Doctor Who - The Time of the Doctor - 8:45 pm Friday, December 19 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.

Peter Capaldi (Actor) .. The Doctor

Born: April 14, 1958 in Glasgow

Best Known For: The Thick of It and Doctor Who.

Early-life: Peter Dougan Capaldi was born in Glasgow on April 14, 1958. He is Irish on his mother's side and his father's family was from Italy. While attending Glasgow School of Art, he was the lead singer in a punk rock band called the Dreamboys. The drummer in the band was Craig Ferguson, who went on to become comedian and American chat show host. It was also while studying that Peter landed his breakthrough acting role in Local Hero in 1983.

Career: Playing mainly minor roles, Capaldi went on to feature in episodes of Minder, C.A.T.S. Eyes, The Lair of the White Worm, Rab C Nesbitt, Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Agatha Christie's Poirot and the miniseries Selling Hitler. He returned to the big screen when he wrote and starred in 1993's low-budget Soft Top Hard Shoulder. Guest starring roles followed in Prime Suspect 3, The Vicar of Dibley, Judge John Deed, My Family and Midsomer Murders. His profile raised significantly in 2005 when he began playing foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in BBC comedy The Thick of It, a role that won him a Bafta. He also played Tucker in movie spin-off In the Loop. Always in-demand, his other TV credits include Skins, Torchwood: Children of Earth, The Nativity, Getting On and The Hour. He is currently playing the twelfth incarnation of the Time Lord in Doctor Who, a role he had long coveted.

Quote: "There is no such thing as too much swearing. Swearing is just a piece of linguistic mechanics. The words in-between are the clever ones."

Trivia: A lifelong Doctor Who fan, Capaldi was invited to audition for the role of the Eighth Doctor, which was eventually taken by Paul McGann, but turned it down, saying, "I loved the show so much, and I didn't think I'd get it, and I didn't want to just be part of a big cull of actors."

Jenna Coleman (Actor) .. Clara

Born: April 27, 1986 in Blackpool

Best Known For: Playing Clara in Doctor Who.

Early-life: Born Jenna-Louise Coleman in Blackpool on April 27, 1986. She has an older brother called Ben and was head girl at her comprehensive school. While still at school she began appearing with local theatre group Yer Space, and won an award at the Edinburgh Festival for her performance in one of the organisation's plays. Jenna was auditioning for drama schools when she landed the part of Jasmine Thomas in Emmerdale in 2005. She relocated to Leeds and ended up staying on the soap for nearly four years, appearing in 168 episodes.

Career: Coleman went on to have a recurring role in Waterloo Road, but claims that playing a schoolgirl at the age of 23 was "surreal". She went on to appear in Julian Fellowes' ITV mini-series Titanic and starred in a BBC Four adaptation of John Braine's novel Room at the Top. She made her film debut in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Her profile increased significantly in 2012 when it was announced that she would play the companion in Doctor Who. Away from the sci-fi drama, she has starred in Stephen Poliakoff's Dancing on the Edge and the three-part drama Death Comes to Pemberley. In 2013 she dropped 'Louise' from her name and is now known as Jenna Coleman.

Quote: "I'd love to work across all three fields - theatre, film and TV."

Trivia: Coleman was nominated for a number of soap awards during her time on Emmerdale, including Most Popular Newcomer at the 2007 National Television Awards.

Orla Brady (Actor) .. Tasha Lem

Born: March 28, 1961 in Dublin

Best Known For: A string of TV roles.

Early-life: Orla was born in Dublin on March 28, 1961 to Patrick and Catherine. At the age of 25, she relocated to Paris to study at the L'Ecole Philippe Gaulier, securing a place at the Ecole Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris. She began her acting career with Balloonatics Theatre Company. She then returned to Dublin to perform at the Gate Theatre. Her first work in England was in Blinded by the Sun at the Royal National Theatre.

Career: Brady now regularly works on both sides of the Atlantic. Her TV credits include The Bill, Absolutely Fabulous, Out of the Blue, The Vicar of Dibley, Noah's Ark, Servants, Proof, Revelations and Shark. More recently, she has starred in Mistresses, The Deep, Sinbad, Fringe, Nip/Tuck, Eternal Law, Jo, and Doctor Who.

Quote: "Clothes are interesting and they're there to be played with. I like the idea of costume rather than fashion."

Trivia: Brady enjoys horseback riding and reading.

James Buller (Actor) .. Dad

Elizabeth Rider (Actor) .. Linda

Sheila Reid (Actor) .. Gran

Born: December 21, 1937 in Glasgow

Best Known For: Playing the perma-tanned Madge Harvey in Benidorm.

Early-life: Sheila was born in Glasgow on December 21, 1937. She made her TV debut as an assistant librarian in a 1960 edition of Armchair Theatre. During the 1960s she starred in two National Theatre productions directed by Laurence Olivier, The Crucible and Three Sisters.

Career: During a long and distinguished acting career, Reid has balanced roles on the stage with guest appearances in a wide variety of TV shows, including The Sweeney, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, All Creatures Great and Small, Taggart, Midsomer Murders, The Bill, Casualty and Doctor Who. She has also starred on the big screen in Brazil (1985), Felicia's Journey (1999) and The Winter Guest (1997). Fame came to her late in life thanks to her role as mobility scooter-driving chain-smoker Madge Harvey in the hugely popular ITV sitcom Benidorm.

Quote: On her success in Benidorm: "It is constantly surprising to me but it's very nice to be appreciated and it has been huge fun to play Madge."

Trivia: While her character in Benidorm is always puffing on a cigarette, Reid is a non-smoking vegetarian who practises yoga every day.

Mark Anthony Brighton (Actor) .. Col Albero

Rob Jarvis (Actor) .. Abramal

Tessa Peake-Jones (Actor) .. Marta

Jack Hollington (Actor) .. Barnable

Sonita Henry (Actor) .. Col Meme

Kayvan Novak (Actor) .. Handles' voice

Born: November 23, 1978 in London

Best Known For: His mad-hatter characters of Fonejacker and Facejacker.

Early-life: Born in Cricklewood, London, British-Iranian Novak was then privately educated at Highgate School.

Career: Novak provided voiceovers for video games including Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but it was the Bafta award-winning Fonejacker that he co-created with Ed Tracy which would go on to earn him big-time success. A while later, spin-off Facejacker followed, after Novak made appearances in Holby City, Spooks and the George Clooney movie Syriana. He impressed the critics in Chris Morris's comedy Four Lions, a project which also attracted Bafta gold.

Quote: On his Facejacker make-up: "It's quite time consuming. Each character takes about three hours. But it's worth it, because the transformation is awesome."

Trivia: He supports Liverpool FC.

Tom Gibbins (Actor) .. Young man

Aidan Cook (Actor) .. Cyberman

Nicholas Briggs (Actor) .. Voice of the Daleks

Barnaby Edwards (Actor) .. Dalek 1

Nicholas Pegg (Actor) .. Dalek 2

Ross Mullan (Actor) .. Silent

Marcus Wilson (Series producer)

Jamie Payne (Director)

Steven Moffat (Writer)

Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor

8:45 pm - 9:45 pm, Friday, December 19 on BBC Three (23)

About this Broadcast

The Time of the Doctor
Season 7, Episode 16

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