Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Spyfall

The TARDIS "fam" dolled
up to the nines
Two episodes (Part One, Part Two)
First broadcast: Jan 1-5 2020
Audience for story: 6.48m

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

Tom Ashley (Airport worker)
Career highlights
Debuted in New Tricks (2014), then Black Mirror (2016), Darkest Hour (2017), Robin Hood: The Rebellion (2018), Summer of Rockets (2019), Bruno (2019), Downton Abbey (2019), Breeders (2020), Spy City (2020), Pennyworth (2021), Gentleman Jack (2022), Emmerdale (2022) and The Devil's Hour (2023).

Andrew Bone (Mr Collins)
Career highlights
Andrew debuted in Just Us (1986), then made appearances in Butterfly Collectors (1999), The Vice (2001), Doctors (2002), Coronation Street (2011), Great Expectations (2011), The Hour (2012), Holby City (2013), The Royals (2015), The Crown (2016), Sherlock (2017), Harlots (2017), EastEnders (2017), Catherine the Great (2019) and Sex Education (2021). He is also a director, having helmed the short film Mr London (2012).

Sylvie Briggs (Ada Lovelace)
Career highlights
Sylvie's career began in 2018 with the shorts Seize the Day and Kingdom. She also played Ellie Marsden in Cold Feet (2019-20) and Clara Stowe in The Nevers (2021).

Sacharissa Claxton (Passenger/ Intelligence agent) Born 1988
Career highlights
Sacharissa debuted in the short film Donkey (2013), followed by ALL of Me (2017), Hound (2017), Joe All Alone (2018), EastEnders (2018), Doctors (2019), Corner Shop Show (2019), Avenue 5 (2020), The Irregulars (2021) and The Sandman (2022).

Melissa De Vries (Sniper)
Career highlights
Other work includes A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits (2016), Bring It On: Worldwide (2017) and Recipes for Love and Murder (2022). She also played Sasha Daniels in more than 200 episodes of South African drama Arendsvlei (2021).
Facts
South African Melissa is also a dancer and hip-hop MC.

Mark Dexter (Charles Babbage) Born Apr 21 1973
Doctor Who credits
Played: Dad in Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead (2008)
Played: Charles Babbage in Spyfall (2020)
Career highlights
Mark debuted in the children's show Your Mother Wouldn't Like It (1987-88), aged 14, then found roles in Dramarama: Peter (1987), Palace Hill (1988-91), Phoenix Hall (1990), An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1998), The Cazalets (2001), From Hell (2001), Spooks (2002), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), Heartbeat (2004), Mile High (2004), Space Race (2005), I Shouldn't Be Alive (2006), She Stoops to Conquer (2008), Moving Wallpaper (2009), Coronation Street (2010), Red Dwarf (2012), Ripper Street (2012/16), Mr Selfridge (2013), The Assets (2014), 24: Live Another Day (2014), Coalition (2015, playing UK Prime Minister David Cameron), The Exception (2016), Flack (2019), The Crown (2019), The Midwich Cuckoos (2022) and Industry (2020-22). Recurring roles include Matt Hinckley in The Bill (2006-07), Samuel Tuffley in Crusoe (2008-09) and Timothy Gray in The Bletchley Circle (2012/14).
Facts
Mark is a craft beer aficionado and blogs about it here. Here's Mark on Twitter.

Sacha Dhawan (The Master) Born May 1 1984
Doctor Who credits
Played: Waris Hussein in An Adventure in Space and Time (2013)
Played: The Master in Spyfall (2020), Ascension of the Cybermen/ The Timeless Children (2020), The Power of the Doctor (2022)
Career highlights
Sacha's earliest credit was in 1998's City Central, at the age of 14, followed by roles in The Last Train (1999), EastEnders: Perfectly Frank (2003), The History Boys (2006), Bradford Riots (2006), Wired (2008), Paradox (2009), Five Days (2010), The Deep (2010), Splintered (2010), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012), Being Human (2012), Last Tango in Halifax (2012), After Earth (2013), The Tractate Middoth (2013), Line of Duty (2014), In the Flesh (2014), 24: Live Another Day (2014), Utopia (2014), The Lady in the Van (2015), Mr Selfridge (2016), Sherlock (2017), The Boy with the Topknot (2017), Dracula (2020), Suspect (2022) and Wolf (2022). Regular roles include Ali Patanjali in Out of Sight (1997-98), Azmat Madari in Weirdsister College (2001-02), Manmeet in Outsourced (2010-11), Dev in In the Club (2014-16), Davos in Iron Fist (2017-18) and Orlo in The Great (2020-21). He also provided the voice of Eddie in 38 episodes of children's series Chuggington (2008-09).
Awards
2007: Royal Television Society Breakthrough Award (Bradford Riots)
Facts
Sacha's partner is actor Anjli Mohindra, best known to Doctor Who fans as Rani Chandra in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Sacha suffers from Crohn's disease.

William Ely (Older passenger)
Career highlights
William's debut came in The Bill (1994), then Casualty (1995), The Knock (1996), Bob Martin (2000), Judge John Deed (2002), EastEnders (2003), My Family (2006), Stockwell (2009), Unforgotten (2017) and Hatton Garden (2019).
Facts
William was once married to actor Stirling Gallacher (they have a son named Ulysses).

Stephen Fry (C) Born Aug 24 1957
Doctor Who credits
Played: The Minister of Chance in Death Comes to Time (2001-02, animation)
Played: C in Spyfall (2020)
Career highlights
Stephen is one of the UK's best loved and most admired comedians and polymaths, having emerged from the Cambridge Footlights revue scene in the late 1970s. His first screen work was as an uncredited singer in Chariots of Fire (1982), after which he appeared in The Young Ones (1984), Alfresco (1983-84), Happy Families (1985), The Good Father (1985), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), This is David Lander (1988), The New Statesman (1989), Peter's Friends (1992), Stalag Luft (1993), IQ (1994), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), The Steal (1995), Wilde (1997), Spice World: The Movie (1997), The Tichborne Claimant (1998), The Magician's House (1999-2000), Longitude (2000), Gormenghast (2000), Baddiel's Syndrome (2001), Gosford Park (2001), Thunderpants (2002), Bright Young Things (2003, which he also wrote and directed), Mirrormask (2005), Dirty Tricks (2005), V for Vendetta (2005), Adolf Eichmann (2007), St Trinian's (2007), House of Boys (2009), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), The Borrowers (2011), The Look of Love (2013), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), 24: Live Another Day (2014), The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), Yonderland (2016), Veep (2017), Tomorrow (2018), Sex Education (2020), It's a Sin (2021), The Dropout (2022) and The Sandman (2022). He also had regular roles in the Blackadder sitcom franchise (1986-2008), Jeeves in Jeeves and Wooster (1990-93), Charles Prentiss in Absolute Power (2003-05), the narrator in 60 episodes of children's series Let's Go, Pocoyo (2005-07), Peter Kingdom in 18 episodes of Kingdom (2007-09), Dr Gordon Wyatt in Bones (2007-17), Roland in The Great Indoors (2016-17), and the voice of Colonel K in the cartoon series Danger Mouse (2015-19). He also co-starred in his own sketch series with Hugh Laurie, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, between 1987-95. He also wrote for Not the Nine o'Clock News (1979), Pushing Up Daisies (1984), Hysteria! (1988-89), A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Fire Island (1999) and The Settlement (2011). Stephen has also appeared as himself in a plethora of comedy shows, most notably on Countdown (1998-2001), Stephen Fry in America (2008), Last Chance to See (2009-10), and 187 episodes as host of quiz show Q.I (2003-16). He has also been host on many awards ceremonies.
Awards
2007: British Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement
2010: National Television Award Special Recognition
Facts
Stephen claims to be related to the Fry's chocolate family, as well as the 17th century MP John Fry, who signed King Charles I's death warrant, and the cricketer C.B Fry. In the 1970s, Stephen spent three months in Pucklechurch Prison on remand after inadvertently stealing a friend's credit card. Stephen has also written his own novels, starting with 1991's The Liar and also including 1994's The Hippopotamus, 1996's Making History, and The Stars' Tennis Balls (2000). Between 2010-16 he was on the board of directors of Norwich City FC, and was the last ever person to be named Pipe Smoker of the Year in 2003, before the "honour" was abolished (previous incumbents include Harold Wilson, Peter Cushing, Patrick Moore and Rod Hull). In 2017, the bird louse Saepocephalum stephenfryii was named after him. Stephen was the best man at his best friend Hugh Laurie's wedding, and is godfather to all three of his children, and was also best man at Rowan Atkinson's wedding. He can name Prince Charles, Camilla Parker-Bowles and the late actor Sir John Mills as friends. He has spoken openly that he suffers with bipolar disorder, and is a supporter of mental health charities, particularly following his very public nervous breakdown in 1995 when he abandoned his nightly role in a play called Cell Mates and "disappeared" to Belgium. He has also admitted to attempting suicide several times. Stephen says he also suffers from prosopagnosia (face blindness). In 2018, he had an operation to remove his prostate following a cancer diagnosis. In 2022, he became the new president of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

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.

Lenny Henry (Daniel Barton) Born Aug 29 1958
Career highlights
Lenny's showbiz career began after he won talent show New Faces in 1975 (with an impression of Stevie Wonder), and then became a presenter on children's show Tiswas (1978-81). His further acting work includes The Young Ones (1984), Coast to Coast (1987), The Suicide Club (1988), True Identity (1991), Bernard and the Genie (1991), The Man (1999), Goodbye, Mr Steadman (2001), Mirrormask (2005), Penelope (2006), The Syndicate (2015), Danny and the Human Zoo (2015), Broadchurch (2017), The Long Song (2018), Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle (2019), My Name is Leon (2022), The Lord of the Rins: The Rings of Power (2022) and The Witcher: Blood Origin (2022). Regular roles include Sonny Foster in The Fosters (1976-77), Gareth in sitcom Chef! (1993-96) and Ian George in Hope and Glory (1999-2000), while he has also provided voices for children's series Big and Small (2008-11) and Tinga Tinga Tales (2011-12). Lenny is also well remembered for his various comedy sketch shows, including Lenny Henry Tonite (1986), The Lenny Henry Show (1987-88), Lenny Goes to Town (1998) and Lenny Henry In Pieces (2003). Lenny has also written for television, including The Black and White Minstrel Show (1975), Three of a Kind (1981-82) and Danny and the Human Zoo (2015). He was also series deviser of Chef! and Neverwhere (1996).
Awards
1999: Commander of the order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to drama and charity
2003: British Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement for Performance
2015: Knight Bachelor of the order of the British Empire for services to drama and charity
Facts
Lenny was married to comedy actor Dawn French between 1984-2010, while his brother Paul Henry has also written for television, notably for the sketch show The Real McCoy. Along with one-time Doctor Who writer Richard Curtis, Lenny co-founded the charity Comic Relief in 1985. In 2015, he produced an album with King Crimson entitled New Millennium Blues, and back in 1993 provided backing vocals on Kate Bush's album The Red Shoes.

Kenneth Jay (Perkins)
Career highlights
Debuted in The Bill (1992), followed by roles in Emmerdale (1998), Hotel! (2001), Hiroshima (2005), The Other Wife (2012), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) and What? (2022).

Asif Khan (Ramesh Sunder)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Sgt Ramesh Sunder in The Woman Who Fell to Earth (2018), Spyfall (2020)
Career highlights
Asif's other credits include Dalziel and Pascoe (2006), Bradford Riots (2006), Going Postal (2010), Spooks (2011), The Dumping Ground (2014) and Man Down (2016).
Facts
Asif has his own theatre company called AIK Productions. Here he is on Twitter.

Brian Law (US operative) Born Jan 27 1989
Career highlights
Canadian Brian made his screen debut in the 2015 short What Could Go Wrong?, followed by roles in More Strange Than True (2016), Classified Freaks (2017/20), White Dragon (2018), Electric Angel (2018), The Santa Suicides (2018-19), Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) and Suspicion (2022).
Facts
His sister is Beverly Law, who has worked in the wardrobe department on productions such as Hemlock Grove, Pose and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Dominique Maher (Browning)
Career highlights
Dominique debuted in Zenon: Z3 (2004), followed by parts in American Monster (2018), The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019), The Devil Speaks (2018-19), Vagrant Queen (2020) and The Ground Under (2021).

Aurora Marion (Noor Inayat Khan) Born Dec 22 1985
Career highlights
Born in Belgium, Aurora's screen career began with Almayer's Folly (2011), followed by Belgian Disaster (2015), Fallow (2015), The Airport (2016), A Wedding (2016), Success Story (2017), Parlement (2020), Professor T (2021) and Missions (2021).
Facts
Aurora can speak nine different languages: ancient and modern Greek, English, Flemish, French, German, Spanish, Swahili and Urdu!

Christopher McArthur (Ethan)
Career highlights
Other work includes Bluestone 42 (2014), Black Sails (2015) and Tutankhamun (2016).

Darron Meyer (Seesay) Born Jul 19 1977
Career highlights
South African Darron debuted in The Deal (2008), followed by Hitchhiker (2008), Generation Kill (2008), The Sinking of the Laconia (2011), Outcasts (2011), Strike Back (2012), Alien Outpost (2014), Black Sails (2016), The Indian Detective (2017), Deep State (2019), Black Beauty (2020), Razor's Edge (2021) and Revelation Road (2023).
Facts
Darron won an Angel Film Award at the 2009 Monaco International Film Festival for Best Feature Film Script for Tornado and the Kalahari Horse Whisperer. Before becoming an actor he was a competitive gymnast for 11 years, and then became a coach and judge in the sport. His brother, Tyrel Meyer, also acts.

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).

Andrew Piper (Inventor) Born Aug 19 1973
Career highlights
Andrew debuted in Great Escape: The Untold Story (2001), then Don't Leave Me (2004), Please Kill Me (2006), Gabriel Ernest (2007), Detectorists (2014), Elton John: Ten Days That Rocked (2019), The Crown (2020) and EastEnders (2022).

Struan Rodger (Voice of the Kasaavin) Born Sep 18 1946
Doctor Who credits
Played: Voice of the Face of Boe in New Earth (2006), Gridlock (2007)
Played: Clayton in The Woman Who Lived (2015)
Played: Voice of the Kasaavin in Spyfall (2020)
Career highlights
Struan's CV stretches right back to Hobson's Choice in 1967, after which he appeared in The Regiment (1972), Look and Read: Joe and the Sheep Rustlers (1973), Warship (1974), Les Miserables (1978), Return of the Saint (1979), Chariots of Fire (1981), Boys from the Blackstuff (1984), Cover Her face (1985), The Detective (1985), Edge of Darkness (1985), Yesterday's Dreams (1987), Imaginary Friends (1987), Game, Set and Match (1988), Who Bombed Birmingham? (1990), Afraid of the Dark (1991), Spender (1993), Prime Suspect 3 (1993), Chandler and Co (1994), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), The Madness of King George (1994), Richard II (1997), Young Adam (2003), Sea of Souls (2004), Stardust (2007), Moses Jones (2009), The Thick of It (2009), Kill List (2011), Endeavour (2014), Prey (2014), Grantchester (2014), Game of Thrones (2014-15, as the voice of the Three-Eyed Raven), The Enfield Haunting (2015), Shetland (2016), Vera (2017), Save Me (2018), Age Before Beauty (2018), The World We Knew (2020) and A Discovery of Witches (2021).

Ronan Summers (Rendition man) Born Feb 12 19??
Career highlights
As a physical actor, Ronan has worked on Caerdydd (2006), Locked Up Abroad (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Dubplate Drama (2009), Episodes (2012), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Suspicion (2015), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), The Dare (2019), Vikings (2020) and The Eight (2022). He has also worked extensively as a voice artist on video games such as League of Legends (2009), Dead in Tombstone (2013), Steep (2016), Star Wars Battlefront II (2017), Hitman 2 (2018) and Battlefield 2042 (2021), and has also narrated the series Welcome to Murdertown (2018), Til Death Do Us Part (2019) and Engineering Catastrophes (2018-21), among others. Ronan has also worked in performance capture on various video games, and in 2012, wrote, directed, narrated and produced the short film Blue Collar Britain.

Buom Tihngang (Tibo)
Doctor Who credits
Played: Tibo in Spyfall (2020), Can You Hear Me? (2020)
Career highlights
Buom's further work includes Diana and I (2017), World on Fire (2019), Endeavour (2020), Death in Paradise (2021) and Caribbean Summer (2022).

Blanche Williams (Barton's mother)
Career highlights
Blanche made her credited debut in Oh Happy Day (2007), followed by roles in Sensitive Skin (2007), Dubplate Drama (2007), Streetdance 3D (2010) and Coffee (2019). She also regularly played Precious in the sitcom Derek (2013-14).

CREW

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

Jamie Magnus Stone (director, part 1) Born Dec 15 1985
Doctor Who credits
Directed: Clara and the TARDIS (2013, uncredited), Spyfall Part One (2020), Praxeus (2020), Ascension of the Cybermen/ The Timeless Children (2020), Flux chapters 1, 2 & 4 (2021), Centenary special (2022)
Career highlights
Jamie's credited career began in 2006 as writer, producer and director of the short film Fritz, after which he worked in similar capacities on other shorts such as Two Dreams (2007), Astronaut (2009), Skyborn (2012) and the BAFTA-nominated Orbit Ever After (2013). He also worked as editor on documentaries such as Scotland's Brand New Bank (2009) and Old MacDonald's Farm (2012). His directing work includes The World According To (2008), The Village (2014), Tripped (2015), X Company (2015-16), The Last Dragonslayer (2016) and Queens of Mystery (2019).
Awards
2008: BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Animation (The World According To) - shared with Anders Jedenfors
Facts
Jamie is the son of broadcaster Sally Magnusson (best known for Songs of Praise) and director/ producer Norman Stone, the grandson of Magnus Magnusson, quizmaster on Mastermind between 1972-97, and the nephew of Jon Magnusson, a TV producer who works often with Graham Norton.

Lee Haven Jones (director, part 2) Born Jun 10 1976
Doctor Who credits
Directed: Spyfall Part Two (2020), Orphan 55 (2020), Revolution of the Daleks (2021)
Career highlights
Lee started out as an actor, having worked on Love in a Cold Climate (2001) and the short film Perfect Day (2010), making his name on Welsh language TV playing Emyr Tomos in 45 episodes of Caerdydd (2006-10) and Gwaith/ Cartref (2011). Lee then moved behind the cameras to direct, starting with Caerdydd (2010), then soap Pobol y Cwm (2012), The Indian Doctor (2012-13), Wizards vs Aliens (2014), Waterloo Road (2015), Casualty (2013-16), Vera (2017-18), Shetland (2018), The Bay (2019), The Long Call (2021) and Wolf (2022). He has also produced, including Tir (2013-15), Want It (2015) and Bang (2017-20).
Awards
2013: BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Director: Fiction (The Indian Doctor)
2016: BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Director: Fiction (35 Diwrnod)
Facts
Here is Lee on Twitter.

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