Cold War

Clara's new ear muffs didn't suit her

One episode (Cold War)
First broadcast Apr 13 2013
Average audience for story: 7.37m + 1.95m iPlayer = 9.32m

REGULAR CAST

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

Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald) Born Apr 27 1986 Click here for Jenna Coleman's entry on Asylum of the Daleks

GUEST CAST

Charlie Anson (Belevich) Born 1980
Career highlights
Born in Switzerland to British parents, Charlie debuted in Rome (2007), then Doctors (2009), Any Human Heart (2010), The Borgias (2011), The Power of Three (2011), By Any Means (2013), Peaky Blinders (2014), X Company (2015), Downton Abbey (2012-15), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016), Reg (2016), The Legend of Tarzan (2016), Collateral (2018), London Kills (2019), Riviera (2019), The Mallorca Files (2019), Get Even (2020), The Long Call (2021) and Death on the Nile (2022).
Facts
Charlie also runs Charlie's Cartoons, which provides bespoke personal gifts using caricatures and cartoons (he once pitched the business idea on Dragons' Den). Here's Charlie on Twitter.

Nicholas Briggs (Voice of Skaldak) Born Sep 29 1961 Click here for Nicholas Briggs' entry on Rose

Liam Cunningham (Captain Zhukov) Born Jun 2 1961
Career highlights
Debuted in Into the West (1992), followed by roles in Poor Beast in the Rain (1993), War of the Buttons (1994), First Knight (1995), Cracker (1995), Jude (1996), Police 2020 (1997), When the Sky Falls (2000), Attila (2001), Dog Soldiers (2002), Prime Suspect 6 (2003), The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (2005), Hotel Babylon (2006), Murphy's Law (2006), Northanger Abbey (2007), The Catherine Tate Show (2007), Hunger (2008), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), Harry Brown (2009), Centurion (2010), Clash of the Titans (2010), Outcasts (2011), Camelot (2011), War Horse (2011), Merlin (2012), The Musketeers (2015), Pursuit (2015), Electric Dreams (2017), The Hot Zone (2019), The Vault (2021), Domina (2021), Impact Winter (2022) and The Last Voyage of Demeter (2023). He also played Chris in Roughnecks (1994-95), but is most recognised for playing Davos Seaworth in 42 episodes of Game of Thrones (2012-19). He also directed three episodes of The Clinic in 2005.

Awards

2007: Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor on a Supporting Role in a Film (The Wind That Shakes the Barley)

2009: Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor on a Supporting Role in a Film (Hunger)

2018: Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor on a Supporting Role - Drama (Game of Thrones)
Facts
Irishman Liam, who started out as an electrician in Zimbabwe before going into acting, auditioned for the role of the Eighth Doctor in 1996 after being recommended by director David Puttnam. He appeared in the 2013 music video for Kodaline's High Hopes. Here he is on Twitter.

Tobias Menzies (Lieutenant Stepashin) Born Mar 7 1974
Career highlights
Tobias debuted as Frank Gallagher in Casualty in 1998 and 2000, then secured work in Summer in the Suburbs (2000), Midsomer Murders (2000), The Low Down (2000), Ultimate Force (2002), Finding Neverland (2004), Casino Royale (2006), Atonement (2007), Bonekickers (2008), Spooks (2009), The Deep (2010), The Shadow Line (2011), Eternal Law (2012), The Thick of It (2012), Black Mirror (2013), Black Sea (2014), The Night Manager (2016), Una (2016), The Terror (2018), Catastrophe (2015-19), Carmilla (2019), This Way Up (2019-21), Modern Love (2021) and Made is Oslo (2022). Regular roles include Marcus Junius Brutus in Rome (2005-07), Jack and Frank Randall in Outlander (2015-18), Edmure Tully in Game of Thrones (2013-19) and the Duke of Edinburgh in The Crown (2019-20).

Awards

2021: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (The Crown)
Facts
Here's Tobias on Twitter.

James Norton (Onegin) Born Jul 18 1985
Career highlights
James debuted in An Education (2009), then Restless (2012), Blandings (2013), Rush (2013), Death Comes to Pemberley (2013), Mr Turner (2014), Bonobo (2014), Life in Squares (2015), Lady Chatterley's Lover (2015), War and Peace (2016), Black Mirror (2016), Hampstead (2017), Flatliners (2017), McMafia (2018), Mr Jones (2019), Little Women (2019), Unprecedented (2020) and The Nevers (2021-22). Regular roles include Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley (2014-22) and Sidney Chambers in Grantchester (2014-19).
Facts
Here he is on Twitter.

Josh O'Connor (Piotr) Born May 20 1990
Career highlights
Debuted in Lewis (2012), then The Magnificent Eleven (2013), The Wipers Times (2013), Amorous (2014), The Riot Club (2014), Peaky Blinders (2014), Ripper Street (2014), The Riot Club (2014), Cinderella (2015), Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), God's Own Country (2017), Only You (2018), Les Miserables (2019), Hope Gap (2019) and Mothering Sunday (2021). Josh regularly played Lawrence Durrell in The Durrells (2016-19) and Prince Charles in The Crown (2019-20).

Awards

2017: British Independent Film Award for Best Actor (God's Own Country)

2019: British Independent Film Award for Best Actor (Only You)

2021: Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama (The Crown)

2021: Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (The Crown)
Facts
Here's Josh on Twitter.

David Warner (Professor Grisenko) Jul 29 1941 to Jul 24 2022 (cancer)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Lord Azlok (voice) in Dreamland (2009)
Played: Professor Grisenko in Cold War (2013)
Career highlights
David made his credited screen debut in 1963's The Madhouse on Castle Street, then appeared in Tom Jones (1963), The Fixer (1968), Perfect Friday (1970), Straw Dogs (1971), A Doll's House (1973), From Beyond the Grave (1974), Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (1974), Mr Quilp (1975), The Omen (1976), Holocaust (1978), Nightwing (1979), Masada (1981), Time Bandits (1981), Nancy Astor (1982), TRON (1982), Marco Polo (1982-83), The Man with Two Brains (1983), Remington Steele (1983), Hart to Hart (1983), The Company of Wolves (1984), A Christmas Carol (1984), Frankenstein (1984), Hold the Back Page (1985-86), Waxwork (1988), Hostile Takeover (1988), Twin Peaks (1991), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992), Wild Palms (1993), Necronomicon: Book of Dead (1993), Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1994), Babylon 5 (1994), Signs and Wonders (1995), The Choir (1995), Batman: The Animated Series (1992-95), Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus (1996), Titanic (1997), Scream 2 (1997), The Last Leprachaun (1998), Total Recall 2070 (1999), Shergar (1999), The Hunger (1999), Hornblower (2001), Planet of the Apes (2001), Conviction (2004), The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (2005), Sensitive Skin (2005), Hogfather (2006), Albert's Memorial (2009), Wallander (2008-15), Black Death (2010), Mad Dogs (2012), Before I Sleep (2013), Penny Dreadful (2014), Inside No 9 (2015), Lewis (2015), Ripper Street (2016), You, Me and Him (2017) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018).

Awards

1981: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Special (Masada)
Facts
In 2003, David played an alternative version of the Doctor in the Big Finish audio Sympathy for the Devil. David was originally cast to play Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, but dropped out due to scheduling issues.

Spencer Wilding (Skaldak) Born Jul 26 1972
Doctor Who credits
Played: The Creature (minotaur) in The God Complex (2011)
Played: Wooden King in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (2011)
Played: Skaldak in Cold War (2013)

Played: Quill Goddess in Class: The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did (2016)
Played: Lead Dreg in Orphan 55 (2020)
Career highlights
At two metres (6ft 7in) high, Spencer specialises in playing creatures and supernatural beings. He started out playing a werewolf in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), after which he appeared in The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Batman Begins (2005), Eragon (2006), Stardust (2007), The Golden Compass (2007), The Wolfman (2010), Game of Thrones (2011), Wrath of the Titans (2012), Atlantis (2013), The Legend of Hercules (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Jupiter Ascending (2015), Pan (2015), Victor Frankenstein (2015), Men in Black International (2019) and Hobbs & Shaw (2019). He also played Darth Vader in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).
Facts
Spencer is on Twitter. He was once crowned British/ Welsh kickboxing champion. To see a photo of 6ft 7in Spencer with 7ft actor Phill Martin and 3ft 8in Jimmy Vee (also a Doctor Who alumni), click here.

CREW

Mark Gatiss (writer) Born Oct 17 1966 Click here for Mark Gatiss's entry on The Unquiet Dead

Douglas Mackinnon (director)
Doctor Who credits
Directed: The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky (2008), The Power of Three (2012), Cold War (2013), Listen (2014), Time Heist (2014), Flatline (2014), The Husbands of River Song (2015)
Career highlights
Douglas started out as a director on London's Burning in the early 1990s, then worked on The Bill (1994-95), Thief Takers (1996), The Grand (1997), Gentlemen's Relish (2001), Nice Guy Eddie (2001-02), Murder in Suburbia (2004), The Last Detective (2003/07), Jekyll (2007), Robin Hood (2009), Silent Witness (2004/13), Line of Duty (2012/14), Outlander (2015), Sherlock (2016), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2017), Knightfall (2017-18) and Good Omens (2019-22). He also wrote and directed the short Sealladh (1992) and Calum Dongle (2011).

Awards

2016: BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Directing in Film or Television (Sherlock)

2020: Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form (Good Omens) - shared with Neil Gaiman
Facts
Here he is on Twitter.

Marcus Wilson (producer) Born Jul 4 1973 Click here for Marcus Wilson's entry on The Impossible Astronaut

John Phillips (Assistant script editor)
Doctor Who credits
Assistant script editor: Asylum of the Daleks, The Power of Three, The Angels Take Manhattan, The Snowmen, The Bells of Saint John, The Rings of Akhaten, Cold War, Hide, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, The Crimson Horror, Nightmare in Silver (2012-13)
Script editor: The Name of the Doctor (2013)
Career highlights
John has also acted as production associate on Lip Service (2012) and MI High (2013), and script editor on Midsomer Murders (2013-14), Our Zoo (2014) and The Job Lot (2014). As a producer, he has worked on Lucky Man (2017), Endeavour (2018), Origin (2018) and Three Pines (2022).
Facts
In 2011 John gave some advice on script editing to The Ideas Tap.