Doctor Who - Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - 7:50 pm Saturday, February 28 on BBC Three

Matt Smith (Actor) .. The Doctor

Born: October 28, 1982 in Northampton

Best Known For: Being the current Doctor Who.

Early-life: Matthew Robert Smith was born on October 28, 1982, in Northampton. A promising footballer from a young age, he played for the youth teams at Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City. He looked set for a professional career until a back injury scuppered his chances. A teacher encouraged him to act, and although reluctant at first, he eventually joined the National Youth Theatre. He also studied drama and creative writing at the University of East Anglia. At the same time, his professional stage career began to take off, and he was allowed to miss lectures during his final year so that he could work.

Career: Smith's first professional roles came in the plays Fresh Kills, opposite Christian Slater, and On the Shore of the Wide World. He appeared with Slater again in Swimming with Sharks, and also featured in The History Boys. He was part of the Olivier Award-nominated cast of That Face. His TV roles include The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North and Secret Diary of a Call Girl, all alongside ex-Doctor Who assistant Billie Piper. He also starred in political drama Party Animals, and made his debut as the 11th Doctor Who in 2010. He was the youngest actor to play the part, but will bow out at Christmas, when he'll be replaced by Peter Capaldi. Other projects include Christopher and His Kind, Bert and Dickie, Womb, and the forthcoming How to Catch a Monster. He will return to the West End stage in 2014 to play the lead in a musical version of American Psycho.

Quote: 'I'm tired of television that's patronising and silly. I think Doctor Who is brave and it's inviting, challenging. For me anyway; I can only speak personally.'

Trivia: He's a Blackburn Rovers supporter and loves the band Radiohead.

Karen Gillan (Actor) .. Amy Pond

Born: November 28, 1987 in Inverness

Best Known For: Playing Amy Pond in Doctor Who.

Early-life: Karen Sheila Gillan was born in Inverness on November 28, 1987 to Marie and John. Karen knew from an early age that she wanted to be an actress. She joined local youth theatre groups and went on to complete an HNC Acting and Performance course at Telford College before studying at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts drama school in London. During her time at Italia Conti, she also did some modelling work.

Career: Gillan's early TV career included guest appearances in Rebus, Harley Street and Coming Up. She played various characters in The Kevin Bishop Show. She made a guest appearance on Doctor Who in 2008 and two year's later, the show would prove to be a launchpad for her career when she was cast as the Eleventh Doctor's (Matt Smith) first companion, Amy Pond. She made appearances in the show as Amy until 2013. She has also starred in the TV movie We'll Take Manhattan and the film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). In 2014, she also starred in short-lived American sitcom Selfie. In 2011, she made her stage debut in Inadmissible Evidence at the Donmar Warehouse.

Quote: 'I don't get to lounge about in the sun like everyone else. I go bright red. It's a ginger thing.'

Trivia: She plays the piano.

Arthur Darvill (Actor) .. Rory Williams

Born: June 17, 1982 in Birmingham

Best Known For: Playing Rory in Doctor Who.

Early-life: Born Thomas Arthur Darvill on June 17, 1982, in Birmingham. He has a younger sister. They grew up around performers and performing - his mother was a member of the Cannon Hill Puppet Theatre, with which she toured the world as a puppeteer and actor. His father played organ for artists such as Edwin Starr, Ruby Turner, Fine Young Cannibals and UB40. Arthur began acting at 10 with the Stage2 Youth Theatre Company.

Career: In 2000, Darvill began presenting continuity links on CITV. He left a year later and founded his own theatre company, Fuego's Men. At 18 he settled in London to take up a place at Rada. Many of his early roles came on stage, including in an acclaimed production of Terre Haute at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He worked with future Doctor Who co-star Matt Smith in Swimming with Sharks in 2007. A year later, he made his TV debut in He Kills Coppers and followed it with Little Dorrit, but it was travelling with the Time Lord as Rory Williams that made him a star. Other projects since include the films Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, and Robin Hood.

Quote: On leaving Doctor Who: 'I'm really going to miss the people. Me, Matt and Karen are still in touch, so we're going to see each other whenever we can, but it's different when you're not working together any more. Brilliant, brilliant actors - we know each other so well. We'll still chat.'

Trivia: Away from acting, Darvill plays guitar and keyboards, and collects taxidermy.

Riann Steele (Actor) .. Queen Nefertiti

Sunetra Sarker (Actor) .. Indira

Born: July 25, 1973 in Liverpool

Best Known For: Casualty.

Early-life: Sunetra was born in Liverpool on June 25, 1973. Her father is a doctor. She went on to study Information Systems for Business with French at Brunel University. Her breakthrough as an actress came in 1988 when she was cast as Nisha Batra in Brookside. She stayed with the soap for two years but returned to play the same character 10 years later between 2000 and 2003.

Career: Following her first stint on Brookside, Sarker starred in London Bridge, Cold Feet and Playing the Field. Bigger roles came in No Angels and The Chase. In 2007, she was cast as Dr Zoe Hanna in Casualty, a role she continues to play. In 2014, she was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.

Quote: On signing up for Strictly Come Dancing: 'I don't quite know what I've let myself in for. But the chance to swap my stethoscope for sequins was just too tempting.'

Trivia: In 2014, Sarker appeared with her son, Noah, on game show Big Star's Little Star.

Rupert Graves (Actor) .. Riddell

Born: June 30, 1963 in Weston-super-Mare

Best Known For: Appearing in period dramas.

Early-life: Rupert Graves was born June 30, 1963, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. The acting bug bit while performing in Victorian musical nights at the town's Birbeck Pier. Unhappy at school, he left at 15 to become a circus clown. He made his TV debut in 1978 in The Return Of The Saint and had small roles in various other productions. He later entertained children at holiday camps as part of Silly Billy Pickles And The Peanut Street Gang before his big break in Merchant Ivory's 1985 movie A Room With A View.

Career: Rejoined Merchant Ivory in 1987 to play a homosexual in Maurice, alongside James Wilby and Hugh Grant. The controversial role gained him fans of both sexes. He has tackled numerous challenging parts since, including a transvestite villain in Open Fire and the lover of a sex-change male in Different For Girls. He won the Best Actor award at the Montreal Film Festival for his part as a naive young man seduced by an older woman in Intimate Relations. Other notable productions include The Madness of King George, Mrs Dalloway, The Blonde Bombshell, Take A Girl Like You and Fortunes Of War. Graves has appeared on Broadway in Closer, and The Elephant Man. Has become a regular in a raft of top-notch detective shows, including Wallander, Lewis, and Sherlock and is very much in-demand.

Quote: 'I'm really pleased with myself. I've not had any training. I knew nothing about acting except that early on I knew I wanted to do it, and I've managed for years to do things without doing them just for the money.'

Trivia: He enjoys playing football.

Mark Williams (Actor) .. Brian Williams

Born: August 22, 1959 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

Best Known For: The Fast Show

Early-life: Born in Bromsgrove on August 22, 1959. As a teen he hoped for a career in academia, then read English at Brasenose College, Oxford University where he discovered a love of both acting and writing. He spent three years touring with The Mikron Theatre Company before proving himself a fine comic actor with early roles in Red Dwarf and Alexei Sayle's Stuff.

Career: Other early TV appearances came in Tumbledown, KYTV, Bottom and The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer. Williams became a famous face thanks to his appearances in The Fast Show, where he played a number of memorable characters. The Canterbury Tales, Gormenghast and Shackleton followed, but it was his role as Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter franchise that made him recognisable worldwide. He has also appeared in successful films like Stardust and Shakespeare in Love and presented several documentary programmes, such as Mark Williams' Big Bangs.

Quote: 'I'll get me coat.'

Trivia: Away from showbusiness, he is an avid follower of both Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion football clubs.

David Bradley (Actor) .. Solomon

Noel Byrne (Actor) .. Robot 1

Richard Garaghty (Actor) .. Robot 2

Richard Hope (Actor) .. Bleytal

Rudi Dharmalingam (Actor) .. ISA worker

Marcus Wilson (Producer)

Saul Metzstein (Director)

Chris Chibnall (Writer)

Caroline Skinner (Executive producer)

Steven Moffat (Executive producer)

Doctor Who: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

7:50 pm - 8:35 pm, Saturday, February 28 on BBC Three (23)

About this Broadcast

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
Season 7, Episode 2

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