The Magician's Apprentice/ The Witch's Familiar

Davros (Julian Bleach) made a triumphant
return in The Magician's Apprentice

Two episodes (The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar)
First broadcast Sep 19 to 26 2015
Average audience for story: 6.13m

REGULAR CAST

Peter Capaldi (The Doctor) Born Apr 14 1958 Click here for Peter Capaldi's entry on The Fires of Pompeii

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

GUEST CAST

Stefan Adegbola (Newsreader)

Career highlights
Stefan's other work includes The Merchant of Venice (2016), Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley (2021) and Abraham Lincoln (2022).

India Ria Amarteifio (Alison) Born Sep 17 2001
Career highlights
India made her debut in Gangsta Granny (2013), then appeared in The Interceptor (2015), Hank Zipzer (2015), Fungus the Bogeyman (2015), Line of Duty (2017), The Tunnel (2017-18), Sex Education (2019) and The Midwich Cuckoos (2022). India also played Lacie Fairburn in 32 episodes of The Evermoor Chronicles (2015-17).

Dasharn Anderson (Ryan) Born May 18 2001
Career highlights
Dasharn's other credits include Truckers (2013) and 46 episodes of Hetty Feather (2015-20) as Gideon Smeed.

Harki Bhambra (Mike Jameson) Born Mar 7 1985
Career highlights
Harki's further work includes Londongrad (2015), Drifters (2015), Hospital People (2016), Vera (2020), Endeavour (2020), Call the Midwife (2021), Coronation Street (2020-21), This is Going to Hurt (2022) and The Good Kharma Hospital (2022). Harki's enjoyed regular roles as Jaz in Two Doors Down (2016) and Rab in Our Girl (2017-18).
Facts
You might spot him in this 2015 commercial for Travelodge. Here's his Twitter feed.

Julian Bleach (Davros) Born Dec 29 1963
Doctor Who credits
Played: Ghostmaker in Torchwood: From Out of the Rain (2008)
Played: Davros in The Stolen Earth/ Journey's End (2008), The Magician's Apprentice/ The Witch's Familiar (2015)
Played: The Nightmare Man in The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Nightmare Man (2010)
Julian also played Davros at the 2009 Doctor Who Prom
Career highlights
Julian's earliest screen credit is for The Fool (1990), followed by Beg! (1994), Topsy-Turvy (1999), The Brothers Grimm (2005), The Fall (2006), Frankenstein (2007), Criminal Justice (2008), Psychoville (2010), Les Miserables (2012), Ripper Street (2012), The Fallen Word (2013), This is Jinsy (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), MindGamers (2015), The Grinning Man (2016), Close to the Enemy (2016), Emerald City (2017) and Halo (2022). He also played The Grand Master in 29 episodes of MI High (2008-13), Niccolo Machiavelli in The Borgias (2011-13) and Dracula in Heirs of the Night (2019-20).
Facts
Julian co-devised the musical Shockheaded Peter in 2002, which won the 2002 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. Julian is one of very few actors to have credited roles in Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

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

Benjamin Cawley (Kanzo)
Career highlights
Benjamin's other work includes Crossing Lines (2014), Christmas Eve (2015), Shetland (2016), The Pact (2017) and Fine-Toothed Festivities (2021).
Facts
Here's Benjamin on Twitter.

Shin-Fei Chen (Newsreader)
Career highlights
Debuted in South Paw (2014), then Faa IheIhe (2014), Chinese Girls in London (2016), Bulletproof (2020), Trying (2022) and Folding (2022). Chinese-born Shin-Fei was also a producer and writer of Chinese Girls in London.

Barnaby Edwards (Dalek operator) Born Aug 20 1969 Click here for Barnaby Edwards' entry on Dalek

Michelle Gomez (Missy) Born Nov 23 1966 Click here for Michelle Gomez's entry on Deep Breath

Jaye Griffiths (Jac) Born Sep 24 1963
Doctor Who credits
Played: Jac in The Magician's Apprentice (2015), The Zygon Invasion (2015)
Career highlights
Jaye made her credited debut in 1987's A Killing on the Exchange, after which she appeared in Damon and Debbie (1987), Rockcliffe's Babies (1988), Hard Cases (1988), Moon and Son (1992), Drop the Dead Donkey (1993), Peak Practice (1993), Between the Lines (1992-93), Love Hurts (1994), Unfinished Business (1998-99), Care (2000), Rocket Man (2005), Criminal Justice (2008), A Touch of Frost (2010), Skins (2011), Coronation Street (2011), Sherlock (2012), Wizards vs Aliens (2013), EastEnders (2015), Midsomer Murders (2019), Cursed (2020), The Outpost (2020-21) and Vera (2022). She has had a number of regular roles, including Jenny Wendle in Weirdsister College (2001-02), Sally Johnson in more than 70 episodes of The Bill (1991-95/2003), Dr Elizabeth Croft in more than 70 episodes of Doctors (2006), Janet Mander in Silent Witness (2008-12) and Elle Gardner in almost 100 episodes of Casualty (2016-19), but it is for her role as Ros Henderson in Bugs (1995-99) that she may be best remembered. She also presented two children's series, Watch and Storytime.
Facts
In 2013, Jaye appeared on Celebrity Mastermind, and her specialist subject was the life and career of racing driver Ayrton Senna (she came joint second).

Clare Higgins (Ohila) Born Nov 10 1955
Doctor Who credits
Played: Ohila in The Night of the Doctor (2013), The Magician's Apprentice and its prologue (2015), Hell Bent (2015)
Career highlights
Clare debuted in a 1980 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, followed by roles in The Citadel (1983), Mitch (1984), Cover Her Face (1985), Hideaway (1986), Hellraiser (1987), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), After the War (1989), Bad Behaviour (1993), Fatherland (1994), Silent Witness (1996), The House of Mirth (2000), Stage Beauty (2004), Goldplated (2006), The Golden Compass (2007), The Curse of Steptoe (2008), Being Human (2009), Toast (2010), The Syndicate (2012), Parade's End (2012), Shameless (2012), Downton Abbey (2012), Homefront (2012), Rogue (2014), EastEnders (2015), Ready Player One (2018), The Bisexual (2018), Into the Badlands (2018-19), Trying (2020) and Dangerous Liaisons (2022). She also played Miss Cackle in 52 episodes of The Worst Witch (2017-20).
Awards
1994: London Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress (Sweet Bird of Youth & The Children's Hour)

1995: Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play (Sweet Bird of Youth)

2002: London Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress (Vincent in Brixton)

2002: London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress (Vincent in Brixton) 
2003: Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play (Vincent in Brixton)
2005: Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play (Hecuba)
Facts
As a child, Clare was expelled from convent school, and ran away from home aged 17. At 19, she gave birth to a son who she gave up for adoption, but was reunited with him in 2005, when he was aged 31. Clare is also a trained massage therapist and psychotherapist. She was once married to actor Clive Wood, who appeared in The Pandorica Opens.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill (Bors) Born 1976
Doctor Who credits
Played: Bors in The Doctor's Meditation (2015, uncredited), The Magician's Apprentice (2015)
Career highlights
Debuted in My Last Five Girlfriends (2009), then Kill Keith (2011), The Job Lot (2015), Galavant (2015-16), Alice Through the Looking-Glass (2016), The Cleansing Hour (2019), Dolittle (2020), The Nevers (2021) and Sherwood (2022).
Facts
6ft 6in Daniel is one-quarter of the comedy troupe This Glorious Monster. His partner is actor Eva-Jane Willis. Here he is on Twitter.

Kelly Hunter (Shadow Architect) Born Jul 21 1963
Doctor Who credits
Played: Shadow Architect in The Stolen Earth (2008), The Magician's Apprentice (2015)
Career highlights
Debuted in Agony (1981), then Supergirl (1984), Boon (1989), The House of Eliott (1991), Prime Suspect 3 (1993), Resort to Murder (1995), Soldier Soldier (1996), The Vice (2001), Vanity Fair (2004), Bleak House (2005), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Waking the Dead (2008) and Silent Witness (1996/2018). She also narrated several episodes of science series Horizon (2010-13).

Awards

2019: Member of the order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to theatre
Facts
Kelly is also a director and acting tutor, specialising in introducing Shakespeare to children to unlock the communicative blocks of autism (the Hunter Heartbeat Method). Her mother is actress Maria Charles (best known as the overbearing mother in sitcom Agony), while her father was actor Robin Hunter, son of actor Ian Hunter. Kelly was married to theatre director Simon Usher. Here's her Twitter account.

Aaron Neil (Mr Dunlop)

Doctor Who credits

Played: Mr Dunlop in The Magician's Apprentice (2015)

Played: Varun Singh in Class: For Tonight We Might Die, Class: The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo, Class: Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart, Class: Brave-ish Heart, Class: The Lost (all 2016)

Career highlights
Debuted in Harold Shipman: Doctor Death (2002), then State of Play (2003), The Grid (2004), Spooks (2006), The Time of Your Life (2007), White Girl (2008), Five Days (2010), Hunted (2012), Quirke (2014), Honour (2014), Tracey Ullman's Show (2016-18), The Promise (2016), Paddington 2 (2017), Warren (2019), The Hustle (2019), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Home (2019-20), Inside No 9 (2021), Landscapers (2021) and Worzel Gummidge (2021).
Facts
Here's Aaron on Twitter.

Lucy Newman-Williams (Newsreader)
Career highlights
American Lucy's other work includes The Wire (2002), A Dirty Shame (2004), Doctors (2012), Red Dwarf (2012), Survivor (2015), Everest (2015), London Has Fallen (2016), The Crown (2019), Riviera (2020), The Serpent (2021) and Escape Room 2 (2021).

Jonathon Ojinnake (Soldier)
Career highlights
Jonathon debuted in Shameless (2011), then Scott and Bailey (2011), The Caravan (2015), Paranoid (2016), The Worst Witch (2017), Pitching In (2019) and Vera (2022).
Facts
Jonathon was one of the dancers in the music video for Sexy Chick by David Guetta and Akon (2009). Here he is on Twitter.

Nicholas Pegg (Dalek operator) Click here for Nicholas Pegg's entry on Bad Wolf

Joey Price (Boy [Young Davros]) Born 2003
Career highlights
Other work includes The Great Fire (2014), The Enfield Haunting (2015), Mr Selfridge (2016) and Bitter Harvest (2017).

Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart) Born Jan 14 1965 Click here for Jemma Redgrave's entry on The Power of Three

Jami Reid-Quarrell (Colony Sarff) Born Jan 20 1978
Doctor Who credits
Played: Colony Sarff in The Magician's Apprentice/ The Witch's Familiar (2015)
Played: Veil in Heaven Sent (2015)
Played: Wraith in Hell Bent (2015)

Played: The Inspector in Class: The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo (2016)
Career highlights
Jami's other work includes Bunnytown (2007), Red Dwarf (2016), Zapped (2018) and Luther (2019). He is an accomplished stage aerialist and physical performer. His acrobatic skills can also be seen in the music video for Depeche Mode's Fragile Tension (2009). Other music video appearances include the Spice Girls' Who Do You Think You Are? (1996) and Boy Kill Boy's No Conversation (2008).

Facts
In 1997, Jami slept rough on the streets of New York City while pursuing an acting career. Here's Jami on Twitter.

CREW

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

Hettie MacDonald (director) Born 1962
Doctor Who credits
Directed: Blink (2007), The Magician's Apprentice/ The Witch's Familiar + prologue (2015)
Career highlights
Hettie's directing debut came with the feature film Beautiful Thing (1996, she also directed the stage play in 1994), followed by Casualty (1997), Where the Heart Is (1998), Servants (2003), Banglatown Banquet (2006), White Girl (2008), Wallander (2010), Lewis (2011), The Tunnel (2013), Fortitude (2015-17), Howards End (2017) and Normal People (2020).

Awards

1996: Paris Film Festival Grand Prix Winner (Beautiful Thing)

2008: Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form (Doctor Who) - shared with Steven Moffat

2009: BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama (White Girl) - shared with Abi Morgan, Andrew Woodhead and Greg Brenman

Peter Bennett (producer) Click here for Peter Bennett's entry on The Beast Below