Rise of the Cybermen/ The Age of Steel

The new look Cybermen.
Or should that be Cybusmen?

Two episodes (Rise of the Cybermen, The Age of Steel)
First broadcast May 13 to 20 2006
Average audience for story: 8.43m

REGULAR CAST

David Tennant (The Doctor) Born Apr 18 1971 Click here for David Tennant's entry on The Parting of the Ways

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

Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith & Ricky Smith) Born Dec 6 1975 Click here for Noel Clarke's entry on Rose

GUEST CAST

Paul Antony-Barber (Dr Kendrick)
Career highlights

Paul debuted in Tycoon (1978), then found work in The Professionals (1979), The Brack Report (1982), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1986), Press Gang (1993), Maisie Raine (1998), EastEnders (2004), My Summer of Love (2004), V for Vendetta (2005), Time Trumpet (2006), The Golden Compass (2007), Skins (2010), The Royals (2015), A Dark Reflection (2015), Home Fires (2016), The Limehouse Golem (2016), Striking Out (2017-18), Free Rein (2019) and Seacole (2021). His most memorable role was as Eric Sweet in 113 episodes of House of Anubis (2011-13).

Facts

Between 1976-79 Paul was married to actor Glynis Barber; he is now married to actor Jacinta Mulcahy.

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

Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler) Born Apr 18 1965 Click here for Camille Coduri's entry on Rose

Shaun Dingwall (Pete Tyler) Born Mar 24 1972
Doctor Who credits
Played: Pete Tyler in Father's Day (2005), Rise of the Cybermen/ The Age of Steel (2006), Doomsday (2006)
Career highlights
Debuted in Genghis Cohn (1993), then Between the Lines (1993), The Chief (1994), A Breed of Heroes (1994), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1996), In a Land of Plenty (2001), Lloyd and Hill (2003), The Last King (2003), The Long Firm (2004), Color Me Kubrick (2005), Hannibal (2006), Spooks (2006), Outlanders (2007), Survivors (2008), Moses Jones (2009), The Young Victoria (2009), Rock and Chips (2010-11), Camelot (2011), Summer in February (2013), Vera (2013), Breathless (2013), The Driver (2014), Silent Witness (2015), Legends (2015), Maigret (2016-17), DCI Banks (2016), Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017), Top Boy (2019) and Noughts + Crosses (2020). Shaun also regularly played Steve Evans in Soldier Soldier (1995-96), Mark Rivers in Touching Evil (1997-99), and Detective Inspector Mike Lewis in Above Suspicion (2009-12).
Facts
Shaun appears in the video for Faith No More's I Started a Joke (1998), looking remarkably like Pete Tyler!

Duncan Duff (Newsreader) Born Feb 8 1964

Career highlights
Duncan debuted in King's Christmas (1986), then The Wreck on the Highway (1990), Carry On Columbus (1992), In Dreams (1992), May to December (1994), River City (2002), Broken News (2005), Festival (2005), Skins (2007), New Town (2009), The Tudors (2010), Burke and Hare (2010), Lip Service (2010), A Touch of Cloth (2013), Waterloo Road (2014), A Quiet Passion (2016), The Bay of Silence (2020) and The Crown (2020). He also enjoyed regular roles as Doc Brown in Hamish Macbeth (1995-97) and Dr Geoff Spiller in Big Kids (2000).

Helen Griffin (Mrs Moore) 1959 to Jun 29 2018 (lung cancer)
Career highlights
Helen started out as a presenter on children's series Playdays (1988-89), then secured acting credits in The Healer (1994), Twin Town (1997), Mortimer's Law (1998), Rhinoceros (1999), Human Traffic (1999), House! (2000), Holby City (2004), Little White Lies (2006), Prime Suspect 7 (2006), The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (2007), Gavin and Stacey (2008), Risen (2010), Coronation Street (2011), The Machine (2013), Under Milk Wood (2015), Hinterland (2015), Going Forward (2016) and Keeping Faith (2017). Helen also wrote for the screen, including The Sherman Plays (1994/96), Where the Heart Is (2003), No Angels (2005) and Y Syrcas (2013).
Awards
2006: BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress (Little White Lies)
Facts
Helen studied at nursing college with comedian Jo Brand and worked as a psychiatric nurse until 1986; the two collaborated on the play Mental in 1997, which was updated and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2003. She secured the role of Mrs Moore in Doctor Who after acting as a stand-in for other actors at various read-throughs. Helen was a political and anti-war activist, and in 2003 protested against the Iraq War in Swansea as spokesperson for Swansea Coalition Against the War. On the back of this she stood as a Respect Coalition candidate in the 2004 European Parliament election, but the party did not win any seats. In 2006, Helen was arrested and released without caution for daubing red paint on the National Museum of Wales as part of a protest against Israeli activity in the Lebanon.

Mona Hammond (Rita-Anne) Jan 1 1931 to Jul 4 2022
Career highlights
Jamaican born Mona made her screen debut in Softly Softly (1968), followed by Callan (1970), Second City Firsts (1974), The Sweeney (1976), Jangles (1982), Juliet Bravo (1985), Black Silk (1985), Us Girls (1992), Porkpie (1996), Chef! (1996), Sunburn (1999), Pig Heart Boy (1999), White Teeth (2002), Babyfather (2002), The Crouches (2003-05), Kinky Boots (2005), New Tricks (2007), 10,000 BC (2008), Monroe (2011), Death in Paradise (2011), Whitechapel (2012) and Run (2013). Recurring roles included Aunty Susu in Desmond's (1989-94) and Blossom Jackson in 138 episodes of soap EastEnders (1994-97/2010).

Awards

2005: Officer of the order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama
Facts
Born Mavis Chin to a Chinese father and Jamaican mother, Mona came to the UK in 1959 to work for an architect's firm but soon got into black theatre. In 1985, Mona founded the black theatre company Talawa along with Inigo Espegel, Yvonne Brewster and (fellow Doctor Who actor) Carmen Munroe, and was for many years at the forefront of developing black theatre in the UK.

Andrew Hayden-Smith (Jake Simmonds) Born Nov 5 1983
Doctor Who credits
Played: Jake Simmonds in Rise of the Cybermen/ The Age of Steel, Doomsday (2006)
Career highlights
Andrew's acting debut came playing Ben Carter in children's serial Byker Grove between 1997-99, after which he appeared in Russell T Davies's dramas Cucumber (2015) and Banana (2015), as well as companion series Tofu (2015), and played DS Gavin Armstrong in 64 episodes of teen soap Hollyoaks (2016-17). Andrew also hosted the UK Top 40 TV show between 2004-05 and was a regular presenter for Children's BBC (2002-06). He also does voiceover work for ITV2.
Facts
Andrew has been an out and proud gay TV personality since 2005, and has posed several times for gay magazines such as Attitude and Gay Times.

Paul Kasey (Cyber-Leader) Born Aug 5 1973 Click here for Paul Kasey's entry on Rose

Roger Lloyd-Pack (John Lumic) Feb 8 1944 to Jan 15 2014 (pancreatic cancer)
Career highlights

Roger made his screen debut in Virgin of the Secret Service (1968), and then took roles in The Magus (1968), Figures in a Landscape (1970), The Go-Between (1971), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Within These Walls (1974), Churchill's People (1975), The Naked Civil Servant (1975), Survivors (1976), Will Shakespeare (1978), Miracles Take Longer (1984), Moving (1985), Room at the Bottom (1988), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989), Mr Bean (1990), Byker Grove (1990), The Object of Beauty (1991), The Gravy Train Goes East (1991), Archer's Goon (1992), Inside Victor Lewis-Smith (1993), Princess Caraboo (1994), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Preaching to the Perverted (1997), Oliver Twist (1999), Murder Rooms (2001), Vanity Fair (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005, playing David Tennant's character's dad), What We Did on Our Holiday (2006), The Catherine Tate Show (2009), Survivors (2010), Made in Dagenham (2010), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), The Borgias (2012) and Law and Order UK (2014). Roger enjoyed several recurring roles, including Albert Mason in Spyder's Web (1972), Rex Regis in Health and Efficiency (1993-95) and Tom in The Old Guys (2009-10), but it is for two comedy roles that he will be best remembered - Trigger in 39 episodes of Only Fools and Horses (1981-2003) and Owen Newitt in 25 episodes of The Vicar of Dibley (1994-2013).

Awards

1984: London Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor (One for the Road/ Wild Honey)
Facts

Roger, who was a close friend of Doctor Who actress Anneke Wills, was taught acting at RADA by Peter Barkworth (who appeared in The Ice Warriors in 1967). His father was fellow actor Charles Lloyd Pack, and his brother was Christopher Lloyd Pack (stage manager on various 1980s children's TV shows and sitcoms). His first wife was theatrical agent Sheila Ball, with whom he had a daughter, the actress Emily Lloyd. His second wife was poet/ dramatist Jehane Markham, sister of actress Petra Markham, who appeared in The Crusade in 1965. Roger was the only actor to appear in both versions of the BBC's Survivors (1970s and 2000s). When he died, his coffin was made of straw and driven in a pink hearse.

Adam Shaw (Morris) Born Apr 11 1974

Career highlights
Adam debuted as Delancey in Saving Private Ryan (1998), followed by roles in Just Visiting (2001), Footballers' Wives (2002), Rockface (2003), Red Needles (2006), Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007), Paradox (2009), RED 2 (2013), The Death of Stalin (2017), Peterloo (2018) and Doctors (2009/18).

Facts

In 2016, Adam appeared in the Big Red Chair segment of Graham Norton's chat show to reminisce with Tom Hanks about Saving Private Ryan.

Colin Spaull (Mr Crane) Born May 19 1944

Doctor Who credits

Played: Lilt in Revelation of the Daleks (1985)

Played: Mr Crane in Rise of the Cybermen/ The Age of Steel (2006)

Career highlights

Colin's debut came voicing the title character in children's series Noddy in Toyland in 1957, when he was just 13, after which he secured acting roles in All My Sons (1958), Jennings at School (1958), Great Expectations (1959), Heidi (1959), The Secret Garden (1960), Benny Hill (1963), The Larkins (1963), Frankie Howerd (1966), Before Winter Comes (1969), Coronation Street (1969), Frenzy (1972), Seven Faces of Woman (1977), Agony (1980), L for Lester (1982), The Collectors (1986), Stay Lucky (1990), Birds of a Feather (1991), Get Back (1992), The Brittas Empire (1994), Nelson's Column (1995), Inspector More (2000), Down to Earth (2001-03), The Last Detective (2004), Doctors (2007), The Hour (2011), Holby City (2004/08/12), Catherine Tate's Nan (2015) and Make Aliens Dance (2017). Between 1962-63, Colin played Cliff in the serialised Wade Family section of Television Club.
In 2015 Toby Hadoke released his Who's Round interview with Colin here.

Andrew Ufondu (Soldier) Born Jan 27 1974

Career highlights
Other credits include EastEnders (2005) and Harley Street (2008).

Don Warrington (The President) Born May 23 1951
Career highlights
Born in Trinidad, Don's screen debut came when he won the memorable role of Philip Smith in 28 episodes of the sitcom Rising Damp (1974-78) and its 1980 film version. Other work includes Six Days of Justice (1975), The XYY Man (1976), Triangle (1981), Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984), Red Dwarf (1992), Trainer (1992), To Play the King (1993), Hamlet (1996), Grange Hill (1997), Lighthouse (1999), Believe Nothing (2002), Manchild (2002-03), Fat Slags (2004), The Crouches (2003-05), Diamond Geezer (2007), It's a Wonderful Afterlife (2010), This is Jinsy (2011), Voodoo Magic (2013), Chasing Shadows (2014), The Five (2016), Sunny D (2016), Henry IX (2017), The World According to Grandpa (2020) and Spanish Pigeon (2020). Regular roles include Nigel Beaumont in CATS Eyes (1985-87), Judge Ken Winyard in New Street Law (2006-07) and Commissioner Selwyn Patterson in 55 episodes of Death in Paradise (2011-21). In 2008 he was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, voted out in week 5.

Award

2008: Member of the order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to drama
Facts
In 2013, he directed the first ever stage tour of Rising Damp in the UK. Don also played the role of Time Lord President Rassilon in Big Finish's audio plays. Here he is on Twitter.

CREW

Tom MacRae (writer) Born Aug 6 1977
Doctor Who credits
Wrote: Rise of the Cybermen/ The Age of Steel (2006), The Girl Who Waited (2011), The Crash of the Elysium (2011, theatre experience)

Career highlights
Tom's first scripting work was the TV movie School's Out in 2002, after which he put pen to paper for Coming Up (2003), Mayo (2006), Agatha Christie's Marple (2007), Lewis (2008), Bonekickers (2008), Pulse (2010), Casualty (2010), Fungus the Bogeyman (2015), The Librarians (2016-18, which he also co-produced), Kolmistaan (2017-19) and Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021) . He also created and wrote the sitcom Threesome (2011-12).

Facts
Tom was commissioned to write a story for Doctor Who's 2008 series called Century House, but this was cancelled as it was too similar in tone to another story that year. He has also written children's picture books. Here's his Twitter.

Graeme Harper (director) Born Mar 11 1945 Click here for Graeme Harper's entry on The Caves of Androzani

Phil Collinson (producer) Born Aug 26 1970 Click here for Phil Collinson's entry on Rose

Helen Vallis (associate producer) Click here for Helen Vallis's entry on Rose

Helen Raynor (script editor) Born Mar 27 1972 Click here for Helen Raynor's entry on The Unquiet Dead