The Pilot

Stephanie Hyam as watery Heather

One episode (The Pilot)
First broadcast: Apr 15 2017
Average audience for story: 6.68m

REGULAR CAST

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

Matt Lucas (Nardole) Born Mar 5 1974 Click here for Matt Lucas's entry on The Husbands of River Song

Pearl Mackie (Bill Potts) Born May 29 1987
Doctor Who credits
Played: Bill Potts in Friend from the Future, The Pilot, Smile, Thin Ice, Knock Knock, Oxygen, Extremis, The Pyramid at the End of the World, The Lie of the Land, Empress of Mars, The Eaters of Light, World Enough and Time/ The Doctor Falls, Twice Upon a Time (2016-17)
Career highlights
Pearl's other screen work includes Svengali (2013), Doctors (2014), Adulting (2017), The Crystal Maze (2018), Urban Myths (2019), Greed (2019), Friday Night Dinner (2020), Sour Hall (2021), The Long Call (2021) and Tom Jones (2022).
Facts
Pearl can be seen as a clubber in the music video for Years & Years' Real (2014). Pearl's grandfather was prolific screenwriter Philip Mackie, who died before Pearl was born. Here she is on Twitter.

GUEST CAST

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

Jennifer Hennessy (Moira) Born 1970
Doctor Who credits
Played: Valerie in Gridlock (2007)
Played: Moira in The Pilot (2017), Extremis (2017)
Career highlights
Prolific character actress Jennifer made her debut in Pauline Calf's Wedding Video (1994), then took roles in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996), Undercover Heart (1998), Clocking Off (2000), Swallow (2001), Flesh and Blood (2002), The Office (2002), The Second Coming (2003), Emmerdale (2003), Conviction (2004), Green Wing (2006), Lilies (2007), Drop Dead Gorgeous (2006-07), The Cup (2008), Paradox (2009), Coronation Street (2009), Hollyoaks (2011), South Riding (2011), Marchlands (2011), Psychoville (2011), Shameless (2012), Foyle's War (2013), Wizards vs Aliens (2012-13), Utopia (2014), The Passing Bells (2014), Vera (2015), Rough and Ready (2015), Dickensian (2015-16), No Offence (2017), The A Word (2017), Roadkill (2020) and Rules of the Game (2022).
Facts
Jennifer was a member of the St Winifred's School Choir which scored a UK Christmas number one single in 1980 with There's No One Quite Like Grandma (warning: this link may make you ill).

Stephanie Hyam (Heather) Born 1990
Doctor Who credits
Played: Heather in The Pilot, The Doctor Falls (both 2017)
Career highlights
Stephanie debuted in Murdered By My Boyfriend (2014), followed by roles in Jekyll & Hyde (2015), Sherlock (2016), Peaky Blinders (2016), Their Finest (2016), Bodyguard (2018), Wasteland (2018), A Confession (2019) and Hullraisers (2022).
Facts
Here she is on Twitter!

CREW

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

Lawrence Gough (director)
Doctor Who credits
Directed: Friend from the Future (2016), The Pilot (2017), Smile (2017)
Career highlights
Lawrence's first directing work was on a series of short films, including 2003's Beating the Dog, The Replacement (2005) and Gatecrash (2009). He has also worked on Salvage (2009), Maru (2009-11), Saor Sinn o Olc (2011), Hollyoaks (2012-13), Misfits (2013), Atlantis (2015), The Aliens (2016), Snatch (2017), Bancroft (2020) and The Last Bus (2022). He has also written many of the short films he's directed, as well as episodes of Maru and Saor Sinn o Olc.

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

Nick Lambon (script editor) Click here for Nick Lambon's entry on Under the Lake