Doctor Who - Robot of Sherwood - 03:10 am Monday, May 11 on BBC Three

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.

Tom Riley (Actor) .. Robin

Roger Ashton-Griffiths (Actor) .. Quayle

Ben Miller (Actor) .. Sheriff

Born: February 24, 1966 in London

Best Known For: His comedy partnership with Alexander Armstrong.

Early-life: Bennet Evan Miller was born on February 24, 1966, in London and raised in Nantwich, Cheshire, where he attended the local comprehensive. Both his parents were teachers, and he has two younger sisters. Ben attended Cambridge University, where he joined the famous Footlights comedy group and met Alexander Armstrong. He began studying for a PhD in physics - his thesis was on novel quantum effects in quasi-zero dimensional mesoscopic electron systems - but abandoned it halfway through to concentrate on comedy instead, forming a duo with Armstrong.

Career: Miller and Armstrong toured pubs and clubs for four years before making their TV debut on Saturday Live in 1995. The following year they were nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award, and landed their own Channel 4 show; they later moved to the BBC. Miller has acted in films including The Parole Officer, Birthday Girl, Johnny English and The Prince and Me, and has also starred in small-screen offerings Marple, Malice Aforethought, The Book Group, The Worst Week of My Life, Moving Wallpaper and Primeval. In 2011, he had a successful run in West End hit The Ladykillers. Miller recently quit his role in BBC hit Death in Paradise.

Quote: 'I like to do completely different things, go from one thing to another, which is possibly why no one knows who I am.'

Trivia: Miller plays the guitar and drums.

Ian Hallard (Actor) .. Alan-a-Dale

Trevor Cooper (Actor) .. Friar Tuck

Rusty Goffe (Actor) .. Little John

Joseph Kennedy (Actor) .. Will Scarlett

Adam Jones (Actor) .. Walter

Sabrina Bartlett (Actor) .. Quayle's ward

David Benson (Actor) .. Herald

David Langham (Actor) .. Guard

Tim Baggaley (Actor) .. Knight

Richard Elfyn (Actor) .. Voice of the Knights

Paul Murphy (Director)

Nikki Wilson (Producer)

Mark Gatiss (Writer)

Born: October 17, 1966 in Sedgefield, County Durham

Best Known For: The League of Gentlemen.

Early-life: Born October 17, 1966, in Sedgefield, County Durham. He grew up opposite a Victorian psychiatric hospital, where both his parents worked. While at college, he had a job there as a gardener. Gatiss claims he always wanted to escape from what he regarded as a grim, northern childhood, although now accepts that Heighington, where he lived, is actually a pleasant village. After school, he took a year out to travel around Europe, then began a drama course at Bretton Hall near Leeds.

Career: Gatiss eventually settled in London, where he hoped to earn a living as an actor but made ends meet writing Doctor Who books. He and friends Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson formed The League of Gentlemen in 1995, which had successful stints on stage, radio, TV and film. Since then he's appeared in Bright Young Things, Marple, The Quatermass Experiment, Nighty Night and Jekyll. Gatiss was also script editor on the first Little Britain series, and has penned episodes of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Doctor Who (in which he's also appeared). He portrayed Malcolm MacLaren in the 2010 drama Worried About the Boy and co-created Sherlock with Steven Moffat.

Quote: 'I've done lots of acting and been very pleased with the response to what I've done. I'd like to do a lot more.'

Trivia: Gatiss has also written several novels and appeared regularly on the stage.

Steven Moffat (Executive producer)

Brian Minchin (Executive producer)

Doctor Who: Robot of Sherwood

03:10 am - 03:55 am, Monday, May 11 on BBC Three (23)

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Robot of Sherwood
Season 8, Episode 3

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