The Haunting of Villa Diodati

Ashad the Cyberman
(Patrick O'Kane)

One episode (The Haunting of Villa Diodati)
First broadcast: Feb 16 2020
Audience for story: 5.07m

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

Maxim Baldry (Dr John Polidori) Born Jan 5 1996
Career highlights
Maxim's earliest screen credit was as the voice of Chico in The Little Polar Bear 2 (2005) when he was nine years old, after which he appeared in Mr Bean's Holiday (2007), Rome (2007), Sadie J (2012), Skins (2013), Lake Placid: Legacy (2018), Years and Years (2019), Last Christmas (2019), Strike Back (2020) and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022). He also played Liam Donovan in 80 episodes of the soap Hollyoaks (2016-17). He wrote, acted in, produced and composed the music for the short film Melodie Saviour (2019), which is also his alter ego.
Facts
Maxim's first language is Russian.

Jacob Collins-Levy (Lord Byron) Born Mar 18 1992
Career highlights
Australian Jacob debuted in Gallipoli (2015), followed by Holding the Man (2015), Glitch (2015), Barracuda (2016), The White Princess (2017), Bloom (2019), Pure (2019), The True History of the Kelly Gang (2019), Young Wallander (2020), The Witcher: Blood Origin (2022) and Nautilus (2023).

Lili Miller (Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin)
Career highlights
Lili's other work includes Schlaf Nicht (2018) and Gangs of London (2019).

Patrick O'Kane (Ashad) Born 1965
Doctor Who credits
Played: Ashad in The Haunting of Villa Diodati (2020), Ascension of the Cybermen/ The Timeless Children (2020), The Power of the Doctor (2022)
Career highlights
Belfast-born Patrick debuted in A Safe House in 1990, followed by Rides (1993), Pie in the Sky (1994), In the Red (1998), Sunset Heights (1999), Liverpool 1 (1999), When the Sky Falls (2000), In Deep (2002), Any Time Now (2002), Gunpowder, Treason and Plot (2004), Waking the Dead (2004), Exorcist: the Beginning (2004), Five Days (2007), Wire in the Blood (2007), Good Vibrations (2012), The Borgias (2012-13), The Fall (2013), Jamaica Inn (2014), The Secret (2016), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Come Home (2018), Female Human Animal (2018) and Limbo (2019).

Nadia Parkes (Claire Clairmont) Born Dec 31 1995
Career highlights
Nadia's other screen credits include The Spanish Princess (2019-20), Starstruck (2021), Domina (2021) and Half Bad (2021).

Facts

Nadia was for a time the partner of Hollywood star Tom Holland.

Sarah Perles (Elise)
Career highlights
French-born Sarah's other work includes Never Let Go (2015), Ghoul (2016), Burnout (2017), Palestine (2017), The Team (2018), Chimerica (2019), El Cid (2020), Homeland (2020), Operation Portugal (2021) and The Legend of El Cid (2020-21).
Facts
Sarah can speak six languages: Moroccan, Portuguese, English, Arabic, French and Spanish.

Lewis Rainer (Percy Bysshe Shelley) Born Oct 4 1989
Career highlights
Debuted in Grange Hill as Ross Duncan (2007), followed by Hollyoaks (2007), Dani's House (2012), Wasteland (2012), The Crash (2013), Dracula (2013), Death Comes to Pemberley (2013), The Driver (2014), Wolfblood (2016), X Company (2017) and After Louise (2019).

CREW

Maxine Alderton (writer)

Doctor Who credits

Wrote: The Haunting of Villa Diodati (2020), Flux Chapter 4 (2021)
Career highlights
Maxine started out (as Maxine Exley) as a script editor on Emmerdale (2006-11), after which she began to write episodes of the soap (over 120 episodes since 2013). She has also written for The Worst Witch (2017-18).
Awards
2017: British Screenwriters' Award for Best British Children's Series (The Worst Witch) - shared with writing team

Emma Sullivan (director)
Doctor Who credits
Directed: Can You Hear Me? (2020), The Haunting of Villa Diodati (2020)
Career highlights
Emma's first directing credit was on a series of short films, including Nut? (2004), Walking to Nairobi (2005) and After Tomorrow (2009). Her first TV work was on daytime soap Doctors (2012-13), followed by Holby City (2014), 4 O'Clock Club (2017), Call the Midwife (2018), Silent Witness (2019) and The Watch (2020). She also wrote some of the short films she's directed.
Awards
2009: Edinburgh International Film Festival Award for Best British Short (After Tomorrow)