Wish World/ The Reality War

The Doctor's granddaughter,
Susan. Remember Susan?

Two episodes (Wish World, The Reality War)

First broadcast: May 24-31 2025
Audience for story: 3.15m

REGULAR CAST

Ncuti Gatwa (The Doctor) Born Oct 15 1992 Click here for Ncuti Gatwa's entry on The Giggle

Varada Sethu (Belinda Chandra) Born May 12 1992 Click here for Varada Sethu's entry on Boom

Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday) Born Jun 19 2004 Click here for Millie Gibson's entry on The Church on Ruby Road

GUEST CAST

Nila Aalia (Lakshmi Chandra)

Doctor Who credits

Played: Flying instructor in Torchwood: Out of Time (2006, uncredited)

Played: Lakshmi Chandra in Wish World/ The Reality War (2025)

Career highlights

After debuting in Spooks (2004), African-born Nila appeared in If... (2005), Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee (2005), EastEnders (2005), Taggart (2006), Five Days (2007), Outnumbered (2008), Whitechapel (2010), Scott & Bailey (2012), The Rebel (2016), Wolfblood (2016-17), A Discovery of Witches (2018), I Hate Suzie (2020), Black Narcissus (2020), Professor T (2021), Halo (2022) and The Wheel of Time (2023-25). She regularly played Bel Roy in soap Hollyoaks (2008-09).

Leni Adams (Violett Zufall) Born Jun 16 1985

Career highlights

Debuted in Halbe Hundert (2012), followed by Voyage (2013), Manhunt: Escape to the Carpathians (2016), Forget About Nick (2017), Professor T (2019), Im Schatten das Licht (2020), Divertimento (2020), The Three Detectives (2023) and Die Bergretter (2023). Between 2012-21, German Leni was credited as Leni Speidel.

Atilla Akinci (Otto Zufall) Born 1987

Career highlights

German Atilla debuted in the 2017 short film Audiophile, followed by Killing Eve (2018), Nazi Megastructures (2019), Sex Education (2021), No Return (2022), Ghosts (2022), The Famous Five (2024) and Paddington in Peru (2024). He also provides voicework for many videogames, such as Glam Pursuit (2023), Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (2024) and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden (2024).

Hermon Berhane (Val Balham) Born 1983

Career highlights

Hermon, who is deaf, runs a lifestyle blog with her deaf twin sister Heroda called Being Her. Both siblings (as well as their brother) became deaf in what they call "strange circumstances" while playing outside at the age of seven in their home in Eritrea: "One moment we could hear, the next we couldn't."

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

Aidan Cook (The Vlinx) Click here for Aidan Cook's entry on The Rings of Akhaten

Alexander Devrient (Colonel Ibrahim)

Played: Colonel Christopher Ibrahim in The Giggle (2023), The Legend of Ruby Sunday/ Empire of Death (2024), Lucky Day (2025), Wish World/ The Reality War (2025)

Career highlights

German/ French actor Alexander made his screen debut in the 2010 short Detente, followed by We are What We Drink (2010), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), Voodoo Magic (2013), Emmerdale (2014), The Danish Girl (2015), SS-GB (2017), Genius (2018), The Bureau (2018), Industry (2020), Motherland (2021), Ted Lasso (2021), All the Old Knives (2022) and The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself (2022).

Steph de Whalley (Anita Benn) Born 1988

Doctor Who credits

Played: Anita Benn in Joy to the World (2024), The Reality War (2025)

Career highlights

Steph debuted in The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael (2005), then Cyber Bride (2019) and Midnight Taxi (2024).

Anita Dobson (Mrs Flood) Born Apr 29 1949 Click here for Anita Dobson's entry on The Church on Ruby Road

Yasmin Finney (Rose Noble) Born Aug 30 2003

Doctor Who credits

Played: Rose Noble in The Star Beast (2023), The Giggle (2023), The Legend of Ruby Sunday/ Empire of Death (2024), Wish World/ The Reality War (2025)

Career highlights

Yasmin rose to prominence playing Elle Argent in the series Heartstopper (2022), and has also appeared in the short film Mars (2022).

Facts

Yasmin is a trans woman.

Carole Ann Ford (Susan) Born Jun 16 1940 For a full career biography for Carole Ann Ford, click here.

Michelle Greenidge (Carla) Born Jun 15 1970 Click here for Michelle Greenidge's entry on The Church on Ruby Road

Jonathan Groff (Rogue) Born Mar 26 1985

Doctor Who credits

Played: Rogue in Rogue (2024), Wish World (2025)

Career highlights

Making his screen debut playing Henry Mackler in US soap One Life to Live (2007), Jonathan's CV includes roles in Pretty/ Handsome (2008), Taking Woodstock (2009), The Conspirator (2010), The Good Wife (2012), Boss (2012), Frozen (2013, as the voice of Kristoff), The Normal Heart (2014), American Sniper (2014), The Simpsons (2018), Frozen 2 (2019), Hamilton (2020), Invincible (2021), The Matrix Resurrections (2021), And Just Like That (2022), Lost Ollie (2022), Knock at the Cabin (2023) and A Nice Indian Boy (2024). Further recurring roles include Jesse St James in Glee (2010-15), Patrick Murray in Looking (2014-16) and Holden Ford in Mindhunter (2017-19).

Awards

2014: Behind the Voice Award for Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film (Frozen) - shared with cast

2016: Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album (Hamilton) - shared with cast

2018: Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Series, Drama/ Genre (Mindhunter)

Facts

While filming the dance routine to Bohemian Rhapsody in Glee, Jonathan sustained a 5-inch scar on his bicep after being wounded by his dance partner's stiletto! Jonathan has been romantically linked to actor Zachary Quinto, actor Gavin Creel and choreographer Corey Baker. When he was in his early 20s, Jonathan was diagnosed with melanoma and underwent surgery to remove it. He is an advocate of transcendental meditation.

Jonah Hauer-King (Conrad Clark) Born May 30 1995

Doctor Who credits

Played: Conrad Clark in Lucky Day (2025), Wish World/ The Reality War (2025)

Career highlights

Jonah's TV debut came in 2017's The Last Photograph, followed by roles in Howards End (2017), Little Women (2017), Postcards from London (2018), Old Boys (2018), Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar (2019), The Flatshare (2022), The Little Mermaid (2023), World on Fire (2019-23), The Tattooist of Auschwitz (2024), William Tell (2024) and The Threesome (2025).

Facts

Jonah's mother is producer Debra Hauer. Jonah also wrote and performed the song Lover (Muse) for the BFI's Postcards from London soundtrack.

Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush) Born Jul 22 1964 Click here for Bonnie Langford's entry on The Trial of a Time Lord Parts 9-12

Sam Lawton (Winnie Petheridge)

Career highlights

Other work includes Silent Witness (2012) and You Don't Know Me (2021).

Josephine Lloyd-Welcome (Devika Babu) Born Apr 1949

Career highlights

Josephine made her first screen appearance in Couples (1976), followed by roles in Doctor on the Go (1977), Angels (1979), Agony (1980), Tenko (1982), The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Brookside (1984), CATS Eyes (1986), Only Fools and Horses (1989), Love Hurts (1994), Dangerfield (1995), EastEnders (1996), Ideal (2007-10), Not Going Out (2012), Goldie's Oldies (2021) and The Cleaner (2024).

Facts

Josephine is married to Rick Lloyd, an original member of the Flying Pickets which had a UK number 1 hit with Only You (alongside Delta and the Bannermen actor Brian Hibbard).

Ruth Madeley (Shirley Anne Bingham) Born Aug 4 1987 Click here for Ruth Madeley's entry on The Star Beast

Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps (Poppy)

Played: Poppy in Space Babies (2024), The Story & the Engine (2025), Wish World/ The Reality War (2025)

Archie Panjabi (The Rani) Born May 31 1972

Doctor Who credits

Played: The Rani in The Interstellar Song Contest, Wish World/ The Reality War (all 2025)

Career highlights

Debuting in London's Burning (1993), Archie (full name Archana) went on to appear in Siren Spirits (1994), The Thin Blue Line (1996), Dad (1997), East is East (1999), Murder in Mind (2001), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), My Family (2002), White Teeth (2002), Canterbury Tales (2003), Sea of Souls (2004), Chromophobia (2005), Life on Mars (2006-07), Silent Witness (2007), Personal Affairs (2009), The Fall (2013-14), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2015), Shetland (2016), Bull (2017), Next of Kin (2018), Still Open All Hours (2019), Blindspot (2016-20), Snowpiercer (2022), Departure (2019-22), Hijack (2023) and Under the Bridge (2024). She appeared regularly as Rita Dhillon in Grease Monkeys (2003-04) and provided various voices (including Nisha and Meera) for Postman Pat between 2003-13. However, her biggest role to date is as Kalinda Sharma in more than 130 episodes of The Good Wife (2009-15).

Awards

2010: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (The Good Wife)

Joshua J Parker (Brian Dale)

Career highlights

Joshua's other work includes Grace (2022), Vera (2023), Unforgotten (2023) and Ridley (2024). He also played Adam Thurman in Django (2022-23).

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

Susan Twist (Susan Triad) Born c.1957 Click here for Susan Twist's entry on Wild Blue Yonder

Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor) Born Jun 17 1982 Click here for Jodie Whittaker's entry on Twice Upon a Time

Angela Wynter (Cherry) Born Jul 14 1957 Click here for Angela Wynter's entry on The Church on Ruby Road

and introducing...

Billie Piper Born Sep 22 1982 Click here for Billie Piper's entry on Rose

CREW

Russell T Davies (writer) Born Apr 27 1963 Click here for Russell T Davies' entry on Rose

Alex Sanjiv Pillai (director)

Doctor Who credits

Directed: Joy to the World (2024), Wish World/ The Reality War (2025)

Career highlights

Alex, who is of South Indian Tamil heritage, began directing with 1996's Thief Takers, followed by Flight (1997), Touching Evil (1998), The Last Train (1999), The Wyvern Mystery (2000), Blue Murder (2004), Wire in the Blood (2005), Silent Witness (1998-2008), Being Human (2009), Robin Hood (2009), Merlin (2011), Da Vinci's Demons (2015), Harry Price: Ghost Hunter (2015), Midsomer Murders (2012-17), Bull (2017-20), Bridgerton (2022), DI Ray (2022), Riverdale (2018-23) and Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (2022-24).