The Giggle

Neil Patrick Harris as the 21st
century version of the Toymaker

One episode (The Giggle)

First broadcast: Dec 9 2023
Audience for story: 6.85m

REGULAR CAST

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

Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) Born Dec 5 1969 Click here for Catherine Tate's entry on Doomsday

Ncuti Gatwa (The Doctor) Born Oct 15 1992

Doctor Who credits

Played: The Doctor in The Giggle, The Church on Ruby Road, Space Babies, The Devil's Chord, Boom, 73 Yards, Dot and Bubble, Rogue, The Legend of Ruby Sunday/ Empire of Death, 2024 Christmas Special, Series 15 (2023- )

Career highlights

Ncuti (pronounced "shooty") made his acting debut in Bob Servant (2014), followed by roles in Stonemouth (2015), Horrible Histories: The Movie (2019), The Last Letter from Your Lover (2021) and Barbie (2023), but he rose to fame playing Eric Effiong in the series Sex Education (2019-23).

Awards

2020: BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor - Television (Sex Education)

2020: Broadcasting Press Guild Breakthrough Award (Sex Education)

2020: Royal Television Society Award for Comedy Performance - Male (Sex Education)

Facts

Ncuti was born in Nyarugenge, Kigali, Rwanda. When he was two, his parents fled the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi and moved to Scotland. Before being cast in Sex Education, Ncuti says he was homeless for five months. He is the first person born outside the UK to play the Doctor, and the first person born after the classic series ended to play the part.

GUEST CAST

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

Lachele Carl (Reporter [Trinity Wells]) Born Apr 29 1960 Click here for Lachele Carl's entry on Aliens of London

Karl Collins (Shaun Temple) Born 1971

Doctor Who credits

Played: Shaun Temple in The End of Time (2009-10), The Star Beast (2023), The Giggle (2023)
Career highlights
Karl debuted at the age of 12 in the 1983 Dramarama Because I Say So (credited as Carl Myers), then made appearances in the children's series Your Mother Wouldn't Like It (1985), Hard Cases (1988), As Time Goes By (1992), EastEnders (1992), Metrosexuality (1999), Grease Monkeys (2004), Silent Witness (2008), Shelfstackers (2010), Come Fly With Me (2011), Attack the Block (2011), Twenty Twelve (2011), The Fades (2011), The Slammer (2011), Black Mirror (2011), Blackout (2012), Our Zoo (2014), Transporter: The Series (2014), The Driver (2014), Transporter: The Series (2014), Midsomer Murders (2019) and The Larkins (2021). He has also had two regular roles, as DC Danny Glaze in The Bill (1999-2003) and Louis Loveday in more than 220 episodes of soap Hollyoaks (2015-19).
Facts
Karl's brother is fellow actor Johann Myers. Here he is on Twitter.

Aidan Cook (The Vlinx)

Doctor Who credits
Played: The Mummy in The Rings of Akhaten (2013)
Played: The Crooked Man in Hide (2013)
Played: Cyberman in Nightmare in Silver (2013), The Time of the Doctor (2013)
Played: Zygon in The Day of the Doctor (2013), The Zygon Invasion/ The Zygon Inversion (2015)

Played: The Vlinx in The Giggle (2023)
Career highlights
Aidan started out as one of the animatronics operators on children's series Fimbles in 2002, for which he also provided voice work. He was also movement director on the 2009 adaptation of The Day of the Triffids, and was the children's acting coach on the 2011 film Horrid Henry (he also provided various voices for the TV series (2006-19)). Further acting work includes Jackanory (1982/84), Mack the Knife (1989), ChuckleVision (1998), Sir Gadabout, the Worst Knight in the Land (2002), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), Warrioress (2011), Restless (2012), Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 (2013), Star Wars: Rogue One (2016), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Andor (2022) and Willow (2022).

Charlie De Melo (Charles Banerjee) Born Sep 26 1989

Career highlights

Charlie's other work includes Doctors (2013), Casualty (2014), The Interceptor (2015), EastEnders (2017) and Still Up (2023). He is best known for playing Imran Habeeb in more than 380 episodes of soap Coronation Street (2017-22).

Alexander Devrient (Colonel Ibrahim)

Played: Colonel Christopher Ibrahim in The Giggle (2023), Series 14 (2024)

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).

Yasmin Finney (Rose Noble) Born Aug 30 2003

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.

Glen Fox (Pilot)

Career highlights

Glen's earliest credit on screen was 2011's Flawed, followed by Years and Years (2019), Brave New World (2020) and The Inside Man (2021).

Ross Gurney-Randall (Middle-aged man) Born Dec 4 1965

Doctor Who credits

Played: Reg in An Adventure in Space and Time (2013)

Played: Middle-aged man in The Giggle (2023)

Career highlights

Ross's CV begins with Mainline Run (1994), followed by The Governor (1995), The Prince and the Pauper (1996), London's Burning (1997), Duck Patrol (1998), Doctors (2001), Waking the Dead (2008), Big Top (2009), Upstairs, Downstairs (2012), EastEnders (2014), Rellik (2017), It's a Sin (2021) and Call the Midwife (2023).

Neil Patrick Harris (The Toymaker) Born Jun 15 1973

Career highlights

New Mexico born Neil made his screen acting debut in Clara's Heart (1988), followed by roles in Purple People Eater (1988), Cold Sassy Tree (1989), Stranger in the Family (1991), Blossom (1991), Quantum Leap (1993), Murder, She Wrote (1993), The Man in the Attic (1995), The Outer Limits (1996), Starship Troopers (1997), The Next Big Thing (2000), Will and Grace (2000), Ed (2001), Boomtown (2003), Numb3rs (2005), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009 and its 2013 sequel), Glee (2010), The Best and the Brightest (2010), The Muppets (2011), Gone Girl (2014), American Horror Story (2015), It's a Sin (2021), The Matrix Resurrections (2021) and Uncoupled (2022). Neil's most memorable roles are playing the title role in 97 episodes of Doogie Howser, M.D (1989-93), Henry McNeeley in 22 episodes of Stark Raving Mad (1999-2000), the voice of Peter Parker/ Spider-Man in the 2003 animated Spider-Man series and Barney Stinson in 208 episodes of How I Met Your Mother (2005-14).

Awards

2010: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Programs (63rd Annual Tony Awards) - shared with Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss

2010: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (Glee)

2011: Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (How I Met Your Mother)

2012: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Programs (65th Annual Tony Awards) - shared with Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss

2013: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Programs (66th Annual Tony Awards) - shared with Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss

2014: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Programs (67th Annual Tony Awards) - shared with Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss

Facts

Neil's husband is fellow actor David Burtka. He is also the author of a series of children books called The Magic Misfits since 2017.

Tim Hudson (Edward Lawn Bridges)

Career highlights

Tim debuted in The Vet (1996), followed by Picking Up the Pieces (1998), Dr Willoughby (1999), MIT: Murder Investigation Team (2003), Suburban Shootout (2006), My Family (2006), Father Figure (2013), A Very English Scandal (2018), De Gaulle (2020) and Sardar Udham (2021).

Facts

Tim also works as a tour guide in London.

Jacqueline King (Sylvia Noble) Click here for Jacqueline's entry on The Runaway Bride

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

Leigh Lothian (Voice of Stooky Sue)

To be added...

John MacKay (John Logie Baird)

Career highlights

John made his screen debut in London's Burning in 1999, followed by appearances in Trial and Retribution (1999), Doc Martin (2003), Law and Order UK (2009), The Honourable Woman (2014), Holby City (2014), The Hollow Crown (2016), Black Earth Rising (2018), Judy (2019), The Power (2021), Call the Midwife (2021), Cruella (2021), Temple (2021), Landscapers (2021), Traces (2022), Bridgerton (2022) and Great Expectations (2023). John played the same character of TV pioneer John Logie Baird in Russell T Davies' drama Nolly (2023).

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

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

CREW

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

Chanya Button (director) Born Dec 25 1986

Career highlights

Chanya started out directing short films such as Frog/ Robot (2011) and Fire (2012), before moving on to productions such as Burn Burn Burn (2015), Vita and Virginia (2018), World on Fire (2019), The Spanish Princess (2020) and Whitstable Pearl (2021).

Facts

Chanya's father is Roy Button, former managing director of Warner Bros Productions in the UK.

Vicki Dellow (producer)

Doctor Who credits

Produced: The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder, The Giggle (all 2023)

Career highlights

Vicki began as a script editor on soap EastEnders in 2005, followed by work as a senior editor and script editor on both EastEnders (2006) and Holby City (2008), before becoming a producer on That Thing That Happened (2014), The Tunnel (2016), Tin Star (2017), Humans (2018), The Last Kingdom (2020) and His Dark Materials (2022).

Chris May (producer)

Doctor Who credits

Produced: The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder, The Giggle (all 2023)

Career highlights

Chris's other work includes being associate producer on the 2012 short film Bacon, and first assistant director on Sex Education (2019), His Dark Materials (2019-20), The Mezzotint (2021), Litvinenko (2022) and The Last Bus (2021).