Arachnids in the UK

Behind you, Dr McIntyre
 (Tanya Fear)!

One episode (Arachnids in the UK)
First broadcast: Oct 28 2018
Audience for story: 8.70m

REGULAR CAST

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

Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan) Born Jan 5 1988 Click here for Mandip Gill's entry on The Woman Who Fell to Earth

Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair) Born Jul 23 1992 Click here for Tosin Cole's entry on The Woman Who Fell to Earth

Bradley Walsh (Graham O'Brien) Born Jun 4 1960 Click here for Bradley Walsh's entry on The Woman Who Fell to Earth

GUEST CAST

Jaleh Alp (Frankie Ellish)
Career highlights
Debuted in the short film Last Goodbye (2006), then appeared in Law and Order UK (2010), Pete Versus Life (2011), Holby City (2016) and Dog Tags (2017).
Facts
Jaleh has also worked as a bartender for hire, with her speciality being the Ja Ja Special ("a lethal twist on Sex on the Beach, a love child of vodka, fresh fruits and citrus"). Since 2020 she has been a life coach and NLP practitioner. Here's Jaleh on Twitter.

Sharon D Clarke (Grace O'Brien) Born Aug 12 1966 Click here for Sharon D Clarke's entry on The Woman Who Fell to Earth

Tanya Fear (Dr Jade McIntyre) Born Dec 29 1989
Career highlights
Zimbabwe-born Tanyaradzwa (which means "we have been comforted" in the Shona language) debuted in The Fades (2011), followed by The Midnight Beast (2012), Kick-Ass 2 (2013), Some Girls (2013), Boomers (2014), DCI Banks (2015), Spotless (2015), Midsomer Murders (2016), Shamed (2017), Endeavour (2018), Cleaning Up (2019) and Grandad's Visit (2020). She also wrote, directed and produced the short film trilogy Shoot Your Shot (2020).
Facts
In September 2021, Tanya was reported by a friend as missing, having left her Los Angeles apartment without her phone or purse. A call for help went out on social media and four days later she was found safe and unscathed by police, and received undisclosed treatment at a hospital.

Ravin J Ganatra (Hakim Khan)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Neil in Torchwood: Greeks Bearing Gifts (2006)
Played: Mahajan in Torchwood: Golden Age (2009, radio play)
Played: Hakim Khan in Arachnids in the UK (2018), Demons of the Punjab (2018), Spyfall (2020)
Career highlights
Ravin made his debut in No Worries (1993), then Casualty (1996), Prime Suspect 5 (1996), The Brittas Empire (1997), Holding On (1997), Dalziel and Pascoe (2001), Nighty Night (2004), The Fugitives (2005), EastEnders (2006), Britz (2007), Dappers (2010), Rev (2010), Hollyoaks (2012), Count Arthur Strong (2013), In the Club (2014/16), The Boy with the Topknot (2017), Seven and Me (2018-19), Cheat (2018), Four Weddings and a Funeral (2019), War of the Worlds (2019) and The Canterville Ghost (2021).
Facts
Ravin also runs his own theatre company, Guruji Productions. Here's Ravin on Twitter.

Shobna Gulati (Najia Khan) Born Aug 7 1966
Doctor Who credits
Played: Najia Khan in Arachnids in the UK (2018), Demons of the Punjab (2018), Spyfall (2020)
Career highlights
Shobna rose to prominence in her debut screen role as Anita in the Victoria Wood sitcom Dinnerladies (1998-2000), then secured roles in EastEnders (2000), New Street Law (2006), Where the Heart Is (2006), Magnolia (2006), Coming Up (2008), Junkhearts (2011), The Slammer (2013), In the Club (2014), Paranoid (2016), Finding Fatimah (2017), River City (2017-18), Hold the Sunset (2018), On the Edge (2020), Adulting (2020), Murder, They Hope (2021) and Hullraisers (2022). She will be best remembered for playing Sunita Alahan in 671 episodes of the soap Coronation Street between 2001-13.
Facts
Shobna performed as a dancer in the music video for Boy George's 1991 single Bow Down Mister. She also mimicked Diana Ross on an edition of Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes (2003). Here she in on Twitter.

William Meredith (Kevin) Born Nov 21 1973
Career highlights
American William made his screen debut in 2001's Band of Brothers, followed by roles in Ultimate Force (2006), 28 Weeks Later (2007), True Heroes (2008), Mirrors (2008), Green Zone (2010), Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), 50 Ways to Kill Your Lover (2016), SS-GB (2017), Outlander (2017) and A Killer Next Door (2020).

Facts

William spent four years in the US army before becoming an actor.

Chris Noth (Jack Robertson) Born Nov 13 1954

Doctor Who credits

Played: Jack Robertson in Arachnids in the UK (2018), Revolution of the Daleks (2021)
Career highlights
American Chris found his first screen credit in 1981's Waitress!, followed by roles in Smithereens (1982), Killer in the Mirror (1986), Hill Street Blues (1986), I'll Take Manhattan (1987), Jakarta (1988), Monsters (1989), Naked in New York (1993), Burnzy's Last Call (1995), Touched By an Angel (1997), The Deli (1997), Rough Riders (1997), The Confession (1999), Cast Away (2000), The Glass House (2001), Crossing Jordan (2001), The Perfect Man (2005), Titanic: Blood and Steel (2012), White Girl (2016), Tyrant (2016), Gone (2017-18), Catastrophe (2019), A New York Christmas Wedding (2020) and Someday Sometime (2021). Chris has had a number of long-running roles, including Mike Logan in 111 episodes of Law and Order (1990-95) and 36 episodes of Law and Order: Criminal Intent (2005-06), Mr Big in 41 episodes of Sex and the City (1998-2004), as well as its two cinematic spin-offs (2008 and 2010) and TV series And Just Like That (2021), Peter Florrick in 101 episodes of The Good Wife (2009-16) and William Bishop in The Equalizer (2021-22).
Facts
Chris's mother was CBS news reporter Jeanne Parr (his dad died in a car accident when Chris was 12). In 2015, Chris was named GQ's International Man of the Year. He is married to Canadian actress Tara Wilson. He is the co-owner of the New York City bar The Cutting Room. Between 1990-95 Chris was in a relationship with model Beverly Johnson, but when they split up Johnson filed a restraining order against him, accusing him of physical, verbal and racial abuse. In 2021, Chris was accused of sexual assault by two women (in 2004 and 2015), which he denied, and of "sexually inappropriate" behaviour on the set of Law and Order: Criminal Intent in 2005 by actor Zoe Lister-Jones. Further allegations of sexual assault and inappropriate behaviour followed, including one from singer Lisa Gentile, resulting in Chris being dropped by his acting agency, and a TV commercial for Peloton being taken off air. He was also dismissed part-way through filming The Equalizer's second series.

Bhavnisha Parmar (Sonya Khan) Born 1986
Doctor Who credits
Played: Sonya Khan in Arachnids in the UK (2018), Demons of the Punjab (2018), Spyfall (2020), Can You Hear Me? (2020), Flux (2021)
Career highlights
Other work includes Penguin (2011), Darren Has a Breakdown (2014) and Guilty Pleasures (2016).

CREW

Chris Chibnall (writer) Born Mar 21 1970 Click here for Chris Chibnall's entry on 42

Sallie Aprahamian (director)
Doctor Who credits
Directed: Arachnids in the UK (2018), The Witchfinders (2018)
Career highlights
Sallie started out as a script writer and editor for the soap EastEnders between 1989-91, then became a director, working on productions such as the soap Eldorado (1993), This Life (1997), The Lakes (1999), The Sins (2000), Teachers (2001), The Bill (2005-09), Casualty (1994-2012), EastEnders (1995-2014), Wolfblood (2014), The Dumping Ground (2014-16), The Worst Witch (2017), Hetty Feather (2018), Poldark (2019) and Cobra (2021).
Facts
Here's Sallie on Twitter.

Rosa

Just one vowel away from being confused
with a blonde, Vinette Robinson plays Rosa

One episode (Rosa)
First broadcast: Oct 21 2018
Audience for story: 9.01m

REGULAR CAST

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

Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan) Born Jan 5 1988 Click here for Mandip Gill's entry on The Woman Who Fell to Earth

Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair) Born Jul 23 1992 Click here for Tosin Cole's entry on The Woman Who Fell to Earth

Bradley Walsh (Graham O'Brien) Born Jun 4 1960 Click here for Bradley Walsh's entry on The Woman Who Fell to Earth

GUEST CAST

Joshua Bowman (Krasko) Born Mar 4 1988
Career highlights
Joshua made his screen acting debut in 2007's Genie in the House, then secured roles in Myths (2009), Night Wolf (2010), Prowl (2010), Exteriors (2011), Make It or Break It (2011), The Last Keepers (2013), Level Up (2016), Lore (2018), Our Girl (2020) and Lakewood (2021). He also had regular roles as Scott James in Holby City (2009-10) and John Stevenson in Time After Time (2017), but will be best remembered as Daniel Grayson in 78 episodes of US drama Revenge (2011-15).
Facts
Joshua's sister is actor Scarlett Bowman. In 2006, Joshua was a member of English rugby union team Saracens FC. He briefly dated the late singer Amy Winehouse, but is now married to actor (and fellow Revenge star) Ellen VanCamp.

Morgan Deare (Arthur) Born Nov 19 1945
Doctor Who credits
Played: Hawk in Delta and the Bannermen (1987)
Played: Arthur in Rosa (2018)
Career highlights
American Morgan made his debut in The Tumour Principle (1980), then Scream for Help (1984), Star Cops (1987), Small World (1988), Jeeves and Wooster (1992), Mission: Impossible (1996), Wing and a Prayer (1998), United 93 (2006), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), The Callback Queen (2013), Wild Oats (2015), Harley and the Davidsons (2016), Deep State (2018), Soulmates (2020) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (2022). He also provided the voice of the Editor/ Gorilla in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), meaning that the partnership of Hawk and Weismuller were sort of reunited in this film!
Facts
His wife is actress Mary Healey, who appeared in The Happiness Patrol. Morgan is an accomplished voiceover artist, having provided voices for various animations and perhaps most obscurely, dubbing British TV presenter Melvyn Bragg's English tones into an American accent for the Stateside broadcasts of The South Bank Show. Here he is in a TV commercial for Ikea.

David Dukas (Elias Griffin Jr) May 30 1970 to Jul 20 2021 (heart failure)
Career highlights
South African David debuted in Triptiek (1994), then had roles in Paradys (1994), Merchant of Death (1997), The Legend of the Hidden City (1997), Sweepers (1998), Africa (1999), The Gates of Cleveland Road (2000), Desert Diners (2000), Witness to a Kill (2001), Slash (2002), The Company You Keep (2003), Jozi Streets (2004), The Res (2005), Madam & Eve (2002-05), Zimbabwe (2008), District 9 (2009), Invictus (2009), Mrs Mandela (2010), Winnie Mandela (2011), Strike Back (2011), Isidingo: The Need (2012), The Wrong Mans (2014), Black Sails (2014-15), The Jakes are Missing (2015), Sterlopers (2016), My Father's War (2016), Skeem Saam (2017), Far from the Castle (2018), Trackers (2019), Bloodshot (2020) and Black Beauty (2020). David has also enjoyed regular roles as Johnny in soap Egoli: Place of Gold (2000-01), Mike Jennings in Backstage (2005-07), George in Binnelanders (2015), Andre Kurulenko in Generations the Legacy (2017) and Matt Atkins in 7de Laan (2017).

Richard Lothian (Mr Steele)
Career highlights
Debuted in Hilde (2009), then Amelia (2009), Infested! (2012), Zulu (2013), Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013), Dominion (2014), Northmen - A Viking Saga (2014), Momentum (2015), Of Kings and Prophets (2016), Black Sails (2016), The Dark Tower (2017), Blood Drive (2017), The Widow (2019), Raised By Wolves (2022) and Abraham Lincoln (2022). Since 2019 Richard has also worked in casting, working on Bulletproof 2 (2020), Vagrant Queen (2020), The Mauritanian (2021), The Watch (2020-21), Raised By Wolves (2022) and Noughts + Crosses (2020-22).

Gareth Marks (Police Officer Mason) Born 1960
Career highlights
Debuted in Scramble (1970), followed by Who Do You Do (1976), The Kenny Everett Television Show (1986), Heil Honey I'm Home! (1990), The Widowmaker (1990), Minder (1991), Sam Saturday (1992), Civvies (1992), Witchcraft (1992), Bottom (1995), Crocodile Shoes (1996), Killer Net (1998), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and The Crown (2017). He also played Jean-Daniel Marcel in Bugs (1995-96).
Facts
Gareth is the son of actors Alfred Marks and Paddie O'Neil. He also works as a session singer, often dubbing singing voices onto film and TV productions.

Aki Omoshaybi (Fred Gray) Born 1987
Career highlights
Aki debuted in the 2014 short Coffee Cup Stories, then found roles in The Riot Club (2014), Kids in Love (2016), Stella Gets Her Wings (2017), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Sick of It (2018), Burning Men (2019), REAL (2019), Father Brown (2020), Midsomer Murders (2021) and Queens of Mystery (2021). He also acted in, wrote, produced and directed Spilt (2017) and REAL.
Facts
From the ages of 18 months to 19 years, Aki was one of hundreds of Nigerian children who were privately fostered by people in Leigh Park, Portsmouth, UK. In 2013, Aki was romantically linked to the model Cara Delevingne. Here he is on Twitter.

Jessica Claire Preddy (Waitress) Born 1989
Career highlights
Debuted in Not Fade Away (2012), then Crazy Love (2013), The First Musketeer (2014), Suspicion (2016), Charismata (2017), Outlander (2017), Greta (2018) and Heart of Darkness (2019).

Vinette Robinson (Rosa Parks) Born 1981
Doctor Who credits
Played: Abi Lerner in 42 (2007)
Played: Rosa Parks in Rosa (2018)
Career highlights
Vinette debuted in The Cops (1997), then City Central (1998), Cold Feet (1999), Children's Ward (1999), Fat Friends (2000), Between the Sheets (2003), Vera Drake (2004), Party Animals (2007), The Passion (2008), Hope Springs (2009), Waterloo Road (2009), Powder (2011), Vera (2013), The Red Tent (2014), Black Work (2015), Morgan (2016), Black Mirror (2016), Close to the Enemy (2016), Delicious (2016-17), Year Million (2017), The A Word (2016-17), The Dead Ones (2019), Frankie (2019), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), A Christmas Carol (2019), Say Your Prayers (2020), The Amazing Mr Blunden (2021) and The Lazarus Project (2022). She also played Sgt Sally Donovan in Sherlock (2010-14).

Awards

2021: British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress (Boiling Point)
Facts
In 2019, Vinette helped to make cinematic history as one half of an LGBT kiss in a Disney-produced film, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (although it was edited out in some less-enlightened territories). Here's Vinette on Twitter.

David Rubin (Raymond Parks) Born Feb 10 ????
Career highlights
David started out as a cast member of the children's Saturday morning TV show Number 73 (1987), then appeared as a presenter on Playdays (1993), followed by roles in Sitting Pretty (1993), Dalziel and Pascoe (2000), Walking with Cavemen (2003), Holby City (2004), The Passion (2008), Birds of a Feather (2016), Judy (2019), Vera (2020) and Midsomer Murders (2021).
Facts
Here he is on Twitter.

Ray Sesay (Martin Luther King) Born 1991
Career highlights
Ray (real name Adbul) debuted in Paper Boy (2011), then Love Freely But Pay for Sex (2013), Endeavour (2018), Doctors (2020), This is Hell (2021) and Cheaters (2022).

Trevor White (James Blake) Born Oct 26 1970
Career highlights
Canadian Trevor made his debut in 1996's A Kidnapping in the Family, followed by The Sentinel (1996), Madison (1997), The Vigil (1998), The Outer Limits (1999), Epicenter (2000), Da Vinci's Inquest (2001), Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002), Die Another Day (2002), Mindhunters (2004), The Line of Beauty (2006), Inside the Twin Towers (2006), The Path to 9/11 (2006), Judge John Deed (2007), Bonekickers (2008), Moonshot (2009), Godforsaken (2010), Downton Abbey (2011), Episodes (2012), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Hunted (2012), Burton and Taylor (2013), Jason Bourne (2016), X Company (2016-17), SS-GB (2017), American Assassin (2017), The Durrells (2018), Astral (2018), Rare Beasts (2019), I Hate Suzie (2020) and Industry (2020/22). He also had a recurring role in Millennium as Doug Scaife (1997-99) and is the voice of Eddie in the US version of the animated series Chuggington (2008-15).
Facts
Trevor is a prolific video game vocal artist and is proficient at dialects, as well as being able to speak three languages. He once sailed across the Pacific Ocean from the Galapagos to New Zealand. He is married to actor Eleanor Matsuura, who appeared in The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky. Here's Trevor on Twitter.

CREW

Malorie Blackman (writer) Born Feb 8 1962
Career highlights
Malorie is an award-winning children's author with more than 60 titles to her name, who first trained as a computer programmer before publishing her first book, Not So Stupid, in 1990. Her other works include the Noughts and Crosses series, Hacker, Operation Gadgetman!, Whizziwig, Pig Heart Boy, Cloud Busting, the Betsey Biggalow stories, the Girl Wonder series, the Puzzle Planet adventures, plus the 2013 Doctor Who e-book The Ripple Effect. Malorie has also written TV scripts for The Frighteners (1996), Gadgetman (1996), Whizziwig (1998), Pig Heart Boy (1999), Whole New Heart (2000), Byker Grove (2004) and Jackanory Junior (2007).
Awards
2000: BAFTA Children's Award for Best Drama (Pig Heart Boy) - shared with Diana Kyle and Kate Cheeseman
2008: Member of the order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to children's literature
Facts
Between 2013-15, Malorie served as the UK Children's Laureate. Here's Malorie on Twitter.

Chris Chibnall (writer) Born Mar 21 1970 Click here for Chris Chibnall's entry on 42

Mark Tonderai (director) Born Jul 16 1974
Doctor Who credits
Directed: The Ghost Monument (2018), Rosa (2018), The Church on Ruby Road (2023)
Career highlights
Mark's earliest directing work was on the 1996 documentary The A Force, followed by stints on Friday Night's All Wright (1998), Uncut Funk (1999), Hush (2008), House at the End of the Street (2008), 12 Monkeys (2015), The Five (2016), Paranoid (2016), Time After Time (2017), Lucifer (2018), Black Lightning (2018), Gotham (2017-19), Nightflyers (2018), The Passage (2019), Castle Rock (2019), The Mysterious Benedict Society (2021) and Locke & Key (2020-21). He has also worked in front of the camera, in Comedy Nation (1998), Kevin and Perry Go Large (2000), Dog Eat Dog (2001), The Four Feathers (2002) and Holby City (2003).
Facts
Between 1993-98 Mark was a DJ on BBC Radio 1, with his own show.