Tuesday, December 22, 2015

The Rings of Akhaten

A grieving Clara (Jenna Coleman) at
her mother's grave with father Dave
(Michael Dixon)
One episode (The Rings of Akhaten)
First broadcast Apr 6 2013
Average audience for story: 7.45m + 2.31m iPlayer = 9.76m

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

Chris Anderson (The Chorister) Born 1983
Career highlights
Chris debuted in the short Sold (2005), then appeared in Doctors (2006/12/18), Rome (2007), The Nightclub (2009), Murder on the Blackpool Express (2017), Emmerdale (2018) and Coronation Street (2018/22). He also provides voice work for various video games.
Facts
As well as being able to act and sing, Chris is also an experienced professional DJ, having had residencies in London, Ibiza and Mumbai.

Aidan Cook (The Mummy)
Doctor Who credits
Played: The Mummy in The Rings of Akhaten (2013)
Played: The Crooked Man in Hide (2013)
Played: Cyberman in Nightmare in Silver (2013), The Time of the Doctor (2013)
Played: Zygon in The Day of the Doctor (2013), The Zygon Invasion/ The Zygon Inversion (2015)
Played: The Vlinx in The Giggle (2023)
Career highlights
Aidan started out as one of the animatronics operators on children's series Fimbles in 2002, for which he also provided voice work. He was also movement director on the 2009 adaptation of The Day of the Triffids, and was the children's acting coach on the 2011 film Horrid Henry (he also provided various voices for the TV series (2006-19)). Further acting work includes Jackanory (1982/84), Mack the Knife (1989), ChuckleVision (1998), Sir Gadabout, the Worst Knight in the Land (2002), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), Warrioress (2011), Restless (2012), Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 (2013), Star Wars: Rogue One (2016), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Andor (2022) and Willow (2022).

Michael Dixon (Dave) Born 1983
Career highlights
Debuted in the 2004 short Cashback, followed by Mile High (2004), Alexander (2004), Holby City (2006), Dream Team 80s (2006), Coronation Street (2006/17), Cashback (2006), Act of Grace (2008), Blue Murder (2009), Megapython vs Gatoroid (2011), The Tree of Life (2011), I Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013), Humans (2015), Gridiron UK (2016) and Impact of Murder (2019). He also had two recurring roles in soap Hollyoaks, as D.S Richie Trent (2013) and Jay Johnson (2018). Michael also wrote, directed and produced the 2014 short film Game of Throne.
Facts
Michael's mother is one-time beauty queen - Miss Granada TV 1973, no less! - Marcelline Dixon, while his brother is singer songwriter Geoff Dixon, who has performed with acts such as The Ice Factory in support of Blur.

Karl Greenwood (Dor'een)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Cyberman in Rise of the Cybermen/ The Age of Steel (2006, uncredited), Army of Ghosts/ Doomsday (2006, uncredited), The Next Doctor (2008, uncredited)
Played: Ood in The Impossible Planet/ The Satan Pit (2006, uncredited)
Played: Judoon in Smith and Jones (2007, uncredited)
Played: Extra in The Shakespeare Code (2007, uncredited)
Played: Pig slave in Daleks in Manhattan/ Evolution of the Daleks (2007, uncredited)
Played: The Host in Voyage of the Damned (2007, uncredited)
Played: General monster in The End of Time (2009-10, uncredited)
Played: Winder in The Beast Below (2010, uncredited)
Played: Dor'een in The Rings of Akhaten (2013)
Karl also performed various monsters in the 2010 Doctor Who Live theatre tour
Career highlights
Karl - aka Feth Greenwood - has also appeared in Being Human (2013) and Knight of the Dead (2013).
Facts
Karl can also play bass guitar and violin, and has performed in fire shows, on stilts and trapeze. He has also worked in timber extraction using horses. His passion for stunts and horses combined when he set up the Stampede Stunt Company, a horse stunt team for jousting and trick riding which he runs with his wife Zana.

Emilia Jones (Merry) Born Feb 23 2002
Career highlights
Emilia's breakthrough role was as the young Sarah Frobisher-Smythe in House of Anubis (2011), followed by roles in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), One Day (2011), Utopia (2013-14), Wolf Hall (2015), Residue (2015), High-Rise (2016), Brimstone (2016), Horrible Histories: The Movie (2019) and CODA (2021). She also plays the regular role of Kinsey Locke in Locke & Key (2020-22).
Facts
Emilia's father is former child singer and now TV presenter Aled Jones (of Walking in the Air fame).

Nicola Sian (Ellie) Born Sep 30 1988
Doctor Who credits
Played: Ellie Oswald in The Bells of Saint John prelude, The Rings of Akhaten (both 2013)
Career highlights
Nicola's other work includes Doctors (2012/16), The Guilty (2013), Blue Borsalino (2015) and Father Brown (2017). Between 2017-19 she played Nicola Rubinstein in almost 100 episodes of soap Coronation Street. Since 2020 she has also worked as an occasional broadcaster on This Morning.
Facts
Since 2014 she has been credited as Nicola Thorp. In 2016, Nicola hit the headlines when she revealed she was made to wear high heels by her temping agency while working at PriceWaterhouseCooper. The issue was even discussed by a Parliamentary select committee. In 2018, Nicola was one of a group of celebrities who released the charity song Rock with Rudolph in aid of Great Ormond Children's Hospital (it reached number 2 on the iTunes pop chart). In 2018, Nicola admitted to having been so depressed in the past that she had a nervous breakdown in 2012. She has also been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Nicola on Twitter.

CREW

Neil Cross (writer) Born Feb 9 1969
Doctor Who credits
Wrote: The Rings of Akhaten (2013), Hide (2013)
Career highlights
Neil's earliest script writing credit was as the creator of The Fixer (2008), although there had been an adaptation of his novel Mr In-between in 2001. Other work includes eight episodes of Spooks between 2006-08, Whistle and I'll Come to You (2010), Mama (2013), Crossbones (2014, also creator), Luther (2010-21, also creator), Hard Sun (2018, also creator), The Sister (2020, also creator) and The Mosquito Coast (2021-22, also creator). He has also worked as an executive producer on several of these programmes.
Awards
2012: Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series (Luther) - with Katie Swinden
Facts
Neil lives in Wellington, New Zealand. He was offered showrunner duties on Marvel's The Defenders and Daredevil, but declined both. Neil has written several novels, including Always the Sun (long-listed for the 2004 Man Booker Prize), Burial (2009, which became the TV series The Sister) and Captured (2010).

Farren Blackburn (director)
Doctor Who credits
Directed: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (and its prelude) (2011), The Rings of Akhaten (2013)
Career highlights
Debuted as a director on shorts Looters (2000) and The Game (2000), before securing work on Panorama (2004), Waterloo Road (2007), Doctors (2005-07), Rock Rivals (2008), Holby City (2007-09), Survivors (2010), The Fades (2011), Hammer of the Gods (2013), Luther (2013), Daredevil (2015), The Interceptor (2015), Iron Fist (2017), The Defenders (2017), The Innocents (2018), A Discovery of Witches (2021) and Dream On (2022). Farren also executive produced The Innocents and A Discovery of Witches.
Awards
2012: BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Series (The Fades) - shared with production team
Facts
As a young man Farren was on the books of Cambridge United FC and represented England at youth level. He is married to actress Verona Joseph, who appeared in Partners in Crime (2008). Here he is on Twitter.

Denise Paul (producer) Click here for Denise Paul's entry on Closing Time

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.

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