan (1972), The Carnforth Practice (1974), The Story of David (1976), Wings (1977), Angels (1978), Oresteia (1979), My Father's House (1981), Gandhi (1982), Skorpion (1983), Sahara (1983), God's Outlaw (1986), Home to Roost (1987), Wish Me Luck (1990), Moon and Son (1992), Grange Hill (1993), Prime Suspect 3 (1993), Ellington (1996), Crime Traveller (1997), Heartbeat (1998), Jonathan Creek (1999), Urban Gothic (2001), The Courtroom (2004), The Worst Week of My Life (2005), The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff (2011), Mr Turner (2014), Holby City (2015), Wallander (2015), Agatha Raisin (2016), The Crown (2017) and The Demon Headmaster (2019). Regular roles included Major Hans Dietrich Reinhardt in Secret Army (1979), Stephen Harvesty in Crown Court (1972-77/1982/1983), Abbot Radulfus in Cadfael (1994-98) and Hellibore in The Worst Witch (1998-2001), but he will forever be remembered as The Demon Headmaster (1996-98, with a 1999 cameo in ChuckleVision).
Facts
Terrence, who was at university with Master actor Derek Jacobi, was married to actor Rowena Cooper (who appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Lost in Time in 2010).

Ian McNeice (Winston Churchill) Born Oct 2 1950
Doctor Who credits
Played: Winston Churchill in The Beast Below (2010), Victory of the Daleks (2010), The Pandorica Opens (2010), The Wedding of River Song (2011)
Career highlights
Ian made his acting debut on screen with 1977's Warship, followed by roles in The Common Lot (1977), The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1982), Voice Over (1983), The Cleopatras (1983), Edge of Darkness (1985), CATS Eyes (1986), Personal Services (1987), Whoops Apocalypse (1988), Wipe Out (1988), 1871 (1990), Time Riders (1991), An Ungentlemanly Act (1992), Cluedo (1993), Stay Lucky (1993), Chef! (1994), Roughnecks (1994), Bugs (1995), Liverpool 1 (1998), A Christmas Carol (1999), Dune (2000), From Hell (2001), Relic Hunter (2002), Children of Dune (2003), Strange (2003), Spooks (2004), Oliver Twist (2005), The Black Dahlia (2006), Day of the Dead (2008), Valkyrie (2008), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012), We Are Tourists (2017), The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017), The House of Screaming Death (2017), Grizzly II: The Concert (2020), Foundation (2021) and Fairytale (2021). He also regularly played the Newsreader in Rome (2005-07) and Bert Large in 70 episodes of Doc Martin (2004-19).
Facts
Ian has three children with actress Kate Nicholls. In 2007, Ian admitted that his weight had become a problem - at that point he was over 25 stone (158kg) and was losing acting work as he was uninsurable. By 2009, he was 22 stone (139kg), and admitted in an interview that his weight problem stemmed from the tragic death of his older brother in a car accident when he was a child. His mother became overprotective and gave him everything he wanted, including food, and Ian also developed a stutter which hindered his early acting career. In 2015, Big Finish announced that Ian would be starring in his own spin-off set of audio adventures as Winston Churchill.

Sophie Okonedo (Liz Ten) Born Aug 11 1968
Doctor Who credits
Played: Alison Cheney (voice) in Scream of the Shalka (2003, animation)
Played: Liz Ten in The Beast Below (2010), The Pandorica Opens (2010)
Career highlights
Sophie debuted in Spatz (1991), then appeared in Young Soul Rebels (1991), The Governor (1995), Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), The Jackal (1997), This Year's Love (1999), Peaches (2000), Clocking Off (2002), Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Spooks (2003), Hotel Rwanda (2004), Aeon Flux (2005), Alex Rider: Stormbreaker (2006), Martian Child (2007), Oliver Twist (2007), Criminal Justice (2009), Mrs Mandela (2010), The Slap (2011/15), Sinbad (2012), After Earth (2013), War Book (2014), The Hollow Crown (2016), Wanderlust (2018), Hellboy (2019), Chimerica (2019), Flack (2019-20), Ratched (2020), His Dark Materials (2020), Britannia (2021) and The Wheel of Time (2021).

Awards

2010: Officer of the order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama

2014: Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play (A Raisin in the Sun)

2017: Royal Television Society Award for Actor - Female (Undercover)

2018: Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress (Antony and Cleopatra)

2018: Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Shakespearean Performance (Antony and Cleopatra)

2019: Commander of the order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to drama

Chris Porter (Voice of the Smilers/ Winder) Born Dec 21 1972
Career highlights
Born in Singapore, Chris first gained an acting credit in The Bill (1998), followed by The Winslow Boy (1999), Bad Girls (2001), Footballers' Wives (2003), The Genius of Mozart (2004), Death of a Pet (2013), Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Soulmates (2020).
In 2015 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Chris here.

Catrin Richards (Poem girl)
This is Catrin's only acting credit.

Hannah Sharp (Mandy)
Career highlights
Hannah's other work includes Casualty (2008), Doctors (2008), Never Let Me Go (2010) and The Musketeers (2014).

CREW

Steven Moffat (writer) Born Nov 18 1961 Click here for Steven Moffat's entry on The Empty Child

Andrew Gunn (director)
Doctor Who credits
Directed: The Beast Below (2010), Victory of the Daleks (2010)
Career highlights
Andrew's first directing credit was for the short Half a Shave (1995), after which he secured work on Coming Up (2004), The Bill (2006), Life on Mars (2007), Primeval (2008), Survivors (2008), Waterloo Road (2011), Wild at Heart (2012), Wolfblood (2012), Hollyoaks (2015-19) and Get Even (2020).
Facts
Andrew decided to become a director after narrowly avoiding plunging 3,000ft to his death from Mont Blanc.

Peter Bennett (producer)
Doctor Who credits
First assistant director: Bad Wolf/ The Parting of the Ways (2005), Attack of the Graske (2005), Tooth and Claw (2006), The Girl in the Fireplace (2006), The Idiot's Lantern (2006), Fear Her (2006), Torchwood: Everything Changes (2006), Torchwood: Day One (2006), The Runaway Bride (2006), Daleks in Manhattan/ Evolution of the Daleks (2007), The Sound of Drums/ Last of the Time Lords (2007), Voyage of the Damned (2007), The End of Time (2009-10)
Production manager: The Doctor's Daughter (2008), Midnight (2008), The Stolen Earth/ Journey's End (2008)
Produced: Torchwood: Children of Earth (Days 1-5) (2009), The Beast Below (2010), Victory of the Daleks (2010), The Hungry Earth/ Cold Blood (2010), The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang (2010), Listen (2014), Time Heist (2014), Kill the Moon (2014), Mummy on the Orient Express (2014), Dark Water/ Death in Heaven (2014), The Magician's Apprentice/ The Witch's Familiar (2015), The Zygon Invasion/ The Zygon Inversion (2015), Heaven Sent/ Hell Bent (2015), Friend from the Future (2016), The Return of Doctor Mysterio (2016), The Pilot (2017), Smile (2017), Extremis (2017), The Pyramid at the End of the World (2017), The Doctor Falls (2017), Twice Upon a Time (2017)
Career highlights
Peter has been working in television and film since debuting as an assistant director on Malachi's Cove in 1973. He also performed AD duties on The Awakening of Emily (1976), Orca (1977), International Velvet (1978), Moonraker (1979), Hart to Hart (1983), Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984), Ladyhawke (1985), A View to a Kill (1985), Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Highlander (1986), Inspector Morse (1987), The Princess Bride (1987), Forever Green (1992), Minder (1991-94), Wycliffe (1995), Pie in the Sky (1995-97), The Avengers (1998), The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), Sea of Souls (2004), Alexander (2004), Honest (2008), Sherlock (2012), Dream Horse (2020) and Grantchester (2021). Other roles include directing the 1997 series Brigitte and Friends (a chat show vehicle for Brigitte Nielsen), being production unit manager on For Your Eyes Only (1981), Mrs Caldicott's Cabbage War (2002) and Casualty (2013), and location manager for The Watcher in the Woods (1980), The Dogs of War (1980), Octopussy (1983), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Hostage (1992). Peter's other producing duties include Wizards vs Aliens (2013).

Awards

2010: BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Drama Series/ Serial (Torchwood: Children of Earth)

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